Being cheated, what would you do?

Furious?  No longer trust anyone or label certain group of people as non-trustable?  But if the “trust no-one” principles has been adopted, there is no such thing as even more “trust no-one”.  Usually, the person being cheated will be furious and release temper to innocent people, agree?  I will say it is always a matter of judgment which speculates what action is to be taken by the suspect (not necessary the cheater).  Usually, I would first adopt the approach of utilitarianism to judge what action to take.  What does it mean?

1. From the perspective of the subject person, she would speculate the cost and benefit of cheating.  E.g. An operator told the line leader that he is sick and would like to apply for leave.  Upon heavy pressure of production target, the line leader chooses not to believe it as he thought the operator went to bed late because of long time surfing internet last evening.  The operator forsake 1 day wages but the production line may not have sufficient labor to run or need to squeeze labor from other lines.  However, if the line leader is so adamant to any application of leave, it would affect the morale and cause higher employees turnover rate.  Therefore, if the line leader got to know where the operator was doing last evening, it would help him make the right decision.  (If you are not working in China factory, you definitely would not understand what I mean!  Actually, I am talking about TIC principles – This is China)  Another example is a manager applies to work at home 1 day; usually, he is more trustable because of the maturity and sense of responsibility. The understanding will get back more contribution from the manager.
2. If an operator just meet a friend in an internet café, got to know that he is going to join the factory.  He would remind the newly acquaintance to write his name in the application so that he could get the referral bonus.  Is it cheating?  Strictly speaking, it is but it is difficult to prove it.
3. A staff with father contracting cancer is getting desperate without sufficient money for treatment.  He asked for help to the company for open donation from all employees but she did not address that his father was running a small illegal casino.  He got donated money and inherited the operation of the casino as part time job.  Is he cheating?  No, he is unethical.  But his manager became a victim because of offering help to him.  Then will you offer help next time in case of such request?  Of course, it is necessary to collect more fact before offering.
4. An unhappy resigned staff made complain to government with fabricated evidence and cause trouble to the company.  Will it be good to create more restriction on information/data sharing?  Of course not.
5. ……
6. ……

When you worked in there longer, you would be able to accumulate more and more stories before you become paralyzed.  I have more than a hundred but am not able to detail them.  The solution is not to get furious; instead, minimize the chance to make judgment if it is cheating, e.g. for dorm-living operators, no entrance to dorm after 11:30pm to ensure they will sleep at least 7 hours; not using company announcement to help staff for collecting donation, get resonance of the people by open communication channel, maintain more touchpoints with people, keep stupid everyday & etc.  Believe or not.

We could get more if we know what to give in

Over my past 20 years working in PRC & HK, there are many ups and downs.  I recall that there are only 2 reasons of departing a company – either voluntary departure or forced dismissal.  The first one happened in 1992 when I left Gilman and joined Roche in Hong Kong.  Because of my poor English and interpersonal skill, my probation was extended which I found it difficult to stay.  It was a good lesson to me as an immature youngster.  Frankly, I did not reach the level of facing my failure; I chose to flight instead of fight.  Another one happened in 2010 which I worked in JOSAO from 2008.  The company I would describe it as a fiasco.  Though I believed that I knew how to run the factory management, I was treated as a cost accountant but getting director’s package.  I was not provided responsibility and the associated authority to lead the change.  I decided to leave after almost 2 years of tenure.  You know it is not wise to leave a company without staying long to a professional accountant.  I submitted my resignation with 3 months notice.  To my surprise, I was requested to leave earlier and get the pay which I did not expect.  I needed to defend that I did make contribution to the company; otherwise, I could not have got the highest % of bonus in 2011.  Anyway, there is no hostility with the separation.

I have been instilled the conception from my management coach – Honwan that there is nothing owed by the company to the employee and vice versa; the employee is paid every month, if he/she outperforms, he is entitled to annual bonus and promotion as well as pay raise.  Actually, if the employee does not get what he wants, he would choose to leave and find a better job.  It is human nature to carry a ledger psychologically so as to determine what effort he/she should contribute (Theory of Exchange).  It is indeed a game.  On the other hand, there is no such thing as personal sacrifice.  As employees, we get the capability improvement when we are able to overcome barriers.  Actually, seniority is nothing and it has been something already protected by the labor law.  In other words, I would say there is a clear cut on each year unless the manager/company default on any promise.

Based on this logic, I really do not understand whenever I need to do dismissal of incompetent staff in different companies in PRC, I would encounter counter-claim of packages more than legally required.  The pretext is seniority of service which the labor law has set out the calculation already.  Usually, there is no happy ending, rather, dispute and then it ends up with hostility.

If one is too indulged in inappropriate expectation, she will lose the peaceful mind and intelligence as well.  I felt no regret of leaving JOSAO.  I did not insist on anything I was not entitled.  My mind is peaceful.  Afterwards, I got an opportunity of working in a country-wide supply chain project which I got an unprecedented exposure in this area.  I could easily focus on the project.  I got more because I know what to give in.

Who should be the mediator?

A & B are working in the same company.  A & B have some disputes about their own interest.  C is their manager while D is a manager of the other business unit.

Who should be the mediator?

C.  It is because he knows both B & C.  It is easy for him to get respect from A & B.  It is also easy for him to understand the detail of the dispute.

D.  It is because his judgment will be fair as an outsider without any bias on either A or B.

Recently, I read a book of Cultural Psychology and read the above story (I summarize it as the above story).  According to the author, Asian people will choose C while western people will choose D.  There is pros and cons for either answer.  What matters is the reasoning behind the decision: respect vs. no-bias.

I am always a junior manager with unhealthy thinking – I thought those who choose C may think that he/she can influence the mediator’s decision because he know the mediator well and know what can influence his decision.  As a result, he can win because of this tacit intention.  Both may have the same thinking.  And the mediator, if not fair enough, may enjoy the flattering from both parties.

Well, I must recognize that I am a bad guy with negative view on human beings!

I won’t miss any chance to move forward!

It is not an uncommon situation in mainland China, particularly in small cities or town that when I am in an unclear queue (getting in to the aircraft or in McDonald/KFC, or in queue to get in to the bus), if there is some space or chance for a stranger to skip the line, he/she will take it.  What will be your reaction:

1. Keep silent and let him/her skip the line
2. Voice out his/her rude behavior
3. Move forward immediately to block his/her rude behavior
4. Or others

Before I go further to the above question, I would like to make a declaration.  My wife (Lisa) is a national Chinese which often like to dress colorful and looks pretty.  Occasionally I, her and my aged 4 son (Dickson) are in Luo Hu bus station in Shenzhen, at the beginning, we are in a long queue and she is carrying Dickson; when the bus arrives, if she sees the people at the back are flooding to skip her, she will move faster in a manner even skipping the people in front of her; then she gets in the bus and occupies her seat together with mine.  Usually, I stay in my originally position in the queue, move slowly with toleration of the rude people skipping me and get in to the seat she occupies for me late.  She is wise as she never reproaches me for my unwise behavior.  I never reproaches her because I can take a good seat of her smart behavior. 

I name myself as a by-stander.  But I am quite worried what behavior Dickson will take in the future.

I don’t like people skipping my position; therefor I start to block those rude people in low profile, like use my body or my luggage to block the person at my back and sometimes I will use my luggage to slightly kick him (if he is a man).  If he sigh for the pain, I will say sorry to him.  As a result, I never get any revenge.  Luckily, since Lisa is more concerned the future of Dickson, she intends to be in line with my courtesy behavior gradually.  But I do not tell her my way to punish the rude people.

I have ever seen someone voicing out and reproaching those rude behavior; however, it will end up with quarrel and sometimes the rude person will hurt the other.  The rude will get furious for any finger-point of his rude behavior.

Believe or not: I am using the same strategy to those who try to get advantage of some gray area in the organization.  I will try to block their rude behavior in low profile, or with some slight punishment but I won’t voice out.  To certain extent, they get some respect and will not try a second attempt in the future.  Hopefully, this can be a reference.

Let me get passed FIRST

I am sure that if you have ever been driving or taking a ride in any road of China.  You should be well aware that the driving habit of the drivers next to your car is following the titled quote, “let me get passed first” and “I couldn’t care less about the cars at my back”.  I do not have a driving license, let alone driving in China.  I thought I am safe to certain extent, at least free from any collision caused by me.

As a leader, one of our major difficulties is to balance the needs of the members under the constraint of limited resources – limited money instead.  I am always a junior manager.  What is consuming my limited working time is the general administration of the factory.  The operators always criticize the quality of living condition, food served, dormitory condition and pay scale.  Though it has been repeatedly answered, there are still many operators claiming that why a defect found in a line causes cancellation of bonus for the whole production lines.  The penalty should only be imposed to the particular work station worker that cause to this defect.  It is not difficult to envision the extreme case that no output at all due to defective product while bonus needs to be released to all other operators while it is nothing to the particular work station who cause the defect.  But needless to say, there is no money for bonus due to no acceptable output.  Is this mindset similar to “let me get passed first”?

You cannot find an organization without emphasis on teamwork.  But it is difficult to find one which can implement teamwork effectively.  More emphasis on one thing means less effectiveness or even nothing at all.  This is the unwritten rules I learn in China, particularly when reading the news.  When the news is promoting against corruption, it means there is severe case of corruption.  Be pragmatic is the key.  Emphasis on teamwork should be corroborated with what has happened currently.  It will be more convincing and easy to get the empathy of the mass.