Edward Tai is quick to smile.
And to Tai, vice president of Hyatt International Hotels and Resorts for China
and Taiwan, smiling often isn’t just a friendly trait. It’s a business strategy.
Those at the top of organizations in China traditionally don’t have to smile
at or thank those serving them, Tai told me over a dim sum lunch in Beijing. To
promote a stronger culture of customer service and employee encouragement, he makes
it a point to smile at every Hyatt worker he sees. "If the general manager smiles
at you, then maybe it’s OK to smile," he says. "We should show by example."
Given the high stature of leaders in China, senior managers’ behavior sets the
tone for other managers and the rest of a company’s employees, Tai says. He is one
of a number of executives in China who use their personal conduct to send key messages
to employees.
Those messages can be challenging to deliver in Chinese society. For example,
China is heavily influenced by the hierarchical tenets of the philosopher Confucius.
By contrast, many multinational companies these days embody egalitarian corporate
cultures. And their top leaders in China are expected to breathe life into the global
company values.
Consider computer maker Hewlett-Packard’s top executive in China, Cheng-Yaw Sun.
When he took the reins of the organization several years ago, Cheng-Yaw said goodbye
to a palatial, 500-square-meter office occupied by his predecessor. Cheng-Yaw now
shares a nondescript desk with other mobile workers. He and his management team
also are called by their first names within HP, a blow to corporate social stratification.
Mobile phone maker Motorola, for its part, is building egalitarianism into its
new China headquarters on the outskirts of Beijing. Executives will sit in offices
in the center of the building, while frontline workers get the window seats.
That ought to make some Motorola employees smile.
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