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.