 |
 |
| 
"...The most useful skill for managers in Indonesia is the ability to "guess"... In the three companies I have worked in, feedback on performance and clues on the thinking of superiors was and is almost non-existent. Those who have been promoted are those that can best guess what the needs of their superiors are..."A major stumbling block in creating effective organizations in Asia is the culture of "secrecy" that permeates through both large and small organizations, particularly in family and well-established companies. The tradition of secrecy is a mainstay of Asian management, the rationale being that "being in the know" is a privilege of ownership, seniority and close relationships with the powerful decision making bloc, insulated at the very top of the triangle pinnacle where the bosses hang out. It is a defense mechanism to guard against professional competence outshining organizational political acumen, and making sure that the existing power system remains. Rooted in Confucianism, the system encourages conservatism and stability, and discourages fast change and innovation. As we have argued in this column for many years, it is a system that worked well in the feudal and industrial ages, but comes a cropper in the information age, where change is fundamental and free global competition is the reality. Objective performance appraisal is often a threat to the power blocs of these organizations as it may return information as it favours promotion by competence, rather than promotion by privilege and cronyism, and where promotion comes about by patronage. Promotion is a personal favour, and the unwritten law in the Asian business psyche is that favours must be returned, and mainly by loyalty no matter what the personal views may be of an individual. The observation quoted above by the participant in one of our seminars is one that gained almost universal acclaim by his peers. In Western countries too, Performance Appraisal, though far more widespread, is implemented by and large, very poorly. Managers don't like passing on bad news, it decreases loyalty among their staff. Rating scales are prone to the "central tendency" effect, but even more the "Leniency effect". Most employees view them as a joke, and rightly so. Appraisal systems which are closely related to objectives and measurable outcomes (MBO or "Management by Objectives" is the best well-known system) are theoretically superior, but in practice often fail for the same reasons. According to Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, almost every employee has positive appraisals they can display proudly to their bosses at salary review time. When crisis time comes, however, these same employees find that these pretty reports are not worth a pile of elephant dust. Jack Welch, outgoing CEO of General Electric, had some hard-hitting advice for participants at the Global Forum held in Shanghai earlier this year.
"...The greatest cruelty to employees is to lie in your performance appraisals... ...I call that "false kindness". In our company we let every employee know where they rank against each other. Letting them know late in life that they are no good is the ultimate management cruelty.The lack of competence based appraisal is not unique to Asia - as Welch infers it is also a major problem in Western companies - but the Asian management culture of secrecy, privilege and management favours means that in general Asian management has a longer and more difficult path to follow before they gain a competitive advantage via excellence in human resource management. The warning signals have already been rung as part of the Asian crisis of the last few years. As Lee Kuan Yew said this month, the word of the future is "change". And in the Information Age, change must be built on competence, and competence must be able to be measured and rewarded. If we need to give employees bad news early on, as long as training and development addresses these shortcomings, and the employee is motivated by professional competence rather than political maneuvering that bad news could just as easily translate to good news later on. Other Resource:
|
 |
The views expressed here may not necessarily reflect those of partners, editorial board, nor sponsors of the Asia Pacific Management Forum
| email updates | email this page | discuss | search | today's asian business strategy news | advertise | about |
| daily asian news, research & commentary for the international business strategy, market research & strategic management professional |