This paper analyzes the different characteristics of Chinese culture and discusses its possible influence on the implementation of agile project management.
The Chinese belong to the high-context culture, which means that information is exchanged implicitly, for example by expressing criticism indirectly or by giving hints to express objection or difficulties instead of directly saying them clearly. They are highly dependent on leaders (expecting to be told what to do), like to work in groups, can be inconsistent in adhering to deals and agreements as well as avoid taking responsibility for decisions and avoid having any kind of conflict with others.
These traits can be beneficial for as well as pose challenges in the implementation of an agile project management, i.e. SCRUM. The group-based execution of SCRUM suits the Chinese as group-oriented people well. However, certain aspects in the implementation of SCRUM, such as setting and keeping goals (a.k.a. “Product Backlogs”), communicating difficulties with team leaders and SCRUM masters and giving constructive feedback during a Sprint review could be problematic for Chinese team members because of their aforementioned cultural traits.
1. Cultural Basic Orientation
Hofstede classified cultures of countries according to six parameters, namely power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism - collectiveness, masculinity – femininity, long-term vs. short-term orientation and indulgence vs. restraint (Hofstede, 2011, pp. 9–16).Listed below are the characteristics of Chinese people based on Hofstede’s model (Hofstede Insights, 2021):
- Power Distance
At 80 China sits in the higher rankings of Power Distance Index (PDI) – i.e. a society that believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable. The subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defense against power abuse by superiors.
- Individualism
At a score of 20 China is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves. In-group considerations affect hiring and promotions with closer in-groups (such as family) are getting preferential treatment.
- Masculinity
At 66 China is a Masculine society –success oriented and driven. The need to ensure success can be exemplified by the fact that many Chinese will sacrifice family and leisure priorities to work.
- Uncertainty Avoidance
At 30 China has a low score on Uncertainty Avoidance. The Chinese are comfortable with ambiguity; the Chinese language is full of ambiguous meanings that can be difficult for Western people to follow. Chinese are adaptable and entrepreneurial.
- Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation
China scores 87 in this dimension, which means that it is a very pragmatic culture. In societies with a pragmatic orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. They show an ability to adapt traditions easily to changed conditions, a strong propensity to save and invest, thriftiness, and perseverance in achieving results.
- Indulgence vs. Restraint
China is a restrained society as can be seen in its low score of 24 in this dimension. In contrast to Indulgent societies, restrained societies do not put much emphasis on leisure time and control the gratification of their desires. People with this orientation have the perception that their actions are restrained by social norms and feel that indulging themselves is somewhat wrong.
2. Typical communication and interaction patterns as well as dealing with conflicts
Hall (1976) as quoted by Müller and Gelbrich categorize cultures into high-context and low-context cultures - implicit information exchange dominating in high-context cultures whereas explicit information much needed in low-context cultures (Müller, S., Gelbrich, 2014, p. 22). The Chinese belong to the high-context culture (Moran, Harris and Moran, 2011, p. 333). This implicit style of communicating is especially relevant when voicing negation or criticism, as summarized by Lewis:
- Criticism is expressed indirectly (Lewis, 2006, p. 492)
- The Chinese rarely say no—they only hint at difficulties (Lewis, 2006, p. 493)
Another aspect of Chinese culture that has clear ties to business is “guanxi”, the linking of two people in a relationship of mutual dependence – this involves reciprocal gifts and favors (Lewis, 2006, p. 491). The most important criteria for this is the difference between the “insider(s)” (those who belong to one’s own group of people, such as family and friends) and the “outsider(s)” (those who don’t belong to one’s own group of people) (Thomas, Kammhuber and Schroll-Machl, 2007, pp. 175–176). If a Chinese is interested in establishing such a close relationship, but a corresponding basis for developing guanxi is not available, it is not uncommon for an intermediary to be called in to establish relations with both partners, whereby the desired guanxi is established and endures through the intermediary (Thomas, Schenk and Heisel, 2015, p. 118).
For the Chinese, conflict avoidance is fundamental to establishing and maintaining a harmonious partner relationship, because any conflict - even verbal - in social interactions can strain and impair the partner relationship. (Thomas, Kammhuber and Schroll-Machl, 2007, p. 173). Differences are settled in private and settled outside of a meeting (Haller and Nägele, 2013, p. 138). Mistakes and shortcomings would not be addressed frontally in order to preserve the face of the person who did it (Thomas, Schenk and Heisel, 2015, pp. 75–77).
3. Behavior in teams and the role of the managers/leaders
China is a group-oriented, high-context culture that reflects the Confucian philosophy that values the collective over the individual (Moran, Harris and Moran, 2011, p. 333). Groups or working units mainly operate internally and would only cooperate with other groups if there are existing relationship networks between members of the respective groups, in accordance with the "Guanxi" principle (Thomas, Schenk and Heisel, 2015, p. 28). Until a decision is made, it may take time because a group consensus must be reached (Haller and Nägele, 2013, p. 138).
Cross-cultural literature has generally stressed a strong connection between culture and leadership styles, although there is a divergence of views regarding the universality of leadership patterns – this is thoroughly researched by the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study (House et al., 2002, p. 3). The result of this study as cited Kaschube, Gasteiger and Oberhauser revealed the following.
“Differences between the participating countries can be observed in the area of all leadership dimensions, with the first two (“charismatic/value-based” and “team-oriented”) being perceived as very conducive to effective leadership in all cultures, and “participative” and, with slight reductions, “human orientation” essentially being rated as effective. High “autonomy orientation” of a leader is rated as rather hindering in many countries, and “self-protection oriented leadership” is overall seen as inefficient if it is part of a leader's behavioral spectrum. This assessment can be attributed more to regional perceptions of good leadership and country-specific values than to the customs within the organizations (Kaschube, Gasteiger and Oberhauser, 2012, p. 442).”
Therefore, an intercultural effective leader must be able to understand culture-specific belief and value systems in order to sensitively translate universal leadership characteristics into the relevant cultural context (Brodbeck, 2008, p. 21).
The Chinese are heavily dependent on leaders – subordinates expect to be told what to do (Lewis, 2006, p. 491) and avoid taking responsibility for decisions (Moran, Harris and Moran, 2011, p. 333). This is due to their heritage of the Confucianism “wu lun” concept, the five cardinal relationships: (1) leader – subordinate, (2) father – son, (3) older brother – younger brother, (4) men – women and (5) friend-friend (Thomas, Kammhuber and Schroll-Machl, 2007, p. 174).
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- Christian Yonathan Wiratmo (Autor), 2022, Implementation of Agile Project Management. Possible Impact of Chinese Culture, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1355145
