To those who have been working in the corporate world, especially MNCs, you would probably know that every country have their own work culture and in order for your work to go smoothly, you need to have a good understanding of your foreign counterparts. I myself have been working for an MNC for some time now and I have learnt that it is so true that people on the other side of the world do work differently than us Malaysians...
Here's are some observations and personal experiences I gathered about my clients/counterparts I worked with.....
Hong Kong
This was the first international client I worked with and the thing about Hongkees are...well actually they are not that different than us, most of them work late nights just like we do over here but one thing they have that we dont is the "Hong kong accent" and the fancy names....Seriously, some of them have the funniest names ever! I am not going to mention names here but some more common examples are names like Apple or Pinky...you can start imagining the less common names now :D
India
Okay, the thing about my company is we work with Indians (from India) alot. The thing about Indians (apart from their Indian accent which needs some time to get used to) is their English grammar. Now, although most of them are familiar and can speak English fluently, English taught in schools is slightly different in India. Sometimes words they use just make you go "what the heck is he trying to say?!" For example: this is a high decibel project. Huh? The project has...sounds? No, the person is just trying to say that this is a high priority project. Another VERY COMMON word that Indians use is "the same". They love that word alot. Here's how you use the word "the same" in Indian context.
I have made some revisions in the proposal. Please find the same attached.
OR
Are you going to send the document? Would expect the same soon.
Yup, if you see someone using "the same" like above, he/she is most likely from India. Please expect the same when you converse with them...
Africa
I was one of the few "lucky" people who get to work with Africans from Africa itself. One major disadvantage is the time difference which is 4 hours. Now, time differences of 4-6 hours is the worst kind of time difference to have. This is because the only time you can properly talk to them is most likely going to be after (Malaysian) work hours, around 6-7pm. I've had a hard time trying to get hold of my African counterparts..for starters, they may not be most technologically advance country. In my case, my counterpart did not have a call conferencing line and we always get problems dialling their direct line. So most of the time, we call their mobile. #sidetrack To those who don't know, most Africans actually own a mobile phone, and they actually put them to more use, because they can use their mobile phone credit to purchase things! Including bus tickets and what not...Fun fact! #sidetrack end.
Anyway, back to their work culture, besides not having sufficient technology, they are also very laidback in a sense that they do not reply your emails in a timely manner, you can't call them because the phone line is shitty and they are always offline on their IM. Hence, the biggest challenge is to get hold of them....the second challenge after getting hold of them...is understanding their accent. So good luck to you! I'm so glad the project is over...
Japanese
Now now, most people know this already. Japs are the most hardworking people in the world! They have mass exercise sessions before they start work in the office and they work all through the night. MAD! If you have Japanese clients, be prepared to receive emails in the middle of the night. On top of that, they love emailling in a row...which means, they send one mail after another requesting for this and that. To make matters worst, they expect an instant reply, if you do not reply them after an hour, they will send you another mail to remind you....and another one few hours later....if they still do not hear from you, they will call your phone and bug you. Best part is, they cannot really speak proper English so good luck trying to understand what they are trying to tell you. Last but not least, Japs pay extreme attention to detail, so if you missed out a comma in your document or made a typo that is not supposed to be there...you WILL get an email asking you to fix that. But there is something good about the Japs though, they always give you alot of time in your projects..in fact sometimes, they give TOO much time and they plan things WAY too early which makes it hard for you to plan your resources so in advance (as opposed to Malaysian culture). Oh one more thing! Despite all the bugging and correcting your work, they are actually very very polite when they talk to you or write to you. They always end with a Thank You and finding more than one Thank You in an email from them is nothing out of the ordinary...
Koreans
Fellow neighbours of the Japs. They are hardworking too, but not as extreme as the Japs. Just like the Japs, they can't really speak proper English but the difference between Koreans and Japs are...they try too hard to use BOMBASTIC words in their communication, so bombastic that we cannot even figure out what they are trying to imply. True story. We concluded that they probably google translated those Korean words into English that when put in a sentence made no sense at all. Oh, although Koreans also love to bug others all the time with emails and calls just like the Japs, the difference is they are not as polite as their neighbours!
China
Might as well cover another Asian country since we are on a roll here. Once again, communication breakdown. It is really hard to understand their English..actually it is quite hard to understand their Mandarin too. I don't have much to say about them except that they love to RUSH you like mad and they sound quite rude as well but then again, could be a communication problem. What they love to do is get you to do this and that in a short period of time but when you need them to confirm something or get something done, they take their own sweet time. Talk about hypocracy.
USA
The good thing about USA is the people are very professional & they reply emails in a timely manner. Well of course there is that 12 hour time difference but contrary to popular belief, that time difference is a good thing (unless you need to talk to them). In terms of writing emails, you never have to rush to write to them because when it is day time here, they are asleep and vice versa. So what you do is, before you leave work you write them a mail, and when you reach office the next morning, you get all your mails replied! And best part is, you don't have to rush to reply the email because they will be sleeping anyway so you can take your own sweet time & gives you sufficient time to check on whatever info you need before replying back to them...Not sure about you, but that sounds like a pretty good deal to me! :)
Australia
Now I have nothing much to say about them except that if you are looking for a laidback lifestyle..that's the place you should aim to work at! At 5.30pm on the dot, the whole Australian working world dissapears and it is impossible to get hold of them...so make sure you get the time differences right otherwise it is really hard to get them! The logic here is that, if they are 3 hours ahead of you, and they leave at 5.30pm sharp, you only have up to 2.30pm Malaysian time to get hold of them. Anything after 2.30pm, you will have to wait the next day. Don't forget to account lost time on Friday happy hours when everyone hits the bar at 3pm!
So there you go! If you understand your foreign counterparts well enough then you will find out the "secret ways" of dealing with them ;) I have already given you some tips that you can't find in business textbooks but you can thank me later on in life when you finally realise how true these tips are!
Till then,
Goodnight.
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