I’m wondering if anyone has some really good advice or can point me in the direction of some reading that talks about conflict in the workplace, especially between foreigners and locals. What are some good ground rules for professional etiquette? What are some problems that arise because of differences between perspective and perception? What are some common mistakes people make? How can a subordinate offer criticism to a superior? This kind of thing :3
You can’t. EVER.
You might check this out and the the links in it. chinalawblog.com/2013/06/ame … right.html
- Accept invitations to socialize with coworkers even if it seems boring to you.
- reciprocate treats after trips.
- Do not demand extra days off because you are a foreigner. Leave when others do or at least do not leave on teh dot of six.
- Follow the same rules and customs. Don’t go off to lunch late because it is mrore convenient etc.
- Resist and repress your desire to make suggestions and share new ideas.
- Listen to others an discover the true hierarchy and who you should watch out for.
If you are not a dick, are reasonably friendly, don’t involve yourself in office politics, and keep your mouth tightly shut in meetings, you should do fine. NO ONE care or wants to know what you think EVEN IF THEY ASK YOU.
My experiences, which are not necessarily representative:
- You can have ideas and make suggestions so long as they’re about things you will do to make someone else’s life easier. Never have ideas about how other people should do their job.
- Focus on one or two things at a time, and follow through – don’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to be responsible for them.
- Have all meaningful conversations in private, one-to-one contexts. Never call someone out or argue in front of coworkers.
- Blame bad things on “the system”, not on people. Then blame the system on history. History is always a mess.
- Be okay with being seen as the clueless foreigner in social situations. You can’t play the game, so don’t try.
- Start from the bottom. Don’t try to make friends with the boss first. Start with the office staff.
- Deflect all praise onto coworkers and (privately) talk them up to others at every opportunity.
- Be patient.
There is 2 way to follow :
- behave sheepish like locals
- play with different rules
The second option can save you from a lot of bullshit and useless overtime, but be prepared for a rougher ride !
I think it depends on your personnality : I just can’t follow the first option (or I explode mentally).
The second option is not feasible in every company too. You need to assess your own situation.
You can offer criticism but it won’t change anything and your boss will not like you (unless he’s not local 
). You (or I) won’t be able to change that fact. That’s why locals vote with their feets, when they can’t handle it anymore, they change job.
I had and sometimes still have this issue. Some of the decisions the company made was so stupid and made no sense. So I refused to actually do what they wanted me to do.
As a result of that, the company now see me as the “foreigner who is difficult to control” I am going to quit anyway, so its not that I care anymore.
There will be times where you will be so frustrated you want to take your stuff and quit right away - Good luck 
[quote=“Brendon”]My experiences, which are not necessarily representative:
- You can have ideas and make suggestions so long as they’re about things you will do to make someone else’s life easier. Never have ideas about how other people should do their job.
- Focus on one or two things at a time, and follow through – don’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to be responsible for them.
- Have all meaningful conversations in private, one-to-one contexts. Never call someone out or argue in front of coworkers.
- Blame bad things on “the system”, not on people. Then blame the system on history. History is always a mess.
- Be okay with being seen as the clueless foreigner in social situations. You can’t play the game, so don’t try.
- Start from the bottom. Don’t try to make friends with the boss first. Start with the office staff.
- Deflect all praise onto coworkers and (privately) talk them up to others at every opportunity.
- Be patient.[/quote]
Based on my experience delivering conflict management training programs, this is excellent advice.
You can’t. EVER.[/quote]
You can’t offer criticism, but you can make suggestions IF you have a decent relationship with your supervisor, IF he/she has a bit of self-confidence and IF you know how to present your ideas persuasively, e.g. “Boss, I think we’re doing this pretty well, but I’ve got an idea for a way we could do it even faster/better/more effectively. Do you have a few minutes to talk/are you interested in talking about this?”
[quote=“Feiren”]You might check this out and the the links in it. chinalawblog.com/2013/06/ame … right.html
- Accept invitations to socialize with coworkers even if it seems boring to you.
- reciprocate treats after trips.
- Do not demand extra days off because you are a foreigner. Leave when others do or at least do not leave on teh dot of six.
- Follow the same rules and customs. Don’t go off to lunch late because it is mrore convenient etc.
- Resist and repress your desire to make suggestions and share new ideas.
- Listen to others an discover the true hierarchy and who you should watch out for.
If you are not a dick, are reasonably friendly, don’t involve yourself in office politics, and keep your mouth tightly shut in meetings, you should do fine. NO ONE care or wants to know what you think EVEN IF THEY ASK YOU.[/quote]
Otherwise become a drone, no thanks. I guess that’s why I (and many others) find it so hard to work in Taiwanese companies after a while.
Thanks for the information - these are great! Very informative!
I forgot to ask another question, from the other side: as a Chinese boss, dealing with a large amount of foreign workers, what do you need to be prepared for from your workers? I imagine it’s much the converse of what has been said already, but what would be some tips for resolving conflict between yourself and foreign workers?
Promise the world, use useless contracts and go back on your word. Make sure to hit them with every deduction possible and don’t tell them that everybody else gets 13 months minimum.
LoL
More like … slowly replace foreigners with Taiwanese cronies until company becomes totally dysfunctional. Blame dysfunction on the few remaining “uncooperative” foreigners who don’t eagerly embrace the new program. Reward cronies for team successes and blame foreigners for team failures. Be sure to shaft them real good when their contracts expire.
I’m afraid you have to accept that as “the foreigner” working in an office full of Tainwanese, you will always be treated as an unwelcome alien.
I tried them all:.
- Buying my team dinner once a month out of my own money.
- Hiding/ taking the blame for mistakes made by members of my team.
- Openly praising and giving credit to members of the team even though it wasn’t deserved.
- Securing Red envelopes and pay rises for the team even though the company was well short of plan.
etc etc etc.
In return:.
- A fabricated accusation of sexual harrassment.
- Sabotage of projects by getting to their brown envelope buddies to mess things up delibrately.
- Switch the office language from Mandarin to Taiwanese as I got more fluent in Chinese.
- Constant passive resistance to everything.
- Secret complaint emails directly to the CEO.
They were a nice bunch.
[quote=“TheTruthIsOutThere”]In return:.
- A fabricated accusation of sexual harrassment.
- Sabotage of projects by getting to their brown envelope buddies to mess things up delibrately.
- Switch the office language from Mandarin to Taiwanese as I got more fluent in Chinese.
- Constant passive resistance to everything.
- Secret complaint emails directly to the CEO.
They were a nice bunch.[/quote]
Doesn’t sound like a nice company.
[quote=“TheTruthIsOutThere”]I’m afraid you have to accept that as “the foreigner” working in an office full of Tainwanese, you will always be treated as an unwelcome alien.
I tried them all:.
- Buying my team dinner once a month out of my own money.
- Hiding/ taking the blame for mistakes made by members of my team.
- Openly praising and giving credit to members of the team even though it wasn’t deserved.
- Securing Red envelopes and pay rises for the team even though the company was well short of plan.
etc etc etc.
In return:.
- A fabricated accusation of sexual harrassment.
- Sabotage of projects by getting to their brown envelope buddies to mess things up delibrately.
- Switch the office language from Mandarin to Taiwanese as I got more fluent in Chinese.
- Constant passive resistance to everything.
- Secret complaint emails directly to the CEO.
They were a nice bunch.[/quote]
Sounds like you had a bad experience. Of the four places I’ve worked here, I haven’t seen anything like this. Still, good luck.
I’ve seen and experienced some of these things in individual companies, all in one company would be pretty bad.
I’ve seen and experienced some of these things in individual companies, all in one company would be pretty bad.
Never let the locals know if you are earning a higher salary than them, it just causes all types of resentment.
I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to discuss salaries?
I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to discuss salaries?[/quote]
However, first or second thing taiwanese people ask everyone in social meetings.
- Hi, so, what do you do here in Taiwan?
- [answer], my name is [name] by the way
- Oh, nice. So, how much do you make every month?
- […]
[quote=“Hokwongwei”][quote=“TheTruthIsOutThere”]I’m afraid you have to accept that as “the foreigner” working in an office full of Tainwanese, you will always be treated as an unwelcome alien.
I tried them all:.
- Buying my team dinner once a month out of my own money.
- Hiding/ taking the blame for mistakes made by members of my team.
- Openly praising and giving credit to members of the team even though it wasn’t deserved.
- Securing Red envelopes and pay rises for the team even though the company was well short of plan.
etc etc etc.
In return:.
- A fabricated accusation of sexual harrassment.
- Sabotage of projects by getting to their brown envelope buddies to mess things up delibrately.
- Switch the office language from Mandarin to Taiwanese as I got more fluent in Chinese.
- Constant passive resistance to everything.
- Secret complaint emails directly to the CEO.
They were a nice bunch.[/quote]
Sounds like you had a bad experience. Of the four places I’ve worked here, I haven’t seen anything like this. Still, good luck.[/quote]
Thanks for the good luck wishes. In this instance, I think, they took the view the presence of a “white ghost” (their term, not mine) in their office was saying that they couldn’t do things properly by themselves and they did everything possible to show/ prove that they didn’t need an foreigner in their office. In their eyes if something was sucessful because of me it meant that they must be useless, there was no concept of us all suceeding together as a team. They saw it as Taiwanese sticking together, but it was actually just institutionalsed racism.