Ethical Issues in my Profession:
I didn’t have to go half way around the globe to know that business practices are wildly different in China than in America. However, having gone across the globe I have a much more refined vision of where the differences truly lie. The two main industries that would be shut down in a day here, based solely on what I saw, are private commercial transportation (taxis) and eating establishments. The taxi drivers there are absolutely insane: swerving, yelling, and speeding. In the movie “The Tuxedo” Jackie Chan is a taxi driver that drives wildly to get a very important client where he needs to go. I thought these were all Hollywood special effects but I’m starting to think they just let him drive. The restaurants were very good and the employees were always very kind but the level of cleanliness required to remain in operation is not exactly where somebody with a weak stomach would hope it would be at. Surprisingly, there were not too many ethical or professional differences between the companies we visited in China and the companies I have been to in America. The companies we saw appeared, at least on their surface, to be very globalized and performing according to international standards.
Educational Breadth as Professional Development:
I believe that if you are going to do business in any country you should learn about their culture, it would be almost disrespectful to go somewhere as simple as Canada brandishing your own ideals and practices in their country. But for somewhere as distant and different as China it would be beyond irreverent to not at least begin to learn about their culture. They have a very interesting history and culture that I would encourage people to learn about even if these people have no intention of ever visiting China. Also, as the world becomes more globalized and China emanates as a major superpower I feel that people will be running into their practices and traditions so much that it will be subconsciously learned. Just as we, in America, have many of the same practices as the Romans without being constantly aware of it and I am sure people in other countries have American traditions without being fully aware either. The University of Pittsburgh has many cultural classes for people to learn, ranging from civilizations that expired long ago to civilizations on the rise as we speak such as Brazil, Germany, Japan, and China. Taking these classes is a great way to sculpt you as a more globalized being.
Lifelong Learning:
In our visits we rarely got to speak with everyday employees, we predominately spoke to one or two people assigned to our group to answer our questions. It was hard to get straight answers on the subject because of a serious language barrier but as I understood it from the first firm we visited the majority of their workers are either from America or are Chinese but went to America for a great deal of their education. According to Claudia, our teacher, people who stay in China after high school graduation for college often have a tough time staying on top of their studies because they worked so vigorously for their entrance exam that when they were given an inch of freedom they took a mile. That is not to say that teenagers in America are vastly different but much less stress is put on American kids than Chinese kids to perform well on standardized tests. Also, the companies we visited were so technologically advanced that things you learn in school (excluding concepts and basic scientific models) are all but obsolete after ten years because the industry is just so dynamic they can’t teach the things being used ten years in advance.
Social Environment:
In the United States I feel as if people have a much larger social life, much more leisure time, and much more importance placed on that social life. In China it is always professional life first, they have leisure time but not comparable to that of the United States and definitely not comparable to the leisure time and vacation time to working individuals in Europe. At the first company we visited there were actually dormitories for the employees and recreational areas. Our tour guide told us they didn’t go into the city very often; they worked, slept, ate, lived, and played all in that same plot of land. I don’t think I could handle that type of living arrangement, it would drive me crazy. When we visited with Tsinghua students the one was very interested in Chinese politics, he continually badgered us with questions about the Dalai Lama and the potential secession of Tibet. Although I have heard of it I feel as if they have the America Syndrome (they think the problems afflicting them are the biggest problems throughout the world). Another main division in living is the very professional attitude Chinese people bring towards everything, rarely are they play first work second. In America, at least in younger generations there is often a play first work second type mentality.
Functioning on a Multi-Disciplinary Team:
As a business student when we visited company I spent about 90% of the time confused about the products that were being explained, 8% of the time introducing myself or walking quietly, and about 2% of the time in the bathroom. If it wasn’t for the engineering students I would have been in a world of oblivious confusion but they slowly walked me through all of the products and the functions of these products. However, giving is a two way street so when it came time to bargain for goods I was finally in an area where I could do something. The first couple days people, including business students, were getting ridiculously ripped off but the engineers were all too nice to do anything about it so the business students could repay them for their explanations with lower prices at all of the bargaining ‘arenas’ we went to. Other than that there were really no differences all of the engineering kids were all very nice and easy to get along with, as were the business students. I don’t think functioning in a team provided any real type of barrier because for the most part everybody got along with everybody else.