Trouble in Paradise: A Focused Exploration
of Culture and Management
Yan-Jiu-Yan-Jiu ? Unprofessional or Unamerican?
Mike is having a hard time dealing with a working style that his Chinese partners refer to as yan-jiu-yan-jiu, which means "lets review and discuss." The Chinese were reluctant to install a new sewage disposal system, preferring to defer the work until adequate discussion and review had taken place. This style and pace of decision making did not register well with Mike's high performance, time is money driven personality; he had been raised in a culture where optimal efficiency depended on timely decision making. Moreover, responsibility became so diffuse that no one took initiative to really get things done. The lets review and discuss style certainly created frustrations among the aggressive, individualist Americans.
Yan-jiu-yan-jiu relates to Hofstede's dimension of uncertainty avoidance ? clearly the Americans are demonstrating a strong uncertainty avoidance, while the Chinese have a weaker uncertainty avoidance. Mike is uncomfortable with the approach, lets review and discuss, because it does not provide an immediate solution to the problem at hand; he would prefer to see the issue settled through structured implementation of a remediation project, which in this case would involve a new sewage disposal system. He would like to see a formal plan of action with an appointed project manager to install the new sewage system in a cost effective way ? this also reflects his individualist, internally controlled style, he wants to get things done asap. The Chinese style is to rely on stable relationships and informal networks as a source of value, so as long as the group is able to function, the new sewage system can wait, and ...