Whom Do You Distrust?
Most Asian employees have a low level of trust and confidence in their senior managers and business leaders, according to two recent surveys.
Less than one-third of salaried workers surveyed in 11 Asian countries had a favorable impression of the level of trust between senior management and employees, according to a survey by human-resources consulting company Watson Wyatt Worldwide, based in Washington, D.C. Only 37% of Asian workers believe their senior managers behave in accordance with company values, and 38% gave their senior management good marks for their ability to make decisions or changes needed for their companies to compete effectively.
Another survey -- conducted by London-based market information researcher TNS Global, a unit of Taylor Nelson Sofres PLC, and the Gallup International Association -- found that Asians in general have a "deep-rooted distrust" of their political and business leaders. Almost 50% of respondents in Asia felt that business leaders have too much power, and 73% felt political leaders are dishonest.
Watson Wyatt interviewed 115,000 respondents at more than 500 companies in 11 Asian countries in August. The study included multinational and large local companies. TNS surveyed 8,000 people in nine Asian countries between June and September.
Many Asian economies have yet to fully recover from the region's 1997-98 financial crisis -- one reason many employees, who once expected lifetime employment from large companies, are wary of their bosses, according to John Philip Orbeta , vice president and global practice director for the Human Capital Group at Watson Wyatt. The number of Asians who feel pessimistic about future economic prospects outnumbers those who feel positive by two to one, according to the TNS survey.
The dominance of Asian companies by entrepreneurs and supervisors with technical knowledge, but little managerial training, also draws criticism, Mr. Orbeta said. "We have a generation of leaders and supervisors who grew up with strong technical expertise but really don't have managerial skills," he said. "The softer side of people management -- the coaching, advising and guiding -- is not there."
Conservative cultural influences in many Asian countries also tend to widen the gap between employees and managers, according to Mr. Orbeta. American managers, he said, are often quick to praise or point out mistakes, but in Asia, managers don't always provide clear and timely feedback.
"In Asia, yes doesn't always mean yes and no doesn't always mean no," said Mr. Orbeta. "Someone might think they're doing a great job, then hear their boss complained to someone else that they let the ball drop. There's a cultural dimension that makes it very difficult for leaders to give feedback to their employees."
Oddly, the same respondents who took part in Watson Wyatt's survey rated their level of "job satisfaction" as highest on a list of 10 criteria for judging their employment situation, including pay, leadership, communication and work environment. Workers complained the most about their pay and the lack of leadership and management skills of senior executives at their companies.
Mr. Orbeta said Asian employees tend to stick with a job, even though they mistrust their managers and feel their pay is too low, provided they like what they do. "Employees appear willing to gloss over a lot of this as long as they have a meaningful job that gives them day-to-day satisfaction," he said.
调查显示亚洲雇员不信任老板
最新的两项调查结果显示，大多数亚洲雇员对上司及商界领袖缺乏信任。
在接受调查的11个亚洲国家领薪雇员中，不到三分之一的人对雇员和上司之间的信任度表示满意。这项调查是一家人力资源咨询公司华信惠悦顾问公司(Watson Wyatt Worldwide)进行的，公司总部设在华盛顿特区。调查结果还显示，只有37%的受访亚洲雇员认为其上司的作为符合公司的价值观；38%的受访雇员给予上司不错的评价，认为其有能力根据需要制定决策或是做出调整，使公司更有效地参与市场竞争。
另外，总部设在伦敦的市场信息调研公司TNS Global也做了一项调查，发现亚洲人通常对政治和商业领导人具有一种根深蒂固的不信任感。TNS Global是Taylor Nelson Sofres PLC和盖洛普(Gallup International Association)的合资公司。几乎50%的亚洲受访者认为商界领导人拥有的权力过大；73%的人觉得政治领导人不诚实。
华信惠悦今年8月份对亚洲11个国家500多家企业的115,000人进行了调查。这些企业既有跨国公司也有大型的当地企业。TNS是在今年6月至9月间对9个亚洲国家的8,000人进行了调查。
很多亚洲国家目前还没有从1997-98年的亚洲金融危机中完全复苏 -- 这可能是造成许多本打算在大公司终身供职的雇员对老板不大信任的原因之一，约翰?菲利浦?奥贝塔(John Philip Orbeta)说。他是华信惠悦人力资本集团(Human Capital Group)副总裁兼全球执行主管。TNS的调查结果显示，受访的亚洲人中，对未来经济形势感到悲观的人比乐观的人多了一倍。
奥贝塔说，在亚洲公司担任领导的都是创业者或有业务专长的人士，但大多缺乏管理才能，这也招致雇员的批评。“这些人都是拥有专业特长，然后逐渐成长为企业的领导，他们没有管理技能”，他说。“对人的管理 -- 培训、建议和指导 -- 在这里不存在”。
奥贝塔说，很多亚洲国家的传统文化影响也在拉大雇员和上司的距离。他说，美国的经理人会对雇员的行为立即进行表扬或批评雇员，但亚洲经理人并不总是给出清晰、及时的反馈。
“在亚洲，'是'的意思并一定是肯定，'不'的意思也未必是否定”，奥贝塔说。“有的人可能觉得自己工作干得不错，但却听到上司向别人谈论自己的不足。这里有文化的原因，使上司很难给下属反馈。”
有趣的是，同样是接受华信惠悦调查的受访者，在判断其就业环境的十项指标时，给予“工作满足感”最大的肯定。其他指标有：待遇、领导、沟通、和工作环境等。雇员抱怨最多的是他们的薪水，以及公司的上司缺乏领导和管理能力。
奥贝塔说，亚洲雇员一般愿意长期从事一份工作，只要他们喜欢自己的工作，即使对上司不太信任或是觉得薪水低，他们也会一直做下去。他说，“只要能有一份有意义的工作，让他们每天感到满足，所有其他不足的方面他们彷佛都不太在意”。
