People do not quit jobs – they quit supervisors and co-workers. Nowhere is this adage truer than in East Asia, where cohesion and harmony are important cultural values. A recent Deloitte study highlighted that in Asia 81% of companies find it challenging to attract top talent, while 83% find retaining talent difficult. However, rather than attribute these somewhat daunting statistics to a lack of raw talent, many experts claim this shortage to be the result of other factors, such as staff motivation and job satisfaction.
Recently conducted research by In-Sue Oh and Crystal Harold examined the impact of culture on an employee’s personal-environment (P-E) fit – a key component of job satisfaction. Most notably, the study looked at the relationship between the P-E fit and work outcomes such as staff retention. The P-E fit refers to the compatibility or match between employees and their work environment. The ‘P’ (for person) is defined by one’s unique skill set, personality, and values. The ‘E’ (for environment) concerns job requirements, characteristics, the organisation’s culture, as well as the values and personality of the workgroup and its supervisor. There are four P-E fit dimensions:
- Person-organisation fit
- Person-job fit
- Person-group (team) fit
- Person-supervisor fit
Generally speaking, employees who perceive higher levels of fit tend to have more positive work attitudes, perform better, and stay longer. The correct P-E fit is therefore an important asset to winning the talent war.
RELATIONSHIPS MATTER, ESPECIALLY IN EAST ASIA
The researchers compared and contrasted multiple pieces of East Asian P-E fit research and compared their results with corresponding North American outcomes. This cross-cultural comparison suggested that the effects of rational fit (person-organisation and person-job) on work attitudes (such as job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and intention to quit) are stronger for North American employees when compared to East Asian employees.
However, the effects of relational fit (person-group and person-supervisor fit) are stronger for East Asians when compared to North American employees. In particular, East Asians place great importance on relationships with their supervisors, while North Americans value their compatibility with the organisation more (See Table 1).
Click on image to enlarge.
These findings suggest that, when compared to their North American counterparts, East Asian employees working in collective and high-power-distance cultures appear to place greater importance on maintaining harmonious relationships with their work peers – most notable, their supervisors. Therefore, the importance of relationships takes on a greater significance in this context.
TO EXCEL IN EAST ASIA, HARNESS RELATIONSHIPS
Geographical boundaries are diminishing – if not disappearing – in today’s globalised marketplace. Organisations that plan to operate globally must now determine how to best recruit, select and develop their employees across cultures, especially in rapidly growing economies.
Below are five tips on how best to recruit and work with East Asian employees:
1. Organisations in East Asia will benefit from emphasising information about the workgroup and the organisation’s leadership culture during their recruitment efforts. The prospective line manager should also be involved in the interview process, using this platform to communicate his leadership values and working styles. This will allow candidates to preview the relationship they will have with their superior prior to stepping into the role;
2. Managers must develop robust interview questions in order to systematically evaluate a candidate’s suitability for the job, place of work, team and supervisor. Since person-group and person-supervisor fits hold greater significance in East Asia, testing a candidate’s compatibility with fellow employees must be part of the hiring process;
3. Upon joining a company, employee orientation efforts should include social activities and events that involve the new hires’ supervisors and co-workers. In addition, organisations should utilise mentoring as well as social gatherings in order to facilitate a newcomers’ social adjustment;
4. “Birds of a feather flock together.” As this saying implies, when recruiting in East Asia leverage existing employees to refer like-minded candidates;
Upon joining a company, employee orientation efforts should include social activities and events that involve the new hires’ supervisors and co-workers.
Multinational firms interested in selecting an expatriate for an assignment in East Asia might also consider individuals whose P-E orientation leans more towards a relational – rather than rational – fit. Expatriate attrition is often due to a misfit with their host country’s culture, rather than due to a lack of assignment-related knowledge, skills and abilities.
Anecdotally, Oh, one of the authors, observed that many expatriates find employment in East Asia challenging due to differences in how Westerners define the work experience. For example, many expatriates find after-work socialising with colleagues unnecessary and a blurring of the work-life divide. But, conversely East Asian employees see it as both an important avenue for the exchange of information and an exercise in building trust. An expatriate who accepts such social rituals is therefore more suited for East Asian assignments.
In Singapore, where East meets West, employers could embrace both the relational and rational fit in order to cater for the nation’s culturally diverse workforce. By offering both approaches, workers can choose which approach to adopt, as well as simultaneously learn about other cultural preferences.
The above study showed that in collectivistic and high-power-distance cultures – such as those of East Asia – the ‘who’ that employees encounter during their careers matters more than the ‘what’. Therefore, to attract, select and retain the best East Asian minds, companies must appeal to their employees’ relationship needs as a preference over non-relationship matters.
RESEARCH METHOD
Oh and his colleagues identified and synthesised more than 70 studies in East Asia that explored the relationships between P-E fit dimensions and work outcomes. They compared the East Asian results with corresponding North American outcomes. Since both East Asian and North American results were based on large numbers of studies across jobs, occupations, and settings, their differences better represent cultural differences. It is noted that no primary study has systematically examined P-E fit effects across all four dimensions of P-E fit and across cultures.
The four P-E fit dimensions studied are measured as percentages of a whole, so the sum of their relative weights always totals 100%. This helps the researchers compare the relative importance each dimension has in predicting work outcomes.
This article was first published in HQ Asia (Print) Issue 05 (2013)