Portrait of the Chinese Employee as a Young Learner

June 2, 2009 in Uncategorized

National Geographic’s May 08 issue is devoted to China- the environment, culture, and the future of a cradle of civilization.

As one reads the stories of life in China, one theme gains prominence. Change takes place rapidly and sometimes violently in the Middle Kingdom. Change shapes the course of family and personal life, and rapid, effective learning continues to provide the ballast for navigating unsettling change.

One article in particular struck me as especially relevant to the topic of learning in China. Young Bella Zhou is not yet a teenager, but she and her parents already feel the stress of a competitive nation seeping into every aspect of daily life. I won’t go into the details of her highly regimented, academically strenuous life; I will instead focus on the implication that such a lifestyle has on corporate learning.

LEARNING PRIMARILY SERVES INDIVIDUAL, PERSONAL GAINS:

The ultimate achievement in Chinese schools is to pass college entrance tests. To this end, students take weekend and evening courses and do extra homework assigned by tutors so that they increase their chances of being placed in a higher-ranked university. Children from single-child families (China continues its one-child policy) listen to teachers lecture, and peer-study sessions are almost non-existent. Group or team-based learning in the classroom is rare, and would likely prove less successful because teachers drive competition over collaboration among young learners. The result is an unspoken belief about learning- knowledge should be hoarded to provide intellectual advantage over others.

HOARDED KNOWLEDGE IN THE WORKPLACE

Subconsciously, Chinese employees carry this mindset with them to the workplace. If presented with a situation that requires sharing knowledge to help a colleague, knowledgeable employees assess the value of sharing learning with others. When providing knowledge gives a lower individual payoff (e.g. low return on personal promotion, salary increase, or other reward), and others will be blamed for the resulting failure, employees will opt to reserve knowledge. Those being blamed for failure are in a weaker position, and sharing knowledge then has a potentially higher reward payoff.

UNLEASHING HOARDED KNOWLEDGE

Organizational leaders play a pivotal role in creating a collaborative environment that taps individual learning. These steps can break the cycle of competition and reward increased group contribution.

1. Mentor- Give younger employees the opportunity to learn from more experienced leaders. This time together communicates the company’s respect for leaders who succeed by helping others learn. Ideally, mentoring is propagated and sustained informally so that knowledge-hoarding blocs do not arise.
2. Reward- Remove incentives for individual contribution, and increase tracking of group achievement. Promote individuals who are recognized by their peers for helping others learn.
3. Equip- Provide resources so that employees understand how to better contribute their knowledge. Make sure that employees have general business acumen for placing learning in the proper context. Articulate the roles that team members have in learning- while some people are have an innate talent of memory (knowledge recall), others are better at synthesizing knowledge or creative adapting information. Finally, map the learning networks within your organization so that people know who to tap for knowledge, who best synthesizes knowledge, and who disseminates learning effectively.