Necessary skills for leaders to build effective teams in China : A difference comparison between China and the West

Abstract: Past scholars tended to focus on the leadership techniques of success managers, but the current trend is to focus on the basic principles of management, which is often referred to as team-building. In this research, I compared the differences in traditional culture, social structure, education system and politics framework between China and West in order to discuss the necessary technique for doing team-building in Chinese companies and how those techniques are different from team building techniques used in Western management. Two main questions that this research sought to answer: 1. How to create sustained high performance when building effective teams in China? 2. What are the difference in leading abilities in China and the Western world? Through qualitative research methods and deep interview with business owners in China and West, this research has made several discoveries: 1. It is important to have a practical goal that can generate resonates among team members. 2. Chinese have the ability to effectively utilize interpersonal relationships (Guanxi in Mandarin Chinese) and lead organizations based on western culture; the difference between China and Western management culture is that Western management culture focuses on individualism and equality; While Chinese management culture focuses on authority, risk aversion and conservative investment. 3. China and Western managements also have different views on contracts. Relatively speaking, Chinese management focuses on the personalities while West focuses on written rules. 4. Different concepts on respecting others: Employees in Western organization focus on individual freedoms while organizations in China focus on collaborative efforts.