Globally Speaking

Some cultures, especially in East and Southeast Asia, are very sensitive to group harmony. It can be a shock for one group member to be singled out for special attention — even for a compliment.

In such cultures, it is important to follow the chain of command, leaving the criticism or compliment to the worker's immediate supervisor because the attention of someone higher up will evoke fear or envy among the person's co-workers. This means that reward programs such as Employee of the Month must be handled carefully; make sure that no individual wins too often, even if he or she seems to deserve it.

Where harmony is crucial, performance evaluations tend to be based more on relating than on doing. This means that a person's cooperativeness may be considered more important than his skill or productivity.

Be aware that some of your supervisors and managers may have been promoted because of their ability to maintain harmony rather than on the basis of the objective, individual criteria that are standard in American business. At the same time, some of them may have outstanding skills that were continually understated in the evaluations in their personnel file: above average rather than excellent, for example. The reason is that the evaluators were reluctant to make anyone stand out from the rest of the team.