One common issue that Vietnamese and foreigners are often different in the workplace is bringing the relatives to business affairs. While relationship-oriented Vietnamese are usually more comfortable to work with someone they already know, foreigners think that it is unprofessional to involve someone’s family or friend in business. These are the experiences of Mr Oliver H. Meeker, Senior Investment Analyst at Vietnam Investments Group.
The differences cultures in workplace
The second difference is about the time management and conflict management. Besides being unable to meet a deadline or coming to the office late, Vietnamese employees tend to keep silent instead of expressing their disagreement to avoid direct conflict. On the other hand, disagreeing, speaking up, or challenging other ideas is welcomed in the foreign working style. Foreigners expect their staff to be more pro-active, ask questions and be result-oriented, asserted Meeker.
Another problem in workplace of Vietnam is that greeting culture is seen as important. It means that the Vietnamese workers will feel slighted if they are not greeted by their boss. While the foreigners put more importance on the ability of the boss to manage the workplace, instead of their friendliness. Employees are recommended to take time to build deep relationships with their colleagues and adapt to different cultural aspects. Moreover, both Vietnamese and foreigners should respect and try to understand the manners and ways in which each other live.
Regarding organizational development, one crucial key for companies which involve both foreign and Vietnamese employees is to train cultural competence for managers and workers to create mutual cultural understanding and tolerance in the workplace, emphasized Meeker.
Source: Tuoitrenews