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Office politics in HK vs elsewhere

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  1. #1

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    Office politics in HK vs elsewhere

    So I'm curious to know, how do you see office politics in HK compared to what it's like "back home" or on the Mainland?

    I'm not going to pretend for a moment to say there were no office politics when I worked in Canada, UK, Mainland China and Singapore. But there are some subtle and not-so subtle differences between HK-style office politics and of course mainland office politics, which is another whole ball game


  2. #2

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    Its same same but different.


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    I think in the uk people would be more open about the fact that they want to socialize and relax as soon as they get the chance. In hk people are more likely to stay late for no real reason just to get in the good books.


  4. #4

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    maybe they jus dont trust u joe? so wont let the guard down with foreigner?


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    I find the office politics much worse in HK than in the UK or France. Or maybe it's just that the game is different in HK. No-one in HK seems to be interested in doing a good job i.e. meritocracy. The focus is on I'm incompetent at my job, you're incompetent at your job, let's cover each other's arses and protect our jobs while we stay incompetent. We certainly don't want any of these gweilos coming in trying to improve things. Double standards reign supreme.

    It may be that I work in a particularly unpleasant environment (this is the only job I've had in HK so limited sample size) but it has done nothing to endear local HK people to me.


  6. #6

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    I can also see how it can be demotivating to a local employee to see a company bringing in a white face for twice the pay, doing half the work and needing all kinds of support to interact with locals. That is certainly not always the reality but there can be undertones of that feeling in some organizations.

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  7. #7

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    My opinions of hk offices are based OK my wife's stories rather than my experience. I am a teacher and i think that's a different environment altogether than an office.

    It is true that more people are teachers despite hating children haha. Perhaps because teaching is paid better here (relative to low skilled jobs) than in the uk, where you certainly wouldn't be a teacher for the money.


  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by bibbju:
    I find the office politics much worse in HK than in the UK or France. Or maybe it's just that the game is different in HK. No-one in HK seems to be interested in doing a good job i.e. meritocracy. The focus is on I'm incompetent at my job, you're incompetent at your job, let's cover each other's arses and protect our jobs while we stay incompetent. We certainly don't want any of these gweilos coming in trying to improve things. Double standards reign supreme.

    It may be that I work in a particularly unpleasant environment (this is the only job I've had in HK so limited sample size) but it has done nothing to endear local HK people to me.
    I got similar responses from a few expat friends of mind, maybe it's simply a matter of different work cultures, but they felt local colleagues tend to engage in far more office politicking then comparative office setting back home. One of them joked that HK productivity would "sky-rocket" had his local colleagues spend less time backstabbing and more time getting the actual work done.

    Of course, in some cases, the locals may have no choice but to engage in politics. If everyone else in their firm is doing it to get a leg up against each other, they will be at a severe disadvantage if they abstain from it. So it might be a case of "if you can't beat them, join them".

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Watercooler:
    I got similar responses from a few expat friends of mind, maybe it's simply a matter of different work cultures, but they felt local colleagues tend to engage in far more office politicking then comparative office setting back home. One of them joked that HK productivity would "sky-rocket" had his local colleagues spend less time backstabbing and more time getting the actual work done.

    Of course, in some cases, the locals may have no choice but to engage in politics. If everyone else in their firm is doing it to get a leg up against each other, they will be at a severe disadvantage if they abstain from it. So it might be a case of "if you can't beat them, join them".
    In all fairness that sounds like any corporate office environment anywhere in the world, not just HK.
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  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    In all fairness that sounds like any corporate office environment anywhere in the world, not just HK.
    True, but it's a matter of degree and severity here. The feedback I got is that the amount and degree of office politics is much more severe here than from where they came from. Of course, maybe it's just a question of them being unaccustomed to the style of HK office politics, rather than there being a quantitative difference in the amount of politics. Although it might not be that simple in all cases...
    Last edited by Watercooler; 04-03-2013 at 06:19 PM.

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