Hong Kong Business Teams

As a Confucian society, Hong Kong is still basically group-oriented, with the strongest group ties being to the family.

Therefore people in Hong Kong will make effective group members if the group environment is safe and harmonious. However, if not a member of the family, long-term loyalty to a team or organisation cannot really be expected – if a better opportunity arises then it will be grasped.

Team members expect to be given instructions by the manager and for that manager to maintain a close, ongoing involvement in the progress of events. In smaller companies, team members would not really be expected to take initiative or make any unilateral decisions. Therefore, when managing a team, it is important to give clear and complete instructions. Anything omitted from the original instructions is unlikely to get done.

Try to ensure that all of the team can maintain face and that nothing is done which can impact on the face of group members. Thus, when working in Hong Kong avoid even such seemingly harmless issues as gentle mockery of co-workers which can result in such loss of face.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Hong Kong only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.