China consulting: services, talent and skilled staff

The China consulting package is aimed at companies that want to overcome intercultural differences between Chinese and Western work organisation. To this end, transformis brings a deep understanding of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, gained from international projects, work on the ground and collaboration with ECNU.

Companies use transformis's network in Asia and its experience in dealing with intercultural differences to bridge them and operate confidently on the Chinese market. The offering includes systemic organisational consulting in China, support in recruiting skilled workers, analysis of the potential of junior staff and a programme combining leadership development and the development of young talent.

transformis has had a branch office in Shanghai since 2012. Since 2013 it has cooperated with East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai, a renowned research university in China. As part of this cooperation, a joint research centre was set up that deals with systemic change and innovation made possible by information and communication technologies.

Robert A. Sedlák was appointed visiting professor at ECNU in 2013, together with seminars introducing modern systems theory.

In the joint projects, education, competence development and intercultural challenges have become particularly important. The agreed priorities include analysing the similarities and differences between Chinese wisdom, including Confucianism, and modern systems theory, as well as a theoretical and practical model for innovating educational culture under the socio-economic conditions in China.

In addition, there are concepts, methods and tools for innovation and competence development in the context of globalisation, and approaches with which organisational change processes in the Chinese school sector can be supported by modern information and communication technologies. These concepts are transferred to other areas, such as healthcare, hospitality and the corporate culture of multinational groups.

The cooperation gave rise to the education initiative Smart Education China, which transformis co-initiated. It aims to modernise the Chinese education system and promotes innovative concepts and methods, particularly in teacher training.

In a joint study with ECNU, transformis examined why Western companies are dissatisfied with the professional qualifications of Chinese school and university graduates and why talented people do not develop their abilities to the same extent in Western organisations.

The result: entrants to the workforce do not primarily lack specialist competencies. Less developed are the methodological and social competencies needed to apply knowledge purposefully in business practice. In Western companies, cultural differences are added to this.

Many graduates can memorise quickly and pick up work steps, and they have very good theoretical knowledge. Because of the strongly theory-oriented education system, however, they often lack practical knowledge, needs-based qualification and decisiveness. Many also find it difficult to address shortcomings openly, actively ask questions or take on project responsibility independently. The ability to think and act proactively must therefore be taught in the workplace.

Recruiting qualified and suitable skilled workers in China is often difficult for Western companies, because recruiting methods from other countries differ significantly from Chinese practices. transformis helps companies achieve the best possible fit between their own requirements and the competence and personality profile of the candidates.

In its research cooperation with ECNU, transformis has also developed a concept with which managers can reliably determine the potential of junior staff. transformis analyses this potential and enables managers to carry out development planning aligned with the organisation's requirements and to evaluate its effect regularly. Developing methodological competencies thus becomes a leadership task.

The programme combining leadership development and the development of young talent interlinks findings from neuroscience, psychology and education and takes into account the socio-economic structures of the Chinese labour and education system. It draws on the neuroscientific findings on human learning and action that underlie the Zurich Resource Model (ZRM®), complemented by action-oriented learning models from business education and elements of classical Chinese pedagogy.

Certified ZRM® coaches enable managers at the first, second and, where necessary, third level to develop the self-management competencies of employees and especially of young professionals. This is done through an individually tailored sequence of systemic analyses and coaching sessions. A key aim is to continuously strengthen personal initiative and independence.

The concept contains elements of the German dual vocational training system. In action-oriented workshops, managers learn to connect the teaching of theoretical knowledge closely with the work processes required for specific tasks in the organisation. In this way, the development of junior staff can be linked with value-adding activities.

Sùzhì (素質 / 素质) describes a holistic approach to education derived from Confucian educational teaching. It differs markedly from Yìngshì jiàoyù (應試教育 / 应试教育), an education geared purely to examinations.

In the development programme, elements of Sùzhì serve to open managers and young professionals to interactive workshop methods and to train social competencies for everyday working life. Participants develop knowledge, will and ability through practical, shared action, with head, heart and hand, and strengthen their working relationships in the process.

The programme aims to enable managers to develop their employees' potential in a targeted way and thus contribute to the performance of the subsidiary in China. transformis's coaches on the ground bring many years of experience and take into account the cultural similarities and differences between Western organisational culture and the Chinese understanding of work.

At the same time, the joint work improves the relationship between managers and junior staff. This helps retain high potentials and talent in the company in the long term. transformis has also developed its own onboarding concept for entrants to the workforce in China.

transformis's work in China began in 2006 with a strategy process for the business unit of a company in the plastics industry. On 1 May 2011, a representative office was opened in Shanghai, which later became the Chinese subsidiary. In the following years, projects for European industrial and technology companies were added: strategy development and strategy implementation, Innovative Customer Segmentation, competence profiles and development programmes for sales, a quality and service concept, and executive coaching at a Chinese headquarters.

From 2010 to 2014, transformis supported the relocation of the headquarters of a major business unit in the plastics industry from Germany to Shanghai. The consulting concept formulated working hypotheses on the effects of the move from an organisational perspective.

It looked at the challenges for individual areas of the business unit and the changed relationships with other units in the group. The outside view was intended to make blind spots and latent opportunities and risks visible, so that the business unit could recognise and reassess further aspects of the move.

The challenges lay in six areas. Roles and responsibilities concerned an appropriate understanding of the new role, a shared vision of the future, relationships with regional organisations and the holding company, efficient work and communication routines and the close involvement of the NAFTA and EMEA regions. HR management covered recruiting, employer branding, retention, expat management and talent management. Then there was building local infrastructure and a network of relationships (guanxi), developing a shared third culture, and knowledge transfer and protection of intellectual property.

Strategic management and leadership had the task of continuously observing major changes in the environment, establishing routines for reviewing and developing the strategy and continuing the implementation of the business unit's strategy.

The joint study with ECNU is based on an online survey conducted from 7 September to 2 October 2015, supported by the German Chinese Business Association. 3,500 German companies operating in China were invited, and 218 data sets were included in the evaluation. The following figures reflect the status of this survey and do not describe the situation today. Overall, 77 per cent of companies were partly to very satisfied with the entrants to the workforce they had hired, and 23 per cent partly to very dissatisfied.

A third of respondents had been unable to fill all positions advertised for graduates in the two years before the survey, especially in technical areas and in research and development. The main reasons given were insufficient specialist and methodological knowledge and a lack of practical experience. In terms of qualifications, 46 per cent preferred a master's degree, 41 per cent a bachelor's degree and 8 per cent a vocational school qualification. The most common reason companies gave for the termination of employment was a move to another employer.

For 37 competencies in four clusters, the study compared importance and degree of fulfilment. For specialist and methodological competencies, an average importance of 80 per cent contrasted with fulfilment of 58 per cent; for social competencies the figures were 81 and 56, for personal competencies 81 and 59, and for experience and additional qualifications 71 and 61 per cent.

The largest individual gaps concerned problem-solving skills, analytical and decision-making ability, a sense of responsibility, the courage to admit one's own mistakes and a sense of quality. The lower the formal qualification, the larger the gap.

The study concluded that teaching should be more action- and process-oriented, based on the model of the complete action, so that social and personal competencies are trained without compromising on specialist content.

For its collaboration with ECNU, transformis developed a concept for the coaching competence of Chinese teachers in 2013. The starting point is the shift from teacher-centred knowledge transfer to learner-centred, constructivist approaches: new knowledge arises from learners' prior knowledge, as they learn actively, on authentic tasks and together with others. This changes the teacher's role. In learner-centred phases, the teacher holds back and accompanies the learning process as a coach.

The concept takes up the three roles that David Jonassen describes for constructivist learning environments. In modelling, the teacher shows how an activity is carried out and makes the reasoning behind it comprehensible. In coaching, the teacher motivates, analyses performance, gives feedback and encourages reflection. Scaffolding provides temporary support with which learners can master tasks that are still beyond their abilities.

As a practical framework, the concept names the action-oriented learning of German vocational schools. Learning assignments follow the complete action: inform, plan, decide, execute, check, evaluate. Learning builds on learners' experiences, is self-organised, cooperative and directed towards a product that can be shown. Instead of merely calculating water displacement, learners might build a boat that carries as much as possible. Peer coaching and team teaching support the collaboration among teachers that this requires.

The concept draws on comparative studies, including the field studies by Detlef Sembill (1994 to 2001) and a meta-analysis by Giaconia and Hedges covering 153 studies. According to these, learner-centred and conventional arrangements hardly differ in terms of specialist knowledge, while problem-solving ability, independence, cooperation and creativity are fostered more strongly in open teaching. The concept sees a point of connection in China in the work of John Dewey, who lectured there from 1919 to 1921 and shaped progressive education.