Things need to be changed in the workplace – (5)

This is Part 5 of this article. Read Part 4 of this article here.

*Note:
1. Throughout the article, the phrase “the business field” or “the business world” means the whole society where people join the workforce. It does NOT only represent people who work in a business-type position, but also every people who work in office jobs.
2. Throughout the article, “Boss” only refers to the CEO or the owner of the company; it does not refer to the “Supervisor” who is not a CEO but manages some employees. “Boss” and “Supervisor” is different in the article as above describes.
3. Throughout the article, “employers” is referred to the boss, hiring manager, and HR. It is NOT only referred to as a boss or an owner of a company. 
4. When a situation in the article is not specifically pointed to as a “situation in Taiwan”, such a situation happens in the West, too.

6. Micro-management

Answering a question on Quora: Can CEOs be late to the office every day, a responder said in his answer,” I would be more worried if I see him at the office every day from 8 am to 6 pm…..He was traveling constantly to meet with potential clients, partners, investors, press, etc. He was able to trust the other executives that he recruited to handle the day-to-day operations. On the other hand, when the company wasn’t doing so well, or if a few critical VPs left (never a good sign), then the CEO was spending more time at the office. There are also CEOs who never leave the office and attend every single meeting of their direct reports, just to listen in and micromanage. That’s probably the worst scenario.” A person comments on this answer, “Not sure I agree with the last statement completely…..Getting involved with the teams should be one of the responsibilities in my opinion. How else will they (CEOs) understand what challenges is the company facing? ^[1]https://www.quora.com/Can-a-CEO-be-late-to-their-office-almost-every-day/answer/Franco-Caporale?ch=18&oid=74385390&share=10ed165f&srid=uzPvp&target_type=answer ”

I share the same opinion with the commenter who replies to this answer – This answer is partly correct and partly wrong. In terms of “getting involved with the teams”, I want to share my additional points. First, I do agree a CEO has to hire the best talents and let them exert their abilities and do their jobs. However, I think in most cases, the ones who micro-managing are VPs, directors, and managers, not the CEO. Many CEOs usually just listen to reports and make decisions. Second, I don’t think listening to reports is micromanagement. Listening to the subordinate’s report is a must to do. You are probably a manager or director, you listen to your subordinate’s report, don’t you? A CEO has to make decisions, so he/she has to listen to the reports of his VPs and other CxO. There are many things that should be viewed more as micro-managing than listening to reports unless the required report is some kind of trash. For instance, demand you write about what you were doing at 10 am yesterday. Suppose that’s what you are demanded, that’s indeed one of the ways of micro-managing.

Still, micro-management is an issue that people from every country still complain about. I am not familiar with the situation of micro-management in the U.S. and other countries. However, even if the way of micro-managing in some countries isn’t as worse as the way in Taiwan, the mindsets and the problems of supervisors who micro-manage subordinates are similar. Therefore, my advice to resolve micro-management issues in Taiwan still can be applied. The following is a summary of my advice. You can skip it if you have read Part 4 of the article. or you can also read Part 4 of the article for the detail if you haven’t read it.

1. Some supervisors who micro-manage subordinates are actually very controlling or like to have a sense of superiority by doing subordinates’ work in front of them, or both; some supervisors micro-manage by doing some jobs on their own because they don’t know whether a subordinate’s work is done well or not; some supervisors who micro-manage have all the above problems.

2. My suggestions to supervisors who micro-manage subordinates:

(1) Fix your psychological issues on your own instead of bringing your issue to the workplace and affecting your employees and colleagues.

(2) A supervisor’s job should be about managing a broader picture than the one that subordinates manage, leading, and mentoring subordinates. If you micro-manage subordinates, you probably don’t know what you should do in your position in addition to being overly controlling. Being a supervisor with a higher salary, you should improve your knowledge of what and how you should do in your position on your own instead of robbing your subordinates’ work to satisfy your pathetic sense of inferiority. Many ways of micro-management are only suitable for some highly-replaceable jobs such as receptionist or entry-level factory workers; it does not suitable for most other office jobs.

(3) Instead of micro-managing subordinates, supervisors should promote employees that are independent in work and have good abilities, rather than employees who are not independent but only “listeners” who only are able to do what you taught before. Such highly dependent employees won’t help companies grow or become better and therefore shouldn’t be promoted; just let them stay where they are currently. You as supervisors should work on being independent at work, too.

(4) Learn how to use digital tools if you don’t know how to use them.
Many jobs which are not repetitive require independent thinking and adaptability instead of detailed training. Let your subordinates be independent and think on their own. As I said in Part 2 of the article, “Many marketing professionals learn how to do digital marketing on their own during and after work and therefore become seasoned marketing professionals, rather than being taught by supervisors during work, which is an old fashion way.” Nevertheless, many old supervisors don’t learn how to use digital tools at work. Equally importantly, supervisors who think every work has to have detailed training should train themselves in independent thinking, adaptability, and self-learning, and they should demand their subordinates do so, too.

(5) With regard to some supervisors’ issues of doing everything that she/he didn’t teach before instead of letting subordinates think on their own and exert their abilities, part of my suggestion in Point 4 in Part 3 of this article can resolve this problem. If the work is about the function you work in, certainly you can show your subordinate how to do a new work which you haven’t taught before. That said, sometimes you can do a risk assessment, let your subordinate think on his/her own, and accept some failures if the risk is not big. Nevertheless, sometimes a work that a supervisor didn’t teach before is about another function that a subordinate and you don’t work in. Some supervisors do such jobs on their own…..some supervisors do that because they don’t know whether a subordinate’s work is done well or not………….let me repeat part of my suggestion in Point 4 in Part 3: It’s okay because you don’t have to possess every professionalism. However, since…[some reason], so the company you work for hasn’t grown up to a bigger size, why not let your subordinates exert their abilities? Since it’s about you don’t know whether a proposal is good or not, it could also be indeed good. Do a risk assessment of the possible consequence that a failure in the work may bring and take some small or medium risks, let your subordinates exert their abilities, and accept that sometimes there may be failures. If you take away their jobs and do that work on your own, since it’s not about your professionalism, you may fail, too. Suppose you have something you care about, you can point out what you care about before your subordinate start on that proposal or review your subordinate’s proposal, point out what part and why is wrong, and maybe provide some suggestions if you can after that proposal is done. So why do you care whether your subordinates fail while you don’t care whether you fail when both of you can do things about something you care about on the proposal? What makes you feel the proposal done by you must be better than the one done by your subordinate? If you can’t tell whether a proposal is good, it could also be good. If you can tell, why not just speak out about what part and why is wrong? Don’t know how to tell? Then there is a problem with your expression ability. Improve it instead of taking away your subordinate’s job. Some people will say it’s too ideal when reading this Second point. No, it’s not too ideal at all. It’s you having a problem with your reading skill. Again, since it’s not about your professionalism, you may fail, too. Read the sentences from “Suppose you have something you care about” to “Improve it instead of taking away….” again.

Addition

I have an additional note for another micro-management situation in Taiwan. Sometimes there are some people write articles on Taiwan’s websites complaining that they want to leave this job because there are a lot of times when there is nothing to do at work – Often all of the work per day is done in only 2 or 3 hours, but supervisors often observe them to see if they surf on the Internet instead of working. This is the situation that mostly happens in administration jobs in Tawain. Many Taiwanese often comment, “You aren’t supposed to do your own matters during work”, “If your boss doesn’t want to care about that, it’s that you are lucky to be able to do your own thing at work, but generally speaking you can’t do your own thing. You are paid by your boss and you still want to do your own thing at work? What is the logic?”, or “You are supposed to pretend to be busy during work”. Despite some Taiwanese thinking they would also want to leave if they have such jobs, these Taiwanese also don’t know how to answer such comments.

No. I don’t agree with the above comments; the complaint makes sense. These Taiwanese who have such thoughts are probably used to being slaved by bad Taiwanese bosses and supervisors.

First, certainly, if there is work waiting to be done, you should do that work during work time; however, if there is no work, why can’t an employee do their own things? It’s about priority. Doing work is the first priority, but if there is nothing to do, of course, you should have the right to do your own things.

Second, although other types of jobs may have more work to be done than administration jobs do and some supervisors also care about whether employees in other types of jobs such as Marketing or Sales do their personal things at work even when the work of such employees is not busy, there are also some supervisors who understand everyone needs a bit of rest at work so don’t care their subordinates do personal things sometimes in front of them. Many Taiwanese who are software engineers are able to read some news or strengthen their programming skills at work in front of their bosses when works are not busy. So why other types of jobs that are not software engineers – For instance, Marketing or Sales – can’t be treated the same as a software engineer is treated? Supervisors, let your employees rest when there is nothing to do.

Third, many bosses and supervisors have a thought that they waste money when they hire an employee but that employee does personal things at work. Some Taiwanese bosses and supervisors, therefore, require employees to pretend to be busy. However, let me ask you, when there is no work to be done and your employee is pretending to be busy, since he/she is doing nothing but only pretending to do something, isn’t your money still wasted? What work service does pretending to do something is done for you and provide to your business? It’s a ridiculous thought that employees have to pretend to be busy. In addition, some Taiwanese bosses often, therefore, give a lot of work to one single employee because they are afraid that their money will be wasted if an employee has nothing to do. However, although the administration job in the above case indeed has a lot of waste, employees in some jobs in Tawain are actually too busy, especially employees in entry-level jobs in the catering industry. This is an exploitation. Give your employees a bit of rest time at work when there is nothing to do instead of requiring them to pretend to be busy. When the busy time comes, your employee will therefore have enough energy to deal with work.
It’s ridiculous that many Taiwanese supervisors have such thoughts that employees can’t do their own things at work when there is nothing that needs to be done and that employees should pretend to be busy all the time when they all know there is nothing that needs to be done. This is a type of micro-management.

I don’t know if people in other countries such as the U.S. share the same thought as these Taiwanese who made or agree with the comments I quote. I guess that some supervisors in other countries would allow administration personnel to do their own matters when there is nothing to do, but some supervisors in other countries would still care about whether their employees who do other jobs that have more work to be done compared with an administration job do their own matters during work. Therefore, the same words above are given to people in any country who think the above-quoted comments make sense.

7. Create An Introvert-Friendly Work Environment

Although there are many introverts in the world and people are familiar with introverts, many workplaces actually discriminate against introverts. Many people respect introverted professionals with some specific jobs such as software engineers, but such respect isn’t given to introverted professionals with any type of job – Yes, I say “any” type of job, including some jobs that are generally considered only suitable for extroverts. The situation is less terrible in some Western countries such as the U.S. For example, some U.S companies hire introverts in Sales, which is a role that is generally considered suitable for extroverts; there have been also some articles written about the advantage of introverted Sales. This one or this one may be your good reference. Another example is Marketing, which is often considered an extrovert’s job, and there are more extroverts working in a Marketing position than introverts do. But many articles in the U.S. also write about introverts who are also great at Marketing. Still, many companies in every part of the world, including the U.S., don’t actually respect introverts, they in many cases tend to hire an extrovert if they can, except for some specific jobs that are generally considered as introverts’ jobs, such as Software engineer. They think an extrovert “works well with the team” while an introvert doesn’t. Some of the supervisors don’t have such discrimination, but they still hire extroverts because he/she and the team members are all extroverts – They also think an extrovert “works better” with them. In my view, this is discrimination toward introverts. Pathetically we urge for stopping discrimination toward race, gender, and nationalities, but most people don’t discover that introverts are being discriminated against, as well. The situation is worse in Taiwan. Although Taiwanese tend to be shyer than Westerners, Taiwanese actually value extroverts and tend to hire extroverts. In addition, because the concept that introverts can be Sales or Marketing hasn’t spread into Taiwan, Taiwanese supervisors prefer to hire extroverts in Sales or Marketing.

Misconceptions toward introverts and the correct view of introverts

As an introvert, I want to address some misconceptions about introverts and extroverts and my view of how you should improve your thoughts toward introverts.

1. Extroverts possess better communication and expression abilities and are better at getting along with people than introverts do.

My view:
NO.
First, many people’s definition of “good communication and expression abilities” is wrong. “Outgoing” or “like / good at socializing with people” doesn’t mean “good communication or expression ability”. Introverts are certainly quiet and don’t like to frequently socialize with people, but that doesn’t mean every introvert must not possess good communication or expression abilities. Many introverts can speak, express their thoughts, and communicate and collaborate with others in terms of work, specialty, and personal interests. Sadly people tend to have a misconception that good communication or good expression ability is that someone “lively” communicating with others or expressing a thought. Quick question: Why can’t someone express a thought or communicate with a person in a “not lively” manner? Many professionals don’t do these things in a “lively” manner, do they? If you don’t do that, why do you demand a candidate to be an extrovert and answer your question “lively”? This misconception is fucking ridiculous, and many of you have a ridiculous double standard for your subordinates.

What’s more, it’s true that many introverts aren’t good at expression or communication, but that doesn’t mean every introvert isn’t good at expression or communication. Why don’t you observe on your own whether a candidate or an employee is good at these things or not during a job interview or work? In fact, the difference in the level of expression or the level of communication ability more often happens between different job categories. For example, many Sales are good at expressing thoughts or communicating with others, and many of them are extroverts, while many software engineers aren’t good at doing these and are introverts. Nonetheless, many extroverts who do jobs other than software engineering actually are suck at expressing thoughts or communicating with others: They often only talk the talk or bluff ( Just to be clear, many introverts also do that and it’s wrong. I am simply talking about extroverts who do these things are ridiculously viewed as “good at expressing or communicating” ). Meanwhile, there are some introverts who do jobs other than software engineers and excel at expressing and communicating work-related things, their specialties, and their interests; there are also some introverted software engineers who are good at expressing and communicating – Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are good examples.

Second, no doubt that extroverts like to get along with people while many introverts prefer the time to be alone, and extroverts are better at getting along with people than introverts do. However, “good at getting along with people” or “like talking with people” doesn’t mean possessing good expression ability or communication ability. Let me repeat what I said in the First point again: Many extroverts who do jobs other than software engineering actually are suck at expressing thoughts or communicating with others: They often only talk the talk or bluff ( Just to be clear, many introverts also do that and it’s wrong. I am simply talking about extroverts who do these things are ridiculously viewed as “good at expressing or communicating). Meanwhile, there are some introverts who do jobs other than software engineers and excel at expressing and communicating work-related things, their professionalism, and their interests.

Third, why does a person must “get along with” you or other people? As long as someone doesn’t play some work politics and does his/her job, she/he doesn’t affect your or others’ work. Then why does it matter that someone doesn’t fucking “get along well with” you or other people? Why can’t he/she “just do his/her work”, which is a thing that even some extroverts who are sick of office politics wish? “I want someone that gets along with people well”? This is fucking ridiculous. Have a professional attitude in workplaces, all right? Can’t you drop your personal preference and work with introverts at work professionally by discussing solely work with them? You are the one who can’t work well with a team.

2. I don’t care if a candidate is an introvert or extrovert, but he/she should smile. This looks more friendly and shows more willingness to collaborate with others.

My view:
NO. Certainly, a smile makes a person seem friendly. I, as an introvert, also feel warm and relieved when meeting with a stranger who smiles at me. Smiling is definitely a good thing. Mark Zuckerberg, an introvert, also often smiles in the public, too. I believe there are many introverts that would smile at people. That said, Bill Gates as an introvert doesn’t smile every time in front of the public; he simply professionally explains his view on climate change or some healthcare issues. Steve Jobs as a person between an extrovert and an introvert didn’t smile a lot at those Apple product release conferences; he simply professionally explained the latest Apple product. So why do you accept them not smiling but don’t accept other people not smiling? Many professionals actually don’t smile a lot when discussing important work. So why does someone has to smile during an interview or at work in order to show his/her willingness to collaborate with others? Why can’t someone be smileless while discussing work and possessing the willingness to listen to others’ opinions and collaborate with others? “Smileless” and “are willing to listen to others and collaborate with others” don’t conflict with each other. In fact, many introverts are great listeners^[2]https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/introverts-make-great-salespeople , which is good for collaborating with others. More importantly, many people’s definitions of “collaborating with others” is wrong. A willingness to “collaborate with others” or be good at collaborating with others doesn’t mean “smiling” at others. That’s a misconception.

Moreover, just because someone isn’t friendly to you doesn’t mean he/she isn’t willing to collaborate with you, either. Remember what I said in Part 2 of this article about “attitude”? I said, “many people have got the meaning of “attitude” wrong: In the case of working, it should be referred to as “attitude of work”, and an attitude of work is equal to an attitude “at work”.” Remember what I said in Part 4 of the article about a similar topic? I said (It’s a bit long, you may skip if you remember the content), “Personality has no relationship with attitude in work, and therefore shouldn’t be used as an indicator of ‘good to work with’. To find out whether someone is ‘good to work with’, you have to see his/her attitude at work. For example, being responsible, determination to actually execute one thing, or caring about details to make a work perfect – these are all great attitudes at work or characteristics that a person shows in work. But characteristics in work don’t always mean personality…..and many of you hire employees based on such personality traits which are non-relevant to work. Attitude at work will be a more accurate indicator. More importantly, these characteristics have nothing to do with whether someone’s personality is pleasant for you or not. Very often, many hiring managers hire candidates who hiring managers like based on their personal preferences…..Many good candidates have been missed out because of that. Let me ask you: If there is a software engineer whose personality makes you feel he doesn’t seem to be a person that will get along with you, but he/she is really good at developing software – he/she is the top in the field, put salary and other factors aside, will you hire him/her? Most of you will say YES, as long as he/she can develop software for me with his/her exceptional skills, who cares whether we get along or not? So why don’t you treat other job types as you do with software engineers?“

Here is my suggestion: Instead of checking if a candidate has smiled at you to show his/her friendliness, check the level of a candidate’s professional abilities, and ask him/her some questions about the past experience of working with others – that will be a more accurate indicator in terms of whether someone can collaborate with others or not.

3. Sale is a job that is not suitable for introverts.

My view:
No. There is an article that talks about the advantage of an introvert as a Sales representative. You may read it. I will add that these advantages of an introvert prove that an introvert can be a great Sales – just in a way that is different from the way of extroverts. Why do you care whether someone’s way is different from what you imagine? Why someone’s way must be as same as yours? As long as he/she brings you deals, no need to care^^. You should also refer to the few sentences I said in the first misconception: “Many extroverts who do jobs other than software engineering actually……….They often only talk the talk or bluff…..Meanwhile, there are some introverts who do jobs other than software engineers and excel at expressing and communicating”. In addition, the sales Dave described in this answer on Quora is one good example of an introvert who did a great job in Sales.

By the way, Taiwan has a worse situation. As I mentioned, because the concept that introverts can be Sales or Marketing hasn’t spread into Taiwan, Taiwanese supervisors prefer to hire extroverts in Sales or Marketing. In addition, there is also some discrimination based on gender. Although there still are some introverts being hired in Sales, such introverted Sales are often male. Often females who are hired as sales are extroverts. Many male Taiwanese supervisors love to hire extrovert, young, and beautiful females as Sales to “please male Taiwanese clients who love to see some beauties” (^^), especially in the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. The supervisors of the Sales function are mostly male; these female sales who are hired to “please male Taiwanese clients” are only entry-level sales. The behavior of letting female sales please male clients is wrong. Why? Because “pleasing male clients with feminine charm” has nothing to do with professional abilities. Although many young female sales don’t realize that, such an expectation shouldn’t exist at all and isn’t helpful for developing their professional ability. If a supervisor hires a male as a Sales, there will be a demand from the supervisor made on that male Sales, and there will be some hope of promotion if did the job well. I suggest male Taiwanese supervisors stop utilizing such young and extroverted females, and hire females based on what they demand from a male instead – Professional knowledge in the industry, professional abilities, and expression ability, and make the same demand on your female sales as the demand you make on your male sales instead of letting your female sales “please male clients” with her feminine charm. Equally importantly, if you have male sales who aren’t graduated from relevant subjects and therefore don’t possess relevant knowledge in the industry at the beginning of their career in the industry ( Yes, there are some such male sales, even in the semiconductor industry), why do you expect female sales who are the same as such male sales have to “please male clients”? Whatever expectation you have on such male sales, put the same expectation on such female sales as well instead of asking/letting these female sales “please male clients with feminine charm” ( Except for the expectation of “drinking A LOT OF alcohol” – For example: The expectation that a Sales has to be willing to drink many bottles of whiskey; such situation often happens in Taiwan. This expectation shouldn’t exist at all, and therefore shouldn’t be put on anyone ( males or females ). Yes, this expectation of “drinking A LOT OF alcohol” shouldn’t be put on males, either ).

( The above situation more often happens in the semiconductor industry. It’s just some often-seen cases; I do also see a female in the semiconductor industry hired as a Sales because of her professionalism, too. )

4. Marketing is a job that is not suitable for introverts, as marketing professionals are all creative persons with lively/energic vibes, and doing marketing requires people with that vibe to do brainstorming meetings.

My view:
No.
First, marketing indeed requires some creative thinking, but being creative doesn’t mean being outgoing or lively. As we all know, many creative professionals in many types of jobs such as writers, painters, and musicians are introverts^^. So why would you have this fucking ridiculous thought that someone creative must be an extrovert? You don’t have this thought? But you have this thought for marketing professionals. Why do you have this fucking ridiculous thought that someone creative in marketing must be an extrovert^^? In fact, many introverts can do a great job in many work in marketing that requires creative thinking. For example, copywriting, coming out with a script for advertising, and coming out with a theme for public events.

Second, people tend to have a misunderstanding that someone must be outgoing in order to succeed in a meeting because a meeting is a group activity. However, again, don’t forget that many people are very serious when discussing work during a meeting. Why does someone have to be outgoing in order to succeed in the meeting? Can’t someone just professionally express his/her ideas or thoughts and professionally communicate them with others? Why does it matter whether a meeting has “a lively/energic vibe” or not? Ideas and constructive discussion should be the necessary things, not a “lively/energic vibe” ( I am talking about every kind of meeting. Whether it’s a brainstorming meeting or not, as long as it’s a meeting related to “ideas”). You don’t mean that the meeting must have a lively/energic vibe? No, you did mean that, because you did think “marketing requires people with that vibe to do meetings”. Anyway, as long as there are valuable ideas being contributed and constructive discussion, it’s a meaningful meeting.
What’s more, doing a brainstorming meeting doesn’t require attendees to be “lively” or “energic”. Someone who is an introvert can contribute valuable ideas without being “lively” or “energic” as long as he/she is contributing fucking ideas to the team. To marketing professionals who have this misunderstanding that brainstorming meetings require people with a lively/energic vibe: One, just because someone is quiet doesn’t always mean he/she doesn’t or can’t contribute any ideas to the team during a meeting. Why don’t you fucking check out on your own whether a quiet person indeed does his/her job during a meeting or not? Two, what makes you feel that an introvert’s idea must be worse than yours? Just because he/she is an introvert? Just because he/she doesn’t have that “vibe”? Why don’t you be more professional and evaluate your subordinate’s ideas based on fucking “ideas” instead of whether someone has a ‘vibe” or is lively or not? The thought that someone must be lively is ridiculous.

Additional notes for discrimination against introverts in Taiwan

I also would like to particularly discuss the situation of discrimination against introverts in Taiwan. As I previously said, although Taiwanese tend to be shyer than Westerners, Taiwanese actually value extroverts and tend to hire extroverts; this especially very often happens when it comes to the hiring of young employees – as people tend to have the impression that young people are energic, many Taiwanese supervisors love to hire outgoing people when hiring a junior position that is often applied by young people. Here I will list out some common situations in Taiwan and my view of them.

1. Taiwanese supervisors love to hire outgoing people when hiring a junior position that is often applied by young people.

My view:
One, some high-ranking supervisors in Taiwan are introverts. If you think a high-ranking supervisor doesn’t have to be an extrovert, why must you need a young employee to be an extrovert? Double standard and discrimination.

Two, read the 4 misconceptions written above. Stop having these misconceptions. As I said, such thoughts are discrimination.

Three, as I said in Point 5.1.1 of Part 4 of this article, the purpose of many Taiwanese supervisors who like to hire a lively young employee is to entertain them. You may skip this part if you have read Part 4: “If you as a young person make yourself hyper, supervisors won’t ask you about your experience or skills; you easily get hired because you get hyper. If you as a young person don’t make yourself hyper, they start to criticize which part you don’t meet the criteria of them, and they won’t hire you. These bosses or supervisors aren’t professional, and that’s why they hire employees based on whether there is a trait of being lively instead of hiring employees based on abilities and attitude at work. That’s why many Taiwanese corporations are full of incapable supervisors and incapable employees. This situation more often happens to young female candidates in Taiwan.”

Four, which is the most important one, although Taiwanese tend to be shyer than Westerners, Taiwanese actually value extroverts and tend to hire extroverts. Many Taiwanese often discuss that Westerners are outspoken regarding their thought, while Taiwanese often very shy during a meeting; Taiwanese think that’s probably because the personality trait of Taiwanese is shyness. However, I think that’s only one of the reasons for some Taiwanese, and there are other reasons for even such Taiwanese who are really shy. I have a different view. There are many extroverted Taiwanese, and I don’t see them as shy on occasions other than a meeting.
The first reason that Taiwanese is not outspoken in meetings with Western colleagues is that many Taiwanese including extroverted Taiwanese lack independent thinking because of the way of education in Taiwan; therefore, they don’t have any particular thoughts regarding a specific thing.
The second reason is that most Taiwanese including extroverted Taiwanese lack expression ability because of the same thing – the way of education in Taiwan.
So let me ask you: Why do you value extroverted Taiwanese more than introverted Taiwanese when extroverts also lack independent thinking and expression ability and therefore don’t have any thoughts on various topics at work? I suggest you hire and promote employees who have independent thinking and good expression ability instead of someone outgoing or lively.
The last reason is that most Taiwanese are less confident than Westerners because of both the way of family education in Taiwan and the better economical development of Western countries. In fact, some extroverted Taiwanese are still very outspoken during a meeting where every attendant is Taiwanese. So this is why not being outspoken for some Taiwanese who actually have their own thoughts. For some such Taiwanese, you are an adult now, so just fix your own psychological issue instead of blaming your family but doing nothing – I see many Taiwanese blame their parents but do nothing to improve their confidence as adults; this is not the topic here, so I won’t discuss in depth. Other such Taiwanese have the same problem I describe above: Lack of thought because lack of independent thinking, and have bad expression ability.

2. Young employees in junior positions must have a good attitude: Smile, be friendly, and be polite to old senior employees, so old senior employees will be willing to teach them when receiving such respect.

My view:
No. This is a situation in the Taiwanese overvaluing age or seniority because of traditional culture: “honoring the old and esteeming the wise and virtuous”, which I mentioned in Point 5.2.1 in Part 4 of the article. Of course, anyone who has to consult with a professional has to show some politeness, but the situation in Taiwan is that many Taiwanese including young people think someone more senior or older must have better abilities in work, or many Taiwanese bosses and supervisors, therefore, demand young employees have to smile, be friendly, and honor old senior employees – that’s such Taiwanese’s so-called “good attitude” or “politeness”. These thoughts are incorrect.

First, being polite doesn’t mean someone has to smile or be friendly. One, every person’s personality is different. Some people just don’t like smiling; people who don’t smile don’t mean they are impolite to you. Two, every person has someone that she/he feels that she/he can’t get along well with. More importantly, every person has the right to choose whether she/he wants to get along with you or not even if she/he can get along with you. Some introverts just don’t like to make friends, and therefore the “not being friendly” action in your eyes doesn’t mean she/he isn’t polite or doesn’t appreciate your teaching of valuable knowledge. If a young employee says “Thank you” after teaching, leave her/him alone from this “friendly” matter because of this right. As long as a young employee can complete the work after training, why does it matter that she/he must smile or be “friendly” in a way that you want? It’s senior employees and you should correct your thoughts and leave young employees alone from this “friendly” matter as long as he/she did say “Thank you” after teaching. Moreover, being cold to someone doesn’t always mean being unfriendly, either. Many software engineers are quiet and don’t smile but often help employees in other job functions with their specialties; such help is a way of friendliness – I believe many of you agree. Then why don’t you have the same thought for employees in other job functions? Instead of checking whether someone smiles or honors old or senior employees just because they are senior, check out if he/she helps other employees when he/she is available.

Second, because of the above reasons in the first point, the definition of “good attitude” by many Taiwanese is wrong. “Good attitude” doesn’t mean someone has to smile, be friendly, and honor old senior employees. ( The “honor” or “reverence” here is not about equal respect among people. The “honor” or “reverence” here means someone older will have more authority in the mind of the Taiwanese ). Moreover, as I said in Part 2 of this article, many people including Westerners have got the meaning of “attitude” wrong: In the case of working, it should be referred to as “attitude of work”. Attitude at work has no relationship with whether someone reverence senior or elderly employees or not. After all, one, not reverencing someone doesn’t mean looking down on or discriminating against someone, or not appreciating someone’s teaching. It depends on the individual case; why can’t a person be like Westerners and just doesn’t have the thought that elderly or senior employees must be better than himself/herself, but that person still treats older/senior employees with the same equal respect that everyone including peers and younger employees is treated with? Every person should be allowed to do that. Two, being senior or old doesn’t mean possessing good abilities – why does a young employee must reverence for senior or elderly employees only because of their seniority or age? This is ridiculous. As the examples of work attitude, I listed in Part 4 of the article, being responsible, determination to actually execute one thing, or caring about details to make a work perfect – these are all great attitudes at work or characteristics that a person shows in work.
In addition, as I said in Point 5.2.2 in Part 4 of this article, many supervisors in the U.S. are leading people older or senior to what they are. Some employees in the U.S. are promoted because of their abilities, not their seniority or age. Likewise, you should reverence a person because of his/her abilities, not his/her age. Reverence of a person because of seniority or age has caused some problems in the workplace in Taiwan. Not always senior people’s abilities are better than junior people’s. The same concept applies to the phrase of the philosopher Confucious. “The virtuous” may be someone who is not senior, and the phrase is not only about “honoring the old” but also about “esteeming the wise and virtuous”. It seems most Taiwanese have a wrong thought that the wise and virtuous person must be a senior or old person and ignore having to “esteem the wise and virtuous”. Because of wrong thoughts and ignorance, many young Taiwanese whose abilities are good don’t get the respect or reverence they deserve. Certainly, this wrong belief won’t help a company grow but only stagnates a company. Instead of demanding young employees reverence senior or old employees or smiling at them because of traditional Taiwanese culture, I suggest you evaluate your employees/subordinates based on your evaluation of her/his professional abilities and attitude “at work”.

3. Many Taiwanese employees will want colleagues to eat lunch with them; otherwise, they will think the colleague is an odd person who doesn’t fit into the group and doesn’t know the interpersonal relationship that she/he has to deal with, and isn’t friendly. Many Taiwanese don’t like colleagues who eat lunch alone instead of eating lunch with somebody. This situation especially more often happens among Taiwanese female employees, including introverted females, because most female has a habit to be in a group that is full of females and everyone in that group is a friend – the thing that is done in high school is still done in workplaces.
( In Taiwan, there is a lunch rest time in workplaces and schools, and the work time is 9 to 6 because of that ) .

My view:
As I said in the third point of misconception, why does a person must “get along with” you or other people? As long as someone doesn’t play some work politics and does his/her job, she/he doesn’t affect your or others’ work. Therefore, why does it matter that someone doesn’t eat fucking lunch with you or other people? Stop discriminating against or criticizing colleagues who eat lunch alone because of your personal feelings. Have a professional attitude in workplaces, all right?

In addition, as I said in the second situation in Taiwan, every person has the right to choose whether she/he wants to get along with you or not even if she/he can get along with you. Some introverts just don’t like to make friends. Therefore the “not being friendly” action in your eyes doesn’t mean that she/he isn’t a good colleague that can work with you at work. Again, stop discriminating against or criticizing colleagues for eating lunches alone because of your personal feelings. Can’t you drop your personal preference and work with introverts at work professionally by discussing work with them as it stands? You are the one who can’t work well with a team.

4. The last situation in Taiwan is about the common thoughts regarding socializing in work that most Taiwanese have. There was an article in Dcard which is about a Taiwanese wondering if there is a job that has no need to socialize but only needs to make Excel reports. This article received many comments criticizing this Taiwanese. I think this article is a good example to illustrate Taiwan’s situation, so I will quote some of the comments here and provide my view.
( Note: The author deleted the article as her article reveal the detail of her job and she doesn’t want to be recognized by her supervisors on the Internet. I already remove the detail of her job here. The above situation and below comments are the general situation and reactions that happens in many cases in Taiwan. )

Here are the comments on this article:
“No. The whole article looks like the whole thing is other people’s fault. Don’t want your time to be tied. Don’t want to socialize. You only want to have NT$30K per month.”
“Have you lived in your own world for too long? The reality does not center on you Okay?”
“Why is it bad to have fixed working hours, if a colleague comes to you after work hours to talk about business, you have a reason to ignore him. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to everything, you only look at the disadvantages, of course, nothing is good. “
“It’s all their fault. Stay at home and gnaw your old parent. If no parent to gnaw then” Another person went on to reply “gnawing a dick”
“If there is such a job, it probably won’t have your turn”
“You think about it. If you were the boss, you would spend 30,000 to hire this thing?”
“Seriously speaking, there is basically no such job with the conditions you listed. If you want flexible hours, you can choose shift work or be a Sales, but you have to do a labor job or take the pressure of meeting sales targets. If you want an easy job, you can choose administration, but the work time is standard 9 to 6. It will be good to get off work on time, not to mention that many administrators work overtime without overtime pay. Finding an easy administration job depends on luck, and usually, it has very low pay. This is what you face in society; you always have to sacrifice something, so many people would say that salary = mental compensation, you have to change your own mentality. If you really want to be free, you can be a freelancer at home”
“You have a big problem. You are not competent but you ask a lot”
“The author of the article replied, “I’m not competent enough, but I also wrote that in the article.”
“Isn’t that what your parents went through? Every second you stay at home now is the hard work of your parents. You seem only selfish to me; every word you say is only thinking of yourself. You don’t want to be someone’s slave labor; don’t want to chat with people and feel chatting is so tiring; don’t want to do a job that is less than NT$30K per month. So, do you think you naturally have a good life? Jokes. We are all the same; we are all working hard…..”

My view:
The above comments received many Likes. There were no people refuting these comments. and the author also tried to be nice and seem not to think of anything to refute these comments.
However, I don’t agree with these comments.

First, it’s true that most jobs in Taiwan need to socialize with people, even administration jobs. Many administrators in Taiwan are required to socialize with colleagues in other job functions. People hire outgoing people as administrators and think such administrators are fun to work with. However, as I said in the above paragraphs, as long as someone doesn’t play some work politics and does his/her job, she/he doesn’t affect your or others’ work. Then why does it matter that someone doesn’t fucking “get along with” you or other people? In addition, except for the work of receiving guests, other work of administration jobs shouldn’t demand administrators socialize. Again, why does a person must “get along with” you or other people? I don’t know what work is actually done for your company or your team when your administrator is chatting with you and your colleagues and making you feel fun.

Second, as I said, many Taiwanese have been used to being slaved. NT$30k per month is low based on the current level of living cost, no matter which city in Taiwan you live in. If you live with your parents, a salary of NT$30K is enough but still low. You can live with that salary if you live in your parent’s house, but you still won’t have too much luxury to live a better life. I don’t know why many Taiwanese know it’s a low salary but still criticize when someone complains, not to mention there are some people who rent and live alone. Some people will say the author lives with her parents: Ok. Although the author, in this case, lives in her parent’s house, the comments are simply about how she shouldn’t want this salary, not that she could live a life with a lower salary, so the possibility of thinking of “she lives with her parents” is zero. The comments are simply arguing that she shouldn’t want a 30K salary.
What’s more, the thought of the Taiwanese who pointed out the hard past life of the parents – the baby boomer generation – is also wrong. As most Taiwanese know, the cost of living has increased a lot in past decades. So why do you criticize a young person by talking about the past life of the parents – the last generation? This is a thing that many Taiwanese are aware of. I don’t know why no Taiwanese refute this comment.
Also, why do you say she is selfish? There is even nothing related to selfishness. You say all she thinks of is herself? Who else she needs to think of? She hasn’t become a parent so she doesn’t even need to earn money and raise a child. Many parents in Taiwan have money and don’t need to be raised by their children. She just starts her career, so certainly hasn’t had the ability to raise her parents. She is single; certainly, the current matter is about herself.
These thoughts are ridiculous. Salaries in Taiwan are just fucking low, even for just an administration job. In the current era, stop criticizing Taiwanese who complain about their salary or want a NT$30K salary.

Third, let’s talk about flexible work hours. The author answered that “it’s probably the emotional pressure that the punch time brings me” and thanked the commenter for suggestions. I think the answer doesn’t explain very well. Since it’s about the pressure that punch time brings, what she means is probably that she is nervous when she needs to go to work on time. I am not sure what exactly her work situation is, but maybe the company she works for doesn’t have “enough” buffer time to punch in. Many companies allow employees to punch in within 30 minutes of 9:00 am nowadays; some companies even provide 1 hours buffer time – Employees can either get to work 1 hour earlier or get to work later. Such buffer time has many benefits allowing employees have the time to go to work without rushing and allowing employees who are parents and need to send their children to school at an earlier time to start their work earlier. However, there are still some companies in Taiwan that only allow 15 minutes of buffer time; some companies in Taiwan don’t even allow any buffer time. So if that’s the case of this author, the thought of “wanting some flexibility instead of going to work on time” is understandable. It’s that companies should provide “enough” buffer time to punch in.
By the way, I have another view. I personally think the concept should be changed. Unless there is a meeting, the majority of office job that doesn’t require shifts should allow employees to work in anytime they want. ( I simply say “the majority”, so I don’t mean every office job. For example, some jobs that require shift hours are not suitable for flexible hours ) Yet, this is just a side note. The main point I want to make here is still that some Taiwanese companies should provide “enough” buffer time.

Therefore, as I said, I don’t agree with these comments, and to me, these comments seem very salty and only try to put anger on someone else.

Read the next part: Part 6 of this article here.

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Chrissy Slora

The articles published in this website are all written by Chrissy Slora. Chrissy Slora aims to make people learn about how the world can be better and provide her intelligent and wise insight by writing about various topics from technology to issues happening in the world. Follow her on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin