Nathaniel and Sheree back in Australia

One of the most challenging things that I had to deal with when we moved to Beijing in 2006 was ordering food from chinese restaurants that didn’t have English menus (most of them). Over time it became easier (you memorize a few favorite dishes) but it was always slightly annoying.

Well technology keeps on progressing and a new application has been released on the iPhone that should make ordering Chinese food easier. If you are planning to visit China for a holiday or have decided to line in China but can’t speak Chinese then China Menu is an App worth considering. Unlike phrases books this China Menu helps you customize your order (you want cold beer, not warm beer). It also has a section that help you to understand Chinese customs and tells you how to deal with some of the more interesting ones.

That being said it doesn’t have the killer feature that I would love to see which is being able to take a photo of the menu and being told what it is ^_^

Discloser: I worked with the primary developer of this App when I was living in China. That being said it’s still a great idea and I’m looking forward to using it when I go back to China.

Introduction

Over the last two years I have learned a number of lessons about management. Some of them have been learned the hard way and other have been learned by talking to other people. In this article I’ve tried to summarize some of the most important lessons so you can try to avoid these mistakes.

In China a lot of these management problems are related to “saving face”, which is part of Asian culture. In the west these same problems are often called “office politics”. Whatever the cause the outcome is the same: They generally help a specific individual at the expense of the company.

All of these problems are related to authority and responsibility.

• Authority means that you:
  • Get the praise if the project succeeds.
  • Can be allocated resources and make things happen.
• Responsibility means that you get in trouble if the project fails.

What Works

Responsibility with Authority

If a single person is responsible for a project and has authority over the project then they have the motivation to make sure that the project succeeds. This doesn’t guarantee that the project will be a success but does improve the odds.

A Group with a Group Leader who assigns Responsibility and Authority

The chairman is not responsible for the output of the group. He/She is only responsible for assigning responsibility and authority. So if a task isn’t assigned to anyone then the chairman is responsible for that mistake but individuals are responsible for their individual projects.

What Doesn’t Work

Responsibility without Authority

This almost always means that the project will fail. It generally happens when a manager assigns a task to an employee without giving them enough authority to complete the task.

Authority without Responsibility (Kingdom Building)

This happens when roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined. The two most common forms are:

• Large unproductive departments (More employees = more important)
• Managers taking on titles without taking on the work. (More titles = more important)

Equal Group Authority with equal Group Responsibility (Blame Game)

If everyone has equal authority and responsibility then everyone assumes that someone else will do the work. If one person does all the work then everyone else still gets the glory. If no one decides to do the work then when the project fails then it is easy to blame someone else for the project’s failure.

Equal Group Authority with Individual Responsibility (Burn Out)

This scenario is similar to the “Chairman scenario” the main difference is that the chairman delegates responsibility and authority. In this scenario the individual is responsible for the project but doesn’t have enough authority to make sure it is successful. This scenario works for a while but eventually the person responsible for all the mistakes that the group makes will burn out.
This post is really different from the other posts in the blog and I would really appreciate feedback. Either directly or in the comments.

Returning To Australia

After a lot of soul searching we have decided to return to Australia at the end of Sheree’s contract in July. It has been an interesting two years and we have both enjoyed being over here with its ups and downs. The only regret that I have is that we have not seen much of China apart from Beijing. Over the last 6 weeks we have been trying to compensate and have gone to a number of different places. So far we have:

• Gone Go Karting

• Went to a Hot Spa with our Home Cell.
• Went to Xi’an and saw the Terracotta Warriors
• Went to TainJin and saw the concessions.
• Went to the New Summer Palace and saw the marble boat.

Go Karting

We went Go Karting with Ingrid and Alex from Language Calls. The most interesting thing about the racecourse was that it was indoors. When the temperature is below zero for almost four months it make sense. Because it was indoors the track was a lot tighter than some of the other ones we’ve been one. It was also really noisy but that just added to the excitement. Each race was only 6 minutes which does not seem like a lot of time but when each lap is about 30 seconds the 6 minutes seems like a really long time. Sheree was won by a lap and had an average speed of 34.3 kph.

Hot Spa

We went to a Hot Spa with some of our friends from Home Cell. We had bible studies, lots of praise and worship and a really good time. I don’t think we have many photos of the Spa and water park because we were to busy having fun but that’s life. My favourite ride was the man made wave … although that may be because I was the only one able to surf for more than a couple of seconds

Xi’an

Sheree organised the holiday to Xi’an which was a nice change. She found some really cool apartments near the center of town. We got to see al the major attractions in Xi’an:

The Drum Tower & Bell Tower

The Terracotta Warriors

The Bumpo Village

The Big pogola.

The Wall (We found out the hard way that it takes just over 1.5 hours to ride all the way around it)

We also go to see some other attractions:

Kites that stretched as far as you could see into the sky.

Some snacks in Moslem street.

Jiaoza Banquet.

TainJin

We went to TainJin with some of the teachers from Sheree’s school. The hotel was really nice but the bus trip there took almost 5 hours. We went on a tour through TainJin looking at all the concession(sort of like embassies) and hearing about TainJin’s history. I think one of the most memorable photos was looking at all the people fishing right next to the no fishing sign.

The photos from the TainJin holiday probably look really boring since the photos are mainly of buildings but in China they are really out of place and it almost feels like you are in another country when you go through some of the concessions.

New Summer Palace

We went to the New Summer Palace with Jon because it was his last day in Beijing. The day was windy and cloudy and rather depressing. I was freezing and to be 100% honest the jade boat wasn’t that impressive. I’m glad we want but I’ve seen so many temples in Beijing that they are getting a bit boring. We didn’t go to the palace itself because it cost an extra 30RMB to go there and we had ran out of time.

Future Plans

When we get back to Australia I am planning to go back to university and get a Graduate Diploma of Education. Eventually we would like to travel again and it will be easier if we are both teachers at the same international school. We will both:

• Get medical insurance.
• Flights back to Australia every two years.
• Paid an international wage.
• Leave work at the same time.
• Get the same holidays.

That should make it a lot easier the next time we travel.

Till next time…