Can Chinese Discuss Conflicts Openly? Field and Experimental Studies of Face Dynamics in China

Chinese people have been theorized to be particularly sensitive to social face and avoid direct discussion in conflict to promote interpersonal harmony. Social face has been used to explain the proclivity of East Asians to smooth over conflict. More research is needed to study social face empirically and its relationship with direct discussion and the processes by which social face has its impact. Results from a field interview study and an experiment conducted in China support theorizing that confirmation of face induces cooperative goals and open-mindedness. In contrast with common assumptions about Chinese organizations, direct discussion, compared to avoiding, strengthened relationships. Direct controversy, especially when face was confirmed, induced open-mindedness: Participants asked more questions, explored the opposing views, demonstrated more knowledge of the opposing arguments, and worked to integrate views. These results were interpreted as suggesting that Chinese people can discuss their conflicts directly and cooperatively when they are assured that their face is confirmed. Results have implications both for the general theory of cooperation and competition as well as our understanding of social face in China.     

国有商业银行经营发展战略思考

中国加入WTO后,金融业特别是银行业所面临的经营环境将发生很大变化,国有商业银行如何改进自身经营存在的问题,不断地适应经营环境的变化,在与外资银行前所未有的竞争中求得生存与发展,是我们必须面对与认真思考的问题,本文试从国有商业银行经营组织架构、经营规模、经营范围及经营体制等方面来探讨相关问题。 一、经营组织架构——从行政区域分支行架构模式到扁平化架构模式