Organization Chart

It was hard for me as a foreigner not used to Asian faces, to match the complex names of the team to the members them selves. To help – I created an org chart with pictures. Very helpful and highly recommended. The team is pretty dynamic as it is being built right now. We grew from ~10 to more than 20 in about 2 months and we continue to grow very fast.

By now I had two resignations. R resigned since she was not promoted. LM resigned as she wants to work for a more stable company given her age (that’s what she says). I’m worried about these resignations and hope that the real reason is not the ‘foreign manager’ – it doesn’t seem as if this is the reason while it does put me in a more alert position. Feedback from other team members is very positive and we progress with deliveries faster than I anticipated. In fact, there is so much pressure to finally see results from the Chinese R&D that we are about to ‘take over’ some projects a month’s ahead of time.

The Chinese Shock is yet fully there for me. I get a long with the employees – most of which either studied abroad or hold experience working for a global company before. We communicate verbally, in email and messenger (messenger is unbelievably popular here). Apropos messenger – the number three is Chinese is pronounced ‘San’ – instead of using 10x when instant massaging – in China use 3x (say out loud) :)

Back to the org chart; a sub team of six employees was invited to a meeting. Seven showed up. The 7th (not appearing in the organization chart) is apparently, a son of a government official. Actually – he is completing his thesis right now so regardless of his mediocre abilities – he cannot be let go…only in China?! We have two ‘unreported’ employees – ‘interns’ is the code name – now, they do appear in the org chart …