Fili’s world

Western stereotypes about the work ethics and organizational culture in China, as far as I’ve heard, are about cheap labor, very low-tech factories, less than average quality and a bad work environment. Stereotypes are very tricky when it comes to the actual truth, yet they serve as some sort of a representation that may serve as a basis for discussion.

While browsing the Israeli Digg/Pligg clone I stumbled across a headline that read “China – not what you’d expect”. I had to look inside to see what somebody’s expectation was regarding China and what he found to be different than what he expected. The link referred to a site with photos about what I consider to be a pretty organized and impressive Chinese shoe-factory, and I was left to guess what the guy pointing to this link meant by “not what you’d expect”.

The photo I was especially curious about was the one about the organizational description :

Vision – To create  a new landmark for the footwear industry. To strive to become the most valuable company in footwear industry with best quality products and services.

Mission statement – Generate value and opportunities for our customers and employees through excellence in management of People, Products and Processes Design. Develop and Deliver great products.

Corporate Goals - […] To provide and maintain safe and healthy work environment for our employees. To assure fair working hours, fair pay for our employees.

Business Philosophy – Teamwork, Discipline, Innovation, Focus […] Fair Profit […] Labor safety, Environment protection.

We create an environment – In which our people are our cornerstone. In which people are thorough and well-disciplined. In which creativity and the innovative spirit of our people are encouraged and nurtured. […]

Now, this impresses me. I don’t know much about other factories in China but this has a very clear organizational message with some interesting points. Being involved with Organizational Behavior it would be interesting to compare this message to a shoe-factory in Europe or the US (if they still have any left). Would it mention discipline as much? Would the “western” factory have the same basic message toward employees as this one? Is this a typical factory in the Chinese market? Would those be different than the Israeli/Western stereotype?

Tell me, when you looked at those photos, was it what you expected from a China factory?