You’ve probably heard of the term ‘title inflation’. Title inflation means the title shown on a person’s business card does not match his/her job responsibility, and the power that comes with it. In Asia you can easily come across people with the title “Project Manager” which is quite senior in Western countries (i.e. North America, Europe or Australia). They look so young that you can hardly believe that they have the experience required to be called a “Project Manager”. Well, a “Project Manager” title is in fact a junior title in Asia. People in the IT sector, after the first few years as “Programmer” and “System Analyst”, will be generously given the title “Project Manager”, even though in Western business community this title more likely carries more than 10 years of project experience with it.
Other examples of inflated titles include “Assistant Vice President” (this title contracts itself – how can one be both assistant and vice something?), “Vice President”, “Director”, “Managing Director”, and “Project Director”, especially in the banking and IT sector. I’ve once visited an investment bank for a presentation. When I entered the meeting room, a lady handed me her name card. Her title is “Director” which, accompanied with the Chinese translation (董事) led me to think that she is a very senior person within the bank. Then her boss came into the room and his title is “Managing Director”. I was confused. Then again the boss of this “Managing Director” came in and handed me his business card. He was an “Executive Director”. It is only then I understood this investment bank was quite generous with titles.
Another observation in Asia is people likes academic and professional titles too. Some people in Hong Kong have so many professional titles such as PMP, CPMC, CSOXP, CISA, CEng and so on, and they feel the need to show them all to the others. I've met a few people before and one side of their name cards just enlists all their 20+ titles – so pathetic. Needless to say they show all their academic titles such as PhD, DBA, MSc, MBA and even BSc as well. In US, Canada or Europe, I've never come across a name card that shows more than 2 titles, many cards show none - and they don't like to be addressed Dr. Bloke, just Joe.
In my opinion this only shows their lack of confidence on themselves that they need some grand titles to support them. My hypothesis is Asian (mainly Chinese) education system does not aim at building up students’ self-image and confidence. On top of that Asia is under the influence of Chinese culture which emphasizes on: Formal education with stringent structure; Conformance to collective behavior; Authority and obedience over individual differences; and tangible measurement of success such as high social status and material possession.
Next time when you are in China or Hong Kong, remember to address every manager as “zong” (总) which means general manager.
Posts
