What have you done for me lately?

A fourth dimension of culture used by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner that impacts Westerners in China — especially Americans — is what they call "ascription" versus "achievement":

All societies give certain of their members higher status than others, signaling that unusual attention should be focused upon such people and their activities. While some societies accord status to people on the basis of their achievements, others ascribe it to them by virtue of age, class, gender education, and so on. The first kind of status is called achieved status and the second ascribed status. (Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner, Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, Second Edition, New York: McGraw Hill, 1998, p. 105. Emphasis in original.)

One of the probes used to get at this difference is the following statement, which participants were asked to answer with a number from 1 ("strongly agree") to 5 ("strongly disagree"):

The most important thing in life is to act in the ways that best suit the way you really are, even if you do not get things done. (p. 107)

The percentage of participants disagreeing with the statement (i.e., answering 4 or 5) for China is 28, and for the U.S. 75 (p. 108).

Americans are conditioned to evaluate people based on what they accomplish. While race, class, gender, and other social categories matter a lot, as they do everywhere, the expressed ideal that we are all "created equal" carries great cultural weight. "Created equal" means equal opportunity — to get things done.

Americans chafe at the notion that someone would be accorded status based on factors unrelated to accomplishing things. What does it matter that you went to a fancy school, or have a flashy pedigree? Prove to me who you are by showing me what you can get done.

In China, factors such as age, gender, and rank matter much more than they do in the U.S. Hierarchies are more rigid. This causes problems for Americans who either aren't aware of this, or who stubbornly resist it.