Calypso Consulting

My posting about leadership accountability for the Beijng hotel fire a few weeks ago has kept me thinking about the subject of leadership accountability in general in China.  I am a bit befuddled by how much or how little accountability there is for leadership failures here.  I have very little confusion about the West, especially the U.S. – there is very little accountability.  A not so heartfelt apology will usually suffice in America along with a promise not to repeat the error and some gratuitous return to the damaged party, usually in the form of an undisclosed financial settlement.  Of course, if the damage clearly broke a big law and is beyond repair (e.g., the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scandal), then after months and sometimes years of lawyering, the culprit will be tried in a court of law and sentenced.  In most cases, the guilty party never admits guilt and swears that he was just following the advice of his own lawyers, accountants and other advisors.
 
But in China it is more complex.  For sure, the world opinion is that this country is filled with corrupt managers who taint pet food, add melamine willy-nilly to baby food, avoid costs of safety for bridges, buildings and mines, and are free to provide graft to receptive local officials.  But the longer I live here, the more I assess that this is an over-simplistic and one-sided view. 
 
Much more than the West, China operates a decentralized bureaucracy.  The connections between the mandates of the central government and the realities of local enforcement are very weak.  This is much more a culture of “man rule” versus “legal rule.”  In other words, at least at the local level, one can get away with most things that are considered illegal at the national level.  To be sure, the countless pirated DVDs that swarm the Beijing and Shanghai streets were not manufactured in those cities, where control is strong.  Rather, they are made in the provinces where officials are paid to look the other way while electronic media are produced illegally in unmarked locations and transported surreptitiously to the big cities where they are sell for $1-$2 (USD) each. 
 
If you read any of the national laws promulgated in Beijing – be they for energy production, environmental protection, intellectual property rights, occupational health and safety, building construction, and even fireworks display protocols – they are as strong, if not stronger than anywhere in the world.  For example, the building code for schools is as good or better than that in most states in the U.S.  Unfortunately, that code was rarely followed in Sichuan Province when so many of the existing schools caved in from last year’s earthquake.
 
But to make a blanket accusation at China for these shortfalls is to miss the point.  The laws are there for everyone to see.  The people who get caught however simply did not follow the law.  It is not that the country is remiss in doing the right thing.  Rather, it is still not able to police its own people as they test these limits every day.
 
I heard a cultural anthropologist describe China as having a “culture of shame.”  People these days are not driven by the Confucian principle of “doing what is right and noble.”  Rather, they are driven by going as far as they can without getting caught.  The shame of getting caught is far worse than the act itself.  I’m not sure I fully adhere to this theory, but it is an interesting one to ponder.
 
Getting back to accountability however, there is no doubt that once someone is caught with his or her hand in the till, there is very little escape.  You are guilty until proven innocent, and that innocence is very hard to prove.  Recent examples of the execution of the man in Dongbei whose company ostensibly polluted a river and the pending executions of the melamine culprits are common.  Chinese justice is swift and stern.  The question I continue to ponder however is how to get people here to first do the right thing (as Confucius urged) before facing the shame of a guilty verdict and the sentencing that goes with it.
 
I am interested to receive comments on this post so please feel free to let me know what you think.