[throw3828455]

I always laugh when I see these predictable comments about "face" when talking about Asian companies, like they are so beholden to their culture they can't make individual judgments.

I wonder if we applied this culture talk to Western companies how funny it would sound.

The reason Facebook is firing so many people is because individualism "is far more important for them than 'teaching lessons' to anyone, particularly employees who are probably considered expendable."

[simplify]

I don't get it, aren't individual judgements made in the context of culture?

How does your example sound funny?

[gwervc]

Every company worldwide, including US ones are trying to "save face" when anything bad happens. This is why we have corporate speech.

[noobermin]

Kindly, a lot of people are upset about my comment because they're American and have never worked with (or in particular, for) Chinese professionals. Losing face plays a very different role for them than mere embarrassment which is the closest analog in western contexts. For example read this[1].

Individualism does explain many aspects of American culture as do other cultural traits, such as puritanism, a focus on hypocrisy, etc. Face is just one of those aspects of Chinese culture westerns don't really understand unless they've had exposure to it. It however explains many things about modern Chinese culture that are hard to fathom otherwise.

https://www.china-mike.com/chinese-culture/cult-of-face/

[simplify]

Certainly, but how they go about it differs depending on their values, no?