Xiào also significantly limits the ability of most junior staff to interact effectively with more senior staff employed by clients. Yet within xiào, senior executives (more than may be the case in the West) make most of the important decisions. The solution to this dilemma is to have at least one more-senior staff in place in China who can interact with the client senior staff to state issues and concerns and gain commitment to resolution.
In this scenario the issues may be worked by junior internal-staff working on the same level with junior client-staff – both working in a manner as surrogates for the senior executives from both sides. It is usually effective to state and explore the business issues to the degree possible, then request that any unresolved matters be dealt with by staff-to-staff interactions.
