About the 'grumpy, old boss'...

Many of us (foreigners working in Asia) are categorized by the locals as grumpy, short-tempered and sometimes even impolite, and the reasons are not always because we are - in many cases it's true, but that's a different issue - the reason why we're encased that way is because we do things in public or in front of other people that in Asia are not normally done that way...

What do I mean with that? Some of us are used to be straight forward with our thoughts, opinions and advices, and in our society that's actually, in most cases, very much appreciated. Well, here is not!
Most things that make people loose face are considered sometimes rude and impolite, they're also a sign that you can't control your temper and have to spill the marbles right were you are instead of waiting to talk in private.

Now, if you do want to make people loose face and feel ashamed, there's nothing wrong with that, I myself, have done it more than a couple of times, purposely, because I was fed up with someone and that person deserved more than a reprimand in private. But in most cases I try to keep things in private and try not to point out errors in public, I use personal meetings and e-mails without cc to complain about 'misdemeanors'. I use 'public shame' as a special kind of punishment and they note that, if you get pissed off all the time and scream at everyone, there's not distinction, so you really need to use a special way of showing your different degrees of discontent in a graduated way... this has worked for me so far, so I think it could also work for you.

So, in conclusion, the rule of thumb is: keep public reprimands and finger pointing to a minimum unless you want otherwise. That way you'll have an extra tool for extra annoying things when you need it.

Normally I write a lot more detailed and longer and I also give a personal experience or an example in my posts, but this time I won't for two reasons, first, this is quite straight forward, and second, I'm very busy with work and studies :P

If some Asians are reading this, I'd like to read your thoughts, so please share!