Foreign managers or directors overseeing a Chinese team need to understand the cultural aspect of running their business, and need to learn how to properly manage and motivate their team effectively, regardless of their experience.

While the basic precepts of learning as much of the language as possible and mingling with the locals in business and social settings are still valid and important, there are other nuances they will need to acknowledge and respect.

Alice Luo Yue-er, an executive-in-residence at the school of business and management at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and co-author of a book published earlier this year entitled Leadership Success in China: An Expatriate's Guide, said: 'Most business professionals will agree that a key to motivating people is to clearly understand what inspires and drives them. This is also true in China because of the profound historical impact culture has had on all Chinese people, understanding the various generations and their communication styles is just as critical.'

Perhaps more than any other country in the world, China has a vast multigenerational workforce, and each of these generations has its own characteristics.

There are the 'in-betweeners', mainlanders in their 40s and early 50s who were affected by the post-Cultural Revolution fallout, but still benefited from the opening of China in the 80s. They are eager to learn from the west and are ambitious and steadfast in their approach to new things. They tend to be entrepreneurial, as they prefer to seek practical solutions rather than intellectually driven ones.

Reciprocal respect and courtesy are paramount with this group.

Those born in the 70s are often referred to as the 'young, hungry tigers', and are much more education-driven. They are the most sought-after by multinational employers because they have had the most exposure to western culture, products and overall ideologies. They are still pro-China and can often overestimate their own abilities, but they are tenacious. They see the age of 30 as a critical milestone and as such want to move fast.

This group is looking for someone they can look up to and learn from, a manager who takes on accountability and responsibility while still sharing credit and glory with the team.

For a western manager, taking on a coaching mentality is vital and is important to set a proper pace so that these 'tigers' do not over-stretch themselves.

Helping them break down larger goals into smaller achievables will go a long way.

Then there are the 'little emperors', those born in the 80s who lean towards being more individualistic because they are a direct by-product of China's one-child policy. There are more than 100 million such young people in China and they are highly ambitious. They rely greatly on their parents counsel and grow up with few team skills because even their education revolves more around examination results than the development of any other skills.

Harnessing their knowledge and determination into developing team-oriented skills will contribute greatly to their own progression, thus benefitting the company.

It is quite common for companies in China to have people from each of these groups working in the same organisation, so how a western manager handles overall communication is still the binding factor.

Ms Luo said: 'Chinese people tend to have a diffuse-oriented communication style, which means they can be indirect, ambiguous and even evasive to save face. This is where the manager's questioning skills will be of the utmost importance. They need to be able to pinpoint and elaborate on any grey areas before situations become sensitive. If the manager can remember that each party probably does not know what the other one knows, an open platform for communication can be easily established.'

It is estimated that this year there will be almost 6 million university graduates on the mainland.

Given the sheer numbers, it is essential to discuss career development opportunities in the organisation. Properly using strengths and overcoming deficiencies are universal and, combined with an understanding of the various types of Chinese employees, success stories of foreign ventures in China will become more commonplace.