Workers across the world all want performance feedback from their managers, right? Yes. Give it to them American style? In most cases, the short answer is no. I learned this the hard way through responsibilities for European and Asian work forces for which I was inadequately prepared. American managers are seen by most all workers the world over (with the exception of the Germans) as being direct and generally insensitive with our feedback. That was me, alright.
My style worked mostly OK with the British but failed spectacularly with Philippine and Chinese work forces that required more, and frequent, positive reinforcement than I was accustomed to, and my method of delivering my version of constructive criticism had to be completely re-tooled.
The challenges of cross cultural feedback are the topic of this excellent piece by Andy Molinsky for the Harvard Business Review.