Cross-cultural communication

Cross-cultural communication

Culture is a shared system of ideas that a society has about how the world works and how people should act. The culture of our society has a great influence on what we think, feel, and how we act. In fact, some cultural anthropologists even think that culture is a kind of template for our thinking and feelings. It is thought that culture even creates the rhythms of our societies.

According to anthropologist Irving Hallowell, there is no evidence that man has an inborn sense of time. Hence, people’s temporal concepts are a result of their culture. In fact, a study showed that by three months of age, children have been fully adapted to their temporal culture. This temporal culture forms the basis for people’s language, music, poetry, and dance. As well, a people’s rhythm is an attractor for other people who share the same pace of talk, movement, music, or sport---resulting in a stronger cultural bond.

Of course, cultures differ in how daily events are scheduled and in how different parts of the society interact. One type of cultural temporal perception is called polychronic. This kind of perception is often a characteristic of southern cultures, such as in Mediterranean or Arab countries. These cultures emphasize the involvement of people and a variety of processes rather than strictly following a preset schedule.

Polychronic people seldom feel that time is wasted or lacking. They tend to do many things at the same time and are easily distracted from the task at hand. They are more committed to people than time schedules. For polychronic people, work time is not clearly separable from personal time, so business meetings will often be a form of socializing. Also, they are inclined toward very close relationships with

people and like to build lifetime relationships.

Monochronic cultures, on the other hand, are oriented toward tasks and schedules. Characteristically, this monochromic approach is often seen in northern cultures; for example, in northern European countries or in North America. Monochronic people feel that time is tangible and inflexible, and such cultures may follow the belief that “time is money.” They do one thing at a time and concentrate on each thing in sequence. Time and job commitments are very important to them, and they tend to follow plans rigidly.

As well, monochronic people clearly separate their work and personal social time. More accustomed to short-term rather than lifetime relationships, monochronic people value privacy highly.

As you might expect, people from polychronic and monochromic cultures have difficulties in adjusting to each other, and often have cultural misunderstandings. For example, because monochronic culture is highly compartmentalized, monochronic people tend to sequence conversations as well as tasks. They would not, for instance, interrupt a phone call in order to greet another person who just came into the room. In contrast, polychromic people can carry on multiple conversations at the same time. They would consider it rude not to greet a third person, even though they were talking on the phone.

Such cultural misunderstandings are very much apparent in the business world. Being late to an appointment, socializing during business meetings, or taking a long time to get down to business is normal in Saudi Arabia or France. But to an American or German, these kinds of business practices seem frivolous.

As temporal culture researchers have noted, many millions of dollars have been lost in international business dealings simply because monochronic and polychromic people do not realize that two such different temporal cultures even exist. Ultimately, with the increase in the globalization of business, entertainment, and even living, learning and understanding the differences in cultures will become

an indispensable part of our lives.