Culture is complicated. Comprehending any culture is a difficult task, especially if
traditions and customs differ from our own. Walk into almost any workplace today and you'll
likely find people of different national, racial and cultural backgrounds. As an individual
we used to suffer Culture shock as we travelled from one country to the next. Today, we suffer
from multi-culture shocks, just by sitting at our own desk. In the workplace, when people
from different cultural backgrounds come together, it's likely we will stumble upon cultural
roadblocks because we all think differently about the purpose of business.
Cross cultural and other differences must be set aside for the sake of productivity.
But first you have to recognise them.
Culture is often described as: the way we do things around here. So, what does that
mean?
There are several parameters that help us understand the way people do things around
here. There are too many to mention them all here, but to get a flavour for cross cultural
communication I'll mention three of them.
First, Perception of Time: In some countries like Germany, Switzerland, China and Japan,
punctuality is considered important and being late would be considered at best rude and
at worst an insult. However, in countries such as those of South America and the Middle
East, being on time does not carry the same sense of importance or urgency. Some people
view time as fixed whilst other feel time is fluid or infinite. This really has implications
for those who work in a deadline, scheduled and structured work environment.
Second, Cultures may be either direct or indirect in the way they communicate: Direct cultures,
like most Northern Europeans, North Americans and Anglo cultures, say what they mean and
mean what they say. They rely more on content rather than on context. They give value to
the written word rather than oral statements. To some people, we can appear extremely rude
or distant.
Indirect cultures rely heavily on nonverbal signs and prefer indirectness, politeness
& ambiguity. The most important thing is to preserve the relationship. This is particularly
true of the Latin, Arab, Asian and African cultures. For example, a friend of mine was
staying with a Chinese family and when she stated that she intended to go out to town
in the evening, the mother said ' there is no bus'. This was said on two more occasions
when my friend had indeed seen a bus. She then began to understand that by saying 'there
is no bus' was the mother's way of saying that she should not go!
Thirdly, cultures may have a strict adherence to the rules whilst others bend them to suit
the situation.
All these characteristics have implications in the workplace and the more we understand
about cross-cultural differences the better able we are to work more productively together.
We should never denigrate any other culture but rather help people to understand the relationship
between their own culture and the dominant culture. When you understand another culture
or language, it does not mean that you have to lose your own culture.
I always say, language is what we hear; culture is how we understand.