Erin Meyer is a professor at INSEAD, France. Her works focus on cross-cultural management and global teamwork. "The Culture Map" represents Meyer's collective research data to offer international business strategies based on a framework that evaluates different dimensions of culture.
Read Part 1 here.
Deciding
Consensual: Decisions are made in groups through unanimous agreement. The process may take quite a long time since everyone is consulted. But once the decision has been made, the implementation is quite rapid, as everyone is completely bought in and the decision is fixed and inflexible.
Top-down: Decision-making responsibility is invested in an individual. Decisions tend to be made quickly, early in the process, by one person (like the boss). But each decision is flexible.
Countries like Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany are more consensual meanwhile India, Russia, China is more top-down.
In Japan, decisions tend to be made by group consensus rather than by individuals, which is called the ringi system of decision making. In some companies, this system is managed by a dedicated software programme. It is used mostly by large traditional organisations to make big decisions. The process includes: (1) discussion begins with a proposal at a mid-level of management, (2) collect group agreement, and (3) move up to the next hierarchical level for discussion. The end result is that the responsibility is spread out among many individuals rather than being concentrated with only one or a few members.
Trusting
You might notice that the type of trust you feel for one person is very different from others. The differences can be complex, but there are typically two forms of trust: cognitive trust and affective trust.
Cognitive trust is based on the confidence you feel in another person's accomplishments, skills and reliability. This is the trust that comes from the head which is often built through business interactions. Affective trust arises from feelings of emotional closeness, empathy, or friendship. This type of trust comes from the heart. In a business relationship, some cultures have affective and cognitive trusts mixed together.
Task-based: Trust is built through business-related activities. Work relationships are built and dropped easily, based on the practicality of the situation. You do good work consistently, you are reliable, I enjoy working with you, so I trust you.
Relationship-based: Trust is built through sharing meals, evening drinks, and visit at the coffee machine. Work relationships build up slowly over the long term. I've seen who you are at a deep level, I've shared personal time with you, I know others well who trust you, so I trust you.
Countries such as the US, Denmark, Germany, Australia, the UK tend to be more task-based whilst India, China, Turkey, Thailand, Brazil, Japan are more relationship-based.
Peach vs Coconut
Kurt Levin, a social scientist who explained individual personality as being partially formed by the cultural system in which a person was raised. His models are frequently referred to as the Peach and Coconut models of personal interaction.
In Peach cultures like America or Brazil, people tend to be friendly with others they have just met. They smile frequently at strangers, move quickly to the first-name usage, share information about themselves, and ask personal questions of those they hardly know. But later, they don't follow through on the relationship. In these cultures, friendliness does not equal to friendship.
In Coconut cultures like some European countries, for example, Poland, France, Russia, German, people are more closed (like the tough shell of a coconut) with those they don't have friendships with. They rarely smile at strangers, ask casual acquaintances personal questions, or offer personal information to those they don't know intimately. It takes a while but people will gradually become warmer and friendlier, thus the relationships tend to last longer.
Disagreeing
Confrontational: Disagreement and debate are positive for the team or organisation. Open confrontation is appropriate and will not negatively impact the relationship.
Avoid confrontation: Disagreement and debate are negative for the team or organisation. Open confrontation is inappropriate and will break group harmony or negatively impact the relationship.
Countries like Isreal, Germany, France, Spain are more confrontation whereas Sweden, Singapore, China, Thailand, Japan tend to avoid confrontation.
Scheduling
Linear-time: Project steps are approached in a sequential fashion, completing one task before beginning the next. One thing at a time. No interruptions. The focus is on the deadline and sticking to the schedule. Emphasis is on promptness and good organisation over flexibility.
Flexible-time: Project steps are approached in a fluid manner, changing tasks as opportunities arise. Many things are dealt with at once and interruptions accepted. The focus is on adaptability, and flexibility is valued over organisation.
Countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden, the UK are more linear-time meanwhile Saudi Arabia, India, China, Brazil are more flexible-time.
Positions on the Scheduling scale are partially affected by how fixed and reliable, versus dynamic and predictable, daily life is in a particular country.
Hence, in a meeting in a linear-time culture, you should not be talking to your neighbour at the same time someone else is talking. You should not be taking calls, don't leave or re-enter the room if it's not the break. Any behaviours that distract from the predefined task at hand is just plain rude. On the other hand, in a flexible-time culture, an agenda with a meeting start time and a topic will probably be circulated before the meeting. What seems like a priority last week when the agenda was crafted is not necessarily the priority at the present. Other sub-groups may form within the main group of discussion.
Comments