The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business

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Myanmar, India, as well as most Asian and Arab cultures, perceive time as flexible. Flexible-time does not only refer to punctuality but in general to the way how time is being utilized. Although flexible-time culture may resemble themselves this in no way means that all Asian Cultures follow the same scheduling standards. In Vietnam 15 mins late remains acceptable while parts of Myanmar and India may believe 30-60 mins as being within the acceptable range. Thus flexible-time cultures approach schedules and deadlines in a fluid manner changing frequently as challenges and situations arise. In linear-time cultures, project steps are being organized in a sequential fashion, one task is being completed before beginning the next. Leadership Journeys [127] – Kirk Byles –“My inquisitiveness has been the most advantageous for my career” The culture map is an amazing tool, but here is one word of caution: Besides cultural differences, there are also differences in personality. Just because Vietnam is a flexible-time culture, that doesn’t mean your Vietnamese business partner accepts you not delivering on time. Within each culture, individual personalities may differ significantly.

Top-down scale – Such deciding scales follow a hierarchical structure where those on the top of the ladder – the leadership, mostly make the decisions. While decisions are made faster on this scale, the need for regular alterations makes implementing changes slower. Countries such as India and China follow such a deciding scale. Communication Styles, Ways to evaluate employees, Leadership styles, Decision making approaches, Trust-based systems, Disagreeing through confrontation, Scheduling and flexibility of time, and Persuading conversations. 1. Communicating: Low vs. High Context Hierarchical: The ideal distance between the manager and subordinate is high. The leader has authority and a strong position clearly distinguishing her/him from his colleagues (for example Russia). Disagreements are natural and inevitable in a social construct. However, different cultures perceive disagreements in different ways. Based on cultures, disagreements can be confrontational or they endeavour to avoid confrontations. High-context cultures have layered and subtle communication styles, where one requires to employ a lot of reading between the lines. Countries such as Japan and Korea are high-context cultures mainly due to the homogeneity in population. These countries have a long history, giving them more time to develop nuances. For example, in Japanese ‘kuuki yomenai’ translates to ‘ someone who cannot read the air’, essentially meaning a person who doesn’t understand the ‘between-the-lines’.

Leadership Journeys [132] – Josh Staph –“A good leader knows what questions to ask and what questions need to be answered” Inc.” called it “superb,” and we share the magazine’s opinion. And that’s even though we are not leaders of an international team or CEOs of a multinational conglomerate. The author Erin Meyer, an international business expert has invented a tool called the Culture Map. The culture map divides cultural habits into eight categories and then places each culture on the map to highlight the extent to which both cultures differ.

Shortform note: For example, people in cognitive cultures might consider hiring a relative or somebody who you were introduced to through a relative to be a conflict of interest. But in other cultures, this might be the only way you got the interview in the first place.) Relationship-based: Trust is built through getting to know each other, sharing meals, and going out for dinners. I have trust in your abilities because I trust you as a person (for example Saudi Arabia).

Additionally, disagreements are also affected by whether emotions in the culture are expressive or inexpressive in style. For example, while both France and Germany have a confrontational culture, they differ in styles where Germans are mostly objective and fairly inexpressive, preferring to keep emotions out of the way of disagreements. France on the other hand, though confrontational by culture is expressive by style. If you can remember your first business trip to Vietnam or Korea than there is a good chance that it included karaoke. You may have even spent more time as a whole singing, drinking, and dining than conducting the actual business meetings you were there for. Vietnam and Korea are like most Asian countries, relationship-based cultures. On the other hand, most western cultures are task-based cultures.