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

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Trust in any business relationship is vital for success, irrespective of the cultural context that affects it. That said, an effective high relationship-based trust works with all cultures. It is therefore a better form of trust to build than high task-based that works only with a few cultures. Scale 7 – The Disagreeing Scale In countries with stable histories, like Sweden, cutting the line and disobeying the undeclared rules of waiting is considered rudeness and can get us in trouble. We build relationships and acquire trust differently in task-based and relationship-based societies. Meyer suggests that most cultures that disagree openly are equally open with their emotions, while disagreement-avoidant cultures are emotionally reserved. However this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule: While all of us express emotions in our faces and mannerisms, their frequency and intensity is dictated by culture. (Shortform note: The rules that govern these norms are known by psychologists as “ cultural display rules.”) Strategies for Disagreeing Across Cultures Companies in an egalitarian world, such as Australia or Scandinavian countries, usually implement flat organizational structures. The distance between a boss and a subordinate is low. In Asian and Arabic whereby hierarchical cultures rule, the distance between the boss and a subordinate is high. When a manager is leading in a new environment it is always best for them to adapt their own style to that of the culture of their employees. A leader in an egalitarian workplace must give employees the freedom and power to make their own decisions. 4. Deciding: Consensual vs. top-down

When it comes to communication, the scale goes between low context vs hight context cultures. Anglophones and Dutch/Germans are on one end, while Japanese are on the other end. Arabs and Indians slightly lower context than Japanese, and French among other Latin cultures are in the middle. High context read between the lines, looks for layers and hidden meanings. They use irony and don't need to explicitly say "just kidding" after joking. Brits are higher context compared to Americans, thus the latter seldom get the former's humour. Low context cultures tend to have broader vocabulary in their languages. And, I understand, high context ones use metaphors more. Low context culture tend to have stuff written while high context tend to express things verbally. Thinking of Egyptian Arabic, we have just one word for leg and foot; however we have different word for each in traditional Arabic, and maybe we move to a slightly lower context when we write, as we write in traditional Arabic most of the time.

3. Leading: Egalitarian vs. hierarchical

When interacting with someone from another culture, try to watch more, listen more, and speak less.” Meyer suggests that decision-making styles range across two extremes: consensual (which we’ll call consensus) and top-down (which we’ll call individual).

Leadership Journeys [135] – Manish Kumar –“You never get enough time to spend with your loved ones” Or as Erin Meyer puts it: "In an egalitarian culture, for example, an aura of authority is more likely to come from acting like one of the team, while in a hierarchical culture, an aura of authority tends to come from setting yourself clearly apart." 6. Are you a friend or a coworker? On the other hand in countries where a strong organizing power/state was not always present through the ages, people had to rely much more on themself. They have a different approach to time as well.I was surprised that differences in our relationship to time are often influenced so much by culture. An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Societies may base their trust on relations, or be task-oriented. Societies with relationship-oriented business attitude are most likely ones with weak legal systems, where relationships provide better safety nets than contracts.

This book can be an excellent tool for any person that works or even just interacts with different cultures.

Meyer also recommends several general strategies for working across cultures. For example, she suggests that when people understand that their culture influences how they work, they become better at working with people from different cultures. So talk about these cultural influences, making sure to use grace, humility, and humor throughout the conversation. (Shortform note: If the idea of having such a conversation intimidates you, try explaining why it could be mutually beneficial.)

If you work with colleagues from different cultures, or if you had any awkward moments where you misunderstood what another person tried to tell you, then I highly recommend reading The Culture Map. For each scale, the author offers examples of cultural differences and suggests how to approach these differences effectively. The eight scales are as follows: Why? We tend to assume that everybody works the way that we do because our way is the ‘normal’ way. It’s only when we first understand how our culture is unique in some capacity that we become more able to appreciate and work with the differences in other cultures.According to Nisbett, dialectical thinkers are more accepting of contradiction as a fact of life, so they often try to find the middle ground. Sounds great, right? But an acceptance of contradiction could be problematic in business. For example, you might have to convince dialectical thinkers that a problem needs solving at all. 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 Other criticisms of deciding by consensus include that it takes too long, that the decisions aren’t flexible or adaptable to new information, and that it prevents individuals from being held accountable. The reason lies within the often ineffective legal frameworks in Asian countries. If your business partner cheats on you, there is very little you can do. Contracts are often not worth the paper they were written on. Sure, you could go to court, but the chances of success are rather slim. Therefore, it’s better to only do business with people you trust. Building relationships is a form of risk management. 6. Disagreeing: confrontational vs. non-confrontational