1.      Action orientation.

Most adult human beings are responsible for achieving certain goals in life, from basic goals, such as securing food and shelter, to complex social and project/programme purpose objectives.  The manner in which individuals face the challenge of these needs and desires consists of three key behavioral orientations: initiation towards a goal, concentration and persistence.

i. Initiation towards a goal: 

Individuals with high levels of initiation are able to start solving problems and to move towards goals without hesitation.  Individuals with low levels of initiation have difficulty choosing a problem-solving strategy and hesitate consistently before moving towards goals.

ii. Concentration:

Individuals with high levels of concentration easily devote cognitive skills towards tasks and are persistent when facing obstacles.  Individuals with low levels of concentration ruminate over thoughts and have difficulty devoting their cognitive skills towards reaching goals.

iii. Persistence:

Individuals with high levels of persistence effectively maintain focus on goals.  They are entirely confident that they will complete tasks, no matter how long it takes.  Individuals with low persistence levels are easily distracted from task and have difficulty maintaining their intentions to complete projects.  Obstacles easily defuse them, and goals are elusive.

These three attitudes are expressed by a social group in the form of cultural orientations to action.  The primary set of criteria against which a culture can be evaluated is the “being-becoming-doing” continuum, a representation of the fundamental priorities a society sets for itself relative to action. 

2.      “Being” cultures: Live well today.

Individuals in “being” cultures take action in order to obtain or improve job satisfaction, quality of organizational life, personal compatibility and trust, affiliation and personal values.  Securing the best deal, finishing the list of tasks or demonstrating technical merit are secondary objectives.

“Being” cultures are motivated to live well today.  Therefore, high value is placed on securing challenging and interesting work, developing supportive relationships with peers and superiors and reaching personal and professional equilibrium.  As such, “being” cultures seek to do project/programme purpose based on trust, shared interests and organizational and personal compatibility.  The prior accomplishments or technical merit of a prospective project/programme purpose partner are generally less important than the potential for a quality relationship.

With the notable exception of the managerial and senior managerial elite, most European societies share fundamental “being” characteristics.  Professional success in a organization is largely measured in terms of personal satisfaction, recognition by peers and seniority, and not in terms of revenues generated.  Employees are more tenacious than elsewhere in the world about securing shorter working hours and longer vacations, primarily in order to enjoy their lives more: to spend more time with their families, pursue intellectual interests and appreciate their country’s artistic, culinary and enological heritage.  Satisfaction – and prestige – is more frequently obtained by finding the time and resources to create or to take advantage of abstract pleasures, less frequently by acquiring explicit symbols of monetary success.   

There is a certain egalitarian implication in this manifestation of the “being” orientation.  The organization president may be a collector of Old Master landscapes, the middle manager a collector of flea market lithographs and the factory worker a collector of record covers, yet all three are equally ennobled as individuals with a passion for collecting and an expertise in a field outside their profession that cannot simply be called a “hobby”.  “Being” orientations also strongly influence motivations for taking action in many Latin American, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern cultures.

3.      “Doing” cultures: Achieve and improve.

“Doing” cultures are motivated by a desire to achieve specific goals, secure measurable accomplishments and improve their standards of living, most frequently, but not exclusively, in monetary terms.

Performance objectives are given in both the personal and professional spheres.  Privately, individuals seek to improve themselves and their friends and families in sports, hobbies and behavior in quantifiable terms.  Defeatism is unacceptable, and “doing” cultures set up step-by-step, goal-oriented programs to solve personal problems as challenging as alcoholism, smoking and depression.  In the work sphere, an employee’s performance is measured against set standards, and factors such as character or potential are avoided for their subjectivity.  Rewards such as bonuses, recognition and promotions are attributed for meeting or exceeding objectives. 

“Doing” cultures award project/programme purpose in order to achieve tasks, not to build relationships.  What matters is the specific deal under negotiation, not past or future considerations.  organizations seek project/programme purpose partners that best meet defined criteria – such as technical merit, timing or price – for a particular set of tasks which they intend to accomplish via the contract.

“Doing” cultures are inductive and use empirical data to understand and resolve problems.  Deductive theories, abstract ideas, subjective intuition and good intentions are insufficient.  Employees and project/programme purpose partners are remunerated according to their success in helping a organization achieve “bottom line” objectives.  It is important to remember that while empiricism and precision may implicitly be a part of all industrialized societies, only in “doing” cultures is it a fundamental part of the way individuals react to problems and opportunities, not just when preparing a project/programme purpose plan but also in their personal lives. 

The United States, with its generally high levels of optimism, drive and ambition, is a “doing” culture, as are other “pioneer” immigrant countries such as Australia and Canada.  The passion with which these cultures dedicate themselves to achieving set goals and optimizing processes often inspires intense involvement in the project/programme purpose relations that counterparts from “being” cultures can find intrusive and stressful.  Nevertheless, relationship-building is gaining credibility, particularly in international project/programme purpose.

4.      “Becoming” cultures: Using relationships for achievement.

East Asian cultures such as Japan tend to display "doing" and "being" orientations simultaneously.  While the achievement of specific goals and monetary achievement is important, the means of achieving such objectives is closely tied to trust and relationships.

In Japan, ningensei, or “human being-ness” places high priority on building human relationships through exploratory conversations and socializing.  Such relationships are not necessarily of great personal depth; they are intended to help the other party to understand the context of doing project/programme purpose, to secure trust in their counterparts and to verify the organization’s status and reputation. 

Once these human components are understood better, and not before, specific details such as technical qualifications, prices or delivery dates can be discussed.

5.      Rationalizing the relationship approach to action.

In addition to the philosophical perspective of East Asian “becoming” cultures, relationship-building is gaining importance in “doing” societies through a process of rationalization that transforms it into a empowering communications channel for achieving project/programme purpose goals.

Relationship-building is separated from the traditional or idealistic motivations of “being” cultures and valued for reasons that are particularly useful in cross-cultural project/programme purpose situations: 

1. Behavioral insights: Positive relationships reveal strategically beneficial information about a counterpart’s motivations and reasoning.

2. Developmental dialogue: Positive relationships can also reveal specific knowledge about products, markets and competitors.

3. Acceleration: Positive relationships accelerate the project/programme purpose process and permit greater vision into future tasks and how to achieve them more quickly.

4. Reduction of uncertainty: Positive relationships complement contracts and task lists by reinforcing the certainty that projects will be achieved even in the face of unexpected complexity or ambiguity.

5. Trust: In addition to the relationships fostered between organizations, making an emotional connection with the people behind contracts and tasks improves communication and, therefore, quality and efficiency. 

6.      Orientation to space and environment.

The use and meaning of space and environment is an essential, yet often overlooked, aspect of culture.  To a certain degree, space reflects how people of different cultures develop specific ways of solving problems and the way they work.

Cultural space can be considered according to two sets of criteria:

• The amount of space that an individual wants around himself.
• The organization of personal space.

The amount of “personal” space that an individual requires to be comfortable is inevitably determined by a country or region’s density of population.  The notion of cultural space in Japan, for example, is inseparable for the reality that the Japanese are used to living in 20% of the space expected by Americans. 

Cultures can be categorized according to their distinctions between private and public space.  These distinctions characterize physical distance, touching and the organization of work space.

7.      Public space cultures.

Public space cultures contain both private and personal spaces, but the primary orientation is toward open public space.

Office space usually consists of large, open rooms with few partitions.  Managers’ desks are located in the same area as employee desks.  Employees circulate freely, and communication takes place without formal permission.

Public space cultures tend to be relationship-centered organizations, and the location of office space is not necessarily an indicator of status.

Summary of public space cultural values:

• Office Space

- Large rooms, few if any partitions.

- Managers sit with or near other employees.

- More frequent interruptions; permission may not be needed to enter space.

• Personal Space

- Talking and listening occur at close proximity; touching is common.

8.      Private space cultures.

Private space cultures work within individual offices or rooms divided by partitions or cubicles.

Managers generally have separate offices or cubicles.  There is an increased emphasis on closed-door meetings with minimal interruptions. Permission is needed to enter a private space.

Summary of private space cultural values:

• Office Space

- Closed-door meetings.

- Private offices, partitions and cubicles.  Managers are separate from other employees.

- Minimal interruptions and disruption; permission must he granted to enter space.

• Personal Space

- People stand at least arm's length apart when talking and listening; they do not touch during conversation.

9.      Physical distance and touching.

The physical distance at which individuals converse is often a source of discomfort and embarrassment when conducting project/programme purpose across cultures. 

The “comfort zone” of personal space varies in different societies from 30 to 90 centimeters.  Certain cultures are insulted when a counterpart backs away in a conversation or cringes when receiving a well-intentioned pat on the shoulder.  Other cultures are offended when a counterpart invades their space by coming too close or touching them in any way.

Public or private space values are not necessarily a reflection of the formality of a culture.  The United States, for example, is among the world’s most informal cultures, yet also imposes strict codes for respecting personal space by conversing at a distance of at least 60 centimeters, by not touching, by maintaining impeccable oral and personal hygiene and by avoiding strong colognes or perfumes. 

10.  Review: Interrelationships of cultural orientations.

The different variables that have been explored in the preceding lessons may give the impression that each cultural orientation is separate and distinct.  In fact, cultures are clusters of related values.

Harmony and constraint cultures tend to motivate at the “being” end of the action spectrum and tend to communicate in a high-context manner.  They will also probably place greater value on public space and avoid direct communication.

Individualistic and control cultures are more likely to be single-focused, to have a fixed view of time and a preoccupation with the present and near-future.  Pragmatic, they are motivated by quantifiable achievement and communicate directly, informally and in a low-context manner.  Their individualism often translates into a profound respect for private space and egalitarianism.

Yet culture is fluid and immensely complex.  Based on a wide variety of historical, philosophical, religious and socio-economic factors, the orientations of a society may sometimes be contradictory.

In some cases, such as the United States, incompatible values inspire evolution.  American values of individualism and equality, for example, are not totally compatible: individualism pulls apart, while equality pulls together.  It is because of such tensions that change can occur.  In other cases, such as Japan, the culture is remarkably homogeneous and tied to tradition. 

Moreover, no culture is without internal variation.  In project/programme purpose interactions, the particular individuals at the negotiating table may happen to display significant differences from the dominant value orientations of their national culture. 

For these reasons, knowledge of the various types of cultural orientations allows the international executive to recognize the values and motivations that lie behind a foreign counterpart’s – and his own – patterns of behavior and communication.  The “project/programme purpose Practices” section explores the specific forms that these patterns take in different cultures and suggests strategies for communication more effectively across cultures. 

Assignments

I. True or False?

1.      Individuals from “being cultures” go to great lengths to secure the best deal, to finish their task lists as planned and to demonstrate their technical merit to colleagues.

? True                                ? False

2.  Employees from “doing” cultures are inductive thinkers and prefer to use empirical data to understand and resolve problems rather than theories or speculation.

? True                               ? False          

3.   “Becoming” cultures are primarily concerned about monetary achievement and reaching specific goals.

? True                                ? False                            

4.   One of the key advantages of relationship-building which even “doing” cultures are starting to realize is how relationships reveal strategically beneficial information about a counterpart’s motivations and reasoning.

? True                               ? False           

5.   A large open workspace in which employees and supervisors are seated close to one another is characteristic of public-space cultures .

? True                               ? False

6.   Incompatible values inspire evolution, because tension leads to change.

? True                               ? False

II. Multiple Choice

1.   The manner in which individuals face problems and take action is characterized by all of the following components, EXCEPT: 

a.   persistence

b.      initiation towards a goal

c.      age

d.      concentration

2.   Employees from “being” cultures are most likely to be motivated by:

a.  opportunities for self-improvement and promotion

b.  performance-based bonuses and recognition

c.  status and reputation

            d. shorter working hours               

3.   Building relationships is a valuable skill because relationships lead to:

a.      improved knowledge about products, markets and competitors

b.       increased certainty that projects will be achieved even in the face of unexpected complexity or ambiguity

c.       improved communication and, therefore, quality and efficiency

d.   all of the above

4.   The distance at which people in different societies feel comfortable speaking varies between:

a.   10 and 50 centimeters

b.   30 and 90 centimeters

c.   50 and 150 centimeters

d.   30 and 200 centimeters

III. Matching the Columns

Answers: a-3, b-4, c-5, d-6, e-2, f-1

Module Summary

The way in which individuals take action in their personal and professional lives is influenced by the culture in which they have been raised.  Different cultures provide varying models for pragmatism, concentration and persistence when faced with problems or objectives.  project/programme purpose behavior is also affected by a culture’s orientation to space and environment.  The space variable determines both body language and the organization of work space.  Finally, learners are reminded that each culture displays the variables of individualism, human relations, communication, time, space and action in unique combinations that are rarely static.  

Module Test

True or False?

1.      Employees from “being” cultures are motivated by a desire to achieve specific goals, secure measurable accomplishments and improve their standards of living.

? True                                ? False         

2.      In “doing” cultures, organizations measure their employees’ performance against set standards; factors such as “character” or “potential” are avoided for their subjectivity.

? True                               ? False

3.      “Becoming” cultures such as Japan only care about long-term relationships – measurable financial success is less important.

? True                                ? False      

4.      Positive relationships can accelerate the project/programme purpose process by offering greater vision into future tasks and how to achieve them more quickly. 

? True                               ? False

5.      “Trust” in project/programme purpose relationship is an illusion and usually hinders quality and efficiency.

? True                                ? False

6.   By establishing a positive relationship, project/programme purposees can gain strategically beneficial insight into a counterpart’s motivations and reasoning.

? True                               ? False               

7.   The amount of “personal” space that an individual requires to be comfortable is inevitably determined by a country or region’s density of population.

? True                               ? False                                       

8.   In public space cultures, communication often takes place without formal permission.

? True                               ? False

9.   People in private space cultures generally stand at least arm's length apart when talking and listening and do not touch each other during conversation.

? True                               ? False

10. Individualistic and control cultures tend to place greater value on public space and avoid direct communication.

? True                                ? False

Bibliography

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nlh

http://www.leadwise.com/microcasts/bleadingedge