Management-issues.com has delved into the complex world of cultural relations.
Cross-cultural relationships and projects inevitably take more time, more effort, and more patience. Slowing down often goes against the grain of what we’re (mostly Americans) trying to accomplish.
Some interesting tid-bits: Americans are very impatient (as if we didn’t already know) but how impatient are we?
A USA Today study found that most North Americans won’t wait in line for more than 15 minutes. Google also tested our patience when they slowed down the speed of search results by four tenths of a second to see what impact it would have. The result was eight million fewer searches a day!
The article goes on to note that communication and trust building requires a great deal of effort and understanding and is an important factor in cross-cultural communication. This applies to all aspects of life, whether in a business deal, traveling, or even teaching, good cross cultural communication is an integral part of our globalized world.
IntelliCulture, Humintell’s cross cultural adaptation tool aims at helping individuals avoid conflicts due to cultural mis-communication. It is designed to broaden the understanding of culture, where it comes from and how it influences behavior.
IntelliCulture provides useful tips on how to leverage cultural differences and think critically when encountered with a difficult situation.
The waiting lines in Russia can be long. Waiting an hour at a bank, grocery store, etc. is normal. Sometimes even longer. Russians will certainly wait as long as necessary. Their ability to wait in lines seems contradictory with other things they are doing that clearly shows impatience. The bottom line is that nobody likes waiting but I think some cultures resign themselves to do so whereas others will not.
Ian.
Thank you for your comment Ian!!