Cultural as well as individual differences impact what we see, think, and do. Erin Meyer has written The Culture Map. The culture map’s eight scales and their metrics represent common cultural differences which impact teamwork and collaboration:
- Communicating: Is the communication precise, simple, explicit and clear (low-context) or sophisticated, nuanced and layered (high-context)?
- Evaluating: Is there a preference for frank (direct) or diplomatic (indirect) negative feedback?
- Persuading: Are thought patterns balanced holistically (concept-first) or specifically (application-first)?
- Leading: Is the degree of respect and deference shown to authority figures low (egalitarian) or high (hierarchical) ?
- Deciding: Is there a tendency to build group agreement (consensual) before making decisions or are decisions made unilaterally (top-down)?
- Trusting: Is trust built cognitively through work (task-based) or is it based on strong affective connections (relationship-based)?
- Disagreeing: Is the tolerance for open disagreement high (confrontational) or low (avoids confrontation)?
- Scheduling: Is there a preference for working in a structured, linear fashion (linear time) or of being flexible and reactive (flexible time)?
See also:
Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map
Related post:
The egalitarian Vikings
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