Cultural Differences - Monochronic versus Polychronic

Continuing our series looking at cross-cultural communication issues we now turn our attention to monochronic versus polychronic cultures and the impact that can have on communication.

Monochronic cultures like to do just one thing at a time. They value a certain orderliness and sense of there being an appropriate time and place for everything. They do not value interruptions. They like to concentrate on the job at hand and take time commitments very seriously.

In addition monochronic people tend to show a great deal of respect for private property and are reluctant to be either a lender or a borrower. This is part of a general tendency to follow rules of privacy and consideration as well as adhere religiously to plans.

Polychronic cultures like to do multiple things at the same time. A manager's office in a polychronic culture typically has an open door, a ringing phone and a meeting all going on at the same time. Though they can be easily distracted they also tend to manage interruptions well with a willingness to change plans often and easily. People are their main concern (particularly those closely related to them or their function) and they have a tendency to build lifetime relationships. Issues such as promptness are firmly based on the relationship rather than the task and objectives are more like desirable outcomes than must do's.

If you live in the United States, Canada, or Northern Europe, you live in a monochronic culture. If you live in Latin America, the Arab part of the Middle East, or sub-Sahara Africa, you live in a polychronic culture.

Interactions between the two types can be problematic. Monochronic businessmen cannot understand why the person they are meeting is always interrupted by phone calls and people stopping by. Is it meant to be insulting? When do they get down to business?

Polychronic businessmen cannot understand why tasks are isolated from the organisation as a whole and measured by output in time instead of part of the overall organisational goal. How can you separate work time and personal time? Why would you let something as silly as a schedule negatively impact on the quality of your relationships?

You can quickly see the problems. Recognising whether you are dealing with a polychronic or monochronic culture and the attendant differences in how time and relationships are valued is crucial to being able to communicate effectively across cultures.

Comments

[UAE universities]

Thanks for sharing this blog i hope for reading your blog everyone like to give the comments

[joshua]

Yes but why? Why are some cultures monochroic and others polychronic?

[Brett Rutledge]

Hi Joshua. Some cultures are traditionally monochronic. In such a culture, time is thought of as being linear. People are expected to do one thing at a time, and they will not tolerate lateness or interruptions.

In polychronic cultures, time is thought of as being cyclical. In such cultures, it is not important to be punctual, and it is acceptable to interrupt someone who is busy.

A lot of Western cultures are monochronic due to the popularity of Taylorism where, during the industrial revolution, we started using time as a measure of efficiency and, ultimately, profitability.

[joshua]

Hi Brett

Thanks for your answer.
Doesn't this then reflect the differences between a civilisation still culturally dominated by the agricultural mode of production, where there is a fatalistic attitude to life, because everything depends on meteorological factors that cannot be controlled by man and in which time is cyclical, slow, following the rhythm of the seasons, and a civilisation dominated by the industrial mode of production, in which the production cycle is controlled and planned by man and speed of production and time-to-market determine capital accummulation? (in the sense that Alvin Toffler describes it in the Third Wave).

Another question in my mind is the geographical, or climatological influence on time perception : it seems highly significant that if one takes Europe as an example, the further North you go, the more time is perceived as important - in Scandanavian countries, it is almost a sin to be late, but as you go South, it becomes far less important and once you reach North Africa, time is almost symbolic. Think of what "tomorrow" actually means in Finland, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy and Morroco. I have often wondered why this is : perhaps being late for a meeting in cold, harsh climates is actually dangerous, because the person waiting could freeze to death? When nature is hostile, there are few hours of daylight and when night falls, it's dangerous to be out...

I've often tried to find research on this topic, but it does seem that most specialists tend to describe rather than explain such factors (for instance : why are some cultures more risk-averse tha others? - one answer is that much depends on historical experience and cultures can go from being risk-taking to risk averse even over short periods of time, when faced with traumatic events). I think perhaps we need another TE Hall to look into these notions in more detail, because I find that most intercultural theory leaves the mystery wide open and therefore does not provide us with the keys to really comprehend cultural pheomena.

[prada]

will follow you

[24/7 in France]

24/7 in France: Your explanation made me think of the ingrained "time is money" mentality, so prevalent in the U.S. Living in France, especially on the French Riviera, one learns to relax and go more with the flow.

[Angelina Jolie]

this is such sociology talk completely invented to keep you in a job - its so completely not true - I am from England and work with most european countries and we have no problems like you have mentioned - its a personal thing not a cultural one

[Drika]

I live in Finland and time is more important than anything else. Finns get very unhappy if you are late because they think is nor polite and you don't respect your peers. It is rare to see one Finn late for any meeting. It is a cultural behavior. They teach it since babies and also in schools. It is passed from generation to generation. Arriving in time tells who you are!