A Mapping Framework to interpret Cultural Behaviours
- Arpit Shah
- Aug 20, 2022
- 17 min read
Updated: 11 minutes ago
BACKGROUND
It was in 2011 when, as a Business Analyst at an FMCG organization, I began using Microsoft Excel formally. My boss was proficient at it and never failed to remind me the importance of organizing the data in a neat manner before attempting to analyze it. Once I became familiar with the scope and utility of this popular spreadsheet software, I was drawn towards it and really enjoyed operating it.
Excel's Cell layout presented itself as an attractive framework to organize data into chunks of interpretable information and very soon, I began to view and understand objects and structures in the real world with a similar perspective. For example, a multi-storeyed building became to me a neat assemblage of cells comprising windows and balconies, laid out symmetrically in rows and columns😊.
The approach of using a framework to turn complexity into meaning has held me in good stead ever since - I can attribute several of my positive moments, personally and professionally, to the development of this trait. My affinity for Supply Chain and Mapping (which led to the creation of Mapmyops.com) is likely to have stemmed from this aspect.
HYPERLINKS TO SECTIONS
Wouldn't it be great if there was a framework to understand and interpret something as abstract and complex as Culture and Human Behaviour?
After all, these are crucial for our existence and helps us make sense of everyday happenings, the ones where we are directly involved as well as the others which we view from our screens. As much as each human being is a unique entity, groups of culturally-connected people do tend to behave similarly. And because the human race finds itself in a position of strength due to the power of its collective, it becomes all the more vital to understand these common behavioral traits i.e. Culture. An important aspect to consider though is that while Behavior constitutes a significant portion of Culture, the latter includes aspects such as Ideas, Norms, Habits, Attitudes, Beliefs, Customs and Laws as well.
What Culture means in an Indian context is neatly summarized in this pocket-sized silver booklet (Figure 3) that I have in my possession. Nani Palkhivala, the author, defines Indian Culture and Dharma as a combination of three virtues - Self-discipline, Self-restraint and Self-development. As profound as this is, the use of individualistic tendencies to describe a group phenomenon is striking. It is as if Culture amalgamates the multitudes of us into a singular living organism.
When outsiders encounter India and Indian culture, they find it to be diverse, spiritual, advanced, and multi-faceted. Having exposure to some of the other cultures around the world myself, let me share why I think this to be the case-
The geography of Bhāratavarṣa - the ancient name of the Indian subcontinent - is perhaps, the single-most important contributor to the growth of civilization and the development of rich heritage in this landmass. Much of it is interspersed with flowing water bodies, carriers of nutrients, which make the soil arable and the vegetation lush - leading humans to congregate and settle around it (the Chinese, Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations emerged around the Yangtze, Nile and Tigris-Euphrates rivers respectively). A wide variety of food and cash crops have traditionally been cultivated here besides the naturally-abundant forest resources, medicinal herbs and spices. Naturally, this had a profound impact on health, prosperity and the general well-being of the group of people who chose to have this place as their home. Additionally, the majority of residents reap the benefits of living in a subtropical zone devoid of climatic extremes that make so many regions around the world inhospitable. Moreover, the terrain around the subcontinent's perimeter, be it the Himalayan mountain range, the Indian ocean or the Thar desert, serves as a barrier to both, nature's fury as well as human invasions. As a result of these factors, this region became a Petri dish of sorts, having just the right proportion of ingredients needed for culture to thrive and evolve - a microcosm of knowledge and development - for all you know, the transition from being small tribes of hunter-gatherers living in survival mode to an advanced society steeped in agrarian practices, in residential planning, in education and social customs, in the Sanskrit language and in Sanskriti, the beautiful Indian word for culture occurred quickly here. Soon enough, the residents were even able create channels of international trade bypassing the natural barriers, be it the Grand Trunk Road, spectacular Mountain-passes or prominent Maritime routes. No wonder, this land became a beacon of cultural broadcast which attracted traders, students and invaders alike. What transpired over the last millennium, however, has not only wiped out the economic prosperity but also tarnished a once remarkable culture, whether irreversibly so remains to be seen. Not only were external forces able to capitalize on the internal divides but also they ensured that the very foundations of the nation and its proud culture were pummeled - be it literary texts, places of worship, local customs, and even food. At the same time, the world order changed drastically too, stirred by the advent of European-origin phenomena such as Colonialism, Renaissance, English language, Industrial Revolution, Scientific Research, Green Revolution, Electronics, Automobiles and Computing, which propelled the fortunes of the first movers - while India continues to feed on its scraps. The role of geography as a catalyst of cultural evolution and growth is already diminishing - humans are now able to develop settlements in hostile environments, grow crops without soil and natural climate, work remotely, and mingle with different cultures either in person or from the comforts of screens at a much rapid pace than before.
What I am curious and just as well concerned about is how culture would evolve in the times to come. Would the human race find a way to limit its greed, utilize resources wisely and live harmoniously? Or are we hurtling towards a dystopian future devoid of vision and charm at the mercy of technology and its promise of near-unlimited resources and pleasure? Frankly, the latter does not seem all that implausible to me given how we are setting ourselves up today. Understanding our cultural behaviours and the similarities and differences that bind us better would help us to arrive at a consensus as to how to progress our time on this planet in a sustainable manner.
I do believe that India has an important role to play in the emerging new world order - maybe not as a protagonist, but as a guide. A lot of people, especially the youth, do feel conflicted about the stance they should adopt - whether to continue mimicking the West's capitalist mode of development (despite its inherent flaws) with the hope of surpassing it someday or to somehow reconnect with and embrace the nation's cultural moorings (I'm afraid much of it is irretrievable) or to pursue an aggressive form of nationalism, driven more by rhetoric than by the actual strengthening of foundations (dominates the landscape today). Which approach is optimal, whether it would be a hybrid of all three, or perhaps something totally different, only time would be able to reveal.
Grappling with these thoughts and staying true to my profession, I immediately wonder - can Mapping help chart the way forward for us?
As Mapping is a good way to...
lend structure to thinking
use as a framework to organize and understand reality
embark on an explorative adventure to reach a magical destination
...then it could very help humans to bridge their divides and journey together into a bright future.
It was in this situation that I was fortunate to encounter an audiobook - The Culture Map - Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business. It presents and elaborates a useful framework to assess behaviors in a cross-cultural workplace and I feel it could act as a valuable reference material in our bid to 2. organize and understand reality - after all, it is vital that we have a good understanding of our situation as-is before we even begin to chart an ideal to-be.
INTRODUCING - THE CULTURE MAP
The Culture Map book was published in 2014. Erin Meyer, the author, is a professor of Management Practice at INSEAD in the Organizational Behavior Department and this book is a manifestation of her research on human behavior and similarities and differences in management styles in cross-country, cross-cultural environments. At the core of the book lies the framework - 8-Dimensions of Culture - where each dimension contains a behavioural spectrum which places people from multiple nationalities on the scale relative to each other.
Erin draws from her research and shares several real-life examples to put forth a compelling case for understanding, accommodating and leveraging cultural nuances in order to get things done effectively at the workplace. Readers with cross-cultural experiences professionally and/or personally are very likely to relate to some of her stories and even exclaim - this has happened to me / had I known this, I could've handled the situation much better...
As can be observed, each of these dimensions are particularly relevant in an organizational context.
and have highly contrasting traits at either end of the scale. For example, the Leading dimension (Figure 5) ranges from an egalitarian style of corporate leadership to a hierarchical style of corporate leadership and Erin maps the behavioural tendency of a particular nationality relative to other nationalities on this scale. So while the Australians, in general, advocate equal rights for all employees irrespective of designation (highly egalitarian society), Indians desire preferential rights as they climb the corporate ladder (an affinity for hierarchy). The Britishers are neither as egalitarian as the former nor as hierarchical as the latter in their style of leadership and hence, are placed at the centre of the scale.
Before I begin elaborating each of the eight cultural dimensions, do note the following-
The visual cards compare the contrasting tendencies at either end of a behavioural spectrum
You'd be right to assume that the exact opposite of each statement holds true for the contrasting tendency, even if not mentioned explicitly
Some of the examples used are directly paraphrased from the audiobook while others are based on my personal experiences and interpretation of the subject matter
Erin's output from her research on the Communicating dimension (Figure 7) indicates how countries fare relative to each other on a scale from Low-context to a High-context form of communicating tendencies-
You may perceive that if countries are clustered besides each other on a scale, then they are likely to gel well because of similar cultural tendencies and vice versa. While this holds true in general, it is not always the case.
For example, in the Communicating dimension, the greatest scope of misunderstanding is actually between nationalities who are clustered towards the right of the scale i.e. those who use the high-context style of conversing such as conveying the desired messaging in an indirect manner, often through non-verbal cues.
A conversation between two such nationalities, consider the Chinese and the Japanese, would be ripe for misunderstanding - imagine a situation where a Chinese worker conveys a subtle message to a Japanese colleague who fails to interpret it in the intended manner, influenced by his own cultural tendencies. The response of the Japanese person could also very well be misinterpreted by the Chinese😁. This is akin to the encryption-decryption loop in electronic communications - just that it doesn't function all that well in human-to-human exchanges! Coming to think of it, this aspect could be a major contributing factor to the bitter rivalry that exists between these two proud nations.
Erin insists that the readers take into consideration the relative positions of the nationalities on the spectrum. For example, while US and Germany are both located towards the left of the Communicating dimension, which indicates their affinity to use a direct and clear style of messaging, an American may not be able to grasp the little subtleties that a German may use in his messaging due to having a more low-context Communicating culture than the latter.
While Erin has placed nationalities on the Evaluating spectrum just like she did for Communicating (Figure 7), some useful insights can be obtained from this 2x2 matrix in Figure 9 featuring both these dimensions together-
Observe that some nations such as US and Canada who communicate in a low-context manner i.e. very directly, surprisingly tend to adopt an indirect approach to evaluating i.e. sharing negative feedback in a mild manner. The opposite is also evident - consider Israel and France, for example.
In a cross-cultural workplace, a direct Evaluating culture of the superiors may demoralize subordinates belonging to an indirect Evaluating culture who may perceive it to be cold and emotionless. The opposite can also be problematic - if the superior shares positive feedback initially to mellow the impact of the succeeding negative feedback, the subordinates may feel that their boss is not being transparent enough. According to Erin, based on her consulting experience and research findings, adopting a balanced approach slightly tilting towards indirect evaluation tends to work best in cross-cultural interactions.
Persuading is a very important behavioural trait, especially in a workplace context. It is not restricted to Sales alone, rather, it is applicable to multiple stakeholders and to all the various forms of selling that occur in a corporate environment - be it of products, services, ideas, knowledge or beliefs. Aspects like career progression, project buy-ins and fund sanctions hinge on the person/team's ability to win over the decision-makers. It therefore helps to map nationalities in this dimension as different cultures adopt differing styles of Persuading behaviours - it could be a Principles-first approach, an Applications-first approach or even somewhere in-between (Holistic Thinking lies exactly in-between according to the author).
As an Indian-origin student exploring higher education options abroad, the idea of studying Global Supply Chain Management struck to me as an interesting option. Supply Chain involves observing dependencies and linkages in a systems-view rather than from a nodal, organization-centric view. Having listened to Erin's explanation of Holistic Thinking behavior and its prevalence in Asian cultures made me introspect - there was a growing realization that my cultural roots had influenced my academic pursuits subliminally.
Typically, Indians do tend to evaluate the pros and cons in depth, see the larger picture and then proceed to build a solid, winnable case. This is in stark contrast to Western nationalities who adopt a first do, then think approach (Applications-first) or the Middle-Eastern nationalities who strictly interpret actions and frame laws based on what is indicated in Islamic texts (Principles-first).
I must emphasize before it colours your opinion that Erin doesn't espouse cultural stereotyping. Rather, she suggests that these deep-rooted cultural tendencies should be factored in to determine best-practices for leadership and management in a cross-cultural environment. The inability to recognize these contrasting tendencies could tantamount to worker conflicts, lack of motivation and project delays.
For all I know, you may have formed deep-rooted tendencies yourself on how to deal with people - assessing each person in isolation based on the perceived merits and demerits and responding accordingly. The author indicates that this may be a wrong approach - because you are judging the person not in his/her cultural context but from your own culture's prism. Erin suggests that the leaders should become more familiar with the cultural backgrounds of their subordinates and design the policies, processes and communication accordingly, so as to be more accommodating of them and their values.
As a best-practice across dimensions, Erin proposes that the leadership conveys the behavioral approach that will be adopted in the organization in advance to the cross-cultural workforce. For example, this is how your performance evaluations will be done, this is how we'll look to handle grievances, this is what would be considered acceptable and this is what wouldn't, and so on. And instead of directly conveying the plan, the use of cultural bridges would be more effective i.e. conveying the message through locals or from seasoned professionals and experts.
Erin credits her research output pertaining to the Leading dimension to Geert Hofstede in particular, a famous Dutch social psychologist who recently passed away. Hofstede's research work in the field of cross-cultural behavior is held in very high regard among his peers and beyond - his Six Dimensions of National Culture framework is taught at management schools around the world and this is how India fares in it-
To understand Hofstede's cultural framework better and what these scores for India mean, refer to the summary page on his website.
After listening to the Deciding dimension in the audiobook and merging the author's views with my own world-views, I drew an insight - three of the top countries renowned for the quality of their products and processes - namely Japan, Germany & USA - adopt a contrasting approach towards Leading and Deciding. To elaborate, Japanese and Germans organizations, renowned for superior operational efficiency in manufacturing, adopt a hierarchical Leading but a consensual Deciding style of cultural behaviour. When it comes to consensus, as Erin indicated, the Japanese prefer using the Ringi system where each layer of the management, starting from the bottom, discuss and arrive at a consensus for a proposal and then transfer their feedback to the next level of management above them in the hierarchy who, in turn, adopt the same approach - this process continues till the feedback from the second rung reaches the leader of the pack. Not only everyone gets to have a say, but also unnecessary meetings are done away with using this clever, consensual system of decision-making.
In a similar vein, the US, widely-regarded as a torch-bearer in innovation and management, adopts a fairly egalitarian style of Leading but a more top-down approach to Deciding. Incidentally, a video on Facebook, which I viewed just as I was typing out this section, brings this contrast to the fore😊-
A child fiddling with the blazer and asking questions to the then former Vice-President Joe Biden, who humbly obliged, signified an egalitarian Leading style to me. Nonetheless, he was quick to gesture with his hands what reflected the top-down nature of the Deciding spectrum - Number. 1: Obama followed by Number 2 - himself. Funny how a random trending video gives clues about the cultural tendencies of a nation!
As you may have observed, I designed the comparison card (Figure 15) for the Trusting dimension in a different way - using a storyline. The moral of this story is simple - trusted relationships pay more dividends than trustworthy transactions. Realistically speaking, I feel most nationalities adopt a flexible approach towards this dimension based on the country they are dealing with rather than fixating on a singular approach for all the countries.
Erin indicates that Relationship-based Trusting places significant importance on forging associations at a personal-level, connecting socially, and the use of network-based references in business dealings - this approach is prevalent in Middle Eastern, South Eastern and Latin American cultures even to this day. However, the importance of Task-based Trusting, as practised by USA and Germany, should not be undermined because it is a more practical and efficient approach, the rules of the game tend to be fairer, and the decisions are based on merit.
Erin derived the concept of Trusting dimension from the two basic types of Trust - Cognitive and Affective. In simple words, do you trust with your head (cognitive/task-based) or do you trust with your heart (affective/relationship-based)?
Would you feel comfortable if you are questioned at the workplace about a decision of yours or your performance in general in front of everyone - your peers, superiors and subordinates?
I wouldn't. As per my beliefs, Disagreement is better conveyed sincerely in a private setting. However, as I've learnt from this section of the audiobook, many organizations do actively try to foster a more confrontational method of Disagreeing as to them, it is a sign of a healthy, involved and a motivated workforce.
The fact that Erin chose Disagreeing and not Agreeing as a behavioral dimension to map was an implicit indication about the author's own confrontational background. To lend more credence to my belief, I referred to her scale with particular interest on the positions that France and USA occupy-
And as I had suspected, the French influences in Erin's life (professionally at INSEAD and personally through her husband's nationality) plus her own upbringing in USA may have prompted her to chose Disagreeing as the behaviour to map after all😅.
Given my own background in Operations and having spent considerable time working for and with USA-origin organizations here in India, I do rely on the Linear-time approach in the Scheduling dimension - I like to form a workday schedule, prefer to break down complex tasks into achievable activities, and sincerely plan for and attempt to complete projects on a timely basis.
As a business owner operating this mapping venture, I often get furious (implicitly) with customers and suppliers when they don't respond as scheduled, give vague timelines, do not read my reference material, come unprepared and late for meetings, or interrupt the flow with needless bottlenecks.
Yet, at the same time, I do admire (implicitly, again) these same folks because they tend to accomplish so much more in their given time, assume responsibilities for multiple projects, and are able to deliver results too somehow. Despite this, I do believe that managed success derived from the use of Flexible-time approach should not be practised regularly as it is steeped in low probability and on hoping that things go right. Rather, Linear-time approach is a form of a planned success and organizations in India should transition to this in order to be consistently competitive in the global arena, be it business, sports or any other field.
Efficient operations, processes and systems rely on Linear-time principles as well. With Mapmyops, I hope to assist organizations in making this transition.
While I do believe that humans are not meant to be mechanical beings, watching race-car maintenance happen in a matter of few seconds during Pit Stops is a sight to marvel at and a testament to the benefits of adopting a Linear-time culture. This is not to say that this behavioural tendency is without flaws - it is often deemed to be rigid and impractical in the VUCA world we live in. Yet, to me personally, its benefits far outweigh its failings.
CONCLUSION
I hope you found this framework of mapping cultural tendencies to be useful. Erin has mapped several countries this spectrum, in isolation for a particular dimension and even across all the dimensions. One can think of ways and means to minimize the scope of conflicts by understanding the differences between two or more cultures and determining policies and best-practices for the workplace accordingly. Erin's website also has some useful Culture mapping tools which can be used to build individual, group, organizational and country-level Behavior Maps - professionals across industries operating in cross-cultural environments could stand to benefit from it.
I loved listening to The Culture Map audiobook and you may choose to listen to it as well or buy a copy. If anything, this book could have been even better if it had assessed Culture using some other parameters other than just on the basis of Nationality. This is because large countries such as India, China, USA and Brazil house a wide range of diverse cultures within, so I'm not sure if her country-level generalization would be an accurate representation of the ground reality of a particular region. Perhaps, she should have sliced the Culture cake on the basis of religion, age, gender or profession.
Also, Erin's interpretation of Culture largely focused on Behavioral traits which is a slightly narrow take, although to be fair, she did try to bring in historical and attitudinal aspects with examples occasionally. That being said, the behavioral aspects of culture are more dominant at workplaces and hence, one can understand why she chose to dwell on it in particular.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post and drew interesting insights! Feel free to share your feedback.
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Credits: Erin Meyer, Hachette Book Group