2021/10/13 week 05 Cultural Differences on Time.

 OBSERVATIONS ON DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES OF TIME:

By Donovan Torr.

    Can different cultures have different perspectives on the concept of time? How can these differences have an impact when cultures collide? What approaches can we take to ensure a smooth interaction with those who differ from us? These are some of the questions I wish to explore in this blog post. I look forward to hearing any of your ideas on the topic!

     Recently I became aware of the words Monochronic and Polychronic and their meanings concerning time. A summary of the two is: Monochronic is orientated to tasks, schedules, and procedures. Polychronic is orientated towards family and relationships. These preferences will impact what is important to the person and what they will put first when conflicts of interest arise.

Growing Up in a Polychronic Culture.

    I Have spent most of my life living in South Africa. We are what I would call a polychronic culture. However, we are an extremely diverse group of people, all with our own cultures. I have lived mostly in Cape Town but, I have lived in other cities for various amounts of time ranging from 8 years to 3 months. This has given me a unique insight into how things differ in other cities and cultures in my country.

    One thing that has remained true throughout all the cities is that family comes first. If an emergency arises or  two things that need attention, most times the family or relationship orientated one will win. Businesses and schools also feel this way and will be quick to aid employees/students and give extra time to accomplish tasks or days off if needed to resolve issues that arise. A few times in my working career I have had friends who have contacted me with emergencies ranging from plumping issues, car problems, or needing to be rushed to hospital. In all these cases I have gone to help, contacted my work, and told them why I will be late or finishing work early that day. Every time work has been understanding and not made an issue of it. Something I have come to understand does not happen everywhere in the world.

    The key to making this work is communication!

    If I did not tell my work at the soonest possible opportunity that had arisen to take my time, they would have an issue with me disappearing to help people out. It remains our responsibility to be responsible adults and be accountable for our actions. Our workplaces are kind enough to give us the time off without having to put in leave or taking it out of our pay, it is on us to not abuse this generosity and to ensure that our work still gets done in a satisfactory way and time. 

Different cultures perspectives on time.

    While throughout the country the above applies for all of us, our cultures also all view time in different ways.  I was raised to always be punctual, and by punctual it was to be 15-30 minutes early to whatever I was supposed to attend. I have learned that being so early can be problematic, especially if the organizer is not used to people arriving so early. As an example, one of our other cultural groups views it ok as being 5 minutes early. So whenever I went over to that friend's house and was 30 minutes early, he was still busy getting things ready to receive guests, so being early was inconvenient for him. We came to a working understanding though and I would often sit in my car listening to music while waiting to go in. Later in life, I learned that 5-15 minutes early is enough time to ensure you are punctual,

    Other groups in our country however are much different, they will get caught up with what they are doing, which results in them being late for appointments. This is especially true if it is for a celebration or a big event. I remember a family friend needing to be a marriage official for a couple. He arrived a few minutes early as was normal for him. An hour later none of the guests or couple had arrived, so he went home. Four hours after the designated time he got a phone call from the groom asking where he was as they were now at the church. Apparently, they had all been at a pre-ceremony party and had not thought to let him know they would be so late for their own wedding. 

When cultures collide.   

   Some cultures have this concept of being "fashionably" late, arriving 30 minutes or later for events. I've even seen this happen in an airport. They were calling a passenger's name as she was late to board her plane. She was sitting in a restaurant at the table next to mine, laughed and said that's her they calling and then proceeded to order her food, thinking it was perfectly okay to keep a whole airplane waiting for her to be ready to get on it. Needless to say, they did not wait that much longer for her, unloaded her bags, and left her behind. In the workplace this can also create issues with meetings and such, they quickly learn to shape up to the workplace culture of time though and that for some things they can't be late, especially when they are given written warnings or have to pay contractors for a full days work when they went home after waiting for a meeting that did not happen when it was scheduled to and no notice was given as to why they were running late. Once again it comes down to communication. I will happily wait for a person who is running late if they contact me and let me know what is going on, I will not wait for a person though who does not value my time and is just wasting it as they are incapable of being punctual. This is true for any person, the time in our day is valuable and limited, we need to learn that how we treat it in social settings and how we view it in professional settings needs to be different if the two do not align.  

How to ensure smooth interactions.

    As I mentioned above, communication is key, especially for the professional world! In social settings, we know our friends and how they function. In the workplace and classroom environments, we need to take the time to explain our expectations to new members. Make sure they understand how to use the system if needed, if they running late for a meeting, then communicate with those. If an emergency comes up, ensure you excuse yourself as soon as you can. Most importantly though is to make sure that none of these become "habit-forming", if you have an emergency before every meeting, then you probably need to take some time out to sort your life out a bit better before committing to working again. Adequate communication can solve many issues. If there are any differences then talk them through. 

In conclusion.

    We are all different in our approach to different scenarios, very few people intentionally try to offend you, so let us not take any when none was meant. Instead, we need to learn to work together to create solutions that allow us to work with people from many varied and unique cultures and backgrounds, all with their own unique concept of time and what is important to them.