TIME AND SCHEDULING

Cross Cultural Management

By:
Febriana Tri Wulandari

135020301111068

Elza Rahmania Dwi Utami

135020301111092

ACCOUNTING MAJOR
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS
BRAWIJAYA UNIVERSITY
MALANG
2016

Rigid-Time vs Fluid-Time Culture

Business travelers soon learn that people tend to look at time and scheduling
differently in different parts of the world. In rigid-time societies punctuality is critical,
schedules are set in concrete, agendas are fixed, and business meetings are rarely interrupted.
Edward T. Hall coined the term monochronic for these clock-obsessed, scheduleworshiping cultures. People in polychronic cultures place less emphasis on strict
punctuality, are more likely to miss deadlines and tend to value loose scheduling as well as
business meetings where several meetings-within-meetings may be taking place
simultaneously. Edward T. Hall classified Japan and China as polychronic in terms of general
cultures, but when it comes to punctuality for business meetings they tend to be monochronic.

Europe: The North/South Divide

At Europe, the meaning of punctuality varies according to whether you are in the
northern or southern part of the continent. In Germany, if you have a meeting at 9 AM,
veterans of the German market agree that 8.55 AM would be just about right to be punctual.
Arriving a few minutes early shows that you share your customers obsession with being on
time. The worst thing would be to show up late: tardiness signals lack of discipline. Some
Germans feel if you are ten minutes late for a meeting you may be ten weeks late with your
delivery.

Where the Clock Slows Down

But across the Alps in Milan time behavior begins to change. There your customer or
contact may well show up five or ten minutes late without feeling the need to apologize.
Further south in Italy schedules become even more fluid: In sunny Rome your local
counterpart might waltz in half an hour after the agreed time and greet you as though nothing
at all is wrong. Polychronic culture of time becomes more obvious as you move further south.
Other exaple, in Sicily, small city in Italy, if the local counterpart show up any time at that
day, they are considered as punctual. The conclusion is, the seller is expected to adjust to the
customers culture. The visitor has to show respect to the buyer. Being on time is a way of
showing respect even in a polychronic culture.
Its About Time
In fluid-time cultures business people may be tardy for your meeting because they had
to help a friend or family member solve a problem. Or perhaps an earlier meeting ended later
than expected. In polychronic cultures it is rude to end an ongoing meeting just because you
happen to have another one scheduled. Indonesians have a delightful expression for
polychronic time. They call it jam karet or rubber time flexible, stretchable meeting
times, schedules and agendas. Indonesians tend to place a higher value on human
relationships than on arbitrary schedules and deadlines. The contrast between polychronic
and monochronic cultures is magnified these days by the traffic problems found in many
developing countries. Unless you anticipate total traffic gridlock in certain cities and plan
accordingly, even Germans and Swiss visitors might occasionally find themselves a minute or
two late for a meeting.
Culture Shock in a Time Warp
Monochronic people are prone to culture shock when doing business in polychronic
markets.
Case About Culture Shock in a Time Warp:
Case 6.2: Waiting in New Delhi
Richard was a 30 year-old American sent by his Chicago-based company to set up a
buying office in India. The new offices function was to source large quantities of consumer
goods in India: cotton piece goods, garments, accessories and shoes as well as industrial
products such as tent fabrics and cast iron compo-nents.

Indias Ministry of Foreign Trade (MFT) had invited Richards company to open this
buying office because they knew it would promote exports, bring in badly-needed foreign
exchange and provide manufacturing know-how to Indian fac-tories.
Richards was in fact the first international sourcing office to be located any-where in
South Asia. The MFT wanted it to succeed so that other Western and Japanese companies
could be persuaded to establish similar procurement offices.
The expatriate manager decided to set up the office in the capital, New Delhi, because
he knew he would have to meet frequently with senior government officials. Since the Indian
government closely regulated all trade and industry, Richard often found it necessary to help
his suppliers obtain import licenses for the semi-manufactures and components they required
to produce the finished goods his company had ordered.
Richard found these government meetings frustrating. Even though he always phoned
to make firm appointments, the bureaucrats usually kept him waiting for half an hour or
more. Not only that, his meetings would be continuously inter-rupted by phone calls and
unannounced visitors, as well as by clerks bringing in stacks of letters and documents to be
signed. Because of all the waiting and the interruptions, it regularly took him half a day or
more to accomplish something that could have been done back home in 20 minutes.
Three months into this assignment Richard began to think about requesting a transfer to
a more congenial part of the world somewhere where things work. He just could not
understand why the Indian officials were being so rude. Why did they keep him waiting?
Why didnt the bureaucrats hold their incoming calls and sign those papers after the meeting
so as to avoid the constant inter-ruptions?
After all, the government of India had actually invited his company to open this buying
office. So didnt he have the right to expect reasonably courteous treatment from the officials
in the various ministries and agencies he had to deal with?
Three decades as a monochronic person doing business in poly-chronic markets taught
me how to avoid some of the frustration. Here are three practical tips for rigid-time business
travelers:
Find out in advance if the market you are going to visit is a fluid-time culture.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Bring a well-filled briefcase. Instead of wasting time in the re-ception area twiddling
your thumbs, compulsively looking at your watch and muttering curses, catch up on all that
work you never seem to have time for, or read a good book. It makes the time go faster.
Above all, BE PATIENT!

Punctuality
In the business world, punctuality and promptness is needed. this as the basis of the
assessment of whether a person can be said to be a professional or not. in developed countries
who coined yanng high work ethic, they really appreciate punctuality. late means losing a
second chance.
Agendas: Fixed vs Flexible
Monochronic meetings tend to follow an agreed outline or agenda. At a typical
negotiation in Germany, Switzerland or Sweden, you can expect to start off with a few
minutes of small talk and then proceed in linear fashion from Item 1 to the last item on the
agenda with no major digressions.
Schedules and Deadlines
People in some polychronic cultures have a real aversion to rigid deadlines. Many
traditional Arab businessmen, for example, believe it is impious and irreligious to try to see
into the future. God, not man, is in charge of what will happen. The Arabic term Inshallah
God willing expresses that belief.
With counterparts from polychronic cultures it can be a mistake to set rigid deadlines
and try to enforce them. Instead I recommend the following approach:
If you need something delivered or some action taken by, say, March 1, get your
polychronic counterpart to agree on Feb. 1 or even Jan. 15.
During the whole time leading up to the deadline, establish agreed-upon milestones.
Stay in frequent touch with your counterparts. Face-to-face contact is the best way to
expedite matters.
In other words, put a comfortable margin in your scheduling and then maintain a close
relationship with your counterparts. Remember that while it is rude to be tardy in a
monochronic culture, it is equally rude to patronize people from polychronic cultures who refuse to bow down in worship of Chronus, the old god of time.