Empathy is a core competency for designers. We talk about and practice putting ourselves in another person’s shoes. In truth, it is an illusive competency most of us will live a lifetime striving to contain. This is especially true when it comes to culture. It is nearly impossible to quantify, the number of societies, cultures and sub-cultures that exist in the world, let alone to step into the shoes of each and every person.
In her lecture on service and culture, Tarja Chydenius used the analogy of culture as an iceberg. Some cultural elements we can experience with our senses such as behaviors and artifacts, yet the majority of one’s culture remains hidden from our view. To really begin to dig (or swim) deeper, we can supplement our senses with research as well as good ol’fashioned human experience.
To begin this journey, I dove into three different publications regarding culture, hoping to get a glimpse under the surface.
The first article I reviewed was one of a three-part series on social innovation. It was the type of article one might read over morning coffee or - as American culture may have it - while devouring lunch at your desk. The article discusses cross-cultural communication and suggests one should anticipate cultural differences in advance of an interaction, such as: standard greetings, body language and current events in the culture. While these are worthy topics for cultural encounters, this review seemed to be nearly the tip of the iceberg. I needed to dive further.
Next, I looked at an academic article on cultural differences and their implications in project management. The authors reviewed two studies on cross-cultural management and introduced five cultural dimensions one should consider, such as:
- Power distance – Power distribution and distance between less- and more-powerful people within the culture
- Uncertainty avoidance – Comfort in unstructured situations.
- Individualism vs. collectivism – Expectation of self-reliance vs. community support
- Masculinity vs. femininity – Emotional roles and coping mechanisms
- Long- vs. short-term – Expectation of instant or delayed gratification
Using a handy chart, the authors examine the differences in values between Western and Non-Western cultures and define the impact of those differences on project management. This model was deeper and more thorough. Yet, looking at the practical side, I was hoping to learn more about real-life implementation.
My final stop was to reflect back to a book I had already read called The Cultural Map. The book takes one step further by introducing eight scales (communication, evaluation, persuasion, leadership, decisions, trust, disagreements, schedules). Each country is then ranked on the scale, making it easy to compare and contrast the attributes of different cultures - based on nationality - and how those traits might be influencing an interaction. The book also provides every-day examples in the working context. Armed with this information, maybe, just maybe, we can come one small step closer to bringing meaning, understanding and empathy to our cultural interactions.
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Sources
Anbari F.T., Khilkhanova E.V., Romanova M.V., Umpleby S.A., 2003. Cross Cultural Differences and Their Implications for Managing International Projects. Accessed 25.9.2015.
http://www.gwu.edu/~umpleby/recent_papers/2003_cross_cultural_differences_managin_international_projects_anbari_khilkhanova_romanova_umpleby.htm
Meyer E., 2014. The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries. New York, United States: PublicAffairs.
Visaisouk, J. 2012. Cross-Cultural Communication and Social Innovation, Part 3. Accessed 25.9.2015.
http://www.business2community.com/leadership/cross-cultural-communication-and-social-innovation-part-3-0174863