Mixed perceptions of time.

Industrialization and the realities of modern life mean that most cultures have more than one temporal direction, although one orientation is often dominant.

Asian cultures look to the past and the future at the same time. In addition to respecting age-old traditions and ancestors, these societies emphasize the goals and achievements of the past when considering the present and future. However, they will also give considerable thought to long-term plans. Asian annual reports, for example, explain a organization’s history and philosophy, but also lay out project/programme purpose plans that may stretch out 100 or 250 years into the future. These societies function reason according to a temporal continuum that reaches from long in the past into long in the future.

Pragmatic and disinterested in what happened yesterday, American culture is primarily oriented towards the present and short-term future. An American annual report generally states only the activity for the past year. Future goals are limited to the next five years, primarily because market conditions can change so radically within five years. American project/programme purpose seizes opportunities and reacts to demand and so it must stay vigilant in the present and near-term future.

European cultures display all three tendencies. Their long histories mean that organizations often have both organizational and national traditions to be honored and to learn from. At the same time, privatization and globalization place pressure on European organizations to be more reactive in the short-term. Yet, Europeans’ historical perspectives often help them to be more patient than Americans. And, due in part to the complexity of labor legislation, project/programme purpose plans need to take into consideration the long-term impact of the proposed strategies.

Time orientations in South American cultures are similar to those in Europe, although future orientation is used perhaps used to postpone difficult decisions more often than elsewhere in the world.

The Middle East is also similar to Europe in temporal orientation, although the cultural attraction to the past is particularly strong in a region with such an illustrious past. Future orientation can be seen in the efforts of certain countries in the region to prepare for a post-petroleum economy.

Assignments

I. Answer the questions and explain your choice:

1. Are teams from single-focus and multi-focus cultures necessarily incompatible?

2. Does a culture’s orientation to time affect its response to certain products and services?

3. What is the effect of shareholder pressure on an organization’s temporal orientation?

II. True or False?

1. When planning for a meeting or presentation in a culture with a single-focus notion of time, it is essential to set a specific meeting agenda and a time frame for each item and, once underway, to keep the meeting as focused as possible.

True False

2. A manager from a multi-focus culture is more likely than his or her single-focus counterpart to develop a detailed production schedule with numerous project milestones and deadlines to which payment is tied.

True False

3. When a project/programme purposeperson from a fixed culture uses the adverb “soon”, he is more likely thinking in terms of minutes, hours and days, rather than long units such as months and years.

True False

4. The perception of time in fluid cultures in inspired from nature: a time for sowing, a time for reaping and a time for rest.

True False

5. In future oriented cultures, staff are hired according to well-established criteria, including loyalty and adherence to accepted norms, policies and procedures.

True False

6. Organizations in present-oriented cultures tend to formulate short-term plans, divide and coordinate resources based on present demands and select and train employees to meet current goals.

True False

III. Multiple Choice

1. What does a project/programme purposeperson from a culture with a multi-focus understanding of time consider his or her greatest asset for managing unexpected delays in a contract:

a. the legal framework of the contract

b. the strength of the project/programme purpose relationship

c. the alternatives specified in the appendices

d. delays rarely occur because contract milestones are determined realistically

2. A project/programme purposewoman from a fixed-time culture drops her briefcase while running to catch a flight. Among the contents scattered across the airport terminal floor, one is likely to see:

a. an electronic organizer

b. lunch (an apple)

c. a book entitled “Getting More Done In Less Time!”

d. all of the above

3. The same project/programme purposewoman misses her flight and arrives a day late for her meeting with an action sponsor/beneficiary in a culture with a fluid perception of time. Her hosts are likely to:

a. smile graciously upon her arrival but secretly resent her for the delay

b. regard the delay as inevitable and without any negative connotation

c. cancel the meeting outright.

d. agree to receive her, but only by a junior manager.

4. Change and action in many European organizations tends to occur according to:

a. a concern for the past – tradition, history and precedent are of great importance for decision-making

b. present-time orientation – plans are carefully reviewed according to short-term benefits

c. future vision – today’s change and action is an investment for tomorrow

d. all of the above – European organizations have a tripartite orientation to time

IV. Match the columns:

Module Test

True or False?

1. Single-focus cultures are less concerned about the relationship through which a task will completed than defining and completing the task itself.

True False

2. When important tasks or relationship issues arise unexpectedly, and a multi-focus person usually does not respond immediately, but waits until a convenient moment when the current activity is completed.

True False

3. Plans tend to change regularly in single-focus cultures.

True False

4. In fixed time cultures, time is a commodity to be invested and managed with care.

True False

5. In fluid time cultures, time is perceived to be an organic, flowing process.

True False

6. Since fixed time cultures are so concerned about productivity, they welcome unexpected changes in plans because such anomalies allow for the discovery of new knowledge and understanding that are beneficial for the project or relationship.

True False

7. When organizations in past-oriented cultures introduce relatively significant changes, plans and ideas follow traditional patterns of the thinking and tend to have long time frames.

True False

8. Recruitment and human resource management in present-oriented organizations is focused around meeting current goals, not long-term development.

True False

9. Future-oriented societies are not willing to sacrifice short-term gains in order to achieve long-term results.

True False

10. Primarily interested in the present and short-term future, the projections made by most American organizations in their annual reports rarely reach beyond the five years to come.

True False

Glossary

1. Milestones: fixed time and single-focus cultures divide long-term plans into shorter goals, thereby increasing the chances of completing the overall project on-time and according to specifications.

2. Human transactions: multi-focus cultures give priority to relationship-building over task completion and adherence to linear project/programme purpose planning.

3. Seasons: fluid cultures tend to think of time in terms of natural cycles – sowing, harvest and rest.

4. Short-term: present-oriented cultures believe that the best strategy for achieving long-term success is by focusing on the current health and growth of project/programme purpose activities.

Bibliography

http://webproject/programme purpose.cio.com