marks. Describe, compare, and discuss the “Sensitivity to time: High or low?” by identifying the cultural dimension(s) affecting the behavior and discussing the effects.

5 marks. Describe, compare, and discuss the “Sensitivity to time: High or low?” by identifying the cultural dimension(s) affecting the behavior and discussing the effects.

E.T. Hall discussed the sensitivity to time and the use of time in studies of the dimensions he named Monochronic and Polychronic cultures.

Discussions of national negotiating styles invariably discuss a culture’s attitudes toward time. It is said that Germans are monochronic, are always punctual, Latins are polychronic, and habitually late, Japanese negotiate slowly, and Americans are quick to make a deal. Commentators sometimes claim that monochronic cultures value time more than others, but this observation may not be an accurate characterization of the situation. Rather, negotiators may value differently the amount of time devoted to and measured against the goal pursued. For the monochronic Americans, the deal is a signed contract and time is money, so they want to make a deal quickly. Americans therefore try to reduce formalities to a minimum and get down to business quickly. The mixed monochronic/polychronic Japanese and other polychronic Asians, whose goal is to create a relationship rather than simply sign a contract, need to invest time in the negotiating process so that the parties can get to know one another well and determine whether they wish to embark on a long-term relationship. They may consider aggressive attempts to shorten the negotiating time as efforts to hide something. For example, in one case that received significant media attention in the mid-1990’s, a long-term electricity supply contract between an American owned ENRON subsidiary, the Dabhol Power Company, and the Maharashtra state government in India, was subject to significant challenge and was ultimately cancelled on the grounds that it was concluded in “unseemly haste” and had been subject to “fast track procedures” that circumvented established practice for developing such projects in the past. Important segments of the Indian public automatically assumed that the government had failed to protect the public interest because the negotiations were so quick. In the company’s defense, Rebecca Mark, chairman and CEO of Enron International, pointed out to the press: “We were extremely concerned with time, because time is money for us. (Enron’s Rebecca Mark: ‘You Have to be Pushy and Aggressive'” BusinessWeek, February 24, 1997, http://www.businessweek.com/1997/08/b351586.htm.)

This difference between the Indian and U.S. attitudes toward time was clearly revealed in my survey. Among the twelve nationalities surveyed, the Indians had the largest percentage of persons who considered themselves to have a low sensitivity to time.

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