In the original Intercultural Comprehension, an illustration of eight dimensions reduced to two dimensions for the general public.
yugui:Erin Meyer “Reading Intercultural Comprehension. It analyzes work cultures around the world on 8 axes: context-dependence, communicating evaluations, persuasion principles, hierarchy, decision makers, trust-building processes, tolerance for differences of opinion, and schedule flexibility. Japan has many axes that are unique or extreme, even when analyzed in this way.
yugui: In hierarchical countries where the boss is an awe-inspiring figure, it is usually top-down, with the boss making decisions quickly, testing the strategy, and changing the decision if it is wrong. Conversely, in egalitarian countries, where the boss is also a peer, everyone makes decisions by consensus and proceeds accordingly.
yugui: In Japan, however, it is not possible to discuss things while calling the boss by first name on an equal footing, but decisions require consensus, not decisions by those in authority, and there is a hierarchy-based consensus In Japan, however, decisions are made by consensus, not by the decision of the person in authority, and there is a stamp rally of approval documents to promote consensus at each level.
yugui: In my experience, the majority of the 8 axes can be done with cross-cultural methods once you get used to them, but context-dependent communication and consensus-oriented decision making cannot. We want to clearly state what we want to say and mutually confirm our understanding, and we want to make decisions quickly by clarifying authority and responsibility.
yugui: If it’s more egalitarian, maybe it can be consensus-oriented. If it is a combination of hierarchical and consensus-oriented, it would be disrespectful to the boss of the other party to proceed only with the other party’s staff, and the staff would be reluctant to express their opinions out of consideration for the boss. Even if you persuade only the other boss, without the staff’s agreement, you will be disobedient. It’s hard for neither the site nor the boss to make decisions.
yugui: Reading the 8 axes from the Japanese perspective, 1. Japan is extremely context dependent communication, so when talking to people from other cultures, be direct rather than insinuating. The context-independent culture partners are not rude, but that is the culture. Also, there is a possibility of mutual misunderstanding, especially when speaking with different context-dependent cultures such as Saudi Arabia.
Jin Nakano (AnityA)(@Jin_AnityA)
The story is that Japan is unique in the distribution of leadership and decision-making.
If consensus-building is emphasized in a hierarchical system, there is a tremendous cost of communication with all sides, and since only opinions can be expressed from the top and sides, the stones thrown at the leader are usually hit… https://twitter.com/jin_anitya/status/1428553879474503684?s=21
relevance - multicultural world
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