Cultural awareness comes from learning about other cultures, with a sincere effort to understand them. There is a need to understand cultural differences in time, hierarchy, and decision-making.

1. Avoid Bad Meetings: Understand
Cultural Differences of Time,
Hierarchy and Decision Making
Blog, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
The meeting went badly. Very badly.
The CMO was thirty minutes early, and the CEO was
twenty minutes late. The COO and CMO were both
attempting to lead the meeting, while
simultaneously offending each other for doing so.
Meanwhile, the CFO and CIO interrupted them
constantly, both steering the conversation where
they saw fit. After two hours of this, when it was
time to make decisions, the CIO was only
concerned with the short‐term, cost‐effective
approach, while the CMO was focused on the long
term results. In the end, no decisions were made
because the CEO and CFO refused to move forward
without a complete consensus from the team.
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2. No one anticipated that the first global leadership
meeting would be such a mess. Yet it turns out that
the leaders could have been better prepared for the
meeting. How? All it takes is a little cultural
awareness.
When I say cultural awareness, I don’t mean to
imply that all you need to do is be aware that
cultural differences exist. Cultural awareness comes
from learning about other cultures, with a sincere
effort to understand them. On a personal level, you
can ask members of other cultures about their
geography, music, history, and/or literature.
On a theoretical level, you can turn to Geert
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, as a
framework for building a greater understanding
between different cultures in an organization.
Social psychologist Geert Hofstede conducted a
six‐year worldwide survey of employee values in 50
countries and three regions, identifying cultural
differences in six primary dimensions. These
dimensions address four anthropological problem
areas that national societies handle differently.
While the six dimensions may seem a bit abstract,
they inform important aspects of business
relationships, including how people view hierarchy,
time and decision making. These three elements
cause conflict in the workplace even when there are
no cultural differences. Toss a group of people into
a room who are not culturally aware, and you get
bad meetings.
Since hierarchy, time and decision making are so
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3. often the cause of workplace miscommunication, a
client of mine asked me to discuss the different
cultural perspectives of each. Because the client has
global offices in Sweden, India, China, the United
States, and the United Kingdom, I will focus
exclusively on those countries.
Keep in mind that this is a basic overview, which
involves generalizations. Ultimately, everyone you
work with is an individual who will have his or her
own perspective.
Cultural Differences With Time
Let’s start with time. There are early people and
there are late people, right?
It’s not that simple. Different cultures have different
perspectives of time on a fundamental level. Here is
an overview of how the UK, U.S., China, India, and
Sweden generally approach the concept of time in
business.
U.K.: In the U.K. it is customary to be punctual.
Meetings are generally time‐consuming and set
well in advance. Agendas are preferred.
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4. well in advance. Agendas are preferred.
U.S.: In the U.S., time is seen as a precious and
scarce commodity ﴾think about the phrase ‘time is
money’﴿. Culturally, people in the U.S. tend to
equate working time with success—the harder you
work ﴾more hours﴿, the more successful you will be.
They see time as linear and doing one thing at a
time with a fixed schedule is preferred.
China: China is a big proponent of punctuality. In
fact, it is customary to arrive 15 to 30 minutes early
to a meeting in the Chinese culture. Other people’s
time is seen as precious, due to a penchant for
humility. It’s wise to allow time in a meeting after a
transaction is decided to attain a degree of
closeness. In other words, don’t shake hands on the
deal and run out the door to another appointment.
India: The Indian perception of time is not linear.
Time is not about countable, segmented hours and
minutes, but rather is measured in events,
priorities, and emergency requests. Expressions of
time are expressions of intent, not mathematical.
Sweden: In Sweden, being punctual is a sign of
respect and efficiency. It is also not considered rude
to set strict deadlines for projects or decisions.
What’s Time Got To Do With a Bad
Meeting?
So let’s go back to the horrible meeting we talked
about earlier. Remember how the CMO was thirty
minutes early, and the CEO was twenty minutes
late? The early leader wasn’t anxious or trying to

5. show people up by being early; she was just from a
culture where early arrival is customary. And the
CEO is from a different culture—one where
expressions of time are expressions of intent, not
mathematical. If the whole team was aware of
these cultural differences, the meeting wouldn’t
have started with tension.
Cultural Differences With Hierarchy
Now let’s move on to hierarchy. The concept of
hierarchy, a system or organization in which people
or groups are ranked one above the other
according to status or authority, varies widely
among cultures. While some cultures find hierarchy
to be a must, other find it intrusive and
unnecessary. Here is an overview of how the UK,
U.S., China, India, and Sweden generally approach
the concept of hierarchy in business.
U.K.: Distinct hierarchy characterizes the majority
of British companies and organizations. The
decision maker’s authority is not to be questioned,
and major decisions are made at the very top.
Culturally in the U.K., the people consider a group‐
established order to offer a sense of security and

6. established order to offer a sense of security and
something with which they can identify.
U.S.: The US often has a hierarchal corporate
structure, where there is top‐down control that
guides business practices and activities, and
positions are ranked with levels of authority.
However, the U.S. is culturally uncomfortable with
hierarchy and class systems. They prefer the “open
door policy” and using first names, or even
nicknames, with superiors.
China: In China, hierarchy influences many aspects
of business. Seating arrangements require the most
influential people seated the farthest from the
door, and top ranking dignitaries face the door. A
person in a subordinate position would never speak
for the group, and senior managers do not expect
or appreciate being contacted by more junior
people from outside organizations.
India: Indian businesses are often very hierarchal.
In negotiations, unless members of the highest
level ﴾company director, owner, senior manager﴿ are
present, a decision will not be made. Roles are well
defined and once people are in their allotted
position, they rarely attempt to overturn. Leaders
are respected and their instructions are unlikely to
be questioned—even raising a red flag can be seen
as disrespectful.
Sweden: In Sweden, strict hierarchy is largely
absent. Everyone’s role in the group is seen as
important and managers invite feedback from all
team members. In general, many angles are
discussed before a group‐wide decision is made.

7. What’s Hierarchy Got To Do With a Bad
Meeting?
Remember, “The COO and CMO were both
attempting to lead the meaning, while
simultaneously offending each other for doing so.
Meanwhile, the CFO and CIO interrupted them
constantly, steering the conversation where they
saw fit.”? Can you guess where these leaders might
be from? The COO and CMO are both from cultures
where hierarchy is an important and respected
structure, like the UK and China, and the CFO and
CIO are from cultures that shy away from hierarchy
for a more casual, collaborative approach, like
Sweden or the United States. Had these leaders
been more culturally aware, they would have seen
what was happening in the situation and been able
to adjust their behavior accordingly.
Cultural Differences With Decision
Making
Cultural differences in decision making is the last
topic we will cover today. This isn’t about being
indecisive or not; it’s about how decisions are
customarily made. Not understanding how this
process differs among cultures can not only create
frustration, but also prevent decisions from
happening at all, which hampers progress. Here is
an overview of how the UK, U.S., China, India, and
Sweden generally approach the concept of decision
making in business.

8. U.K: When a decision is announced, it might sound
more like a proposal open to discussion yet that is
not the case in the U.K. They favor a pragmatic
approach to decision making and use logical
reasoning.
U.S.: In the U.S., executives are influenced by a
short‐term, cost‐benefit approach to decision
making. They approach decisions in a democratic
fashion, operating on debate and discussion
between opposing parties. Decisions are made
either to respond to challenges or create
opportunities for recognition and praise.
China: When it comes to China, decision making
tends to be authoritative, which employees rarely
challenge. They trend toward decisions based on
long‐term goals, instead of short‐term goals.
India: All attendants of a meeting need to be
considered in the decision making process in order
to maintain harmony in India. This can create a
longer decision‐making process, often considered
by other cultures as time consuming. They tend to
value stability when making decisions.
Sweden: Compromising is strongly favored in
Sweden. Getting into a heated debate in a typical

9. Swedish meeting would be unusual. Decisions are
made with great consideration because they value
consensus and agreement and feel it cannot be
risked.
What’s Decision Making Got To Do With
a Bad Meeting?
Let’s go back to that horrible meeting one last time.
Remember the CIO and CMO clashing when it was
time to make a decision? The CIO was most
concerned with a short‐term, cost‐effective
approach, as is common in the U.S. culture. This
conflicted with the CMO who was focused on the
long‐term results. And in the end, the CEO and CFO
were so concerned with all team members being
involved and invested in the decision, often
culturally relevant in India and Sweden, that a
decision was never made.
Armed with this basic knowledge of cultural
differences in time, hierarchy and decision‐making,
the horrible meeting could have had an entirely
different outcome.
I challenge you to look more into cultural
differences as you approach your professional life.
One way to do that is to look more into
the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Theory. Another
way is to nourish your curiosity, ask questions, and
really listen to what your team members have to
say. This will improve your effectiveness, improve
your work relationships, and enrich your life.
I would love to hear any stories you have about
misunderstandings at work in regard to hierarchy,

10. ← Previous Post Next Post →
time or decision making style. Were you able to see
what was happening at the time? Are you able to
see it more clearly now?
Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find
us on Twitter.
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