West is West, East is East. On the difference of cultures and interaction within an international company
The difference of mentalities and national business cultures is a theme that is eternal and does not lose its relevance: the alien soul is still dark, and the alien soul is also an inexhaustible source of curiosities and misunderstandings. Therefore, I want to dwell on one fundamental difference in the worldview of the two cultures. I’ll say right away that in this comparison, only Russians and Americans (or, more precisely, carriers of Russian and American cultures and mentality) will be discussed. For the British, my experience is somewhat different, but for other nations it is not so large a sample as to draw any conclusions.
This distinction is not so critical when Americans are your customers. But when you work with them in the same team, to understand what to expect from a partner is simply necessary for overall success.
Probably, I could try to formulate the difference in one sentence, but for complete understanding I will cite a beautiful theoretical basis confirming the experience.
I am sure that there are dozens of examples in the difference in the approaches of these countries since early childhood. But since I realized it only when I was in conscious age at George Washington University and was able to evaluate what makes teaching in Russia and America fundamentally different, I’ll give exactly the example that became the basis of my own insight.
')
You are all familiar with the way in the institutions of Russia give marks for subjects. It was a shock for me to understand that the principle of grades in many US universities is completely different.
I do not know the official term, but let's call it a progressive scale of assessments. How does it work? Suppose a group of 100 people. As the course progresses, they receive points depending on the results of the controls. Then, at the end, all 100 people are sorted by total points. And now the last trick - setting rates for the course. The first 5 best will receive "A +". The next 10 people are “A”. Another 5 - "A-". Then 5 - “B +”. Another 15 - "B". Then 10 - "B-". Another 5 - "C +". And so on. Distribution from subject to subject and from teacher to teacher may be different, but the principle is respected.
And now what does this all mean? And the fact that your grades and career depend not only on yourself, but also on which group you are lucky to get into. With the same knowledge you can be the first and get the highest points, and you can be in the middle of the peloton.
It should be added here that if in Russia after high school it may happen that no one will see your diploma again, then in the USA it is customary to write an average grade in a resume and it is often a criterion for hiring, i.e. Significantly affects the future career.
As a result, it turns out that it is beneficial for you to have fellow students screwed up. The worse the surrounding - the better you are on their background. This is where the complete individualization comes from. Reluctance to help. If someone writes off one, it will be laid by everyone who notices.
Because he does not just help himself - he thereby worsens the chances of everyone else.
And now let's compare it with Russia. To deceive the teacher - valor. Not to study the whole session, then the night before the exam, learn and / or get lucky with the ticket - a feat. (Again, it was a shock that I won’t be able to do that in the US - the control ones go all semester. And if you got a bad score for any one, then there’s no chance to correct it - you’ll automatically have a worse total amount. .
But to lay a friend with us - zapadlo.
It is clear that this is going on many, many times before. Back in the manger, remember? "Yabeda-koryabeda". And after it is already much more serious - “scammer first whip”.
Lyrical digression
Although the sayings, of course, we have for all occasions - the people have a wealth of experience. One of the most difficult philological tasks, the solution of which I witnessed, is the authentic translation and explanation to a foreigner of the saying “It’s better to knock than to knock it over”.
This is where the second fundamental contradiction arises - in the USA, each is specifically at one with the authorities - because he is used to receiving benefits and career growth in this way.
We are all together against the authorities. Do not like our power. Organically. And long ago, long before the last years, long before perestroika, long before the formation of the Soviet Union - for example, read Saltykov-Shchedrin, there are a lot of familiar tunes. I am not a historian, I cannot explain the reasons, but the results are very interesting.
And the picture is as follows. Suppose conditional programmer Vasya and manager John are working. And Vasya tells John that there is a risk of not being in time by the deadline, because someone has screwed up (maybe Vasya himself, or maybe not). And after literally a couple of hours, Vasya gets a wick of incredible dimensions from his immediate superior, Petit - because John's boss has already complained about that. And the size of the wick and discomfort of Vasya depends solely on Petya's thickness of the skin and his ability to cover up programmers while they do their work.
And now let's remember that very difference of cultures. John immediately went to the authorities precisely because there is a risk of failure, and it is important for John’s career that this risk is not his fault. John is transparent, he raised all the flags, he has everything under control, he will now heroically cope and will be well done.
At the same time, John does not at all believe that he did something bad to Vasya. For him, the reaction is natural. And he believes that Vasya expected such a reaction from him. What does Vasya think? “Well, there was a problem, well, I would have podnapryagsya and decided. As an honest person, I warned my friend and colleague that there are risks that he would help me and insure. And what instead - was set up, and I turned out to be extreme? All right, John, we'll get even. ”
Now let's take another situation. And suppose that the previous conflict was not.
Vasya did not have time to date. At the last moment, for example, the server fell, he raised it all the weekend, but the application never got up. Therefore, he rolled back to the previous version.
And Vasya since the morning of Monday wakes up John, who, for example, has a client show. And he says that there was trouble, but he overcame it.
What does Vasya think? That's right, he is a hero and saved the company. He worked as hell, didn’t sleep for two days, and even if he failed to install the latest version, the client’s demonstration wouldn’t fail. Yes, and there was not really anything new there, so a couple of insignificant buttons. And if everything goes well, you see, and the prize will be given.
What does John think? And John thinks he doesn't like working with Russians. Because, if Vasya had told him on Friday, he could still agree and postpone the show. And at the last moment to cancel - the client will be unhappy, and maybe he will refuse the next meeting. And to show on the previous version is meaningless, because this client is interested in just the latest developments. And that John's boss will not be very happy. And John will be the last, because the boss won't want to listen to all the stories about Vasya. Well, wait, Vasya, next time you have my every sneeze you will report!
And this is still a very simple dynamic, from one Vasya and one John. In this ideal case - both are constructively tuned, normally think and sincerely care for the result. And now if on that and on the other side of these with a couple of dozen? And to assume that some of them have their own goals and ambitions? And plus some, what to be cunning, not so perfect people? Terrarium is obtained.
To sum up some things:
The table describes exactly the consequences of the above worldview difference. It is clear that, in addition to the “genotype” of culture, there is also the “phenotype” of a particular personality.
And I repeat again. The proportion of good people to scoundrels in different nations is the same to the accuracy of measurement. But here's what is considered right and natural for some, can cause resentment and resentment among others. And even two good people, if they do not trust each other, can behave like the last bastards.
We, in our team, solved this problem for a long time, mashing each other and understanding the specifics of each one and who copes with what tasks more effectively. It is unlikely that there are uniform rules and patterns for all occasions. But I can say that in the end we managed to get a very strong alloy, when the ingenuity of some is supported by the reliability of others.
In conclusion of the article I would like to return to its title again. Despite its rather widespread use as an “insurmountable difference”, my beloved Rudyard Kipling, of course, said that, despite the difference in these civilizations, their representatives can cooperate and negotiate.
What everyone wants.
Upd. Already after I found an article on Habré, very consonant to what was written. I strongly recommend reading, although I myself do not agree with everything in it. In particular, I have never encountered sexism in America, either at work or at home. For example, the classic stamp about opening doors in my case does not work - dozens of times when I held the door or let the lady forward, there were always only smiles and “thanks” in response.
This distinction is not so critical when Americans are your customers. But when you work with them in the same team, to understand what to expect from a partner is simply necessary for overall success.
Probably, I could try to formulate the difference in one sentence, but for complete understanding I will cite a beautiful theoretical basis confirming the experience.
I am sure that there are dozens of examples in the difference in the approaches of these countries since early childhood. But since I realized it only when I was in conscious age at George Washington University and was able to evaluate what makes teaching in Russia and America fundamentally different, I’ll give exactly the example that became the basis of my own insight.
')
You are all familiar with the way in the institutions of Russia give marks for subjects. It was a shock for me to understand that the principle of grades in many US universities is completely different.
I do not know the official term, but let's call it a progressive scale of assessments. How does it work? Suppose a group of 100 people. As the course progresses, they receive points depending on the results of the controls. Then, at the end, all 100 people are sorted by total points. And now the last trick - setting rates for the course. The first 5 best will receive "A +". The next 10 people are “A”. Another 5 - "A-". Then 5 - “B +”. Another 15 - "B". Then 10 - "B-". Another 5 - "C +". And so on. Distribution from subject to subject and from teacher to teacher may be different, but the principle is respected.
And now what does this all mean? And the fact that your grades and career depend not only on yourself, but also on which group you are lucky to get into. With the same knowledge you can be the first and get the highest points, and you can be in the middle of the peloton.
It should be added here that if in Russia after high school it may happen that no one will see your diploma again, then in the USA it is customary to write an average grade in a resume and it is often a criterion for hiring, i.e. Significantly affects the future career.
As a result, it turns out that it is beneficial for you to have fellow students screwed up. The worse the surrounding - the better you are on their background. This is where the complete individualization comes from. Reluctance to help. If someone writes off one, it will be laid by everyone who notices.
Because he does not just help himself - he thereby worsens the chances of everyone else.
And now let's compare it with Russia. To deceive the teacher - valor. Not to study the whole session, then the night before the exam, learn and / or get lucky with the ticket - a feat. (Again, it was a shock that I won’t be able to do that in the US - the control ones go all semester. And if you got a bad score for any one, then there’s no chance to correct it - you’ll automatically have a worse total amount. .
But to lay a friend with us - zapadlo.
It is clear that this is going on many, many times before. Back in the manger, remember? "Yabeda-koryabeda". And after it is already much more serious - “scammer first whip”.
Lyrical digression
Although the sayings, of course, we have for all occasions - the people have a wealth of experience. One of the most difficult philological tasks, the solution of which I witnessed, is the authentic translation and explanation to a foreigner of the saying “It’s better to knock than to knock it over”.
This is where the second fundamental contradiction arises - in the USA, each is specifically at one with the authorities - because he is used to receiving benefits and career growth in this way.
We are all together against the authorities. Do not like our power. Organically. And long ago, long before the last years, long before perestroika, long before the formation of the Soviet Union - for example, read Saltykov-Shchedrin, there are a lot of familiar tunes. I am not a historian, I cannot explain the reasons, but the results are very interesting.
And the picture is as follows. Suppose conditional programmer Vasya and manager John are working. And Vasya tells John that there is a risk of not being in time by the deadline, because someone has screwed up (maybe Vasya himself, or maybe not). And after literally a couple of hours, Vasya gets a wick of incredible dimensions from his immediate superior, Petit - because John's boss has already complained about that. And the size of the wick and discomfort of Vasya depends solely on Petya's thickness of the skin and his ability to cover up programmers while they do their work.
And now let's remember that very difference of cultures. John immediately went to the authorities precisely because there is a risk of failure, and it is important for John’s career that this risk is not his fault. John is transparent, he raised all the flags, he has everything under control, he will now heroically cope and will be well done.
At the same time, John does not at all believe that he did something bad to Vasya. For him, the reaction is natural. And he believes that Vasya expected such a reaction from him. What does Vasya think? “Well, there was a problem, well, I would have podnapryagsya and decided. As an honest person, I warned my friend and colleague that there are risks that he would help me and insure. And what instead - was set up, and I turned out to be extreme? All right, John, we'll get even. ”
Now let's take another situation. And suppose that the previous conflict was not.
Vasya did not have time to date. At the last moment, for example, the server fell, he raised it all the weekend, but the application never got up. Therefore, he rolled back to the previous version.
And Vasya since the morning of Monday wakes up John, who, for example, has a client show. And he says that there was trouble, but he overcame it.
What does Vasya think? That's right, he is a hero and saved the company. He worked as hell, didn’t sleep for two days, and even if he failed to install the latest version, the client’s demonstration wouldn’t fail. Yes, and there was not really anything new there, so a couple of insignificant buttons. And if everything goes well, you see, and the prize will be given.
What does John think? And John thinks he doesn't like working with Russians. Because, if Vasya had told him on Friday, he could still agree and postpone the show. And at the last moment to cancel - the client will be unhappy, and maybe he will refuse the next meeting. And to show on the previous version is meaningless, because this client is interested in just the latest developments. And that John's boss will not be very happy. And John will be the last, because the boss won't want to listen to all the stories about Vasya. Well, wait, Vasya, next time you have my every sneeze you will report!
And this is still a very simple dynamic, from one Vasya and one John. In this ideal case - both are constructively tuned, normally think and sincerely care for the result. And now if on that and on the other side of these with a couple of dozen? And to assume that some of them have their own goals and ambitions? And plus some, what to be cunning, not so perfect people? Terrarium is obtained.
To sum up some things:
The table describes exactly the consequences of the above worldview difference. It is clear that, in addition to the “genotype” of culture, there is also the “phenotype” of a particular personality.
And I repeat again. The proportion of good people to scoundrels in different nations is the same to the accuracy of measurement. But here's what is considered right and natural for some, can cause resentment and resentment among others. And even two good people, if they do not trust each other, can behave like the last bastards.
We, in our team, solved this problem for a long time, mashing each other and understanding the specifics of each one and who copes with what tasks more effectively. It is unlikely that there are uniform rules and patterns for all occasions. But I can say that in the end we managed to get a very strong alloy, when the ingenuity of some is supported by the reliability of others.
In conclusion of the article I would like to return to its title again. Despite its rather widespread use as an “insurmountable difference”, my beloved Rudyard Kipling, of course, said that, despite the difference in these civilizations, their representatives can cooperate and negotiate.
What everyone wants.
Upd. Already after I found an article on Habré, very consonant to what was written. I strongly recommend reading, although I myself do not agree with everything in it. In particular, I have never encountered sexism in America, either at work or at home. For example, the classic stamp about opening doors in my case does not work - dozens of times when I held the door or let the lady forward, there were always only smiles and “thanks” in response.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/196554/
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