The Culture Map
5 minutes — The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business is a practical guide to navigating cultural differences in the workplace.
Author Erin Meyer, a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, identifies eight key scales along which cultures vary, offering insights and advice on how to bridge cultural divides and build strong relationships with colleagues from around the world.
The eight key scales along which cultures vary:
Communicating: High-context vs. low-context
Evaluating: Direct vs. indirect negative feedback
Persuading: Principles-first vs. applications-first
Leading: Egalitarian vs. hierarchical
Deciding: Consensus vs. top-down
Trusting: Task-based vs. relationship-based
Disagreeing: Confrontational vs. consensual
Scheduling: Linear-sequential vs. flexible
These differences play out in everyday business situations, giving presentations, training, negotiating, and managing teams.
Communicating: In a high-context culture, such as China, communication is more indirect and implicit. People tend to rely on nonverbal cues and shared assumptions to convey their meaning. In a low-context culture, such as the United States, communication is more direct and explicit. People tend to say what they mean, and they expect others to do the same. This difference in in high- and low-context styles can lead to misunderstandings and unmet expectations.
Evaluating: In a direct negative feedback culture, such as the United States, people are comfortable giving and receiving direct feedback. In an indirect negative feedback culture, such as Japan, people prefer to give feedback in a more indirect and subtle way. This difference in direct and indirect feedback styles can create challenges for manager and employee conversations.
Persuading: In a principles-first culture, such as Germany, people are persuaded by arguments that are based on logic and reason. In an applications-first culture, such as China, people are persuaded by arguments based on concrete examples and personal stories. This difference in persuasion styles can make it difficult to negotiate with people from different cultures.
Leading: In an egalitarian culture, such as Sweden, people prefer a more collaborative and participative leadership style. In a hierarchical culture, such as South Korea, people prefer a more directive and top-down leadership style. A difference in leadership styles can create challenges for managers leading global teams with people from different cultures.
Deciding: In a consensus culture, such as the Netherlands, decisions are made only after everyone has had a chance to contribute and express their opinion. In a top-down culture, such as Mexico, decisions are made by the leader, often without consulting with others. This difference in decision-making styles can quickly lead to frustration and conflict between employees and leaders.
Trusting: In a task-based trust culture, such as the United States, people trust others based on their ability to complete tasks and deliver results. In a relationship-based trust culture, such as China, people trust others based on the strength of their personal relationships. This difference in trust styles can make it difficult for people to build relationships and collaborate effectively.
Disagreeing: In a confrontational culture, such as the United States, people are comfortable disagreeing with others openly. In an avoid-confrontation culture, such as Japan, people prefer to avoid disagreeing with others openly. This difference in disagreement styles can make it difficult for people from different cultures to have productive discussions about difficult topics.
Scheduling: In a linear-sequential culture, such as Germany, people prefer to schedule tasks in a linear fashion, one after the other. In a flexible-time culture, such as Brazil, people are more likely to schedule tasks in a more flexible way, based on priorities and changing circumstances. This difference in scheduling styles can lead to missed deadlines and unmet expectations.
Call-Out Quotes
“Cultural patterns of behavior and belief impact our perceptions (what we see), our cognitions (what we think), and our actions (what we do).”
“The most important thing in cross-cultural communication is to be aware of your own cultural biases.”
“When you’re working with people from different cultures, it’s important to be flexible and adaptable.”
Case Study Examples
Case study 1: A Dutch manager is working with a Chinese team on a new product launch. The Dutch manager is accustomed to giving direct feedback, but the Chinese team is more comfortable with indirect feedback. The Dutch manager's direct feedback is misconstrued as criticism, and the team becomes demoralized.
Case study 2: An American executive is negotiating a contract with a Japanese company. The American executive is used to a fast-paced, results-oriented approach to negotiation. The Japanese negotiators, on the other hand, prefer a more deliberate, relationship-building approach. The American executive's impatience frustrates the Japanese negotiators, and the deal falls through.
Case study 3: An international team is working on a new marketing campaign. The team members come from a variety of cultures, with different perspectives on what constitutes effective communication. The team struggles to come up with a unified vision for the campaign until they take the time to learn about each other's cultural backgrounds and communication styles.
Relevant Business Research
The 2018 Global Workplace Trends Report from the Society for Human Resource Management found that 76% of HR professionals believe that cultural differences can have a significant impact on business performance.
A 2017 study by the Center for Creative Leadership found that 87% of executives believe that cultural competence is essential for success in the global workplace.
The World Economic Forum found that cultural intelligence is one of the most important skills for leaders in the 21st century.
How to Use the Culture Map
Meyer's Culture Map can be used by individuals and organizations to:
Assess your own cultural biases
Understand the cultural differences between your own culture and the culture of your colleagues or partners (culture mapping tools available here)
Develop strategies for bridging cultural divides and building strong cross-cultural relationships
Organizations can use the Culture Map to:
Create a more inclusive and welcoming workplace for employees from different cultures
Train employees on how to navigate cultural differences in the workplace
Develop cross-cultural communication and collaboration strategies
The world has changed.
With remote work now part of our collective culture, globalization has only increased. Working from home means remote employees are not steeped in workplace culture 40 hours per week, so they are more likely to subconsciously default to family culture in workplace situations.
Leaders who want to build trust with global teams and truly inclusive workplace cultures can start by acknowledging the differences in the eight key scales. Sharing your own past cultural missteps can help encourage your team to be vulnerable, lead with curiosity, and learn from each other.
We highly recommend The Culture Map as an essential resource.