Observation on American culture

You would probably be interested in Geert Hofstede's work concerning cultural differences.  He uses five areas to rate hundreds of cultures and then compares different cultures.  The Netherlands and the United States are relatively close on four of the five pillars, but significantly different on one - which might explain the differences you see.  Here is a link that you can use to see the numbers for individual countries and then make a comparison to others:  http://geert-hofstede.com/netherlands.html 

These cultural differences can play a huge roll with airline pilots and the interaction between pilots and co-pilots and pilots and air traffic controllers.  

to me (american) those are completely different questions...

my response to the dutch phrasing:  organizational confusion, buck passing

my response to american:  coordinate departmental goals so that we work together better

I work for an enormous international company, and really the only challenge with phrasing I have is hitting the English words and expressions that my German/Italian/French/Chinese co-worker actually recognizes, I don't know their languages and mine is their second so the nuances between the 2 wouldn't even be detected, I don't believe.

I think it may also depend on the culture of the workplace you are addressing and not just the culture of the country are are in or the nationality of the person in that workplace. For instance, my work has a culture of soliciting feedback from departments we work with and from within the department itself. This means people are used to the questions here of: what is working well? what is not working or working poorly? what ideas do you have to address it? This varies greatly from my friend who works in the financial district near me and for them it is all results driven questions and focused answers.

Just something to think about as well. With America being such a large and diverse area in population, types of people, and even regional differences, to me it is hard to define the character or culture of the country as a whole.

Fascinating stuff and great link. I'd heard of his work but not ever really looked into it.

It's interesting you'd mention the air industry--a good friend of mine is a commercial pilot instructor from Australia, but he trains people in Asia. He's said the very same thing before and pointed out its effects on safety--which have actually been studied, but no, don't have the info at hand.

Just some observations. Thanks.

Thanks for the link to Hofstede –  definitely interested in what he has to say and has been a great resource.

Thanks for your input too Mehaner and you’ve really illustrated the point.  How you perceive the Dutch phrasing is exactly how all my American colleagues do.  They don’t like it and see it as very negative.  But if I use the ‘American phrasing’ in the Netherlands they will typically answer (paraphrasing);  ‘make it better? We need to make it right before we make it better, we are facing several problems’ and their tone will be frustrated with me that I didn’t already know it wasn’t good enough. 

Bel83 – really interesting response. This is also in line with my experience.  It’s curious to me how my French, Dutch, English and German colleagues are very comfortable talking about their own culture and American culture with great authority (assumed authority) but many Americans I speak to will answer similarly to you.

Workplace culture is an aspect too.  I think that depends on how the organisation has grown and whether it has its roots in one particular location. My company grew by acquisition but hasn’t really merged so historical cultural differences remain with no accepted ‘base location’.

Thanks again, really helpful.  Any comments, general or specific, critical or otherwise are useful.

Accentuate the positive.....e-limi-nate the negative.....

I think it has a lot to do with as you say the culture.  It is political correctness run amok in my opinion.  Nobody wants to admit that there might be a problem, because that might mean someone is at fault.  But instead of asking them to blame someone you are now asking them to help someone improve themselves which makes everyone feel better.

Its admitting that there are problems without saying there are problems.  Very touchy feely.  Personally not my style, but so long as the problem gets fixed the result is what matters.

Genius.

Funny how the obvious is sometimes staring us in the face but you can't see the wood for the trees.

Job security is a massive point.  When we first joined up with the US business I was perceived as some sort of lunatic by my new US colleagues because I was straight talking. When we really analysed it, it was cultural but only to the extent that I knew to get rid of me would see me sent home with a years salary whereas my US colleagues were looking at 2 weeks.  I wasn't brave - I had security.  Also makes it easier to say 'no' in Europe.  

This board is great. Thanks for that input - I think you've hit the nail on the head.

I'll even add, than there are different diverse cultures within America that add additional variances to the discussion.  For example, people who work/live in larger urban areas act/react differently than people in rural areas.

Not that either are better, they're just different. 

There are differences certainly but there are also similarities.  I live in London and can identify four distinct cultures but within that are big commonalities which are hard to notice when you're in it.

This board has a very 'American' feel to it (for obvious reasons) but if I try to articulate it, I either can't find the words of make it sound like an insult/criticism.

But I'll try a little bit:

Americans are much more patriotic than your average bear.

Americans have an attitude that it's ok, admirable in fact, to try and fail (and repeat until success) whereas in the UK you can be written off for failure (I think this why the US is so innovative)

In the work place, American do not know the meaning of 'you can't succeed', they are fiercely ambitious, driven and inpatient to get to the top. I find my European colleagues can be quite defeatist; "there's not a position to be promoted to..." - whereas the Americans will create something for themselves.

I struggle with the one way conversations from senior managers sometimes - I like to at least have my boss pretend he wants to know what I think and not just expect me to carry out their instructions.

Totally agree with Tuwood - none are better, just different.  I'm really enjoying scratching the surface and trying to work out what are the 'nations traits' and what are the personality types (myers briggs etc).