Erin Meyer's "The Culture Map" provides a framework for understanding the differences in communication and business practices across cultures. Here's a brief outline of each of the eight culture map scales, followed by questions designed to help you reflect on your own cultural orientations within these scales.
The 8 Culture Map Scales
- Communicating: This scale ranges from low-context (clear, simple, and explicit communication) to high-context (nuanced, sophisticated, and layered communication).
- Evaluating: It describes the direct versus indirect negative feedback strategies, from straightforward critique to nuanced or softened feedback.
- Persuading: This involves principles-first (deductive reasoning) versus applications-first (inductive reasoning) approaches in convincing others.
- Leading: This scale contrasts egalitarian (flat organizational structures) with hierarchical approaches to authority in organizations.
- Deciding: It differentiates between consensual decision-making processes and top-down decisions made by individuals.
- Trusting: This scale moves from task-based trust (building confidence through business-related activities) to relationship-based trust (establishing strong personal connections).
- Disagreeing: It examines the degree of confrontation and comfort with open disagreement, from confrontation-averse cultures to those that see disagreement as positive for team dynamics.
- Scheduling: This scale looks at how cultures view time management, contrasting linear-time cultures (focus on schedules and punctuality) with flexible-time cultures (more fluid approach to time).