Cultural differences - part 1

As a part of our cultural difference session on ACE conference, we got as a preparation few pictures that reflect western and eastern culture. I wanted to reflect on these differences, and share it with you :-).

Opinion making - West vs East

Picture you see shows way of giving opinion by western (blue) and eastern (red) cultures. What does it means? Typical Indian will never say something in your face, no matter how needed it was, feedback allways goes through several people, and then comes to you (as Hein, my roomate, said - it’s in your boold to gossip :-)). This is why sometimes working with them (or any other eastern culture) is hard. This is because they value highly image and what others think of them. They just don’t want to offend you in any way. While western person will tell you strictly in the face what is on his mind, and what he thinks about your work.

Serbs are somewhere in between :-). By my experiences, we tend to say directly what we think, but have that “don’t wanna offend your feelings” component also. Stay tuned…more differences to come