Please answer following questions: 1) Briefly define a monochronic culture.
2) Briefly define a polychronic culture.
3) What is meant by a Low Context Culture?
4) What is meant by a High Context Culture?
5) The basis of monochronic cultures is the time-line. What is the basis of polychronic cultures?
6) Explain what is meant by "monochronic cultures use short-term relationships".
7) What is meant by monochronic cultures tend to want "mastery over nature"?
8) How do monochronic and polychronic cultures tend to consider nepotism?

1) In a monochronic culture, people tend to place a high value on timeliness and schedules. They focus on the value of time, and therefore tend to have a very rigid interpretation of how to organize their schedules. Monochronic people generally prefer to do one thing at a time and to devote their full concentration to the task at hand, whether it be completing an assignment for work or school or having coffee with a friend. People belonging to this type of culture are also concerned about not disturbing others, and they follow the rules of privacy and consideration, they show respect for private property and are accustomed to short-term relationships. Cultures typically described as monochronic can be found in North America, Northern Europe, and parts of Asia.
MONOCRONIC CULTURE CHARACTERISTICS (n an everyday life and in a business context)
- sequential: do one activity at the time, follow initial plans, time is measurable, keep appointment strictly, corporate ideals is one of the most important things, employes must always have objectives and commitments to reach for the future, employes like to achieve planned future goals;
- universalist: the focus is on rules more than on relationships, there is only one truth or reality, a deal is a deal, legal contract are deadly drawn up, people must be prepared for "relational"and "professional" arguments, carefully prepare a legl ground with a layer if it in doubt, when managing or being managed: modify the system so that the system can modify you, create formal was to change the way business is conducted;
- individualistic: strong use of "I" form, people achieve alone and assume personal responsibility, the big negotiations were already done with the organization, for conducing business alone the person must be seen in a good light by his/her company and the parties, the person must prepare her/his self to quick decisions and try to adjust individual needs to organizational needs, people must have their freedom to take individual initiatives;
- neutral: don't reveal what they are thinking or feeling, maintain cool and well-possessed conduct, don't let your emotions explode, don't reveal tension in face and posture, put as much as you can on paper beforehand, give a specific object for the negotiation, avoid any type of warm,expressive or enthusiastic behavior;
- specific-oriented: you have to go straight to the point, be preciser, blunt, definitive and transparent, you have to study the objectives and principles of the organization with you are dealing, structure the meeting with time, interval and agendas,private and business agenda are kept separate from each others, begin reports with an accurate summary, give precise deadline instructions;
- achievement oriented: respect for superior in hierarchy, use of titles when relevant, respect of the knowledge of your counterparts, use the title that reflects how competent you are as an individual, do better or more than is expected, decisions are challenged on technical and functional grounds, MBO and pay off are effective tools.
2) In a polychronic culture, people tend to focus more on what they are doing than the timeframe in which it is happening. They thrive at multitasking and are not bothered by phone calls or interruptions. They tend to build strong personal relationships, and often see the development of this relationship as their end goal rather than the task at hand. People belonging to this type of cultures are highly distractible and subject to interruptions, change plans often and early, are more concerned with family, friends, colleagues, than with privacy, have strong tendency on built lifetime relationships and base promptness on the relationship. Cultures typically described as polychronic can be found in Latin America, Southern Europe and the Middle East.
POLYCHRONIC CULTURE CHARACTERISTICS (in an everydaylife and in a business context)
- synchronic: do more than one activity y the time, preference to following when relationship leads, appointments are approximate, schedules can change, employes like to create relationship with their supervisors and with costumers and they like to tell what they aspirations are, the corporate ideal is the interacting circle, employes like their good performances to be recognized by the company;
- particularist: main focus on relationships than on rules, there are several perspectives on reality relative to each participant, legal contracts can be modified, carefully consider the personal implications of your legal safeguard, build informal networks and private understandings, seek fairness, modify the system by modifying relationships with you, do not take personal "get to know you" attitudes at small talks;
- communitarism: use of "we" form, vacations is organized in groups, decisions refereed back by to the organization, people like to work in groups, the thoughts negotiations are with the communitarians you face, seek to integrate personality with authority within the group, hold up goals for all to meet, have low job turnover and mobility;
- affective: reveal thought and feelings, touching, gesturing and strong facial expressions are very common, emotions are expressed, animated expressions are used, statements declaimed fluently and dramatically, try to avoid detached ambiguous and cool demeanor, try not to get intimidated by great sulfates of emotionality, you're gonna appreciate tenacious positions, in negotiations when they are expressing goodwill respond warmly, the negotiations are usually focused on you as a person moire than on the real object;
- diffuseness: people are evasive, tactful, ambiguous, indirect, opaque, the morality depends on the person and context encountered, in business you must study the history background and future vision of the organization with which you are dealing, respect person's titles, let the meeting flow, in this culture private and business issues interpenetrate, ambiguous and vague obstructions are seen as employe can express their personal judgment;
- ascription- oriented: respect for superior is expected, most senior managers are male, extensive use of titles, in business you must respect the status and influence of your counterparts, use titles that reflects your degree or influence of your counterparts, do not underestimate the need of your counterparts to make their ascriptions come true, decisions are only challenged by people with higher authority.
3) Low context refers to societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behavior and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural environment know how to behave. People are rule oriented, people play by external rules, more knowledge is codified, public, external, and accessible, sequencing, separation--of time, of space, of activities, of relationships, more interpersonal connections of shorter duration, knowledge is more often transferable, task-centered. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done, division of responsibilities. Low contexts are relatively easy to enter if you are an outsider.

4) High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other. In High context cultures there is less verbally explicit communication and less written information, more internalized understandings of what is communicated, multiple cross-cutting ties and intersections with others, people create long term relationships and strong boundaries between who is accepted as belonging vs who is considered an "outsider", in those cultures knowledge is situational and relational, decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships, often around a central person who has authority. High contexts can be difficult to enter if you are an outsider
5)The basis of monochronic cultures is the time-line and the basis of polychronic cultures is to built relationships with others.
6) "monochronic cultures use short-term relationships" means that people tend to be very individualistic and don't like to create relationship with others, they prefer to go straight to the point especially in business. Managers don't need to create a strong relationship with counterparts first, they just want to go "stick to the point" and they like closing deals after the first or second meeting.
7) monochronic cultures tend to want "mastery over nature" means that people belonging to this specific culture tend to concentrate only on one thing in order to do it the best they can, they want to keep everything under their control starting from emotions, ending to business activities.
8) Nepotism: is the showing of favoritism toward relatives based on that relationship rather than on objective factors such as ability or merit. For example, nepotism would be hiring a person with a master’s degree in fashion design as sales manager in an engineering firm because she is the niece of the company's general manager rather than hiring an applicant with a doctoral degree in public engineering. Taking for grunted these definition, i can say that monochronic cultures tend not to accept nepotism because they are strictly committed to the job and tend to respect rules. For this reasons, chef of companies belonging to this type of culture prefer to hire a person that has got the best talent and degree weather than hiring someone simply because it's one of their family member.. on the other hand in polychronic cultures, nepotism tend to be more accepted because are more affective cultures and tend to maintain an important relationship with all the family members, also for what concerns job's world.