Rules or Relationships
In response to a question I was answering during a Cross Cultural training session a few months ago, I wanted to delve a little deeper into the whole idea of the difference between Universalism and Particularism (Rules vs. Relationships).
You will recall that I mentioned in the session that it was Professor Trompenaars who first described this cultural comparison – the idea that all cultures can be grouped somewhere along a continuum from a Universalist, or “Rules-based” culture on one side, to a Particularist, or “Relationship-based” culture on the other.
What’s the difference between the two? Well, in Universalist or “Rules-based” cultures, there is an ideal, almost an obsession, with the idea that rules have no inherent flexibility, that to change a rule, or a contract, or an agreement, is somehow, well, almost sinful. It’s not to be done. In a Universalist culture, the question may be asked, “Well, what would happen to our society if rules were constantly broken, or adapted to fit changing circumstance? What if we threw the rule book out? We would have anarchy! No structure! How would you know whether the decision you were making were correct or incorrect?”
Of course, in a culture that falls to the opposite end of the spectrum, a Particularist, or “Relationship-based” culture, something quite the opposite would be voiced – something like, “How can we apply all rules equally to every circumstance? You can’t. There’s no justice in making every single person jump through the same hoops. You must adapt your rule-making to the situation. I’m different from you, and in some cases should be treated differently too!”
This is a typical problem that business people will run into when doing business between, for example, Canada and China. Canada and China don’t represent polar opposites on this matrix, but they’re close to it. Canadian business practices usually revolve around a quick relationship building activity and then promptly move on to getting down to business. In Canada, a business relationship can be built quickly – a couple of beers, a round of golf, and people start to feel they can do business together. Once those formalities are out of the way, most Canadian business people are happy to start piecing together contracts for sales, engineering metrics, production numbers, profit margins, incentives and give backs, etc. Once a contract is signed, it’s signed. The future has now been (accurately?) predicted, and if the contract doesn’t go your way in the future, well too bad. It’s your signature on the bottom line, and that’s the way it goes.
Doing business in China is much different. Contracts should be viewed as a starting point, as the beginning of a long and happy relationship, but the Chinese don’t have the same view of contracts as Canadians do. If circumstances change, the Chinese would like to think that, based on the relationship built over the last few years, you would modify the contract so as to not have the Chinese incur all the burden of changing circumstances. After all, in a Particularist culture, rules are guiding principles, but must be flexible in the face of changing circumstance.
You can see where the potential trouble lies here, can’t you?
But don’t worry – taking the time to understand the differences between Universalist and Particularist cultures before engaging in a business relationship means you’ll have the time and the perspective to understand first that your “normal” doesn’t always look like the other party’s “normal”. Understanding and accepting that “normal” business practices change around the globe allows you to anticipate problems before they happen, allowing you to save time and money.
After all, that’s what Solve the Culture Puzzle! is all about!
