Sequential vs. Synchronic Cultures: How Different Cultures Experience Time and Adhere to Schedules

Different cultures manage their time with elastic and flexible schedules, multi-tasking and not adhering to strict time constraints. Others fulfill each task one at a time while being time and schedule sensitive. Which of these best describes our culture?

Catrina Carrigan catrinalouisec — at Unsplash

Introduction

In 1997, Dutch organizational theorist Alfonsus (Fons) Tompenaars and British business philosopher Charles Hampden-Turner published Riding the Waves of Culture, in which they identified the now-famous seven cultural dimensions for which they are now known. These dimensions are:

• Universalism versus particularism
• Individualism versus communitarianism
• Specific versus diffuse
• Neutral versus emotional
• Achievement versus ascription
• Sequential time versus synchronous time
• Internal direction versus outer direction

In this article we will look at the cultural dimension described as sequential and synchronous. It will…