When Cultures Collide

When Cultures Collide:
LEADING ACROSS
CULTURES

Richard D. Lewis

Nicholas Brealey International

✦

When
Cultures
Collide
✦

LEADING
A C R O S S C U LT U R E S

✦

When
Cultures
Collide
✦

LEADING
A C R O S S C U LT U R E S
A Major New Edition
of the Global Guide

Richard D. Lewis

First published in hardback by Nicholas Brealey Publishing in 1996.
Thisrevised edition first published in 2006.
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Boston, MA 02108, USA
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© 2006, 1999, 1996 by Richard D. Lewis
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in
the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Printed in Finland by WS Bookwell.
10 09 08 07 06

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ISBN-13: 978-1-904838-02-9
ISBN-10: 1-904838-02-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lewis, Richard D.
When cultures collide : leading across cultures /Richard D. Lewis.—3rd ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: When cultures collide : managing successfully across cultures.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-904838-02-9 (13-digit isbn, pbk : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-904838-02-2 (pbk : alk paper) 1. International business enterprises—Management—Social aspects. 2. Management—Social aspects.
3. Intercultural communication. I. Title.HD62.4.L49 2005
658'.049—dc22
2005022299

To Jane, Caroline, Richard and David,
multicultural all . . .

Contents
✦

Preface to the Third Edition: Us and Them
Acknowledgments

xv
xxiii

PART ONE

Getting to Grips with Cultural Diversity
1 Different Languages, Different Worlds

3

Appearance and Reality 3
Concepts and Notions 4
Powerful Mental Blocks 7
LanguageStraitjacket 9
Thought = Internalized Language 11
Humor across Frontiers 12
Humor in Business 14
Making Allowances 15

2 Cultural Conditioning

17

What Is Culture? 17
Culture Shock 19
Who Is Normal, Anyway? 21
It Depends on Our Perception 22

3 Categorizing Cultures

27

Cultural Categories at Cross-Century 27
Linear-Active and Multi-Active Cultures 29
Reactive Cultures 32Intercategory Comparisons 38
Fine-Tuning Categorization 43
Moving along the LMR Planes 46
Data-Oriented, Dialogue-Oriented and Listening Cultures 48

4 The Use of Time
Linear Time 53
Multi-Active Time 55
Cyclic Time 57
Chinese 58
Japanese 59

53

x

CONTENTS
Back to the Future 60
Validity of Time Concepts 62

5 Bridging the Communication Gap

63

Use of Language 63
TheCommunication Gap 66
Communication Patterns during Meetings 67
Listening Habits 69
The Language of Management 71

6 Manners (and Mannerisms)

81

Sincerity Helps 82
Dining Etiquette 83
Cocktail Parties 87
Restaurant Behavior 90
Manners in Society 93

PART TWO

Managing and Leading in Different Cultures
7 Status, Leadership and Organization

101

Success or Failure in the Twenty-FirstCentury 101
Leaders 104
Changing Notions of Leadership 105
Cultural Roots of Organization and Leadership 105
Different Concepts of Status, Leadership and Organization 111

8 Team Building and Horizons

125

Team Building 125
Innovation and Change 125
Life within Horizons 128
The Education Factor 131
Language and Culture 132
Horizons, Common Ground and Divergence 133
NationalStrengths, Insights and Blind Spots 135
Team-Building Exercises 139

9 Motivating People and Building Trust
Twenty-First Century Aspirations 142
Product versus Relationship 143
Building Trust 144
High-Trust and Low-Trust Societies 145
Trust in Virtual Teams 148

141

CONTENTS

xi

10 Meetings of the Minds

153

Beginnings 153
Structuring a Meeting 154
Meeting Behavior and...