A wszystko to przy okazji ćwiczenia strategii słowotwórczych.

Cykl artykułów został przygotowany przez LANG LTC - Akredytowane Centrum Egzaminacyjne Cambridge ESOL, organizatora zagranicznych wyjazdów językowych i szkoleń językowych.

Inne oznacza niebezpieczne - o unikaniu niepewności w kulturach

Different is Dangerous - about Uncertainty Avoidance in Cultures

Franciscus of Assisi and corporate meeting codes

People have always tried to think up new rules that they could later learn to avoid. It seems to be true at different times and in different cultures.

‘Franciscus of Assisi heard moaning in the night and found a monk who was starving. He didn’t want to eat because he was determined to fast. But his body was collapsing and he went too far. Franciscus urged him to eat but the monk said "No, I want to persist".

Then, Franciscus sat down in the moonlight and started to eat though he wasn’t hungry. He said: "We honour God by fasting but also by staying healthy. How can we serve him if we are too weak to stand on our legs? Tonight, I honour and serve him by eating." And he ate some more. Finally, the monk joined him and started eating.’

And on a similar note but in different times:

‘A new employee has organised a meeting at 10:00 AM. He arrives on the dot and he opens the door and... another meeting is still going on. The employee reminds the people inside that it is 10:00 AM and one man says: “yes, we know but it’s not still 10:10 AM!"

In terms of cultural beahaviour, Franciscus of Assisi can be described as flexible and innovative, unlike the new employee, who wasn’t familiar with the unwritten rule that meetings do not start on time and a 10 minute delay is universally accepted.

These two anecdotes describe how people approach situations, which are novel and surprising. Some people feel comfortable in unknown conditions and can adapt easily, while others need a set of rules in order to acclimitise to new situations. The same can be said about cultures. There are cultures, which maintain rigid codes and laws and are intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas. Their members feel uncomfortable in new situations and thus can be said to exhibit ‘high uncertainty avoidance’. At the other extreme, there are cultures whose members feel quite comfortable with novelty and change. These are ‘low uncertainty avoidance’ cultures.

Readiness to take risk

In practical terms, uncertainty avoidance deals with approaching risk. If you belong to the group that needs fixed rules to proceed, it means that your uncertainty avoidance is high. If, on the other hand, you prefer to let things happen and see how the situation is going to develop in practice, your uncertainty avoidance is low.

In more philosophical terms, uncertainty avoidance deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man’s search for ‘the Truth’. It shows to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimise the possibility of such situations by adopting strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and religious level with a belief in the absolute ‘Truth’; ‘there can only be one Truth and we have it’.

Uncovering Uncertainty

It is believed that researchers first came up with the idea of uncertainty avoidance when they asked how people perceive and rate stress at work. Although stress seems to be an inherent part of professional life, respondents’ answers appeared to show a certain pattern, depending on their country of origin. Funnily enough, British employees always exhibited a lower level of stress when compared with their German counterparts, regardless of the job status and responsibilities. The study showed that a German cleaning lady experienced more stress at work than a British manager.

The key questions asked when studying the dimension of uncertainty avoidance dealt with:

- The estimation of the level of stress at work

- The approach towards rules at work; should they be unconditionally observed even if their breach could be profitable for the company?

- The willingness of the employee to stay in one job:

a) not more than two years

b) between two and five years

c) more than five years

d) until retirement

When analysed globally, the answers to these questions help us to understand the general idea of avoiding new and potentially risky situations. An employee who is prone to stress is believed to observe the rules and will not risk potential ambiguity resulting from an unauthorised change of rules. Similarly, they will not be tempted by new job offers, unless forced to look for a new job, because the change of workplace will result in plenty of new and dangerous situations. Countries typical of high uncertainty avoidance include: Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Japan, Poland, Peru, France and Spain. In these cultures there is an emotional need for rules (even if the rules never seem to work) time is money, people have an inner urge to be busy and work hard, innovation may be resisted, security is an important element in individual motivation.

At the other extreme, there are cultures, which score low in terms of uncertainty avoidance. These are: Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Hong Kong and Great Britain. Adherence to laws and rules may be flexible to suit the actual situation and pragmatism is a fact of life. People do not need a lot of structure and predictability in their work life. Plans can change overnight, new things pop up and people seem to be fine with it. It is a natural part of their work life. What is more, curiosity is natural and is encouraged from a very young age. On a practical level, at the workplace low uncertainty avoidance is also reflected in the fact that people admit that they are in doubt or do not know something. It is ok to say “I do not know" and employees are comfortable in ambiguous situations in the workplace.

Uncertainty Avoidance Traits

In general, the difference in the degree of avoiding uncertainty depends upon various socio-economic and socio-religious factors. Countries with a high uncertainty avoidance index appear to show certain similar characteristics:

- Countries who have a long history rank higher on the uncertainty avoidance scale.

- The population of the country is homogeneous.

- New ideas are not encouraged and instead, sticking to the structure is preferred.

- Citizens are cynical of their nation.

- Belief in superstitions and luck is higher.

Looking at countries where citizens are more likely to take risks, the following traits apply:

- These countries have been formed recently or have gained independence recently.

- The population consists of multicultural and multilingual people.

- Risk taking ability is valued and is seen as a quality of successful entrepreneurs.

Building (un) certainty

As with previous dimensions, all cultural patterns are first absorbed in the family. A small child is taught what is good, and what is bad, what is dirty and what is clean and what is dangerous and what is safe. The idea of ‘dirtiness’ seems, however, to be culture-bound. Children are taught to classify what is dirty and what is dangerous, starting from their playground and immediate environment. Interestingly, Italian nannies tend to prevent children from going into some places and touching certain objects because they are dirty and dangerous, while American parents or grandparents will not mind letting their children do so because they see no dirt or danger in it. The reason for this lies in the fact that Italy has uncertainty avoidance index of 75, while the USA scores 46.

The basic classification is later translated into more complex ideas. At school, students from high uncertainty avoidance cultures expect the teacher to know answers to all the questions and have the knowledge to be transmitted in a difficult and highly scientific way. In low uncertainty avoidance cultures, on the other hand, teachers are allowed not to know everything and encourage unorthodox solutions and ideas.

In the professional life, work is the basic factor contributing to the feeling of certainty. Thus, high uncertainty avoidance cultures exhibit the internal need to be professionally occupied and value punctuality and precision. Their opposites, low uncertainty avoidance cultures, do not condemn inactivity and do not pay that much attention to punctuality and details. The most visible difference lies in the attitude towards written rules and regulations, which are treated as indispensable in high uncertainty avoidance cultures, while the low uncertainty avoidance countries try to minimalise them as much as possible. Maybe this could be the answer - at least to some extent - why Great Britain has no single constitutional document, but an uncodified, unwritten constitution in form of many written and unwritten sources?

Looking ahead

The approach towards risk and new situations has a major influence on people’s outlook on the future. High uncertainty avoidance cultures are sceptical of the future in general and dislike changes and innovations. They are not interested in seeing what the future will hold for them. They would rather stay where they are. On the contrary, low uncertainty avoidance cultures are curious about the future. They see it in bright colours, envisaging positive changes and innovations.

On a final note, these unconscious attitudes are reflected in the language we speak. In English ‘curiosity killed the cat’, in Polish it ‘takes you to hell and is the first step to condemnation’. Does it mean that our uncertainty avoidance changes when we speak a foreign language? This is food for thought...

Glossary

- ambiguous - dwuznaczny, niejasny

- ambiguity - dwuznaczność, niejasność

- breach - naruszenie

- condemn - potępiać

- condemnation - potępienie

- curiosity killed the cat - ciekawość to pierwszy stopień do piekła

- homogenous - jednolity, jednorodny

- inactivity - bezczynność

- indispensable - niezbędny

- measures - środki

- pop up - pojawiać się

- prone to - narażony na

- superstitions - przesądy, zabobony

- tempt - kusić

- uncertainty avoidance - unikanie niepewności

- uncoditionally observed - bezwarunkowo przestrzegane

- unorthodox - niekonwencjonalny

- what the future will hold - co przyniesie przyszłość

- willingness - chęć, gotowość

Complete the following sentences with the right form of the words given in brackets:

1. Her _______ views tend to attract controversy. (ORTHODOX)

2. The company accused him of _______ his contract. (BREACH)

3. His role in the affair is _______. It may endanger his public function. (AMBIGUITY)

4. Don’t suddenly take up violent exercise after years of  _______. (ACTIVE)

5. I’m absolutely _______ that I’ve locked the door. (UNCERTAINTY)

6. Price seems to play an enormous role in people’s _______ to reduce their driving behaviour. (WILLING)

7. There was widespread international _______ of the bombing. (CONDEMN)

8. I opened the packet just to satisfy my _______. (CURIOUS)

Key

1) unorthodox 2) breaching 3) ambiguous 4) inactivity 5) certain 6) willingness 7) condemnation 8) curiosity

Joanna Kołakowska

Kieruje Centrum Egzaminacyjnym Cambridge ESOL Lang LTC, jest lektorem języka angielskiego i egzaminatorem Cambridge ESOL. Specjalizuje się w szkoleniach językowych dla biznesu, prowadzi warsztaty z zakresu metodyki nauczania języków obcych, jest autorką artykułów poświęconych kreatywnym metodom nauczania, wspieraniu autonomii ucznia oraz organizacji szkoleń korporacyjnych.

lang@lang.com.pl