ScriptsEach culture perceives time differently, so a culture’s attitude towards time can provide valuable clues to how members of that culture value and respond to time.As for punctuality, different cultures have various appreciations and have nointernational rule for that. In Britain and America one may be 5 minutes late for a business appointment, but not 15 and certainly not 30 minutes late, which is perfectly normal in Arab countries. Our reaction to punctuality is rooted in our cultural experiences. In China, the one in superior position has the prerogative to be late. The boss can arrive late for a meeting, but if the secretary is late, he or she may receive a reprimand. In Latin America, one is expected to arrive late to appointments as a sign of respect. This same tardiness would be perceived as rudeness in Germany, which is a nation famous for strictness about time.Most Chinese people consider it polite to attend a banquet ahead of the schedule, while the English-speaking countries regard it impolite to interfere with privacy, so we had better not go to the banquet too early, and of course, not too late. For example, in Britain, five to 15 minutes late is acceptable; in Italy, one or two hours late is also a common practice. What should not be neglected is that even in the same culture, there are some sub-cultural variations as well. In the same culture, there are different attitudes towards time. For example, in Hawaii, most of the people do not worry about time and they indulge in lying on the beach and enjoying the sunshine, whereas it is another bustling picture in Boston and New York. Even in China, opinions about time are various among the southerners and northerners: In Shanghai, the people do not like tedious talk and have adapted to a faster life. In The New York Times, it describes that the roads in Shanghai look like those in Brooklyn of New York; but compared with Shanghai, Beijing shows much slower pace. To compare the concept of time, we could find that the US is a future-oriented culture country, which welcomes innovation and changes and has less regard for past social or organizational customs and traditions. Most Americans put great faith in the future. Americans are constantly planning for the future, and what they are doing now is to prepare themselves for the wonderful future life. Many of them can hardly wait to finish what they are doing so that they can move on to something else. Whereas China is classified as a past-oriented culture country, which places much emphasis on tradition and is often perceived as resisting change to some extent. China, with our tradition of ancestor worship and strong pride in thousands of years of our cultural heritage, belongs to a culture that uses the past as a guide to how to live in the present. As a Chinese proverb advises, “Consider the past and you will know the present.” Like the Greek, Japanese, and French, we have historical origins that date back thousands of years, so it is normal to take a long-range view of events and less likely to be rushed when we face decisions. Probing into the various concepts of time in different cultures, we could get a general idea about the different perspectives on time and, more deeply, the different cultures implied in it. Realizing the differences, we should adapt ourselves to the strategy of localization in doing business with a member from a fixed culture, in order to avoid misunderstandings, tensions or even culture shock.Critical Listening Suggested answers Task 11. Future-oriented cultures value what is yet to come, and the future is expected to be greater than the present or past. Change, taking chances, a stress on youth, and optimism are all hallmarks of cultures that hold this orientation. Most Americans have no regard for the past and no thought of the present but tend to have a short-term, forward-looking perspective. So America is generally said to have a future-oriented culture.While in past-oriented cultures, history, established religions, and tradition are extremely important. There is an intense belief that contemporary perceptions of people and events, decision making, and determinations of truth should be guided by what happened in the past. As a result, those that are past-oriented tend to be conservative in management and slow to change those things that are tied to the past. Judged in line with these criteria, Chinese culture is generally deemed past-oriented.2. Differentiating various time cultures helps us adapt ourselves to the strategy of localization in doing business with the member from a different culture, in order to avoid misunderstandings, tensions or even cultural shock.Task 21. I personally prefer future-oriented culture, since future-oriented societies see the past as passed, and they have a great deal of optimism about the future, believing they can shape it through their actions. In addition, people of this culture also tend to view management as a matter of planning, doing and controlling, as opposed to going with the flow and letting things happen. They often would like to take an initiative to do something they aim at.But past-oriented societies are concerned with traditional values and ways of doing things. They look to the past—real or imaginary—for inspiration, motivation, sustenance, hope, guidance, and direction. These cultures are, therefore, bound to be figurative, substantive, and earthly, which I do not like much.2. I don’t think culture can be fixed. Cultures are not static or fixed at any time;many cultures are in a state of great transition. Thus, a culture that was once considered collectivistic may now be considered individualistic. For example, Japan is considered a collectivistic, group-oriented society. However, since the 1950s, Japan has been strongly influenced by Western culture. Many Japanese scholars have observed that the younger generation of Japanese, while still considered collectivistic, is more individualistic than their parents and especially their grandparents. Likewise, although the United States is considered very individualistic, many U.S. businesses and corporations employ collectivistic management models in the workplace, focusing on teamwork and cooperation.Another example is the dramatic change we have seen in China after the implementation of the one-child policy. The policy was established in 1979 to limit that country’s population explosion, and it has dramatically changed China’s culture.