Once, in apt to be considered a point rather than a ribbon or a operating in the governmental bureaucracies of road, but that point is often sacred. An Arab will say, Mediterranean countries: A typical office layout for "I will see you before one hour," or "I will see you after important officials usually includes a large reception two days." What he means in the first instance is that area (an omate version of Lorenzo Hubbell's office) it will not be longer than an hour before he sees you, outside the private suite, where small groups of peo- and in the sex on instance, it will be at least two days. ple can wait and be These and be visited by the minister or his commitments are taken n quite seriously as long aides. These functionaries do most of their business as one rerrians in the P-time pattern. outside in this semipublic setting, moving from in the early 1960s, when I was in Patras, group to group conferring with each in tum. The Greece, which is in the middle of the P-time belt, semiprivate transactions take less time and give oth- my own time system was thrown in my face under ers the feeling that they are in the presence of the rather ridiculous but still amusing circumstances. minister and other important people with whom An impatient Greek hotel clerk, anxious to get me they may also want to confer. Once one is used to and my mnage settled in some quarters that were this pattern, it is clear that there are advantages, far from first-class, was pushing me to make a com- which often outweigh the disadvantages of a series . mitment so he could continue with his siesta. I of private meetings in the inner office. couldn't decide whether to accept this rather forlom Particularly distressing to Americans is the way "bird in the hand" or take a chance on another ho- in which polychronic people handie appointments. tel that looked, if possible, even less inviting. Out of Being on time simply doesn't mean the same thing the blue, the clerk blurted: Make up your mind. Af- as it does in the United States. Matters in a poly- ter all, time is money!" How would you reply to that chronic culture seem in a constant state of flux. at a time of day when literally nothing was happen. Nothing is solid or firm, particularly plans for the fu- ing? I couldn't help but laugh at the incongruity of ture; even important plans may be changed right up it all. If there ever was a case of time not being to the minute of execution. money, it was in Patras during siesta in the summer. In contrast, people in the Western world find lit- Although M-time cultures tend to make a fetish te in life cxempt from the iron hand of M-time. out of management, there are points at which Time thoroughly woven into the fabric of exis- M-time doesn't make as much sense as it might: Life tence that we are hardly aware of the degree to in general is at times unpredictable; and who can which it determines and coordinates everything we tell exactly how long a particular client, patient, or do, including the molding of relations with others set of transactions will take? These are imponder in many subtle ways. In fact, social and business ables in the chemistry of human transactions. What life, even one's sex life, is comm one day in 10 minutes may dominated. By scheduling, we compartmentalize, this 20 minutes on the next. Some days people will makes it possible to concentrate on one thing at a be rushed and can't finish: on others, there is time to time, but it also reduces the context. Since schedul- spare, so they waste the remain and . "time. ing by its very nature selects what will and will not When traveling in Latin America and the Mid- be perceived and attended, and permits only a lim- dle East, North Americans are often psychologically ited number of events within a given period, what stressed. Immersed in a polychronic environment in gets scheduled constitutes a system for setting p the markets, stores, and souks of Mediterranean and ities for both people and functions. Important things countries, tomers all vying for the attention of a singles check se taken up first and allotted the most time; unim portant things are left until last or omitted if time who is trying to wait on everyone at once. There is no recognized order as to who is to be served next, M-time is also tangible; we speak of it as being no queue or numbers to indicate who has been wait saved, spent, wasted, lost, made up, crawling, killed. ing the longest. To the North European or Ameri- and running out. These metaphors must be taken se can, it appears that confusion and clamor abound. riously. M-time scheduling is used as a classification in a different context, the same pattems can be seen system that orders life. The rules apply to everything 18 80 sex life, is commonly schedule faste be accomplished can . & prior Arab counter by other cus are runs out. Edward Hall Monochrontc and Polychronk: 'Time 263 the ployer to schedule a subordinate's werk for him analyzed, proper reporting can enable a P-time ad- would be considered a Cyrannical violation of his ministrator to handle a surprising number of sub- individuality-an invasion of the self. ordinates. Nevertheless, organizations run on the In contrast, M-time letople schedule the activity polychronic model are limited in size; they depend and leave the analysis of the activities of the job to on having gifted people at the top; and they are slow the individual. A P-type analysis, even though rech- and cumbersome when dealing with anything that is nical by its nature, keeps reminding the subordinate new or different. Without gifted people, a P-cype Isu- that his or her job is tut umly a system but also part Teaucracy can can be a disaster. M-type organizations go of a larger system. M-type people, on the other in the opposite direction. They can and do grew hand, by virtue of compartmentalization, are less much larger than the P-type model; however, they likely to see their activities in context as part of the combine bureaucracies instead of proliferating them larger whole. This does not mean that they are un- (e.g., with consolidared schouls, the business con aware of the organization"_far from it-only that glomerate, and the new superdepartments we are de the job itself or even the goals of the organization veloping in government). are seldom seen as a whole. The blindness of the monochronic organization Giving the organization a higher priority than is to the humanity of its members. The weakness of the functions it performs is common in our culture the polychronic type lies in its extreme dependence This is epitomized in television, where we allow on the leader to handle contingencies and stay on the TV commercials, the "special message," to break top of things. M-type bureaucracies, as they grow continuity of even the most important com- the mos larger, tumn inward; oblivious to their wey to their own structure, munication. There is a message all right, and the they grow rigid and are apt to lose sight of their orig., message is that art gives way to commerce-poly- inal purpose. Prime examples are the Army Corps of chronic advertising agencies impose their values on Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, which a monochronic population. In monochronic North wreak havoc on our environment in their dedicated European countries, where pattems are more homo- efforts to stay in business by building dams or aiding geneous, coramercial the flow of rivers to the sea. not tolerated. There is a strict limit regarding the Commercial interruptions of this sort are At the beginning of this chapter, I stated that 1 well as the times when commercials can "American time is monochronie." On the surface, heen allotted one or two hours. forogram has this is true, but in a diecper sense, American (AE) be shown. The average American TV * have set aside time, and is conceived, written, di dominates the official worlds of business, gover- conceived huch people time is both polychronic and monochronic. M-time tected, acted, and played as a unity . Interjecting nent, the professions, entertai entertainment, and sports; commercials throughout the body of the program however, in the home---particularly the more tradi- breaks that continuity and Aies in the face of one of tional home in which women are the core around the core systems of the culture. The polychronic which everything revolves one finds that P-time Spanish treat the main feature as a close friend or else can one raise several chil- relative who should not be disturbed and let the dren at once, run a household, hold a job, and be a commercials mill around in the antechamber out- wife, mother, nurse, tutor, chauffeur, sick. My My point is not that one system is superior fixer-upper? Nevertheless, most of fus automatically another, it's it's just that the two don't mix. The effect equate P-time with informal activities and with the is disruptive and reminiscent of what the English are multiple tasks and responsibilities and ties of women going through today, now thar the old monochronic to networks of the preconscious level, queuing patterns have broken down as a conse- M-time is male time and P-time is is female time, and quence of a large infusion of polychronic peoples the ramifications of this difference are considerable. from the colonies. In the conclusion of an important book, Unfin. Both M-time and P-time systems have strengths ished Business, Maggie Scarf vividly illustrates this as well as weaknesses. There is a limit to the speed point Scarf addresses the question of why depres- with which jobs can be analyzed, although once sion (the hidden illness of our age) is three to six . Trumber as her ibodi takes over over. How and general to people. At the Edward T. Hall Monochromic and Polychronk Time 265 . ally, a times more prevalent in women then it is in toen can management is slowly, very slowly, getting the How does time equate with depression in women? It message. The problem is that modern management so happens that the time system of the dominant has accentuated the monochronic side at the ex- culture adds another source of trauma and alien- pense of the les manageable, and less predictable, ation to the already overtuurdened psyches of many polychronic side. Virtually everything in our culture American women. According to Scarf, depression works for and rewards a monochronic view of the comes about in part as a consequence of breaking world. But the antihuman aspect of M-time is alien significant ties that make up most women's world . ating, especially to women. Unfortunately, too many In our culture, anen as a group tend to be more task women have "bought into the M-time world, nor oriented, whereas women's lives center on networks realizing that unconscious sexist is part it. The The of people and their relations with people. Tradition- pattern of an encire system of time too large, too a woman's world is a world of human emotions, diffuse, and too ubiquitous for most to identify its of love, attachment, envy, anxiety, and hate. This patterns. Women sense there is something alien concept is a little difficult for twenty-first-century about the way in which modem organizations han people to accept because it implies basic differences dle time, beginning with how the workday, the between men and women that are not fashionable at week, and the year are set up. Such changes as flex- the moment. Nevertheless, for most cultures around time do not alter the fact that as soon as one enters the world, the feminine mystique is intimately iden the door of the office, one becomes immediately tified with the development of the human relations koxeked into a monochronic, monolithic structure side of the personality racher som the technical that is virtually impossible to change. currical left-brain occupational side. In the United There are other sources of tension between peu States, AE women live in world of people and ple who have internalized these two systems. Keep relacionships, and their egon become spread out in mind that polychronic individuals are oriented among those who are closest to them by a procese we toward people, human relationships, and the family, call identification. When the relationships are threat- which is the core of their existence. Family takes ened or broken or something happens to those to precedence over everything else. Close friends come whom one is close, there are worries and anxieties, next. In the absence of schedules, when there is a VIC is a natural result crisis the family always comes first. If a monochronic Polychronic cultures are by their nature oriented woman has a polychronic hairdresser, there will in- to people. Any human being who is maturally drawn evitably be problems, even if she has a regular ap- to other human beings and who lives in a world pointment and 18 sche and is scheduled at the same time each Jouninated human relationships will be either week. In circumstances like these, the hairdresser pushed or pulled toward the polychronic end of the following his or her own pattern) will inevitably time spectrum. If you value people, you must treas fcel compelled to squeeze people in." As a conse- them out and cannot cut them off simply because of quence, the regular customer , who has scheduled her a schedule. time very carefully (which is why she has a standing M-time, on the other hand, is oriented to tasks, appointment in the first place), is kept waiting and schedules, and procedures. As anyone who has had feels put down, angry, and frustrated. The hatr- experience with our bureaucracies knows, schedules dresser is also in a bind because if he does not ac and procedures take on a life all their own without cummodate his relative or friend regardless of the reference to either logie or human needs. And this schedule, the result is endless repercussions within set of written and unwritten rules--and the conse his family circle . Not only must he give preferential quences of these rules-is ar least partially responsi treatment to relatives, but the degree of accommo ble for the reputation of American business being dation and who is preshed aside or what is pushed cut off from human beings and unwilling to recog aside is itself a communication! nize the importance of employee moeale. Mocale The more important the customer or business may well be the deciding factor in whether a given that is disrupted, the more reassured the hairdresser's company makes a profit or not. Admittedly, Ameri- polychronic Aunt Nell will feel. The way to ensure and depression is a natur a 266 Chapter 5 Nonverbal Interaction Action Sound, and Silence . a is a sound man, and while es, there was quite a lot of con- the message that one accepted or loved is to call view for a magazine. That meant lunch and an in- up at the last minute and expect everyone to re- terview, which would last thirty to forty minutes. arrange everything. If they don't, it can be taken What else? Ah, yes. He hoped I wouldn't mind as a clear signal that they don't care enough. The spending time with Mr. X, who had published one of M-time individual caught in this P-time pattem has my earlier books in Japancse, because Mr. X was very the feeling either that he is being pressured or that anxious to pin down a commitment on my part to he simply drsn't count. There are many instances allow him to publish my next book. He was particu- where culture patterns are on a collision course, and larly eager to see me because he missed out on pub- there can be no resolution until the point of conflict lishing the last two books, even though he had is identified. One side or the other literally gives up. written me in the United States. Yes, I did remem- In the instance cited above, the hairdresser usually ber that he had written, but his letter arrived after loses a good customer. Patterns of this variety ate my agent had made the decision on the Japanese what maintain ethnicity . Neither pattern is right publisher. That, incidentally, was the very reason only different, and it is important to remember that why he wanted to see me personally. Three down they do not mix. and how muany more to go? Not all M-times and P-times are the same. There Oh, yes, there would be some photographers are tight and loose versions of each. The Japanese, there, and he hoped I w wouldn't mind if pictures were for example, in the official business side of their lives taken! The pictures were to be both formal group where people do not meet on a htghly personal shows, which were posed, and infomual, candid shots ized basis, provide us an excellent example of tight during the Interview, as well as pictures taken with M-time. When an American professor, businessper. Mc. X. As it As it turned out, there were at least two sets son, technical expert, or consultant visits Japan, he may find that his time is like a carefully packed photographers as well as a sound wasn't "60 Minutes," there trunko tightly packed, in fact, that it is imposss fusion (the two sets of photographers each required ble to squeeze one more thing into the container. precious seconds to straighten things out). I had to On a recent trip to Japan, I was contacted by a well- I hand it to everyone they were not only extraordic known colleague who had translated one of my ear-narily skilled and well organized, but also police and lier books. He wanted to see me and asked if he considerate. Then, he hoped I wouldn't baut could pick ne up at my hotel at twelve-fifteen so we there was a young man who was studying communi could have lunch together I had situated myself in, cation who had scored over 600 on an the lobby a few minutes early because the Japanese which I was told put him 200 points above the av- are almost always prompt. At swelve-seventet, erage. This young man would be joining us for could se his tense figure darting through the crowd lunch. I didn't see how we were going to eat any of collected antiving businesspeople and politicians who near the door. Following greetings, he ustang, smuch less discuss issues of mutual interest. In ered me outside to the ubiquitoes black finishes situated on such as these, one soon leams to sit back, with chauffeut, with white dodlies covering the areas relax, and let the and headrests. The door of the car hade handle there is everything. The bench was excellent, would be-hardly leisurely, but still when he started outlining our schedule for the funich All the interviews and the conversation with the period by saying chat he had an appointtient at student went off as scheduled. The difficulties cause shree o'clock to do a TV broadcast. That set the when I had to explain to the Japanese publisher that time limit and established the besk parameters in I had no control over my own book-that once ! which everyone knew where he would be at any had written a book and handed tr in to my publisher, given part of the agenda. He stated these limits the book was marketed by either my publisher of my a little over two hours... taking travel time into agent. Simply being first in line did not guarantee account. anything. I had to try to make it clear that I was tted My colleague next explained that not only were into an already existing set of relationships with at- we to have lunch, but he wanted to tape an inter- tached obligations and that other people made these mind. . an examinatio . in charge orchestrate ent, as I knew it Stall very good. Edward T. Hall Monochromic and Polychronic Time 267 decisions. This required some explaining, and I then Concepts and Questions spent considerable time trying to work out a method for the publisher to get a heating with my agent. 1. How might cultural differences in time conceptualiza- This is sometimes virtually impossible because cach tion lead ro intercultural communication problems? 2. How have you seen Hall's concept of monochronie publisher and each agent in the United States has time reflected in your culture? its own representative in Japan. Thus an author is in 3. What difficulties might an M-time-oriented person their hands, too. experience when interacting with someone who fol. We did finish on time--pretty much to every lows a P-time orientacion? What feelings might one's satisfaction, I believe. My friend departed on emerge during this interaction! schedule as the cameramen were putting away their 4. What difficulties might a P-time-oriented person ex- equipment and the sound man was rolling up his perience when interacting with someone who fotlows wires and disconnecting his microphones. The stu- an M-time orientation? What feelings might emerge dent drove me back ove me my hotel on schedule, a little during this interaction! after 3 P.M. 5. What does Hall imply by the statement there are P.M. points at which M-time doesn't make as much sense The patter is not too different from schedules for - as it might seem"? authors in the United States. The difference is that in 6. How does an M-time orientacion affect perception? Japan the tightly scheduled monochronic pattern is 7. What problems arise in a P-time-oplented society as foreigners who are not well enough inte horeaucrate levels increase? How does a Pete Rock grated into the Japanese systems to to be able to do ety adjust to a bureaucratic buildup? things in a more leisurely mannet, and whese empha- & How i administrative schedules affected by M-time sis is on developing a good working relationship. and P-time orientations! All cultures with high technologies seem to ix- 9. What does Hall mean by his statement that corporate both polychronic and monochronic fure- European-American (EA) time is both poly- tions. The point is that each does it in is own way. Mo. Hall notes that bork M-time and P-time system chronic and mozochronic"? The Japanese are polychronic when looking and have strengths as well as weaknesses." What are some working inward, toward themselves. Vhan dealing with the outside world, they have adopted the desen of these strengths and weaknesses? inant elne system, which characteriees that world. That is, they shift to the monochronic mode and, characteristically, since these are tactinical matters, they outsbinet applied 268 Chapter 5. Norimetral Interaction Action Sofd rid Sence