Cultural Encounters with Institutions

I've had interesting discussions and observations in the past week over cultural differences. Here are some of what I have learned:

The morning is the only quiet time of day. Most people do not arrive at work until quite late, but they work very late as well.

Meetings last longer, so I've had to learn to leave bigger blocks of time for one meeting--this is true whether it is meeting with an individual or a group.

In a meeting, the younger faculty do not participate, but rather let the more senior faculty carry on the discussion.

In most meetings, all the decisions have been made prior to anyone walking into the room.

In face-saving approach, if students have a problem with a faculty member, they go to the supervisor to tell them about the problem so the supervisor can communicate with the faculty member and then the faculty member can change their behavior without losing face by having been told by a student. This, of course, is the opposite of what we would do in the United States. We would tell the student to first go talk to the faculty member.

Change and disruption is normal. So, meetings my be scheduled, but then you expect everything to change or be rearranged beforehand by those above. Change is normal.