Sylvia's Journal

This morning about 30 of my colleagues showed up for a simulation exercise about working across cultures. I used a simulation called Ecotonos (authored by Dianne Hofner Saphiere, published by Intercultural Press). In the simulation there are three cultures, green, red and blue, each with a set of cultural norms and ways of being with others, different ideals of leadership and ways of doing work.

I had to change any norms that required people in one of the cultures to hug or touch because both men and women participated in the exercise and this is too strong a norm to change even temporarily.

We called the groups the sorkh culture, the abi culture and the sabs culture. The words mean, respectively, red, blue and green in Dari. People were randomly assigned to the groups.

The red group is preoccupied with time, speed, results, individualism, loudness and assertiveness that verges on aggressiveness; the blues are rational, distant, unemotional, planners, hierarchy conscious and obsessed with getting evidence before taking actions, they abhor touching; and finally the greens value harmony above all, live in a paternalistic culture with a father figure taking care of his people. Under his watchful eye they do everything together and like to be close to each other, like a family, even at work.

The same task is given to all (build a tower with certain specifications). After awhile we dispatched people from one culture to another as consultants, ready to lend their hands and expertise to the task at hand (‘we are here to help you.’). And with that we are off to the races.

The resulting dynamic nicely mimics what happens in real life, especially because feedback loops don’t exist when two or more cultures collide. The reds express the annoyance with anger and loud speaking; the greens pull closer together, excluding the newcomers while keeping a smile on their face and the blues abhor the emotions and chaos they produce, pulling back into their individual safe spaces. The misunderstandings and distractions from the task at hand are only funny because it is a simulated work environment. In real life these things happen also but then they are not funny.

The simulation produced its desired effect and led to some good insights, even though I didn’t get them all as everyone was speaking in Dari. The only thing that didn’t quite work was getting the women out of their traditional and subservient roles.

With hardly an exception they were not able to get into their new role and take on the characteristics of whichever culture they were placed in. For them behavior is so prescribed that stepping out of these roles, even if given permission, is probably too risky. And so the lesson I learned is that in this country, the simulation and possibly any experiential learning is best done in single sex groups. If I had thought about it more, I could have figured this out ahead of time.