Brazil and France are two examples of polychronic cultures (cultures in which multi-tasking and doing several things simultaneously are valued as something positive). Typical examples can be seen in daily life by the way people provide any kind of service at a counter or in restaurants.
Promptness and single emphasis in a given time setting is the custom for monochronic cultures. Precise time assigned for a certain job is to be followed. For example, in monochronic cultures, people will be more disposed to end a meeting on time and join the next task on the agenda.
In polychronic cultures, people behind a counter will handle three or more clients at the same time. This means doing things faster, but it means splitting their attention among different customers. In monochron... Are women better investors than men?
For polychronic people, time is hardly ever experienced as it is misused. It is often measured as a point rather than a boulevard, but the point is often consecrated. In the workplace, polychronic people choose to keep their time amorphous fluctuating from one action to another as the disposition takes them.
Examples of polychronic cultures are Latin American, African, Arab, and Native American cultures.
Polychronic means a culture does many things at once. Their concept of time is free-flowing, and changes depending on each situation. Distractions and interruptions are a natural part of life, and have to be taken in stride.
If you live in the United States, Canada, or Northern Europe, you live in a monochronic culture. If you live in Latin America, the Arab part of the Middle East, or sub-Sahara Africa, you live in a polychronic culture.
The major multi-active (polychronic) cultures are: Spain, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Portugal, Peru, Indonesia, Romania and Dalmatia (Croatia, Montenegro). For a variety of reasons, they all qualify as polychromatic cultures.
polychronic (comparative more polychronic, superlative most polychronic) Happening at different times. (of a person) Able to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. A polychronic person may watch television, surf the Internet and talk on the telephone at the same time.
In addition, the Mexican culture is known for its polychronic understanding of time, which means that several things are done at the same time. Also, be prepared for tardiness; being late is normal and even in a professional environment up to one hour of being late is accepted and tolerated.
Polychronic – In a polychromic culture, a number of tasks can be done at once and people are not expected to do one thing at a time. Mexico, Pakistan, India and the Philippines are all considered to have a polychronic culture.
China is traditionally polychronic, though western influence has moved some aspects of business more towards monochronic time (CultureGrams, Zheng). In general, however, things tend to happen when they happen. People move on to the next event when the current one is over and not before.
Countries that are monochronic include the UK, Taiwan and Switzerland. In polychronic cultures, people believe that time is life – there is plenty of time and you need to be in the present.
Polychronic societies make up most of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In these areas, people perceive time as more fluid, where multitasking and interruptions are normal.
Hall mentions China, Egypt and India as examples of generally polychronic cultures. Though what is considered "on time" differs from country to country, people from monochronic cultures are more likely to be punctual for meetings and significant social occasions.
Japan has some of the longest working hours in industrialized countries, and represents a polychronic time orientation, although it has also successfully applied monochronic time in certain fields such as international business and technology.