At the beginning, no one expects clashes. But then different perspectives compete: what is efficient for one colleague can be viewed by another as shortsighted. And there may be also vastly different attitudes in terms of what is deemed to be appropriate when expressing respect or responsibility.
According to an article on the management-issues.com website, one key difference might be the expected purpose of meetings.
What are meetings really about?
What is the purpose of all the various meetings? It may be sharing of information, decision making … but also fostering trust. At meetings, some underlying team conflicts can be directly addressed. Or you may choose to discuss tasks at hand and ignore the conflicts.
- In Japan, meetings are for confirming publicly decisions already made. Participants discuss alternatives in private beforehand in order to avoid open and public conflict. It is about saving face.
- In Mexican organisations, meetings often have the purpose of building relationships and trust.
- In US companies, a meeting usually is expected to be an opportunity to gather information and input. Therefore, everyone attending should be well prepared to take part in analysing alternatives.
- During Dutch meetings, harsh criticism can be heard because it is not considered necessary to discuss what is working well. It is much better to identify weaknesses and profoundly scrutinise every plan or decision.
These may be generalisations but they do illustrate how expectations of a meeting are based largely on unspoken beliefs and norms.
-jk-