:A PROFILE OF RIAN PIENAAR

As Aaron Pun identified for us in the last issue of Esprit d'ACCORD, culture is "the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behaviour."1 OD practitioners working in cultures other than their own need to also be aware of the impact of "cultural determinants," those cultural factors that can either enable or prevent effective interventions. Examples of cultural determinants include styles of doing business, perceptions of the behaviours of others, or automatic acceptance (or rejection) of some aspect of another's culture. Cultural determinants are present in any cross-cultural interaction - but we may not always be aware of their presence or impact. 2

Pienaar's experience is supported by the work of anthropologists Edward T. and Mildred Reed Hall. They identify four key elements to successful cross-cultural interactions:

1. Context
2. Space
3. Time
4. Message flow.

1. Context
Cultures can be described as low-context and high-context. People from low-context cultures (predominantly Scandinavians, Germans, and those who use the English language) get their meaning and understanding by sending and receiving accurate messages, and "spelling it out." (No wonder the English language grows by 30,000 words per year!) In contrast, meaning and understanding for those in high-context cultures comes from nonverbal communication and body language, silences and pauses, and relationships.

Low-context cultures permit more deviance from ideal role models and tend to have looser social structures. In contrast, high-context cultures require more conforming to behaviour and less role deviation.

2. Space
Space can be separated into territoriality and personal space. Territoriality for people in low-context cultures can be seen by talk of "my room," "my office" (including its size and location), "my kitchen." Personal space for low-context cultures is "arm's length" and "keeping your distance."

3. Time
Time can be described as "monochromic time" for low-context cultures and "polychronic time" for high context cultures. In low-

context cultures, time is considered to be something to be 'spent,' 'saved,' 'wasted,' and 'lost.' The polychronic time of high context cultures places emphasis on completing human transactions and relationships, not on meeting schedules.

4. Message Flow
Information does not flow freely in low-context cultures - it is often specialized, compartmentalized, and controlled. In high-context cultures, because interpersonal contact takes precedence, information flows more freely and rapidly. 3

Working in both South Africa and Canada, Pienaar has experienced these four elements identified by Hall. While Canadian business models can generally be classified as low-context, South African business models cannot. "When change happened six years ago, we had to blend four distinct cultures together to form the new South Africa: the Indian community, the Coloured community, the Whites, and the Blacks. Although all four cultures were mostly high-context in themselves (with the exception of the White community), we had to find ways that we could agree on. We had to spend time in coming up with a common process. If we moved too soon to content, we would run into conflict."

"After the changes in 1994, the country transformed overnight and CEOs started to use scenarios when things became more unpredictable. Organisations (and those of us supporting them) quickly developed their own practices to fit in with the emerging business culture. Challenges to the new business culture included how to integrate five socio-demographic groups in business - old guard members (the business community), new MBA graduates, leaders who had returned from exile, community leaders from the domestic struggle, and an increased number of women in leadership positions (who had tremendous skills in social change)."

What key differences has he experienced between his work in South Africa and Canada? "Time horizons are different here. In North America, there's a 'kick-ass attitude' for fixing, rather than a focus on spending time on anticipating the future and reflecting on sustainable outcomes that harness the diversity of the emerging population. Time horizons in business and government seem to be one to three years, but the focus is mainly on the one-year budget. There also seems to be a focus on systems and procedures here, rather than on harnessing collective wisdom in setting direction in a "brave new world." North America seems incredibly specialized, almost to the point of sometimes being dysfunctional. (The language is different too - when I first came here, I didn't understand the simple phrases "heads-up" and "work around.")

What advice does Pienaar give to practitioners like himself coming to Canada? "Unlearn a lot of things. Accept the reality of this culture and realise that it has a relatively stable historical social, political, and economic context. The culture seems to have a preference for incremental adjustments. The value set of acceptance, conformity, and solution-finding seems to be rewarded with an emphasis on production time. The propensity to take calculated risks is generally not encouraged by management. Surrender to this culture, open up and learn. It's not really all that different, but we have to understand the context and how things are done here, and then repackage our tools accordingly. Coming to this new culture is not easy unless you develop and maintain your networks and contacts."

Rian Pienaar can be reached at rian.pienaar@sympatico.ca (416.303.5559)

1 Spradley, J., 1979, The Ethnographic Interview, New York, Holt

2 Rothwell, William J., Sullivan, Roland, and McLean, Gary N., Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Consultants, 1995, Pfeiffer & Company, p 431