Time management in global teams

The West has clocks, the East and South have time – time management is one of the biggest logistical challenges in global cooperation.

Do you know this situation?

You have arranged a meeting with a colleague from the foreign location in your department. On time and equipped with the most important documents, you sit in the meeting room. After a few minutes, you impatiently look at your watch, check your e-mails and are surprised that your colleague is keeping you waiting. Minutes later he/she enters the meeting room but doesn’t mention the delay at all.

Time is an important commodity and should not be wasted, should it?

Almost nothing distinguishes cultures from one another as much as the different perceptions of time – few concepts harbour so much potential for conflict. To avoid such critical incidents, it is important to develop an awareness of what time means in an intercultural context.

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