MexConnect.com Forums: General: Living, Working, Retiring: Time urgency and cultural differences: Page 2

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NEOhio1

Oct 16, 2007, 6:26 AM

Post #26 of 30 (820 views)

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Re: [home-sweet-mexico.com] Time urgency and cultural differences

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"if you are inAjijic or nearby I have Crouchs book that you may borrow. It is a revealing read.

We especially appreciated its discussion of management styles and why, for the most part, AMerican manufacturers have left Mexcico. It isnt necessarily about cheaper wages in China. There were two significant problems, the first being patronage, if Uncle Juan referred Cousin Maria for a job, Cousin Maria was loyal to Uncle Juan over her immediate supervisor and took her needs, issues, absences, etc... to Uncle Juan....and so it went throughout the plant. Also significant was the village festival structure and family responsiblities. Festivals and local celebrations often resulted in a large percentage of absenteeism, as did events in the village and deaths and illnesses. Fascinating reading.

home-sweet-mexico.com

Oct 16, 2007, 8:12 AM

Post #27 of 30 (804 views)

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Re: [NEOhio1] Time urgency and cultural differences

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Oh how kind of you to offer. I don't live near Guadalajara, though. I'm in Cuernavaca. I'll just have to wait until I can buy it!

Those are interesting reasons for American companies to move out of Mexico. I hadn't really thought of how hard it would be to try to be a business manager in Mexico. It must be hard--especially with the way Americans tend to have a complete lack of understanding of even how to figure out cultural differences! People were probably quite unprepared.

Wouldn't there also be major frustrations with delays, beurocracy, etc. outside the company?
Julia Taylor
Creator of http://www.home-sweet-mexico.com and author of Mexico: The Trick is Living Here.

robrt8

Oct 17, 2007, 9:45 AM

Post #28 of 30 (730 views)

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Re: [home-sweet-mexico.com] Time urgency and cultural differences

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Very interesting... I think I could work around the issues of fiestas, patronage, etc., much like I imagine a roofing company working around the fact that there are many periods where nothing can get done. What scares me as far as running a business in Mexico are the crazy regulations. Paying in cash every week, severance, that would be too much.

Salimbene

Oct 31, 2007, 1:27 PM

Post #29 of 30 (649 views)

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Re: [robrt8] Time urgency and cultural differences

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As a specialist in inter-cultural communication planning a move to Mexico, I was much amused and again reminded about the many similarities between my beloved Greece and Mexican culture--I guess one of the big attractions of moving to Mexico is that I find many of the qualities in the people quite similar. In the Greece of the 60's-80's in which I lived there, there was a Greek folk saying that "If you haven't married a daughter (dowrys were the rule) or built a house you don't know what trouble and frustration is!" The Greeks have a word similar to manana, but instead of "tomorrow" it's English translation is, "the day after tomorrow." Even though I speak fairly fluent Greek it took me 10 years, and a Greek friend's comment--made in July--stating, "The day after tomorrow in the winter" before I realized that the day after tomorrow means to most Greeks, "any time in the not too distant future!" By the way, this is exactly the way manana is explained in a very interesting book called "Dictionary of Mexican Cultural Code Words" by Boye Lafayette de Mente, a noted cultural communications expert. I know that I would love to reasearch and then teach and write a book about Mexican and American cultural and communication differences sometime.

GueroPaz

Nov 3, 2007, 9:14 AM

Post #30 of 30 (614 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Time urgency and cultural differences

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Yes, mañana means "some time in the extremely vague and indefinite future, if ever." I lived in a small beach town and had the nerve to rewire a 25 amp electrical system in a 3 bedroom bamboo and palm thatch roof. Oscar, the hardware store owner, called his shop something like "grande and pequeña, and he had most of everything I needed. The fluourescent fixtures in the rafters rejuvenated the house, giving new meaning to the Scripture, "and there was light." But getting them wired required 3 electricians, including a marine wiring man who was so blind he often tested the current in the wires by singeing his fingers. In most cases, I used hand motions and basic Spanish to show them where I wanted wall switches, overhead lights, outlets, the breaker switch box, etc. I preinstalled everything I could possibly install. Oscar could not predict the future; some items took so long I changed my plans.

But some things got done inmediatamente. I wanted to install a new pump to fill the swimming pool, and my long-time resident neighbor said I needed a new well. That sounded like a project! Ten minutes later the ingeniero showed up on his bicycle, and 24 hours later the well was dug by hand, and the pump installed! CFE, on the other hand, never gave me a contract in five months, and I left town. The CFE was slandered by the same neighbor as cabrones y ladrones.

Hamburger meat. One restuarant had hamburguesas in stock the first time we went there, and never again, because tomorrow never comes. The other restaurant in town (besides the seafood joints) contained the word "-burguesa" in its title, but only had pork burgers.

So, I decided to make my own burgers. I sent my Hondureño houseboy to the butcher to get ground beef, and he returned empty handed, saying, "no hay carne de res, el no tiene." If I accepted that, we never would have had cheeseburgers. I walked down to the butcher and saw a nice, fresh cut of beef hanging above the counter. How much for one kilo, I asked. He said less than 20 pesos, and I pointed to the back of the shop. "Tiene un molino de carne, si?" He nodded yes and I explained with hand motions that I wanted him to grind that beef in the machine. The finest hamburguesas in Chiapas!

I apologize if any of this was off topic. In other words, you need to do everything you can do by yourself, take the initiative, and after all else fails, wait another month.

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