Uncertainty Avoidance

How well do you tolerate ambiguity? Do you need a clear roadmap of what's ahead, or do you prefer more flexibility? Or is "flexibility" tantamount to "chaos"? Each person has a unique set of tendencies around this. Even so, just as with the two Hofstede dimensions we've discussed in earlier posts, with "uncertainty avoidance" there are strong cultural tendencies here too.

Hofstede characterizes uncertainty avoidance as follows: "Extreme uncertainty creates intolerable anxiety, and human  society has developed ways to cope with the inherent uncertainty of living on the brink of an uncertain future. These ways belong to the domains of technology, law, and religion....In the same way human societies at large use technology, law, and religion to cope with uncertainty, organizations use technology, rules, and rituals." (Geert Hofstede, Culture's Consequences, 2nd Edition, 145-7). These ways of dealing with uncertainty vary from organization to organization and from culture to culture.

China and the U.S. differ on this dimension, with China coming out at 30 and the U.S. at 46 on a 100-point scale, with 100 being the highest need for certainty. In other words, China is in general somewhat more tolerant of uncertainty than the U.S.

How might this show up for you? If you are American, you are likely to find, once you're on the ground in China, that there is a vast set of assumptions you bring about the trustworthiness of established laws, rules and procedures. You probably expect rules to be explicit, and mostly followed. In China, though, you may find that "rules" aren't really rules in the same way they are in the U.S. You may be accustomed to having your plans follow a certain predictable path, whereas in China there is often less planning, and even when there is planning, the plan is much looser.

This may sound like no big deal, but in the context of conducting business American-style, with outcomes and timelines that we expect will be adhered to, the more uncertainty-tolerant Chinese style can be frustrating in the extreme. It is here that partnerships that started off promising can turn ugly in a heartbeat, and ventures can disintegrate. Be ready.