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Culture – the essential information bubble

A look at cultures always takes place from the individual perspective of the own origin. The description uses words, associations and beliefs that are unconsciously determined by the culture in which you have grown up. This begins with the filtered attention that only notices aspects for which the viewer is accustomed to – are individuals or groups at the center of interest? This continues with the world view, which provides explanatory patterns for the observed facts, e.g. religious or secular convictions. The words that are used by the observing culture are available for the description, e.g. the interpretation of terms such as freedom, work, and government. If it is followed by an action, then this act is based on the possibilities of one’s society, e.g. imprisonment vs. corporal punishment. Already Ludwig Wittgenstein mentioned “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” This turns our personal culture into the essential information bubble.

The following examples are cultural dimensions that hold this information bubble together.

  • Socialization
    One focal point of growing into the world is the social focus on oneself versus on one’s own group. The emphasis on independence and one’s own needs is an individualistic orientation. If, on the other hand, the group is the center of attention, then the affiliation and subordination of one’s own interests to the group determines one’s own identity.
    When different points of view come together, the participants focus on their learned standards. For example, while the collectivists ignore the desire for personal freedom, the individualists are missing the need for affiliation. This blind spot is preserved by the constant exchange of already familiar ideas. Socialization stabilizes the information bubble that is isolated from otherness and results in the known exclusions – e.g. Xenophobia, nationalism, and racism.
  • Hierarchy
    The relationship between people is essentially determined by the understanding of the position, the influence and the responsibilities. Hierarchical societies quickly accept the claim to power and the decisions of superiors. At the same time, this view relieves the burden of responsibility, because the higher-ranking persons naturally take over their responsibility. Egalitarian societies, which practice a flat hierarchy with group members of equal rank, are skeptical about power claims. Since they meet at eye level, they do not understand when they are presented a fait accompli without asking and then are still expected to be committed. The understanding and acceptance of a stratification of society and the associated roles can quickly lead to tensions between different cultures – e.g. lack of or too much respect, required decisiveness.
  • Time
    Differences in culture are often attached to the dealing with time. This begins with the division of time into fixed sections or flowing transitions. With the introduction of ever more accurate clocks, the day could be split into finer and finer segments. Nevertheless, cultures differ in the handling of appointments – e.g. Punctuality, duration, timeliness. This includes the use of time for one or more tasks at a time – e.g. multitasking, single tasking. Strongly internalized is the division into past, present, and future. Past-oriented people value experience and established approaches. In the here and now it is all about short-term, quick outcomes. Future-oriented people are not interested in the current situation and Quick-wins, but in long-term, sustainable results. You can easily determine the view on time with the following questions for oneself and others: Where do you see the future? Where do you point, if you indicate the past? In most parts of the world it has become accustomed that we find the future ahead of us and that we point backwards into the past. There are, in fact, nations, where it is the other way around. The past is visibly in front of them and the future lies invisibly behind their back. The cultural sense of time results in filtered reports that hide other perceptions of time.

Bottom line: The few examples should make it clear that we all float in an information bubble that distorts or at least burdens our look at other areas. Our socialization has made us personalities shaped by the surrounding. The responsibility is determined by our understanding of hierarchy. Dealing with time determines the perspective of the information bubble. So today, when we talk about the information bubble and alternative facts, it is not necessarily a matter of populists, but a necessary understanding of the cultural differences. Long before the political opinions of lobbyists we are already caught up in our cultural information bubble. We only overcome the limit, when we try to break free of it and behave openly and tolerantly towards the unknown and the strange. Culture is the essential information bubble that limits us.

Consultants – Magician, Maker, Co-worker

Since the beginning of the information age, employment has shifted away from physical to mental work. These services, which are no longer assigned in small tasks to individual workers, are fulfilled responsibly by employees and management staff. With the digitalization, automated routines are now being transferred to the virtual world. The logic of the business must be processed in such a way that the computers can be fed with appropriate algorithms. This requires knowledge that goes beyond the previous execution of subtasks. The corresponding abilities are no longer characterized by the specific knowledge of experts, but by a general understanding of the respective business models and subject areas (see here). The design of the coming world is temporarily taken over by internal and external consultants, who support the full-time employees. The necessary roles go from visionaries, to activists, to knowledge-line workers.

The three types of consultants are called magicians, makers as well as co-workers and differ as follows.

  • The Magicians
    This type of consultant, who is concentrated on the future, has answers for fundamental questions of the business. The business base is challenged by political, economical, sociocultural, technological, legal and ecological influences. The workforce and the management team are part of the problem and professionally blinkered. The only other option to the external consultants would be internal lateral thinkers, who are given the freedom to think differently. Unfortunately these types of employees are systematically pushed out of the company. As a result, only external suggestions can map out the need for action, trigger the change and accompany the implementation from a neutral perspective. The most important skills of these catalysts are a good understanding of current trends, practical opportunities and systemic interrelations. In addition, such advisors must be convincing spokespersons because they have to reach and convince all levels in the company. The consultations require a lot of management confidence, since they have far-reaching consequences for the company. The difficulty, the duration and the risk of implementation, as well as the few fitting consultants, result in relatively high prices.
  • The makers
    The most effective type of consultant is the temporarily pro-active executive, who steps up to the plate and solves problems. It is all about the implementation of new business models, procedural and organizational structures, mergers and joint ventures, the introduction of new IT systems or technologies. Employees and managers must replace old approaches with unknown new ones. This challenges the applied routine and the everyday culture. Internal managers have understandably difficulties, as they also have to overcome the usual procedures and frameworks. At least during the transition, this is particularly difficult. The old system has to continue being controlled and at the same time the new one has to be introduced. The external consultants, who are deployed as an interim manager or project manager, are free from internal business legacies and obligations, which allow them to take better care of the new. Due to the temporary assignment, the change makers will be at a certain point in time gone and thus avoid stresses in the long-term internal cooperation. Usually these managers have a good political feel, great abilities of integration and the strength to assert oneself. In these cases the degree of difficulty and the risk of implementation as well as the size of the company determine the costs. The relatively high availability of these makers results in medium-range prices.
  • The Co-workers
    The most favorable type of consultant is the co-worker, who performs routine tasks. Many companies, with their efforts to improve the efficiency of their services, have increasingly outsourced more and more work and bundled the remaining tasks with fewer and fewer employees. This concentration of work at the single workplace leaves the employee no air to breathe. The tasks, which are not yet automated or which can not be done with the computer, can no longer be managed internally. In order to maintain an ongoing operation and for keeping the desired service quality, it is necessary to deploy additional employees. The newly created liberation of the labor market allows the temporary employment of people, outside the implemented regulations for full-employment. At first sight, this saves costs, since the management of this workforce can be done with little effort and the liabilities are limited. However, the set-up times, the continuous flow of knowledge out of the company and the regulations to be taken into account (for example, no name plate, and no internal telephone number) burden the deployment. But the difficulty level and the risk of the deployment are low. Countless companies have specialized on employing such workers and to hire them to large companies. These co-workers are flexible and adaptive and form the lower price segment of consultancies.

Bottom line: The consulting industry has evolved into a broad-based business. The highly paid magicians cover the strategic areas. The makers are the practical realizers. The co-workers with their routine services form the majority of the consultants. In all cases, the consultants provide the necessary impulses to enable a company to develop further.