How an observation in 1959 by anthropologist Edward Hall still applies to businesses today, and what this means for your team.





While this growing arena holds great opportunity for managers, it also poses new challenges to blend working styles and personalities from all walks of life. This is where

Thanks to globalization, firms can pull together teams from multiple continents and focus them on a single project. Even today's small businesses have frequent exposure with contractors or clients from different countries and cultures.While this growing arena holds great opportunity for managers, it also poses new challenges to blend working styles and personalities from all walks of life. This is where Edward Hall's perspective of monochronic and polychronic time becomes helpful. First published in his book, The Silent Language, Hall's unique view of personality types can help explain some of today's employees most puzzling behaviours.

Monochronic Time



Value promptness and deadlines

Tend to do things one at a time

Do not get distracted

Commit to work and adhere to plans

Relate punctuality to reputation

Value and respect privacy

According to Hall, the industrial revolution caused many western cultures to grow more dependent on schedules and promptness. He cited the U.S., Great Britain, and countries in Northern Europe as cultures who are predominantly monochronic. This reliance is pervasive in business environments today. People in the monochronic mode (or M-people as Hall called them) see time as a resource to be carefully managed. In general, M-people:

Polychronic Time



Juggle multiple assignments

Value interpersonal relationships heavily

Put less value into schedules and dates

Change plans often and easily

Forge lifetime relationships easier than M-people

On the other end of the spectrum, polychronic people (P-people) developed out of the Mediterranean and Colonial-Iberian-Indian cultures. In a blog post for Psychology Today, author Thor Mueller echoed Hall's point. Polychronic time prioritizes context over process, and makes it difficult for people to abruptly end conversations when the clock strikes the hour. As opposed to M-people who focus on one task at a time, P-people thrive when faced with multiple tasks at once. They can:

Managing M-People and P-People