Fostering Intercultural Communication: Collectivist versus Individualist cultures

Ten months ago, I took the longest flight I ever experienced in my life to Canada, which is located on the other side of the world, for my exchange programme . It is a country with the North American culture which contrasts heavily with the Asian culture I grow up in. To be more specific with the nature of these two cultures, the Asians have the collectivist culture while the North Americans have the individualist cultures.

The differences between these two cultures are readily evident from their way of life. Allow me to use a scenario to illustrate my point. A few months ago, I went on a shopping trip with my friend in one of the Zara stores in Vancouver. Coincidentally, the store was having sales and was packed with people. I joined in the crowd and picked a few items off the shelves before joining the queue in front of the cashier. After twenty minutes, I began to realize the queue was not making any progress and in fact, a very long queue was formed behind me. Curiosity got the better of me and I tilted my head to the side to get a better understanding of the situation. It was only then I realised the root of the problem. There was only one cashier serving at the counter. Despite the long queue behind the counter, the cashier continued to interact with all the customers paying for their items at the counter. Some of the Canadians in the queue have begun to show signs of displeasure on their faces but there were no outright expressing of unhappiness. Having stayed in Canada for a few months, I knew it was their typical way of customer service. It is very common to see the cashier greeting the customer and asking them question like, “how’s everything going for you?” Though I was slightly frustrated with the situation, I continued to behave in same manner as the rest of the customers in the queue and that was to wait for my turn to arrive patiently.

Recently, I encountered the same situation in one of the Zara stores in Singapore. The store manager opened another counter immediately in response to the long queue. There was no greeting from the cashier or any other form of interaction between the cashier and the customers apart from the normal responses like, “here is your change” and “thank you”. However, I observed a peculiar behavior in myself. I began to lament to my sister about the inefficiency of the store in clearing the queue when I was barely ten minutes in the queue.

It was the same store and similar situation but the stores were located on different geographical locations. It is this difference in geographical location which defines the culture. These two shopping experiences highlighted to me the importance of maintaining a delicate balance in the areas of knowledge, empathy and self-confidence when we are in a country with an entirely different culture. It is imperative for us to learn about other cultures, feelings and needs of people and finally, to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of oneself. Apart from the importance of maintaining a delicate balance in the three areas, these two shopping experiences also demonstrated to me the adaptability of people to an entirely different culture.

I believe that given the space-shrinking technology and globalization, such cultural differences will soon diminish. In fact, I believe that someday the fusion of the different cultures may occur. Wouldn’t it be great to have a cashier who greets you cheerfully at the counter, asking you about your day and is efficient in clearing the queue?