Avoiding the “Ugly American” Stereotype
by Gary M. Wederspahn “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
–A common U.S. saying
We Americans generally consider ourselves likable. After all, don’t we make a big effort to show friendliness and niceness in our dealings with others? And isn’t our informality something that puts people at ease? Our casualness and sense of humor set a warm tone in potentially awkward, stiff social and business situations, right? Having this likeable image of ourselves, we are often shocked to discover that many people in other countries are put off by how we come across and may actually dislike us.
Expatriates and international business travelers from the United States need to be aware of those aspects of our “cultural baggage” that are likely to irritate or offend people in our host-countries. This insight is difficult to achieve because, first, we are seldom consciously aware of our own cultural values. By definition, these values are absorbed unconsciously from the cultural environment that constantly surrounds us. Secondly, each culture we encounter has a different set of reactions to us depending on their own “cultural baggage.” Therefore, anticipating and avoiding cross-cultural clashes frequently makes the difference between the success and failure of international assignments and projects.
U.S. Cultural Baggage
Our “cultural baggage” consists of the invisible set of values, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations we carry with us when we travel outside our home country. A good way to gain self-awareness regarding this baggage is to analyze the meaning of popular U.S. sayings:
Time consciousness
“Time is money.” This expression, coined by Benjamin Franklin in 1748, illustrates two of the most fundamental U.S. values: time consciousness and productivity. We have become one of the world’s fastest paced cultures. Even as early as the 1830s, Micheal Chevalier, a French economist, wrote that the “American has an exaggerated estimate of the value of time and is always in a terrible hurry.” The tempo of life and work in the United States has increased exponentially since then due to invention of such time “saving” devices as microwave ovens, cellular phones, faxes and computers. Our addiction to speed has made us out of sync with most other cultures. We tend to be perceived as impatient, rushed and, perhaps, pushy by others.
Individualism
“You have to blow your own horn,” and “If you want a job done right, do it yourself.” These sayings reflect our strong sense of individualism. According to a study of 40 countries by Dutch sociologist Geert Hofstede, we are the most individualistic culture in the world. This value can be seen in our emphasis on individual accountability and singling out a specific person for recognition and reward. Other countries, to varied degrees, place more value on group identity and effort. They frequently view us as self-centered and poor team players.
Task Orientation
“Keep your eye on the ball,” and “Work before pleasure.” These expressions highlight our high level of task orientation. We prefer to focus on the job at hand, avoiding interruptions and distractions. Socializing and irrelevant discussions are discouraged. Many other cultures place more value on building and nurturing relationships as a way to get the job done. An intense task focus may be taken for unfriendliness and lack of caring.
Self-reliance
“God helps those who help themselves,” and “Pull yourself up by your own boot straps.” During the frontier era and westward expansion period of U.S. history people were widely scattered and isolated by distance. We had to rely on ourselves and gradually turned this necessity into a virtue. Those who can take care of themselves, make or repair things and improve their circumstances are respected. In contrast, many other cultures promote interdependence as a value and have difficulty understanding our general expectation that children and elderly family members, for example, should “stand on their own two feet.”
Directness
“Don’t beat around the bush,” and “Tell it like it is!” Our country values simple direct verbal and written communications. Those who are indirect are likely to be viewed with suspicion, as if they have something to hide or are lacking in self-confidence. However, in other countries our directness may be perceived as being blunt to the point of rudeness. Another common impression is that we lack subtlety and sophistication.
Egalitarianism
“All men are created equal…” this statement from our Declaration of Independence enshrines our belief that all people are of equal value according to some philosophical or spiritual standard. We reject the notion that there exists a class of “betters” who have an innate right to high status, privilege and power. Hofstede’s study ranked the United States among the countries with relatively low acceptance of power distance, a measurement of comfort with having an elite controlling a hierarchy. Our tendency to use our boss’s first name, challenge authority easily and expect equal treatment reveal a low power distance value. Cultures with high power distance frequently take our egalitarianism as an unwillingness to show proper deference and respect to those who deserve it.
Consumerism
“Life is a game and whoever ends with the most toys wins,” and “Who says you can’t have it all?” The American dream is largely defined in terms of material possessions (the house, the cars and the labor-saving and entertainment devices). The level of consumer confidence is carefully monitored and we are constantly urged to buy and consume more.
Historically, we had what was considered a limitless resource base; the land, the forests and the water were so abundant that waste was not a concern and conservation was not necessary. According to a report by the World Resources Institute, the American standard of living requires 18 metric tons of natural resources per person per year (many times the world average). The reaction of others seems to be a mixture of disapproval and envy. On the one hand, they are concerned about the worldwide impact of what they consider our unsustainable level of consumption and are disturbed by the unfairness of the unequal distribution of the planet’s resources. On the other hand, people, especially in the less developed countries, aspire to our high level of material prosperity.
Content focus
“Where’s the beef?” and “Get to the point!” Edward T. Hall, a leading intercultural specialist, has characterized the U.S. style of communications as being very strongly oriented toward content (facts, numbers, dates and precise, explicit meanings). Our relatively high ratio of lawyers per capita, in part, reflects the high value we place on words and the need for clarity. Countless other “wordsmiths” are required by our content focus. Our focus may be compared to a spotlight intensely illuminating a narrow band of the communications spectrum.
In contrast, the communication style in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America is more like a floodlight that takes in the context in which the communications occur. The situation, the nonverbal dimension and the relationships of the people involved plus the time and place all carry a large part of the meaning. The actual words and data tend to be less important and need to be understood in terms of the contextual factors.
This context vs. content focus causes many misunderstandings. We may be perceived as naive or narrow-minded, whereas we might experience non-U.S. counterparts as being inscrutable, evasive or insincere, when, in fact, we are merely sending and receiving messages on different channels.
Anticipating Cross-cultural Clashes
To avoid reinforcing negative images, it is important to anticipate how people in other countries are likely to react to us because of conflicting cultural values between them and us. The list below, based on research in the intercultural communications field, highlights of few of the typical cross-cultural clashes we often encounter.
Host Country ValueUSA ValueJapan: Group orientationIndividualismGuatemala: Flexible time sensePunctualitySaudi Arabia: Relationship focusTask /goal orientationSwitzerland: FormalityInformalityIndia: Stratified class structureEgalitarianismChina: Long-term viewShort-term viewGermany: Structured orderlinessFlexible pragmatismFrance: Deductive thinkingInductive thinkingSweden: Individual cooperationIndividual competitionMalaysia: ModestySelf-promotion
While it is useful to make well-substantiated generalizations about the characteristic values of different cultures, it is dangerous to over-generalize and make the mistake of stereotyping. An effective way to avoid this pitfall is to stay acutely aware of the fact that generalizations are only valid as statistical statements about large numbers of people and that individuals may be quite different than the norm. Likewise, it is important to recognize that many countries, such as Belgium, Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, India, Russia, China, and Switzerland, have distinctive multiple cultures within their national borders.
Negative Images and Reactions
Understanding the causes of negative images other may have of us and negative reactions they may have to us will help us put the following comments in perspective. A Czech businessperson is quoted in a 1997 USA Today article as saying that he has seen co-workers driven to tears by the rugged management style of some U.S. companies. In her book Management in Two Cultures, Eva Kras quotes a local CFO of a U.S. company’s operation in Mexico. He said, “I have great admiration for the technical knowledge and administrative skills of the North Americans. However, when they attempt to impose their methods on us, incredible problems arise and we all feel frustrated and resentful, but don’t know what to do about it.”
A Forbes article entitled “Damn Yankees,” revealed the negative images of U.S. business people in eleven countries. A Colombian executive said, “What drives me crazy is the American need for information–right now! Americans are too straightforward, too direct.” The senior vice president of a Japanese company added, “We would do more business with Americans if there were more consistency, more trust.” A Swiss CEO felt that American executives tend to oversell themselves and that they are sometimes too quick to make decisions.
Larry Caldwell, an intercultural business trainer, reports that some of his German clients complain that U.S. managers fail to respect the "wall’ separating their work time and their personal time by calling them after working hours or on the weekends at home. He adds that many Europeans feel that Americans are far too informal and use first names too quickly. According to consultant Greg Nees, Germans often think their U.S. counterparts are making false promises when they are merely talking about possibilities with a confident “can do” attitude.
Saudi Arabians, Turks, and Egyptians have told me that they dislike Americans’ tendency to impatiently push to start on a task before investing time and effort to build personal relationships with them. Intercultural experts Philip R. Harris and Robert T. Moran in their book, Managing Cultural Differences, summarize feedback from Arab businessmen regarding their dealings with Westerners. The Arabs perceived many Westerners as:
Acting superior; knowing the answers to everything
Not wanting to share credit for accomplishments of joint efforts
Being unable or unwilling to respect and adjust to local customs and culture
Preferring solutions based on their home cultures rather than meeting local needs
Resisting working through local administrative, legal, channels, and procedures
Managing in an autocratic and intimidating way
Being too imposing and pushy
Conclusion It is neither accurate nor fair to exaggerate the poor image of U.S. people abroad. Many host nationals also mention, in positive ways, aspects of American culture such as optimism, industriousness, inventiveness, decisiveness, enthusiasm, and friendliness. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to be aware of common off-putting perceptions held by our foreign counterparts. More importantly, U.S. expatriates and international business travelers must be equipped with sufficient intercultural savvy, via training and coaching, to avoid reinforcing the “Ugly American” stereotype. Gary Wederspahn is an intercultural trainer, coach, consultant, speaker, and writer. He has designed and conducted cross-cultural training for hundreds of expatriates and global executives. This article is based partly on his book, Intercultural Services: A Worldwide Buyer’s Guide and Sourcebook available from Butterworth Heinemann publishers and from Amazon.com. He can be contacted via his web site at www.intercultural-help.com.
