Being versus doing
So do you prefer to work to live or to live to work? The being cultural dimension is working to live. Living to work is preferred by the doing cultural person.
Being and doing is the extent to which you derive meaning from activity and being productive. A “high doing” person wants to be productive on a day off or holiday. A doing culture emphasizes being busy and meeting goals. A being culture stresses the quality of life and work-life balance.
In a doing culture getting a job done takes precedence over personal relationships. You may miss a family member’s birthday celebration because you have work to do. You earn status through the work you do. Status is not based on your age, seniority, or birthright. Deadlines and schedules are emphasized in a doing culture. Work-related emails are often answered 24 hours a day and seven days a week if the person emphasizes doing over being.
In a being culture, status is automatic and difficult to lose. Status is often based on your age, birth, or seniority. Relationships take precedence over tasks or getting a job done. Much time is spent getting to know someone before agreeing to do business with them. Greeting and farewell rituals are considered important. A work-related email is probably not going to be answered by a being orientated person if it is received during vacation.
Geographic clusters of doing cultural dimension are found in Angelo countries and Germanic Europe. Being geographic clusters are located in Arab countries, Latin America, Nordic Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
An example, the United States as an Anglo country, emphasizes a doing cultural value dimension. I read in the newspaper that in 2017, workers in the United States forfeited 212 million vacation days amounting to 62.2 billion dollars in lost benefits. This strongly demonstrates a doing preference over a being cultural value.
Your assignment for this step is to contribute three words to create a “Wordle” or a “Word Cloud” describing a being cultural dimension and provide three words to build a doing culture “Wordle” or “Word Cloud”. Please provide these three words for being and three words for doing in the comment section below. Please discuss the words provided by your fellow learners. Ask questions to generate discussion.
After providing your six words and discussing, please mark this step complete.