Intercultural Communications Failure: The Greek Term Paper

The fact that Greece is resisting greater oversight of its financial dealings is not laziness, or profligacy, but its very different view of long-term values than Germany. Germany places a strong value on long-term planning, persistence, and thrift. It cannot understand why a nation would hide its debt, in hopes that no one would notice and everything would 'be alright' in the long-term, so long as short-term pleasures were satisfied. Nations with a short-term cultural orientation like Greece uphold respect and tradition for individuals (such as older people), reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts, and may be more concerned with immediate shows of status than thrift. Hofstede might state that Germany needs to put aside some of its moralistic language regarding money when dealing with the Greek debt crisis, but if Greece wishes to be part of the European Union it must adopt some of the other member nation's longer-term thinking regarding monetary policy.

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