Vanuatu

Workplace: Did I mention collectivism?

So I’m sitting through a three hour meeting where we have to review and approve funding proposals asking for a maximum of 2M Vatu ($20,000). And while sitting through this somewhat-long meeting, I realize that my counterpart is working on a funding proposal which is great news since sometimes I have (hidden/unexpressed) complaints about her not taking initiative and having a tendency to avoid work. But this is the interesting thing: this funding proposal has nothing to do with the women or the Women’s Development Office. In fact, it is something that an acquaintance of a work colleague needed help with. They asked Janet, and she (had to?) say yes.

But what’s interesting is that she isn’t doing a slapdash job at it; she’s giving it her best shot. What’s even more interesting is that things/services/tasks like these are what she can never count towards her “this is what I accomplished” reports. So, did she say yes because people know social relations have greater importance than work output numbers? Did she say yes because she doesn’t know better, or didn’t realize the extent of work involved? Or did she say yes because, by virtue of being a collective culture, individual accomplishments don’t hold the importance or appeal that we experience in North America?

posted by faa-T @ 10:45 PM