Mina, are you coming to pick me up or what?
This is a good read:
"Understanding and Working with Mexicans"
Personal Sensitivity
In the workplace, the cultural differences in terms of personal sensitivity are the source of many, if not most, of the conflicts between Mexicans and Americans. Americans, for the most part, are individualistic, competitive, and comfortable working on their own. Americans think highly of personal initiative and are self-starters. When Americans start a new job, it does not take long for that person to want to separate him or herself from the rest of the workers and be valued for his or her own attributes and capabilities. They like to separate their work, their emotions, and their personal relationships and are usually blunt and direct when it comes to speaking with others (Kras).
Mexicans people are far more complex individuals. Mexicans find it very difficult to separate their work life and their personal life. As explained by Ned Crouch in Americans & Mexicans: Cracking the Cultural Code, Americans draw circles around the individual while Mexicans draw circles around the group. Mexicans feel comfortable as part of a group, placing their co-workers, close friends, and family members in overlapping circles. Americans, in contrast, are more likely to keep their work friends, their personal friends, and their family members as separate entities that tend not to interrelate with one another. Crouch writes that if one were to place countries on a scale of individual versus group-oriented work-styles, Americans and Mexicans would be on the opposite ends of the scale (Crouch 93-94).
