The World of Time Is Not So Black and White

When thinking about monochronic and polychronic time I don’t think the two concepts are as black and white as Hall makes them seem. Many people would say that the US is ruled by monochronic time, but I think it is impossible to pin down the US as being one or the other because both of these concepts of time are used often. Monochronic time is certainly dominant in the business world because we put a value on time and thus have to have every moment of time scheduled so that we don’t waste any. On the other hand, many Americans are polychronic (according to Hall’s definition) because they often do many things at once. A businessman may be in a meeting while simultaneously writing a report and checking his stocks online. Outside of the business world many Americans operate in polychronic time, having idea of things they want to get done, but not necessarily having a specific time or order in which they must do them.

Another interesting point that Hall makes is the monochronic time is considered masculine and polychronic time is considered feminine. I think in many ways this is an unfair oversimplification. Monochronic time may be associated with males because they dominate the business world, but in reality everyone uses both monochronic and polychronic time. For example, I am a female, but because I am a student I feel that a lot of my time is run by monochronic time. I often become obsessive about budgeting my time and I frequently make order lists of things I have to do and when I will do them so that I know I will have time for everything. On the other hand, I also incorporate polychronic time into my life because I usually will put my family or friends before a task. If I had some kind of serious family problem I would certainly attend to that before worrying about missing a class or not doing an assignment. All in all I think Hall’s piece does a good job in showing that there are different ways of looking at time, but that he over generalizes in saying that certain cultures are either on or the other, and not both.