Ethiopia Time Value

The Time Value in America and Ethiopia
Both America and Ethiopia agree that time is gifted from nature. However, the big difference is the way in which they use it. In the story,” American values and Assumptions,” Gary Althen says, “for Americans time is a resource that, like water or coal, can be used well poorly,” Americans do not like to waste time. They are punctual, well organized, and well managed. Americans have effective knowledge about time and a clear understanding of how to achieve their goals. For example, in the business world, Americans are setting plans in specific times, using resources they have on hand, and breaking the time down into different manageable time tables or schedules. They evaluate their strengths and weakness

Most Ethiopians believe that time is gifted from God. In Ethiopian culture, rushing at work, rushing on the streets, rushing to talk are not allowed. Because people beleives that these situations are the cause of a big mistake. Ethiopians say, we have enough time to do anything. So they prefer to work slowly, walk slowly on the street and talk slowly too. Therefore, these assumptions show that time is not valuable and unmanageable. In Ethiopia, religious people say that “ time is not in the hand of human beings, but in the hand of God,” It means do not worry about the future time because you do not know about tomorrow even what happens after a minute. In addition, the value of time in service sector is, for example, when you travel long distance by bus or taxi you may know the departure time ,but you cannot decide the arrival time. Because they believed that you do not know what happen in the future time. It is decided by God. then the driver drives slowly and very carefully. Furthermore, in Ethiopia, in social or business service, fifteen to thirty minutes late is usual. On the other hand, most people work eight hours or less a day. So more than sixteen hours are