Macro cultures are nations, ethnic groups, and occupations that have been around for a long time and have, therefore, acquired some very stable elements, or “skeletons,” in the form of basic languages, concepts, and values. At the same time they have evolved and will continue to evolve, primarily from contact with other cultures. To compare macro cultures we need general dimensions that cut across them and that have remained relatively stable in spite of historical experience. The problems of making multicultural groups work well is that those stable elements can clash in unanticipated ways and can cause both desired and undesired changes. To provide some historical context, let’s begin with a couple of interesting stories from anthropology.

The murder of Captain Cook in Hawaii. The interaction of macro cultures can best be understood in historical examples such as those cited by Sahlins (1985) in his analysis of the interaction of the British with the Hawaiians and the Maori of New Zealand. The Hawaiian “mystery” was why Captain Cook was brutally murdered when he returned to Hawaii after a very successful first visit in 1778. When Captain Cook first landed in the Hawaiian islands he was viewed as the god that their mythology had predicted and was, therefore, highly revered. The Hawaiian women believed that sleeping with the sailors was culturally appropriate because the sailors were godly as well. Cook at first forbade this because it did not fit the British concept of appropriate naval behavior, but the women were so seductive that he relented, leading to a great deal of sexual behavior with the natives during his stay.

From the sailors’ point of view this was great, but they felt that the women deserved something in return even though it seemed that sleeping with the godly sailors was enough for them. The sailors initially offered trinkets and beads, but as the women and their men found various metal objects on board they began to ask for those because they were very scarce in Hawaii. When they and their men brought back metal objects they gained status in their home community, so they asked for more and more, which eventually led the sailors to even pull up some of the metal nails on the ships. As the Hawaiian men and women gained status through this process, they also became more of a threat to the chiefs, who found many of their taboos violated by the women who were eating on board the ship together with men, something that was strictly forbidden in the local culture.

When Cook had finally been fully supplied and left he discovered after a week or so that the ships were not seaworthy because a number of metal nautical instruments had been stolen. He returned with the intention of confronting the chiefs and recovering his equipment. What he did not know was that the Hawaiian legend also said that a god who returns is a false god. As Sahlins summarizes it: “To the Hawaiian priests, Cook was always the ancient god Lono, even when he unexpectedly came back, whereas to the king, the god who appears out of season becomes a dangerous rival” (Sahlins, 1985, p. xvii). Cook’s return so threatened and infuriated the Hawaiian chiefs that they fell upon him and murdered him as he was on his way to discuss with them the recovery of his equipment. This became a ritual sacrifice with thousands of stab wounds inflicted on him by the chiefs and the people. In the meantime the Hawaiian culture had been changed because of the increasing status of women who had been instrumental in the acquisition of metal in the Hawaiian society!

Cutting down flagpoles in New Zealand. The “mystery” in the New Zealand colonization was why the Maori kept chopping down British flagpoles even though they seemed to accept that they had been militarily and politically subjugated. On one occasion the Maori raided a British community and chopped down the flagpole at headquarters. This was interpreted as a sign of a bigger uprising, but nothing else like that occurred, suggesting that it was just a diversion to cut down the flag. This see-saw conflict lasted for many years and through many governors until one of them finally figured out what was going on.

The British interpreted the cutting down of flagpoles as an insult to their flag, an insult they would not tolerate, so they just put up another flagpole, which, in due course was cut down. What they had not understood was that in Maori culture, poles turned toward the sky had enormous symbolic importance in terms of legends of how the people were founded and the role of the poles in holding up the sky. The Maori did not care about the flag, and they accepted the British colonial rule, but they could not stand having the poles on British headquarters land. Once a new governor figured this out, it was easy to find an accommodation that preserved the British pride and their flag, while honoring the Maori need to be in charge of poles!

When organizational cultures from different nations meet we often see similar unexpected results that provide puzzles until we understand cultural variation around the basic categories that are provided in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 then proposes some ways in which a leader can set up the conditions for a multicultural group to explore the dimensions that may be critical to its own functioning.