Americans

Americans value independence as one of the basic needs of a human being. Therefore, the decisions Americans make are generally based on what is best for the individual as opposed to what is good for society or the community. Americans have very loose community ties, mostly only with immediate family. (Jandt 2004)

Americans place a huge emphasis on the individual person, individual achievement, and competition. Americans frequently define a person by what he or she has accomplished. (Jandt 2004). While individual accomplishment is a very big part of American's lives, Americans tend to emphasize teamwork in business settings, which is more of a collective style of life.

Greeks

In the past Greek culture was a very collectivistic culture. This is still seen today with their strong sense of community and family. The family is the basic social unit of Greek life, and loyalty to the family overpowers all other obligations (Broome 1996). Also, their villages play a major part in their lives. No matter where they are living, Greeks will always associate themselves with the village of their birth (Broome 1996). Greeks also can see themselves as part of a larger world community.

Today, however, Greek culture has become very individualistic. Greeks are incredibly independent to the point that working for someone becomes difficult, and therefore most Greeks choose to own their own businesses instead of working for larger corporations (Broome 1996). This could be because Greeks have a very hard time with hierarchy. This is because Greeks enjoy stating their own beliefs and opinions, and believe everyone has the right to be heard (Broome 1996).

Greeks and Americans Together

Even though Greeks and Americans both come from individualistic cultures, the differences in their individualism can present some tensions.

Americans often see Greeks as overly argumentative and are taken aback by their assertiveness. Since American's have a hard time seeing themselves as part of a global community, they often don't interact with people they do not know, let alone share opinions with them.

The inability to see themselves as part of a larger global community is one of the reasons why Greeks have a problem with Americans. Greeks enjoy discussing and debating global issues, and often American's do not see the need to concern themselves with life outside of the United States (and frequently with life inside the US).

Due to their competitive nature, Americans utilize hierarchy and treat people based on where they fall in that hierarchy, and Greeks do not. This tension occurs most frequently in business, where Americans who do not fall high enough on the hierarchy will not voice an opinion, and Greeks who do not fall high enough would voice their opinion. Also, Americans focus a lot on teamwork in their business practices, where Greeks do not (Broomer 1996).