Just witnessed 2 colleagues trying to help each other ended up both not wanting to help the other any more. It happended rather suddenly, and of coruse, I saw it from a cross-cultural aspect.
The point of this conflict occurred when the one, let's name him "Tom", felt that the other "Jane" being rude to him. Tom's cultural background is power distant: a society where the power hierarchy is accepted by many including the less powerful members. In such a hierarchical society, it is importan to show respect at every encounter. Sometimes the emphasis is placed on respect more than the content of the conversation.
Jane's cultural background is less power distant, i.e., more flat society. Yes, respect is still important but showing it once is enough. Then people start talking rather casuallly to each other. In a way, this "talking casually" can mean a good form of respect in this type of society, because the person is part of them, in their group.
Tom was helping out Jane's problem. I guess Tom's assumption may be that in every email exchange, the person who is being helped needs to show some level of respect and/or appreciation. That is an etiquette. Jane's assumption may be that as she has strongly demonstrated her appreciation to Tom, that is enough. Now let's focus on the contents of the problem.
This difference of the assumptions may be one of the causes of their conflicts. I will see Tom later, so hopefully I will have an appropriate moment to chat with him.
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