Part of the difference may be related to cultural concepts of control over the environment, which may in turn be related to religious tradition. Mexico, for instance, is usually viewed as a fatalistic culture where the past is in control of the present and future. Americans, by contrast, have a greater sense of control over present and future events. Like context, time is variable across all levels of culture - social, professional, and functional. Some of the most important time differences have to do with personal and business relationships.
Polychronic people tend to be more group-oriented in keeping with their high context orientation.
They see relation ships as deep and long term, spanning past, present, and future. They seek out business relationships that offer this orientation - even other factors including competitiveness. Monochronic cultures often value relationships according to more practical, future oriented criteria - even discard relationships that don't seem useful to future business goals. Likewise, polychronic employees tend to value long-term employment relationships, as in Mexico. Promotions are based on somewhat subjective criteria linked to one's network of relationships.