At the risk of telling you something you already know, I would emphasize that approaches to problem-solving are greatly influenced by culture. 

 

There are many things that we take for granted about problem-solving that people in other cultures do not believe at all.  Any training in US-style problem solving techniques for members of other cultures is likely to be ineffective unless it addresses these hidden assumption issues head-on. 

 

Here are a few brief ideas about cultural assumptions and problem solving:

 

- Americans value pragmatism; most solutions that work are good ones (other cultures may be more ideological). Pragmatism often implies a disregard for any ultimate truth. Whatever works is right.

 

- Americans are egalitarian; anyone may have the answer (some cultures are more hierarchical, for example, only experts will be listened to).

 

- Americans have a "can-do" attitude; we believe that we can and should tackle all problems (other cultures may be more fatalistic).

 

- Related to the above, Americans believe that they can change the future  (others may believe that the future is preordained).

 

- Americans believe in cause and effect (some others believe in magic, or at least fate).

 

- Americans use dichotomous logic; if X is true, then not-X is false (others  use dyadic thinking - the co-existence and interconnectedness of opposites; both X and not-X may contain truth).

 

 

- Americans believe that an idea can be critiqued independently of the person who proposed it (others believe that criticism cannot be depersonalized, the ad hominem fallacy).

 

- Americans are (relative to others) somewhat tolerant of ambiguity; there may be many correct answers (others may be more dogmatic; there can only be one right answer and an Expert or Authority will tell us what it is).

 

If I am not telling you things you already know, a good book on this subject is American Cultural Patterns by Stewart and Bennett (1991).  The chapter about American beliefs and styles of cognition will prove particularly relevant to problem solving.