A Dutch Marketing & Communications manager is working for an international company headquartered in London, active in the security industry. The company is located in more than 85 countries and serves customers in 1,300 different industries.
Overview
A group of four students decided to interview a Marketing Communications manager of one of the biggest companies in the world specializing in security. Two students are from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, another two – from Auckland, New Zealand. The company mentioned previously operates in more than 85 countries and has thousands of employees. Thus, it has a huge multinational focus. It is headquartered in London, England. This is why the primary culture of the company is English. (Weaver, 2013)
The Marketing Communications Manager is located in the Netherlands and is responsible for a Dutch market. Later, the comparison between The Netherlands and England will be done regarding Hofstede dimensions. (Hofstede, 2002)
The manager states that the Dutch division of the company consists of around 50% of people with a non-western background. As she explains further, the problem lies in the fact that although cultural diversity is quite high across the company, it falls enormously within management positions. The manager agrees on the view that the presence of a multicultural workforce in a companyis very important nowadays and underpins the fact that the company needs to be more open to people with multicultural backgrounds. As the manager says herself – you select what you recognize. It means that people subconsciously hire employees which are closer to them culturally wise, thus eliminating some space for diversity. Nevertheless, management teams are aware of this issue and keep tackling it. As Weaver states, the society becomes more diverse, it is obviously essential to have employees and managers who reflect that diversity in the workplace. These differences are not an obstacle but instead an opportunity. (Weaver, 2013)
The main language in the company is Dutch. As the manager explains, there are almost no cases concerning language miscommunication in the Dutch division of the company. However, the British branch does use several strategies to ensure that there are no miscommunication issues. For instance, it organizes every year several competitions where employees with various cultural backgrounds present their cultures/languages. The issue is no longer how to get rid of differences, but rather how to manage diversity to increase creativity and productivity. (Weaver, 2013) To ensure this it is crucial to understand that every culture has its own language and it is a manifestation – verbal or otherwise – of the perceptions, attitudes, values and beliefs that a person holds. (Iceberg model, Weaver)
When talking about prohibitive or inhibitive, the company imposes some rules concerning sensitive topics. For example, topics about the COVID pandemic or political/social movements are both prohibitive and inhibitive. The Communication department strongly advises employees to keep themselves from making strong statements about it.
Outcome
Power distance index (PDI) / Hierarchy Acceptance
Power Distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a company expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. (Hofstede, 2002)
Britain has a score of 35 and The Netherlands – 38. This is why we can assume that both English and Dutch divisions have the same strategies and vision on how the company regards inequality among its employees. As the manager says, in the Dutch division everybody is equal and everyone’s voice is heard. In the company everyone can express their opinion and take the lead at any time. To ensure this, there are even online platforms where you can submit your ideas/suggestions.
Individualism vs. collectivism (IDV) / Identity
The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a company maintains among its members. It has to do with whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “We”. In an individualist company employee are responsible for his or her own behavior. Both England and The Netherlands have very high scores for this dimension (89 and 80 respectively). Thus, for this dimension, we can also assume that both Dutch and English divisions have the same vision on this subject. (Hofstede, 2002)
Nevertheless, there are still some signs of a collectivistic way of thinking, according to the manager. She provides an example of the team effort when facing some challenges. When there is a problem employees try to work in small teams in order to find the best solution. That proves that although The Netherlands is a highly individualist country, the Dutch are not free from group identity.
Uncertainty Avoidance
The dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a company deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen.
In the United Kingdom the uncertainty avoidance is low (35) compared to the Netherlands. A low score on the uncertainty avoidance index indicates that the employees are more comfortable with ambiguity, more entrepreneurial, more likely to take risks, and less dependent on structure rules. (Hofstede, 2002)
But the Netherlands scores 53 which means less comfortable with uncertainty and attempts through rules, regulations, laws, controls, and behavioural norms to reduce or manage uncertainty and ambiguity. (Hofstede, 2002)
The manager comes up with one example which shows that the company has a high uncertainty avoidance index. A company wants to change a logo, and, unfortunately, such a decision needs to go through a lot of regulations and processes which take place in another international office.
Masculinity vs. femininity (MAS) / Achievement
As we can see there is a huge difference between the UK and The Netherlands. At 66, Britain is a Masculine society – highly success-oriented and driven. Meanwhile, The Netherlands scored only 14 which means that it is a very feminine country. A Feminine company would be very relationship-oriented. Workplace flexibility and work-life balance are more important both in the organizational environment and culture. (Hofstede, 2002)
You can clearly notice that a Dutch division of the company has a great emphasis on relationships among employees. The manager underpins several times that the company tries not to push people when implementing new strategies/rules as it would ruin the harmony within the company. In turn, they try to improve cultural awareness in soft ways without any force.
Long-term Orientation
As Hofstede states, long-term orientation means how every society has to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future, and societies prioritise these two existential goals differently.
Netherlands scores 67 & United Kingdom scores 51. That means that it has a pragmatic nature, compared to England, whose preference cannot be determined due to the intermediate score of 51 (Hofstede, 2002).
As the manager states, the company has a long-term vision especially concerning strategies about cultural awareness as the management team is aware that it is something that should be improved.
Possible solutions
The best practice for the company is to treat everyone as equal, everybody’s voice needs to be heard. Moreover, it is crucial to give a fair evaluation and to address any problems while empowering people.
The company should teach its employees not only about cultural awareness but also about cultural competency. It means that employees not only understand one’s own culture but also have the ability to communicate with people from various cultural backgrounds and the ability to analyze and interpret what happens when there is a conflict between people of different cultures. (Weaver, 2013)
The company is already making some steps in this direction. For example, it provides a platform where people are able to offer their suggestions, ideas, and solutions. It also provides an online hub with a tool kit so an employee can access it and have the option to educate themselves as there is a lot of information about various countries where the company operates. Also, there is a calendar for cultural events which is free for all employees. What the company can also do is to introduce games and courses to improve cultural awareness, thus employees can be more interested in joining the online hub. The company should give more opportunities for employees to talk about their culture, so staff will have more knowledge.
The manager stated that she condemns the cultural bias and encourages people from different backgrounds to apply for different kinds of jobs. She also discusses within a company that the company is in need of more diversity.
Also, another solution is to try to bring people of the same culture together to address some issues. The manager gave the example of the man who convinced people from the same background to get the vaccine. The same can be applied to cultural education. For some employees, it might be easier to overcome mistrust and fear if a person who tries to educate them has the same cultural background.
Student Authors
Stijn Kogenhop (LinkedIn)
Student Faculty of Business and Economics, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Block 2, Semester 1, 2021
Mariia Balakhonova (LinkedIn)
Amsterdam School of International Business, 4th year International Business, The Netherlands
Block 2, Semester 1, 2021
Pathmatharsiny Varadarajahn (LinkedIn)
Student at AUT New Zealand
Huthami Behayaa
Student at Aut Institute of Technology, 2021, Auckland, New Zealand