Airline Industry – The Model To Practice Dialogues MTPD™ https://mtpdculture.org Enabling positive social change by facilitating intercultural communication with the Hofstede theories Wed, 19 Feb 2025 09:19:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 184201045 Uniting cultures though air travel, a path towards greater inclusivity https://mtpdculture.org/cases/uniting-cultures-though-air-travel-a-path-towards-greater-inclusivity/ https://mtpdculture.org/cases/uniting-cultures-though-air-travel-a-path-towards-greater-inclusivity/#respond Sun, 26 Jan 2025 11:00:26 +0000 https://mtpdculture.org/?p=3204

Overview

This essay examines the role of Hofstede’s Value Dimensions in understanding cultural differences and how these differences influence communication and workplace dynamics, particularly within a multicultural setting like an international airline company. By comparing Dutch and Japanese cultural norms using Hofstede’s framework, and drawing insights from an interview with a colleague, the analysis highlights the importance of empathy, adaptability, and awareness in navigating intercultural challenges.

The interview provided a reflective perspective on how cultural differences manifest in the workplace and how individuals adapt to these differences. It emphasized key themes such as the value of staying calm and empathetic in misunderstandings, the need for composure in handling diverse perspectives, and the opportunities for personal and professional growth through mistakes.

Building on these insights, the essay integrates Hofstede’s cultural dimensions—Power Distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity vs. Femininity, Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation, and Indulgence vs. Restraint—to analyze Dutch and Japanese cultures. The findings underscore the contrasting preferences for informality and structure, independence and harmony, and how these preferences shape expectations in professional settings like an international airline.

By combining theoretical frameworks and real-world experiences, this essay demonstrates how cultural understanding can foster a more inclusive and effective intercultural environment, ultimately enhancing organizational success and collaboration.

Hofstede Dimensions

The Hofstede cultural dimensions provide essential insights into Dutch and Japanese cultures, especially in settings like international flights. For flight attendants, understanding these differences is crucial to navigate social norms and delivering effective in air services. 

Dutch culture is characterized by individualism and low power distance, meaning passengers often prefer independent and non-hierarchical interactions. Social norms in the Netherlands discourage overly formal behavior, which may feel prohibitive to their value of open communication. Flight attendants should adopt a friendly, transparent approach, ensuring their interactions are direct and flexible while respecting passengers’ independence. 

Japanese culture, on the other hand, scores high in collectivism and uncertainty avoidance, with strong adherence to hierarchy and structure. These passengers are more likely to follow social norms that emphasize harmony and politeness. Behavior perceived as overly informal or spontaneous may seem inhibitive to their sense of order. Flight attendants should prioritize respectful and formal communication.

When serving passengers from both cultures, flight attendants must balance these contrasting expectations. By navigating between Dutch preferences for informal equality and Japanese norms favoring formality and restraint, they can create an inclusive, culturally sensitive environment that minimizes prohibitive misunderstandings and enhances passenger comfort

 

(Country Comparison – Culture in the WorkplaceTM, n.d.-b) figure 1: Hofstede dimensions

Dutch and American culture

Hofstede’s dimensions showcase the differences within the Dutch and American culture, specifically focusing on international flights. It is of highest importance that air services understand the differences of these cultures to offer the appropriate and acceptable services to every individual.

The Dutch culture, as previously mentioned is characterized by high individualism and a low distance in power. In terms of airlines, passengers favor non-hierarchical and independent exchanges with personnel. According to the social norms in the Netherlands, it could be prohibitive to illustrate extreme formalities within interactions. As airline, a friendly, transparent and direct approach would be most appropriate in the conversations with customers, this allows the exchange of information to be as unswerving as possible while still being respectful to passengers.

However, the American culture illustrates high achievement orientation and a short-term time orientation when observing the Hofstede dimensions. Looking at the airline aspect, passengers may often desire efficient and time-saving journeys as it is part of their personal and professional behavior. This aligns with Hofstede’s achievement orientation as passengers see the efficiency, low cost and shorter journeys as the overall achievement.

In addition, airline passengers are easily influenced to prioritize their own comfort and convenience. In short-term orientation, American passengers may value a quick solution, when for example waiting to enter the plane. Thus, American passengers are more likely to follow their social norms, that place an emphasizes on the achievement and outcome within a short-term timeframe.

So, by raising awareness for the different cultural aspects, airline employees set a balance in the expectations. Using the Dutch direct and informal approach, and the American norms and values. Airlines are able to foster a favoring regulation and control, a more culturally aware environment can be created that minimizes inhibitive and prohibitive restraint.

 

(Country Comparison – Culture in the WorkplaceTM, n.d.-b) Figure 2: hofstede dimensions

Outcome

The interview provided detailed insights into the experiences of flight attendants in a culturally diverse work environment. A typical day begins with a pre-flight briefing, where the crew discusses flight details, passenger needs, and any special considerations. During flights, responsibilities include ensuring passenger safety, providing meal service, and maintaining overall comfort. The variety of routes, from short European flights to long-haul journeys to Asia, introduces dynamic challenges influenced by cultural differences.

For example, passengers on flights to Japan often value quiet and order, requiring a subtle and respectful communication style. Flights to the US involve more conversational passengers, prompting a more engaging approach. On flights to India, many passengers travel in large family groups, necessitating communication that addresses multiple needs simultaneously. These examples emphasize the importance of adaptability in the role of a flight attendant.

Cultural barriers occasionally arise, both with passengers and colleagues. In one instance, a colleague from a culture that avoids confrontation hesitated to point out a mistake during a flight, resulting in delays. The situation was addressed after the flight through a private conversation, where open communication was encouraged as essential for improving teamwork and service quality.

Fairness in the workplace was also discussed. Clear policies and an anonymous feedback system are used to address potential issues. For example, a colleague reported that scheduling practices unintentionally favored certain crew members based on seniority. Management reviewed the process and adjusted it to balance seniority with performance and availability, ensuring a more equitable distribution of schedules.

Cultural miscommunication is another recurring challenge. One example involved an elderly passenger travelling with an adult child, where the child answered all questions on the parent’s behalf. This dynamic initially made it difficult to understand the elderly passenger’s specific needs. The flight attendant addressed the situation by using simple gestures, maintaining eye contact, and asking straightforward yes-or-no questions while also involving the child as a translator when necessary. This approach successfully ensured the elderly passenger’s needs were met while respecting the family dynamic.

Cultural differences also influence team dynamics. For instance, colleagues from Dutch backgrounds are more likely to challenge decisions made by supervisors, while colleagues from Asian backgrounds may hesitate to share ideas even when they have valuable input. Team-building exercises and training scenarios, such as situations where junior crew members take the lead, have been implemented to build confidence and promote mutual respect within the team.

Toward the end of the interview, a dilemma was shared: balancing empathy with professionalism when managing culturally sensitive situations. This challenge involves navigating passengers’ diverse expectations while maintaining consistent service standards, particularly in high-pressure scenarios.

Possible solutions

The dilemma of balancing empathy with professionalism has been addressed through organizational initiatives and personal development efforts. Cultural awareness and communication training sessions have provided practical strategies for handling complex and sensitive interactions. Role-playing exercises during training, for example, allowed flight attendants to practice remaining composed and effectively addressing misunderstandings.

Organizational efforts to create an inclusive and supportive environment have also contributed to resolving this challenge. Team-building activities and open feedback mechanisms encourage crew members to share ideas and learn from one another. For instance, training sessions where junior crew members are required to take the lead have helped build confidence and improve communication across cultural lines.

By combining structured training with a commitment to adaptability and empathy, flight attendants can manage diverse expectations effectively. This approach ensures consistent service delivery while fostering a positive and respectful atmosphere for passengers and colleagues

Authors

     

    References

       

      ]]>       https://mtpdculture.org/cases/uniting-cultures-though-air-travel-a-path-towards-greater-inclusivity/feed/ 0 3204       Managing communication in a multicultural setting https://mtpdculture.org/cases/managing-communication-in-a-multicultural-setting/ https://mtpdculture.org/cases/managing-communication-in-a-multicultural-setting/#respond Wed, 22 Jun 2022 15:21:23 +0000 https://mtpdculture.org/?p=2419 Overview

      For the Anonymous case model, a sales manager at an international company that operates worldwide, was interviewed. The ethnicity and the culture he grew up in is Caribbean. In the Caribbean there are many people with different cultures, due to there being a lot of people with different origins.

      This made it easier for the interviewee to work with people of different cultures, although, there are some things that he needed to learn in order to understand the people he worked with and worked for.

      The interview questions were based how he address the inhibitive and prohibitive topics and situations amongst people with different nationalities in his team or company. Some of these Questions being; How does interviewee know or act to have a successful relationship with his customers and colleagues? What are the things he identifies within his work environment that has cultural limitations? How does the company manage fairness in multi-cultural settings? How do you navigate if there are miscommunications because of cultural or religion reasons within your team or customers? And what do you do to solve the problem because of the miscommunications? All of these questions are answered in this interview so we can know how an international company who works with different nationalities, cultures and religions in a successful way. This overview is to have a summarized idea of the interview.

      The company the interviewee works for is very inclusive. The headquarter is based in the USA, but he is responsible for the sales in Europe and APAC. This means that the interviewee works with a lot of people with different backgrounds. When it comes to cultural limitations it can be understood on a case by case basis. For example, has the interviewee noted that people with a Latin-American background for are very polite but Dutch people for instance are much more direct. To have a successful relationship with people who have different backgrounds you have to understand their cultural perspective so you get to know what is inhibitive or prohibitive for them.

      The company manages itself fairness in multi-cultural settings by offering trainings every year that are about how to conduct business with regard to morals, rules and law within the countries the employees work in. Furthermore, other things the employees of the company learn, is how to communicate the essence and values of the employees and where they can address their problems if there are any. The company has made a large department for HR so that everyone who feels harassed or has any kind of problem regarding their morals or other intrinsic or extrinsic issues can get help.

      The way the interviewee navigates if there are miscommunications because of cultural or religion reasons within his team or customers, is simply by making sure each party respects the other. That way they create a band of trust and respect with each other to think twice before they misunderstand each other. But there is always a chance that people misunderstand each other. In that case they try to be as open as possible and to understand the issue from both perspectives. This helps a lot when it comes to solve the problem. Another way is to not discuss the problem but to discuss how they can understand each other in a better way.

      The last question was if the interviewee could give advice about to other businesses or business students. ‘The more you learn about different cultures the more you will understand he said. ‘’Expand your own personality so it makes it easier for you to understand people. This way you can find a common ground to understand and respect each other’s cultures, morals and religions regarding doing business”.

      Hofstede Dimensions

      Geert Hofstede developed a six dimensions’ model to distinguish cultural values across countries.

      The first dimension is power distance (PDI)

      This dimension focuses on power distribution in a society. People from high power distance country accept a hierarchical order and would respect their boss or leader as a God. People from low power distance country can see their boss or national leader as their buddy. They expect an equal distribution of power 

      The second dimension is individualism vs collectivism (IDV)

      Individualists focus on their personal goals. It is all about me, my business, my rights,

      my image and my achievement. Whereas collectivists emphasize the importance of the group. It is about us. individual achievement is attributed to the effort of the group.

      The third dimension is masculinity vs femininity (MAS).
      It deals with gender issues in a society. It is based on the nature of male vs female or being tough vs being tender. In a masculine society, people seek competition and material rewards for success. To the opposite, people in a feminine society, prefer cooperation to competition. They emphasize caring, modesty and the quality of life.

      The fourth dimension is uncertainty avoidance (UAI)

      It examines to what extent people in a society feel comfortable with uncertainty.

      People in a society with high score of UAI don’t like taking risks. They follow ridged rules to tackle uncertainty. People in a society with low score of UAI are more willing to try new things and take risks. They are flexible with rules.

      The fifth dimension is long term orientation vs short term orientation (LTO)

      People in a society which values long term orientation see great importance of tradition and history. They like to build up things and prepare for the future. People in a society which has short term orientation focus on the current enjoyment. It is more about the current concerns instead of the future issues.

      The sixth dimension is indulgence vs restraint (IVR) People in a society with a high score of indulgence follow their natural drives of enjoying life and having fun. By contrast, people in a society with a low score of indulgence suppress or restrain their natural drives. They have strict social norms to regulate excessive desires for fun.

      Figure 1 Culture scores based on Hofstede Research and provided by TCPS Institute.

      From Figure1, we can see both USA and Netherlands have low power distance (40 vs 38). Both USA and Netherlands get a score of 68 for IVR which indicates people in both countries follow their natural drive of enjoyment.

      However, comparing with Netherlands, USA has a slightly higher score of individualism (91 vs 80). USA is a masculine society (68) which means people in USA are more competitive. To the opposite, Netherlands is a feminine society with a low score of masculinity (14) which means Dutch people are more concerned with the quality of life.

       A significant difference between the two countries is that USA is short term oriented (26) whereas Netherlands is long term oriented (67).  Dutch people value traditions and build up things for the future. Whereas Americans are more concerned with the current benefit.

      USA scores 46 for uncertainty avoidance which means American people are less restrained with rules. They are more willingly to take risks. Whereas Netherlands scores 68 for uncertainty avoidance which means people in Netherlands pay more attention to rules. They are less likely to take risks.

      Outcome

      During the interview certain issues were also discussed, for example there can be miscommunication among team members. This can be due to the fact that there are different reference points based in culture and personality.

      The interviewee discussed the challenges of having to navigate through such moments, but emphasized that keeping an open mind and being willing to compromise on both ends that’s the way to go. Furthermore, even though the company originates and the headquarters are located in the US, the office located in the Netherlands has a predominantly Dutch workforce, and although the similarities when comparing both countries through the Hofstede dimensions. It is still clear to see that there are some differences. And these differences can manifest themselves in small conflicts amongst employees or miscommunication or different expectations regarding a certain topic.

      Possible solutions

      The company that the interviewee works for has already taken the right steps in the right direction with regard to holding yearly trainings as well as special education trainings during specific months of the year (i.e. Black History Month, pride month etc.) to keep their workforce up to date with current information, because the world is ever changing. As well as allowing a platform or voice to those who may feel disparaged. Moreover, with regard to the interviewee himself in his smaller team, he has also stated that in order for there to be good teamwork there needs to be open lines of communication trust and respect. In order to achieve this, they make sure to regularly have meanings to ensure that everybody is on the same page. It is impossible to avoid situations of miscommunication altogether however with the right resources circumstances and a trusting environment this won’t be an issue.

      Authors

      Anda-yé Llewellyn (LinkedIn)
      Student: International Business, Amsterdam University Of applied science
      Block 4, Semester 2, 2022

      Enes Kanyak (LinkedIn)
      Student: International Business, Amsterdam University Of applied science
      Block 4, Semester 2, 2022

      Jinrui Constantin (LinkedIn)
      Student: Click or tap here to enter text. Auckland university
      Block 4, Semester 2, 2022

      ]]>       https://mtpdculture.org/cases/managing-communication-in-a-multicultural-setting/feed/ 0 2419       Flying an international route from The Netherlands to the United Arab Emirates https://mtpdculture.org/cases/flying-an-international-route-from-the-netherlands-to-the-united-arab-emirates/ https://mtpdculture.org/cases/flying-an-international-route-from-the-netherlands-to-the-united-arab-emirates/#respond Wed, 30 Jun 2021 20:33:23 +0000 https://mtpdculture.org/?p=1488 Overview

      The airline we interviewed s an international company which flies to 133 destinations in 70 countries over the world. Flying to all these culturally diverse destinations means that the airline has a responsibility to adapt their way of working to be able to treat their passengers and employees with respect and provide high-quality services. This will lead to gaining the trust and loyalty of the passengers and employees (C. Versteeg, personal communication, May 9, 2021).

      The Airline has to take a lot of matters into consideration to be fully prepared for a flight to another culture. The United Arab Emirates has a culture that has many differences compared to the Dutch culture. These cultures can easily be compared with each other with the use of the framework of Mr. Hofstede, and with describing the six dimensions (Hofstede Insights, 2021).

      First of all, the United Arab Emirates is a Muslim country, which brings its needed adjustments at flights with it, things as uniforms, alcohol and more needs to be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the power distance is fairly high compared to the Dutch culture meaning that it is more accepted and expected to distribute power unequally in the United Arab Emirates. Denying a request from your manager would be very prohibitive in the United Arab Emirates, while in the Netherlands this is nothing out of the ordinary. The United Arab Emirates is more group orientated and scores rather low on Individualism which insinuates that the culture is more interdependent rather than dependent, it has an collectivistic culture. Additionally, it is more orientated on achievement rather than quality of life which implies the culture to be masculine. Furthermore, its culture is short-term orientated and orientated on restraint rather than indulgence meaning that in this culture it is believed that the past provides a moral compass and it does not deal with a lot of change which relates to the feeling that duty is the normal state of being instead of freedom. Lastly, its need for certainty is higher meaning that the United Arab Emirates rather avoids uncertainty as it is preferred to have fixed rituals and habits (Hofstede Insights, 2021).

      Therefore, the Airline will do anything to make the correct adjustments on the flights towards the United Arab Emirates, to be respectful towards each culture.

      Hofstede Dimensions

      Outcome

      The outcome of these cultural differences between the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates is that there are adjustments being made to the flights between the countries. An example of such an adjustment is that the cabin crew makes sure that the glasses in the business class get emptied and that there is no more alcohol in it before the flight. And as said our interviewee said: “We do not change our behaviour towards culturally diverse passengers, we make adjustments and take their culture into consideration in order for them to feel respected and at ease” (C. Versteeg, personal communication, May 9, 2021). The rest of the outcomes will be defined according to some of the dimensions.

      Power distance

      As the United Arab Emirates is a society in which there is a fairly large power distance, the Royal Dutch Airline tries to make sure that there is a purser and senior purser on board along with the cabin crew. As the United Arab Emirates its culture is hierarchically orientated they want to make sure that there is a certain hierarchy onboard as well. This will make the passengers feel at ease, as if problems arise they can speak to the highest in the hierarchy if needed, which is the custom in their culture which will not make them feel inhibitive (C. Versteeg, personal communication, May 9, 2021).

      Uncertainty avoidance

      As the United Arab Emirates has a culture in which it is preferred to have fixed rituals and habits, the Airline tries to make sure to include local flight attendants on the flights. This will create a feeling of trust and being recognized and known which in turn will leave a feeling of certainty. Furthermore, the employees of the Airline have an information briefing before every flight. In this briefing they discuss the expected cultural differences and they get to see a short film about the culture they are flying to. This creates a feeling of certainty for the employee which they radiate towards the customers, and makes sure that they can treat the passengers accordingly and with respect (C. Versteeg, personal communication, May 9, 2021).  

      Indulgence

      The United Arab Emirates its culture is more orientated on restraint than indulgence, as mentioned before. As the normal state of being is duty, not freedom, it can be expected that most of the passengers are not there to celebrate that they are a free human being, which most of the western cultures do feel when they are on an airplane (Hofstede Insights, 2021).

      Possible solutions / Best practices

      Most of these issues get addressed by having a meeting before every flight and talking about what could be perceived as prohibitive/inhibitive in different cultures. So what is important is to look out for and they also talk to colleagues from the culture of the destination they are going to. To make sure there are no issues. So if the flight is to the United Arab Emirates, in their meeting they will talk to colleagues who are from this culture to figure out what to look out for so there are no more issues. And they will also use these colleagues on the flight itself. Having these meetings helps make the employees of the Airline aware of certain things to look out for which they would potentially never even consider. That is because they’re not from that culture. The purser has the responsibility to write an evaluation of the flight and the cabin crew after it has landed. This is that the cabin crew can be provided with feedback and so that the Airline is up-to-date about its staff operations. So any time an issue does occur they can talk about this in the next meeting so they keep learning from their mistakes. And an issue that occurred once will probably not happen again. This way of preventing issues is very dynamic because you can keep learning and improving and new issues can be addressed and prevented. This way of prevention makes it very unlikely the same issues will happen more than once. As long as the issue is recognised correctly.  Furthermore, as the power distance and individualism are the two dimensions with the biggest differences this is where the Airline should have its focus on. The Dutch score 38 out of 100 on power distance while the United Arab Emirates scores 80 out of 100. For individualism it is the other way around, the United Arab Emirates scores 38 out of 100 and the Dutch have an overall score of 80 out of 100. With a difference of 42 points in each of these dimensions it is clear that the difference is significant between the cultures (Hofstede Insights, 2021). These dimensions could result in the biggest issues if the cabin crew exists out of Dutch employees and the flight is going to the United Arab Emirates. All in all, the Airline has proven itself to work accordingly and respectfully with different cultures and there is not much to improve.

      Student Authors

      Joël Dekker (LinkedIn)
      Amsterdam School of International Business, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam the Netherlands
      Block 4 , Semester 2, 2021

      Thomas Visser (LinkedIn)
      Amsterdam School of International Business, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam the Netherlands
      Block 4, Semester 2, 2021

      Gideon Plet (LinkedIn)
      Amsterdam School of International Business, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam the Netherlands
      Block 4 , Semester 2, 2021

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