INTERCULTURAL OVERTIME HOW DOES DENMARK FARE IN THE WORLD?

Transcription

1 INTERCULTURAL OVERTIME HOW DOES DENMARK FARE IN THE WORLD? Human House A/S

2 Copyright Human House A/S. All rights reserved. Authored by Maj Emmertsen and Kristian Lybæk. Layout by Anita Bruun and Cecilie Borberg. Printed in Denmark. You may use references, quotes and illustrations from the report only with attribution to Human House A/S including the individual authors identified.

3 CONTENTS Introduction Main findings Top five tips About this report The respondents Low degree of training Organisational cultures What is currently being done Challenges Advantages Sources

4 DID YOU KNOW? Danish culture has the third-lowest score in the world on Hofstede s Power Distance Index 1. This means that Danes don t value hierarchies and they ask employees to take on a lot of responsibility. Think of this the next time your well-what-would-you-do - management approach fails in Russia.

5 INTRODUCTION Why focus on cultural gaps? We have all heard it for the past 20 years; the world is becoming increasingly interconnected and being able to work across cultural gaps is important for all of us now more than ever. Denmark has gone out into the world, but the world also came to Denmark, and now more Danish companies than ever before have branches in other parts of the world, employees with several differing cultural backgrounds and customers across the world. But how are we handling this new reality? It has become increasingly clear to all that working across cultures is not just about speaking a different language or finding the right people there are many other factors that influence how well we fare when we venture into the world of intercultural cooperation.

6 THE MAIN FINDINGS Less than half of the respondents characterise their organisation as typical or mainly Danish Cooperative, hard-working and professional are the three main words used by the respondents to characterise their organisations People working in organisations with a typical Danish culture also typify their organisations as task-oriented Language policies and practical facilitation of foreign employees are the two main current initiatives utilised to accommodate cultural differences The main challenges with working interculturally are language, difficulty in delegating responsibility, and recruitment The main advantages of working interculturally are economic benefits, wider range of competencies and perspectives as well as being branded as an international company People working in companies with a typical Danish culture are more likely to see challenges in working interculturally

7 TOP FIVE TIPS 1. Use socialisation as a tool for enhancing cooperation across cultures in the organisation. 2. Let the cultural diversity in the organisation be reflected by equal cultural diversity in the management. 3. Never be afraid to address cultural issues even when they might seem political at first. The more you openly talk about differences and expectations, the easier it will be for you and your colleagues to work with each other. 4. Don t underestimate the difficulty of working across cultures informal or formal training works! 5. Cultural diplomats might help you and the organisation to understand different cultures by acting as translators of culture, customs and practices, more than of languages. These might also serve as role models on how to work across cultures for other employees in the organisation Danes or others.

8 1 ABOUT THIS REPORT What did we set out to investigate? 50 years ago, Geert Hofstede started his extensive research into intercultural cooperation, and this research continues to be carried out today. He is only one of many theoreticians who have spent decades investigating this subject, but have we learned anything from all this theory and our years of experience? This is the subject that we set out to investigate in this survey. We asked 50+ companies to participate, and we started out with a handful of pre-meetings to enquire about what issues surrounding intercultural cooperation these companies are experiencing and are interested in. Based on this, we created a questionnaire that was sent out widely. Unfortunately, we did not receive the amount of responses that we had hoped for, which explains why the results in this report is only based upon 43 answered questionnaires. The results can therefore not be interpreted as universally valid. Nevertheless, we hope that the results in the following pages will lend some insight and inspiration to those who read it as well as generate inspiration for future exploration.

9 2 THE RESPONDENTS Who participated in the survey? Out of the 43 respondents, the majority are Danish. Only 19% characterises themselves as other European (western and eastern) and 2,4% as African. The majority, 51%, are in mid- or lower level management, with an equal share of employees and top level management amongst the remaining respondents. Most of our respondents have been working across cultures for 3+ years and most of them do so on a daily basis, so the pool of experience on this subject is quite large. The respondents come from a wide variety of industries, ranging from manufacturing, over professional services to social work and communication and information. The companies we spoke to before creating the questionnaire were mainly within services and communication.

10 DID YOU KNOW? Danish culture has the fifth-lowest score in the world in Hofstede s Masculinity Index 1. This means that Danes have a very relationship oriented and relaxed way of approaching work and life. Think of this the next time you don t find any smileys in the from your Slovakian partner.

11 4 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURES How do we describe our culture? The respondents characterise the culture in their organisation in many different ways. 44% say it s mainly or typically Danish, while 36% say it s a mix of Danish and a foreign culture. Only 19% express that the culture in their company is international. This might come as no surprise, as the majority of the respondents work in Denmark, however it is interesting that the Danish culture is so prevalent amongst the companies working in or with many different cultures. Whether this is intentional or coincidence, the data is not able to support. However, in our initiating interviews, we discovered that some Danish companies intentionally cultivate a Danish culture in their Danish as well as in their international branches in order to strengthen the ties and sense of belonging to the company.

12 What we also found was that in some companies in Denmark holding a large foreign workforce, the company culture may evolve into a cultural island where the prevalent culture of the workforce becomes the company culture. In such companies, the Danish management will have to adapt and learn how to navigate in the foreign culture instead of the workforce having to adapt to the Danish culture. According to the management of some of such companies, that we talked to in the initiating interviews, such a cultural assimilation actually made working together easier and less interrupted by discussions and misunderstandings seeing that only a few people - namely the management - will have to learn how to navigate in the different culture, and as it thus becomes clear which cultural norms are applicable in the workplace. Cooperative, professional, and hard-working are the words the respondents most commonly use to describe their organisation. However, we see a few differences depending on how they would characterise the overall culture in the organisation. Danes do not lead, they coach.

13 In the figure below are listed the top three words that each of these groups use to describe their organisation. Interestingly, the only group that does not list cooperative as highly as the others, are the respondents that characterise the culture in the organisation as typically Danish. Instead, they describe their organisation as task-focused. Interestingly, this is not what the theory would have predicted, as Denmark in the literature is described as a culture with high focus on the relations, with high employee autonomy, and much cooperation famously Danes do not lead, they coach.

14 DID YOU KNOW? Danish culture has the third lowest score in the world on Hofstede s Uncertainty Avoidance Index 1. This means that Danes don t need routines and like flexibility. Think of this the next time you try to change the workflow with your French colleagues just for the fun of it.

15 3 COMPETENCIES How skilled are we when working with other cultures? Our respondents are also quite confident in their ability to work with people of other cultures seeing that only 15% answer that they do not feel that they have the necessary skill set to work with people of different cultures, despite the fact that only 29% have received training in working across cultures. However, 63% believe that there should be more formal and/or informal focus on the subject in their organisation. This could lend to a careful interpretation that the respondents are confident in their own ability but see issues in colleagues and/or managers ways of handling intercultural cooperation, although such an interpretation cannot be directly deduced from the results. Of those feeling they don t have the competencies to work interculturally, none have had any form of training in working across cultures.

16 Generally, very few of the respondents have had training, but those who have feel more competent in working across cultures, than those who have not. Those who feel that they do not have the necessary competences also see a greater need to put more formal or informal focus on the subject in their organisation, they are more likely to answer somewhat negatively when asked how their organisation fares in dealing with intercultural cooperation and to see working across cultures in general as a challenge. There are no differences to be seen in how the Danish respondents and respondents from other parts of the world answer the questions. However, respondents from other European countries are slightly more likely to see working across cultures in general as a challenge than Danes or people from other parts of the world. Those who have received training in working across cultures feel more competent.

17 DID YOU KNOW? Edgar Schein explained culture as an iceberg - only about 10% are visible artefacts. 90% is below the surface. And this is where collisions normally happen 2.

18 5 COMPANY GUIDELINES How do the companies handle cultural gaps? When asked about initiatives applied to enhance the intercultural cooperation in their company, more than 50% answered that they have policies about the spoken language in the company, and that they facilitate foreign employees in for example housing, language, network and so forth. These are thus the two most common initiatives applied to handling international cooperation. Another initiative commonly used is other communicative aids, such as visuals, interpreters and the like. When it comes to having a cultural diversity at management level that reflects the cultural diversity of the organisation as a whole, the responses are half and half, meaning that only half of the respondents see cultural diversity in their management intentionally or not.

19 During our initial meetings, we found that this was an initiative that had seen some success in many companies. Interestingly, cultural diversity in the management is more commonly used in companies that are characterised as international or a mix of Danish and a foreign culture than in companies with a more Danish culture. This could imply that having cultural diversity in the management also gives the employees an impression of the organisation as being more international. Companies that are characterised as typical Danish generally have fewer initiatives to handle intercultural cooperation except for communicative initiatives than companies with different cultures. Video conferences or meetings as well as business travels are also used quite widely, as well as the encouragement of employees to socialise across cultures in the workplace. Such approaches are also highlighted as useful in the literature as working relations tend to be better, even across large distances, when a personal contact is first established. It has also been emphasised in comments and open questions throughout the questionnaire as well as in the initiating interviews, that this is an approach which seems to have a great, positive impact on working relations.

20 Interestingly, when looking at a subject that has received widespread attention and is continuously being discussed in the Danish media and labour market policies, it seems that very few companies take special measures to accommodate or respect cultural particularities such as religious holidays, prayer rooms, clothing policies and so forth. Only 28% of the respondents answer that this is done often or very often, with the remainder of the respondents answering between sometimes and rarely, with 25% responding that they never take such special measures. It does not seem to be a major issue to the respondents though, as only 17% answer that political, religious or ethnic issues are a moderate or serious challenge in working interculturally. Very few companies use external agents to minimise direct intercultural cooperation or embassies on the ground to find local partners. That could lend to an interpretation that there is a sense of being able to handle issues regarding international and intercultural cooperation, which could also be supported by the fact that none of the respondents answer positively when asked if the company does any formal training in working across cultures. Very few companies use external agents to minimise direct intercultural cooperation.

21 SOCIAL OR IMPOLITE? It s an unwritten but well known rule among Danish managers that you ought to be the first person to leave company parties. This gives the employees a rare opportunity to discuss company matters in a more social and unrestrained setting, and if the budget for the party has included plentiful resources for alcohol, there s a good chance that no one will remember what was discussed the following day. Also, it s a good way for the manager to minimise the risk of ending up in an embarrassing situation that will become an urban legend in the company for decades. Although Danes generally are familiar with alcohol, the local customs of for example some Eastern European countries can be a challenge for even the most hardened Danes. One manager reported the following story of when he came to Latvia to meet some of his partners: The Latvians like vodka - and they don t like when you turn down their offer of hospitality. But whereas a single shot in Denmark is usually 2-3 centilitres, a typical Latvian drink is 5-6 centilitres and is refilled immediately after you empty the glass. There was no way that I could keep up the drinking and still be professional and ready for the next day. So I started tossing the shot over my shoulder without anyone noticing it. It worked perfectly, but unfortunately my Danish colleagues were not that foresighted. They had a very tough time the next day! But we were all accepted and made good friends with our Latvian partners. Quote from a respondent in our survey.

22 6 CHALLENGES Where do we struggle the most? Not surprisingly, a main challenge in working across cultures is language. 52% of the respondents think this as a serious or moderate challenge, with the highest percentage (62,5%) within the group of respondents that typify their organisational culture as typical Danish. Another main challenge seems to be delegation in giving orders and describing tasks. This issue could of course be language related but according to our experiences, as well as the literature, it is not uncommon for people of different cultures to have a differing understanding of delegation, responsibility, and how to give and receive orders. Two of the main challenges seem to be language and delegation of tasks.

23 This can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings as employees do not always understand when they have been given a responsibility or they simply take on too much responsibility, and when managers think that they have delegated the responsibility for a task it thus ends up not being cared for because of these differences in understanding. Remarkably, there is a significant difference in how respondents from typical Danish companies and respondents from companies with a more internationally influenced culture see challenges in working interculturally. It seems that in the majority of the questions asked about challenges, the respondents from typical Danish companies are more likely to answer that they see the challenges as moderate or serious as opposed to the other respondents, who characterise many of the challenges as a minor challenge or not at all a challenge. One could speculate why this seems to be the case it could be a result of experienced challenges or of lack of experience and lack of knowledge of working across cultures. There is however nothing in the data to support either interpretations. This is especially evident in the answers given when asked about diverging understandings of quality as a challenge, about recruitment and finding suitable personnel and local partners as well as in understanding local bureaucracy. Although recruiting and finding suitable personnel seems to also be a challenge for the remainder of the respondents, as 57 % characterises this as a challenge.

24 7 ADVANTAGES OF WORKING INTERCULTURALLY What can cultural differences add to the table? In this data, there seems to be four main advantages coming from working interculturally: Economic benefits, the possibility of getting new/other competencies and more perspectives and diversity as well as the advantage of being branded as an international company. The economic benefits seem to be more important to respondents working in a company with a mix of Danish and a foreign culture. Knowing about the respondent group, this might be because the ones characterising their company as having a mixed culture are respondents from some of the responding companies that have manufacturing branches in other parts of the world, as labour and production is cheaper there than in Denmark. These respondents also favour the flexibility and scalability provided by working across cultures, as well as the competencies and diversity that allow for division of task.

25 Interestingly, branding oneself as an international company seems important only to typical or mainly Danish companies. For respondents from companies typified as having an international culture, employee resilience, broader competencies and more diversity are the main advantages, whereas respondents from companies with a typical Danish culture find that the main allure is in more competencies, loyalty and branding as an international company. National Culture cannot be changed, but you should understand and respect it. GEERT HOFSTEDE

26 SOURCES Edgar H. Schein med Peter Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership. Wiley & Sons Inc., 5 th edition, G. Hofstede s 6-D Model: Denmark G. Hofstede Country Comparison: G. Hofstede, G.J. Hofstede og M. Minkov, Cultures and Oranizations: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival. McGraw-Hill, Third Edition, G. Hofstede, G.J. Hofstede og M. Minkov, Cultures and Oranizations: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival. McGraw-Hill, Third Edition, Richard Lewis, When Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Third Edition, 2006.

27 WANT TO KNOW MORE? Are you interested in finding out more about how we work with intercultural teams and organisations? We would love to hear from you! Visit our website or follow us on Human House A/S Aarhus Valby