Dutch Culture Compared to United Arab Emirates and Colombia
Dutch Culture Compared to United Arab Emirates and Colombia
Culture can be defined as the way in which a group of people solve problems and reconcile dilemmas. Culture has a high influence in the process of doing business and managing. The main objective of this essay is exposing the main social differences between our host country, the Netherlands, and the two potential export destinations, the United Arab Emirates and Colombia. The main method used to discoverer the cultural differences is based on Parson’s five relational orientations.
In terms of relationships and rules Dutch culture is highly universalistic, this means that the behavior from most Dutch individuals tends to be rule-based. In Dutch society, every person is treated the same; there are no exceptions to the rule. In situations such as asking a special favor from a friend that would violate Dutch legislation, it is likely that the friend will deny the request. The situation is the opposite in both Colombia and the United Arab Emirates, both societies being fairly particularistic. Judgments in these countries tend to focus on the nature of the present circumstances, rather than the general rule. Colombians would not think twice before helping a good friend in the previously mentioned situation, neither would Emiratis. Exporting flowers to a particularistic country would imply careful considerations in terms of negotiating contracts, timing a business trip, and job incentives and rewards. Negotiating contracts in the Netherlands is a common business standard, yet it might be seen as an offensive display of mistrust to your business partners when setting up a venture in the UAE. Particularistic cultures value personal relationships more highly than legal documents, and will commit to all verbal agreements in order to maintain a worthy business partner. In terms of Human Resource Management the Dutch manager in a Particularistic culture will have to understand the importance of relationships and
Culture can be defined as the way in which a group of people solve problems and reconcile dilemmas. Culture has a high influence in the process of doing business and managing. The main objective of this essay is exposing the main social differences between our host country, the Netherlands, and the two potential export destinations, the United Arab Emirates and Colombia. The main method used to discoverer the cultural differences is based on Parson’s five relational orientations.
In terms of relationships and rules Dutch culture is highly universalistic, this means that the behavior from most Dutch individuals tends to be rule-based. In Dutch society, every person is treated the same; there are no exceptions to the rule. In situations such as asking a special favor from a friend that would violate Dutch legislation, it is likely that the friend will deny the request. The situation is the opposite in both Colombia and the United Arab Emirates, both societies being fairly particularistic. Judgments in these countries tend to focus on the nature of the present circumstances, rather than the general rule. Colombians would not think twice before helping a good friend in the previously mentioned situation, neither would Emiratis. Exporting flowers to a particularistic country would imply careful considerations in terms of negotiating contracts, timing a business trip, and job incentives and rewards. Negotiating contracts in the Netherlands is a common business standard, yet it might be seen as an offensive display of mistrust to your business partners when setting up a venture in the UAE. Particularistic cultures value personal relationships more highly than legal documents, and will commit to all verbal agreements in order to maintain a worthy business partner. In terms of Human Resource Management the Dutch manager in a Particularistic culture will have to understand the importance of relationships and