Organisational vs National Culture: Managing Internal Culture Clashes

With many international businesses stretching across multiple countries, we often end up with a head office in one company but offices and workers in numerous others. With multicultural teams such as these, we often encounter internal culture clashes.

The company was founded in one country with a specific set of cultural values and preferred ways of doing business. However, as part of their growth strategy, they have moved into a new country with a completely different picture of professionalism. Now, you might have a senior management team with one idea about how the business should be run, with some very different ideals in place for the managers who are actually on the ground with workers.

Working for multinational companies

The ease of the global marketplace means that many companies can comfortably go multinational when they reach a certain size. Nowadays, many companies operate on an international level even if they are only based in one country. Still, some do choose to operate local offices for business activities in that specific sector.

In the EU/EFTA alone, it is estimated that over 47 million people work for over 146,427 multinational enterprise groups. All of these employees belong to different ethnicities and citizenships. With the modern workplace, there is a chance that such employees are being managed by someone in a completely different country from them. Clear boundaries and expectations need to be put in place by leadership to prevent a breakdown in team relationships and productivity.

Let’s take the example of the logistics company DHL. They were founded in the USA and are currently headquartered in Germany, but they have offices and employees worldwide. Is it fair for a Canadian or Malaysian employee to subscribe to the business models and working practices expected in either the States or Germany? Of course not. A distinction between these various countries should be made.

Working alongside other cultural norms and perspectives can be hard enough when it is just business partners or one-off projects. When it is colleagues or employees in other countries, the situation can require a lot more nuance.

Organisational culture

To better understand how the concepts of organisational and national culture can interact and clash, it may be helpful to break down both. We’ll start with organisational culture. This is the set of values at the heart of a business.

Establishing core values needs to be a priority task for management, and it must be revisited as the business grows and evolves. A company might start out as a small family-run business that just serves its local area. However, as many local businesses do when they find success, the company grows and expands to serve first its whole country and then international customers. Even if the same entrepreneur is at the head of the company when it first expands into other countries, they might now have a different vision for the organisation than they did when they first set up shop.

For this reason, the core values should be revisited and adjusted as needed. This can be done many times over as needed, but it should always be done with an understanding that it reflects the current working practices of employees.

What are corporate core values?

Corporate core values are characteristics that organisations wish their employees to embody while working. Common core values include but are not limited to:

• Teamwork
• Excellence
• Innovation
• Productivity

These are all positive traits that managers wish to see in their employees. Core values provide aspiration to employees to help encourage them to positively act and think in certain ways. If you are part of a team that values anyone jumping forward with a solution, you should actively encourage it and communicate that with workers through avenues like the core values.

Why do we need strong organisational cultures?

A business brings together a group of people whose only primary similarities are that they work in the same industry. They might have similar backgrounds or the same set of skills and experiences if they are on the same team within the organisation, but there is little to connect them initially.

A strong organisational culture gives them a sense of belonging and the opportunity to forge strong interpersonal connections with colleagues. When there is nothing to tie us together beyond our tasks and responsibilities, why would we want to get to know someone on a deeper level?

Organisational culture might be something that managers do not think about in-depth, but it can actually provide a great setting for engaging employees. Research from Gallup shows that in best-practice organisations, 3 out of 4 managers and 7 out of 10 non-managers are actively engaged with the business. If teams aren’t hitting targets or retention rates are high, the problem might not lie with strategies or productivity, but with the actual culture at play within the team.

National culture

National culture is very similar to organisational culture in that they both create a sense of belonging. However, national culture is developed over a greater length of time and has much further reach than organisational culture. After all, we wouldn’t discuss factors like food or marriage customs in an office, but both can affect national cultural practices.

The Universalist vs Nationalist Approach

Definitions of national culture often build up thanks to universalist or nationalist approaches. These may work in tandem, or one might prove to be more popular than others in the popular zeitgeist over a significant period.

The universalist approach is comparative, looking at the country being defined and others that share similar and different characteristics. For example, we might compare the UK with France or the Netherlands because they are neighbouring countries, but we could equally compare it with Japan since both are island nations. It recognises that culture is dynamic and a brilliant tool for understanding one another, but it also carries a risk of oversimplifying or stereotyping cultures and undervaluing what makes them truly unique.

The nationalist approach seeks to emphasise the uniqueness of each nation and views culture as defining characteristics of national culture. For example, Scottish nationalists might use motifs like bagpipe music and traditional Highland dress to distinguish Scotland from the other nations of the UK. While the nationalist approach does promote a strong sense of national identity and cohesion, it can lead to ethnocentric policies if overemphasised, and some nationalists can be resistant to positive cultural exchanges or globalisation.

Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages and should be used together in order to define exactly what a national culture might look like.

How does culture manifest as characteristics in people?

When we begin to discuss how culture might manifest as traits or characteristics in people within that culture, we come very close to stereotyping. When we stereotype, we take a bias or assumption as the given truth for a group of people. While it is true that there will be some people who do indeed fit the stereotype, there will also be thousands who break it. In discussing the national characteristics of certain people, we need to ensure that we avoid stereotypes. Doing so might require us to look more at a country’s history to understand why people behave the way they do.

For example, the stereotype of the Brit in many places is someone who is a rather uptight, overly apologetic person who likes nothing more than a cup of builder’s tea, a plate of beans on toast, and a good queue.

While we may know someone who fits these traits to a tee, we also know plenty of Brits who aren’t like this in the slightest. We can see this replicated across all nations; whatever societal values they hold and whatever major characteristics of national culture might be present will all dictate working practices and organisational culture in some way.

How does national culture shape organisational culture?

So how are national culture and organisational values linked? Throughout our lives and education, we are taught to behave in a certain way. When we reach the workplace, our experiences thus far will shape the way we interact with our colleagues and tasks. As a result, there is a clear impact of national culture on organisational structure and behaviours.

Let’s take the example of Sweden—often cited as one of the most egalitarian nations in the world. Being raised in an egalitarian culture such as this will shape the way you think and approach various obstacles. For one, an egalitarian approach favours a flat hierarchy rather than a vertical one. This gives even junior members of a team a chance to voice their opinions and contribute rather than placing all decisions in the hands of a single senior executive.

This can cause a clash in dealings with a country like South Korea that does have this highly hierarchal system. South Koreans place a lot of value on both age and seniority. They often make use of non-verbal communication to pass judgment on subtle things that someone from another culture might not easily spot. Dealing with colleagues or business partners in a country with very different national cultures to your own can be confusing and difficult to navigate. After all, even some hand gestures can mean very different things depending on where you are!

What does this mean for business?

As a result, we have companies who expect to do things in a certain way. Creating organisational culture change is no easy thing, especially if the change that employees want to see is very different from their perceived norms. Just take a look at how Americans boggle at how much paid leave Europeans get throughout the year!

Though the best organisational culture would be one that treats employees well regardless of where they are located, this just isn’t feasible because we all have very different ideas of what a “good” workplace environment looks like. Practices differ so much across the world that one office might be perfectly run to its local employees only for a worker in another country to be shocked at the normal, everyday way of working.

How to be mindful of our differences

In the modern world, we often have to work alongside colleagues of different nationalities. Fostering inclusive and diverse workplaces can often require a lot of work and dedicated, active change to bring about success.

1. Understand our shared and differing cultural norms

Fostering understanding often starts, simply, with open and honest communication. There is no shame in not being very well informed about someone else’s culture, only in then refusing to learn more about it and address our ignorance and misunderstandings.

Leaders need to know and understand what typical company culture looks like to their employees. Knowing how everyone approaches factors like hierarchy and work/life balances can then help intercultural management establish a middle ground where everyone is supported and heard.

2. Encourage open communication

Set clear expectations for communication and give everyone the chance to share their preferences and needs. If an employee does not feel comfortable sharing these publicly, give them an avenue like anonymous surveys or private one-to-one meetings where they can express their thoughts without fear of backlash.

Everyone finds it easier to follow the rules when they are given clear insights into what is actually expected of them. Established etiquette for meetings, deadlines, and work hours is useful, but also make sure there are clear guidelines around important culturally sensitive practices like holidays not celebrated in your home country’s calendar or breaks for prayer.

3. Adapt working styles and preferences

Wherever possible, try to accommodate different working styles and preferences. In this modern era, many employees would prefer to spend at least part of their working week at home. Some people thrive under structured guidance from leadership, while others really value autonomy and the ability to shape their own working day.

There is no right way to manage working styles; it should always be tailored to the individual to help support them as much as possible. Though this can be a lot of legwork for managers, it can ultimately result in a much, much happier team.

4. Avoid assumptions

Stereotypes and assumptions can destroy relationships, both personal and professional. No matter where someone comes from, no matter what their background or experiences might be, they should be treated as an individual and not as the collective representative of their nation. While cultural norms act as a great starting point, we should always defer to personal experiences and preferences.

5. Regularly review and revise

Change takes time, and to create cultural change within an organisation can take even longer. A leader attempting to manage multicultural teams will have to regularly evaluate how well their approaches work. By regularly checking in with the team individually, they will be able to solicit feedback to ensure that they are on the right track.

Regardless, this also allows them to adjust internal policies and practices. Change may be slow and difficult to see at times, but it will come with a resilient approach and a desire to create a fair and harmonious workplace.

Organisational vs National Culture — Changes for All

The balancing act of organisational and national culture can be difficult for everyone to manage. Colleagues have to get used to working alongside someone who may approach tasks very differently from them, and managers need to balance their employees’ outlooks and expectations. However, creating a harmonious workplace is possible, even in companies that span the globe.

Much of this work will come down to the strength of management to lead, and the willingness of the team to embrace diversity and change. Leaders need to ensure that they have all the tools and resources they need to create a working environment in which everyone thrives.

This is where ChangingPoint can help. Our Leadership & Executive training is focused on the strengths and weaknesses of each leader to empower them and give them the training and foundation they need.

Cohesion is possible in even the most disconnected and mismatched blend of cultures. Speak to us today to find out more about how our services can aid you in creating organisational culture change that celebrates the diversity of our national cultures.