Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions - Euro Disneyland Company in France - Case Study Example

Case Study Euro Disneyland Name: Institution: Case Study Euro Disneyland This case study explores various issues regarding Euro Disneyland Company in France. Walt Disney, an American-based theme park, began its operations in California and later expanded to open branches in Florida and Japan. Inspired by success in these branches, the company went ahead to expand its business empire to European market, where it opened Euro Disneyland in France. However, although the company expected good performance in this market, its initial year of operation faced many challenges, most of which arose because of cultural differences between France and United States. This case study explores cultural differences between these two countries based on Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ research on organizational culture, some of the mistakes made by the company in management of operations of Euro Disneyland and some lessons the company should have learned regarding diversity. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions On his study on multi-cultures, Geert Hofstede (Dutch scientist) identified four cultural dimensions characterizing different nations around the globe, with people in every category exhibiting identical behaviors. The dimensions include “power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and individualism” (Deschepper, 2008, p.2). Power distance refers to the degree to which the less influential people in firms and institutions agree to existence of uneven distribution of authority. Compared to United States, France scores high power distance index. Therefore, cultural beliefs in France include unfairness characterizes society, every individual has a place and the most influential in the society deserve privileges. In addition, France believes in centralized decision making, with a large part of supervisory personnel and people at the lower levels often have low job qualifications. On the other hand, United States believes in decentralized decision making through flatter organizational structures. Therefore, organizations have a smaller proportion of supervisory workers and lower level workforce has high job qualifications. Uncertainty avoidance regards the degree to which individuals feel endangered by uncertain encounters and in effect, develop beliefs in an attempt to avoid them. French people practice a higher uncertainty avoidance culture than Americans. As such, French people do not tolerate ideas or practices different from their habits. On the other hand, Americans show tolerance to practices different from that they are used to (Macnab, Worthley, & Jenner, 2010, p.35). It is for this reason that the opening day of Euro Disney in France received lower attendance than expected. During its expansion in France, the company developed theme parks that duplicated structural features of parks in Florida and California. It did not pay much attention to incorporating features that reflected French culture, which French people believed to be very confusing. As a result, most of the invited French visitors did not attend the opening ceremony of Euro Disneyland in France. Another Hofstede’s cultural dimension regards masculinity, which distinguishes nations in terms of their overall competiveness. He classified nations that emphasize much on material things and money as highly masculine and those that focus on care for other people as feminine or lowly masculine nations. Based on this dimension, French culture represents a feminine culture while Americans value masculinity. Rather than taking into account French feminine values, Euro Disney introduced its business in France based on American masculine values. For instance, American cultural orientation advocates for different emotional labor requirements for women and men. As such, female role occupants in American culture require frequent display of attentive positive emotion with little tolerance for expression of negative emotion. Basing its business culture on this value, Euro Disney required employees in France to smile and be polite to park visitors. This did not go well with French people and as a result, the parks received few guests during initial days of operation (Hofstede, 2009). Hofstede explained multi-culturalism in terms of individualistic and collectivist cultures. Individualistic societies take favoritism towards relatives and friends as illegal and unfair and as such, they base selection of senior managers on experience and performance. In contrast, collectivist cultures promote nepotism and as a result, organizations and institutions base selection of managers on age and seniority. Based on this, collectivism dominates French culture while individualism dominates American culture (Hofstede, 2009, p.309). It is for this reason that the attempts by Euro Disney to recruit an American as the senior manager for France operations met great opposition from the people. French people believed that the company should recruit one of their citizens to take the position. Trompenaars’ Research on Organizational Culture Just as Hofstede developed a model based on his four cultural dimensions, Trompenaars advanced four kinds of organizational cultures. He argued that disparities between national cultures help ascertain the kind of organizational culture chosen in distinct nations. The four types of organizational cultures include family, Eiffel Tower, guided missile, and incubator (Trompenaars & Woolliams, 2003). Family culture borrows characteristic features from family structures and as such, it has well-defined hierarchy and person-oriented relationships (Trompenaars & Woolliams, 2003, p.366). Organizational leaders posses excessive power and as such, are commonly referred as caring parents. Managers take care for workers, ensure that they are treated fairly, and have job security. Due to these characteristics, family culture may support ineffective corporate leaders who exhaust loyalties and energy from the organization. France is a classical example of a country where organizations exhibit family culture. Trompenaars chose a metaphor of Eiffel Tower to symbolize a bureaucratic organizational culture. Organizations in this category exhibit hierarchical and task-oriented features. They have clear division of labor, with various functions and responsibilities coordinated by management. They have clearly defined organizational hierarchy that does not feature personal orientations. Respect towards work status and position forms the basis of respect for authority. Organizations with Eiffel Tower culture are reluctant to adopt changes because of unwieldy procedural changes. Guided missile culture symbolizes egalitarian organizations characterized by organizational equality and task-orientation. Work groups or teams carry out Job responsibilities, with every member enjoying equal treatment. These teams are typically multidisciplinary, taking from the various functions of the organization only those individuals essential for the accomplishing the set task (Trompenaars & Woolliams, 2003, p.365). Guide missile organizations suit not only on innovation and problem solving, but also on customizing a complicated product for a demanding market. Organizational culture in United States falls under this category. Lastly, organizations with incubator culture strongly emphasize on individual orientation and fairness. The culture strives to make corporations act as incubators where managers can achieve self-fulfillment and self-expression. There exist personal and egalitarian interactions among employees. In addition, less levels of formal hierarchy supports incubator organizations. As such, the organizations have capability to create innovative products because workers have opportunities to participate in decision-making and product development processes. Mistakes in Operations of Euro Disneyland Three major mistakes that Walt Disney Company made in coordinating Euro Disneyland operations include poor management, cultural mismatch, and poor operational planning. The company recruited American managers to head Euro Disneyland operations (Krishna, n.d., p.222). However, these managers lacked experience and skills on French culture and as a result, came up with wrong decisions that led to the company’s underperformance. In addition, the company made mistake when it failed to match the operations with French cultural values. For instance, the design of park themes and customer service imitated American cultural values. Moreover, the company also failed to serve alcohol to customers during lunchtime, which remains a habit in French culture. These issues did not go well with French people and as a result, boycotted visiting the theme parks causing substantial loss to the company (Krishna, n.d, p.224). Another mistake the company made regards poor planning of operations. For instance, basing its staffing requirements on American culture, the company assigned more employees to work on Fridays and fewer workers on Mondays. This resulted to excessive workload for workers working on Mondays and less workload for those working on Fridays. In addition, the company faced oppositions when it imposed American dress code on French workers. Lessons the Company Learnt about Diversity In order to deal with diversity, the company should have learned about effective planning, good employee management, and a good knowledge of European culture. Since it was the first time to venture in Europe, the company should have waited to evaluate success of the first stage of the Euro Disneyland before planning for the second stage. In this way, it would have rectified problems in the first stage and in effect, ensure smooth implementation of operations in the second stage (Griffith, Hu, & Ryans, 2000). Another lesson regards the need to understand well French cultural orientation. Before expanding its operations to the market, the company needs knowledge of French cultural values such as eating habits and life style. This implies that the company needs to act internationally but think nationally. Good management of workers represents another lesson that the firm should have learned. Even though American managers may seem experienced to ensure success of the company in United States, they cannot alone guarantee success in Europe. Therefore, the company should have known that giving some managerial positions to locals would give better performance (Trefry, 2006, p.570). Conclusion Compared to United States, France scores high power distance index. On his research on organizational culture, Trompenaars argued that disparities between national cultures help ascertain the kind of organizational culture (family, guided missile, Eiffel Tower, or incubator) chosen in distinct nations. About this case study, organizational culture in United States skew towards guided missile culture and that in France fall under family culture. Three major mistakes that Walt Disney Company made in coordinating Euro Disneyland operations include poor management, cultural mismatch, and poor operational planning. To deal with diversity, the company should have learned about effective planning, good employee management, and a good knowledge of European culture. 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