Individualism vs. Collectivism

At the BAT expo Roos and Aylin meet a cotton factory which was worthwhile it to investigate. Aylin scheduled several meetings – since this was her part of the research – but due the illness and a very tight schedule of both parties, several appointments had to be rescheduled.

This time they scheduled a meeting the 2^nd of January right after Roos and Aylin’s adventure cruise which ended at a place 4 hours travelling away. The day before both parties discussed and confirmed the appointment and everything seemed to be all right.

When Aylin almost reached the factory’s location she received a message containing the question: “How many of your are coming?”

The factory’s owner knew the project description and therefore knew Aylin was working in team, but without knowing how many members the team counted.

Aylin replied: “Just me and the driver. Roos is unable to come cause has a very busy schedule by her own.” In short the man answered: “This is not acceptable!! Roos is a very good friend of you. Since you are working in a team you both had to come. You had to inform me about this!!” This message was followed up by another message in which he explained he planned another meeting. Next time when Roos or Aylin wanted to visit his factory he only would provide a tour when both of them would show up.

From a Western view of point this sounds insane. The book called Cultures and Organizations, by Geert Hofstede can be used to explain this situation. Hofstede describes that the majority of people in our world live in societies in which the interest of the group prevails over the interest of the individual. These societies are called collectivist societies. Children that grow up in a collectivistic society learn to think of themselves part of a “we” group, a relationship that is given by nature but is not voluntary. The remaining people in the world live in societies in which the interest of the individual is prevailed over the interest of the group. These societies are called individualistic societies. Children of individualistic countries learn to think of themselves as “I”. When taking a look at the Individualistic Index(IDV), The Netherlands can be described as 4^th most individualistic country in the world. While The Netherlands has a score of 80, Bangladesh has a score of 20 and can be seen as one of the most collectivistic countries. While individualistic countries tend to be rich, collectivistic countries tend to be poor.

So what happened that day? The company’s boss sees management as management of groups, while Roos and Aylin think project management is management of individuals. Approaching the company alone seemed to be unthinkable in the boss’s points of view. While Roos and Aylin think dividing tasks saves time, is more efficient and stimulates project development… Mm, how to explain this..