Corporate Culture, Thailand VS France.

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If we compare France and Thailand we can see that they are nearly equal but different on why people are accepting Power Distance.

In Thailand, people accept inequality; they have a chain of command to follow and are following a strict protocol, like the other Asian countries. Depending your importance in the society/companies you have privilege. The employees are loyal, respectful and subject to their manager. It is close to the paternalistic.

In France, we also accept the Power Distance due to many facts. We are educated to be dependent, from our parent and later our manager. We also accept the inequality. The power is often far from people. The government is centralized in Paris, the main companies are also in Paris or at least the headquarter. The superior are inaccessible, we rarely see the CEO, and often CEO come from famed school. There is a huge gap between people that went in those schools and the others.

Individualism:

Individualism is completely different between Thailand and France.

In Thailand, people are deeply collectivist. It is known that usually asian people are devoted to family, etc. The group is the most important and prevent on anything else. The relationships between people depend on this capability to take responsibility for the group. The Thai do not provocative or like confrontation, they can say « Yes » and not accept what you are telling them but with this spirit of responsibility they will not loose there face, it is an important point in the Thai culture, never be publicly shamed. In order to do business with Thai you need to build relationship, who need patience to build.

France on the other hand is strongly individual, as we saw, French people are raised to be independent. They only take care of the family and them-self. It is important to note because usually a society with high score in individualism is not so close to the family. It is certainly due to the fact that the family is important during the young age, parent are strict and strongly guiding kid. French want to be independent from the government; they protect their private life. At work, they won’t be that much respectful with superior, they may say « yes » but do differently because they think that they know how to do it better, but they do not tell it. They are motivated by what they do, they need respect for what they do, if so they will work hard for it.

Masculinity:

Both countries are Feminine, Thailand more than France. People in Thailand are not guided by competitiveness; they are searching quality of life and not success. This is also why role of male and female are strong in this country, each one has is role, male work for the family and women work for kids and home.

In France, it is nearly the same, but due do different factor. If we look at our system we have public welfare system, 35 hour of work per week, five weeks holiday. It is focused on the quality of life. There is also from history the problem with money, in France it is something secret, no one like to talk about it and success is often not shown as a success because if someone is earning lot of money they certainly do not have family life etc.

Uncertainty Avoidance:

« Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man’s search for Truth. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute Truth; ‘there can only be one Truth and we have it’. » From www.clearlycultural.com

In Thailand, people try to avoid uncertainty; they have strict rules, laws, and policies in order to avoid this. They, logically, take time to accept change. It needs to be the best the « group » in order to be accepted.

In France, the score is higher. French do not like change and surprises. It is the same as Thai; they need rules, laws, etc. They need all the information before having a meeting. But, this aptitude to work in a clear and stable environment they are good at working in high-end technology.

Long Term Orientation:

The difference between Long and Short Term Orientation is if the society is axed on the future or is more on the present and/or the past.

Thai people are short term, they need to know the truth, and they are normative. They are axed with tradition (religion mainly), they live for the day.

French are pragmatic, they take time to analyse things with the context, situation etc. They adapt to change, they know how to invest and save (debt-free for example). They are working hard to achieve their goal.

Indulgence:

Thai and French people are really close, they are between indulgence and restraint. For France we know that people are less relaxed and are less happy than it is admit.

Corporate Culture

The French have a strong and homogeneous set of values. They attach great importance at their culture, history, language and cuisine, which is considered an art. The French have a culture of their own and are recognized worldwide as leaders in fashion, food, wine, art and architecture. They embrace novelty, new ideas and manners with enthusiasm as long as they are elegant. Indeed, at a business or social meeting, shake hands with everyone present at arrival and departure. The French like to generate a contact such as a handshake can be fast with a light socket.

VS

Thai accept the individual success, so they are tolerant of individualism. Thai are primarily focused on productive work and work hardly while being happy with who they are and what they have materially. They are smiling, nice people, humble and patients easily laugh, talk softly, and gets angry very rarely. Thais are very proud of their cultural heritage and enjoy talking about it with visitors. Thais are proud that they have never been ruled by a Western power.

Corporate Culture

1) The Eiffel Tower – Corporate culture - France

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