ALP

CCC

Rules of the team

• Open discussions, let people speak

• Say what you think – is it culture or personal?

• Be open to different ideas

• Fulfil your tasks

• In case of argue – have a break

• Stick to the prepared plan

Research sources

• Hofstede – classification of the culture of both nations– we don´t use the F/M dimension – after discussion we

decided that for our ALP this has no big influence• Trompenaars

– only some specific parts of his model to be used in the ALP

• Companies visited – For specific information on the ALP assignment

• People in the team and their experience

Research

• Power distance

– Czech: • High at the moment, younger generation low: • Formal

– Netherlands:• Low• Informal • Open door culture

Research

• Uncertainty avoidance

– Czech: • Avoid risks• People hard to change• Less flexibility• High adaptive

– Netherlands:• Calculate risks• Flexibility• Not adaptive for changes

Research

• Individual vs Collectivism

– Czech • Collectivism - Horizontal meaning• A lot of communication - informally• Less teamwork – need for leader

– Netherlands:• Individualism – (hidden agenda?)• Rights and benefits, bonuses – fighting for it

Research

– Inner vs outer-directed

– Czech• Less structure• No strategy

– Netherlands• Structure• Many procedures

Research

– Specific vs diffuse

– Czech• Relationship is very important• Commitment loyallity is important but takes time• Can work with plans but like improvise

– Netherlands• Task orientated• Planning

Company

• Building company – Delivers a good quality with a fair price– Suplier you can rely on.

• Company values:– Flexibility and innovation– Openness/ openminded– Relationship in teams– Delivering the result

Goal and mission

Two make it better.

• Goal: Be profitable company and throught motivated and skilled people deliver quality in time.

– Turnover:• First year euro 5,0 million• Second year euro 10,0 million• Five year euro 20,0 million

– Quality:• Flexibility• ISO certification in two years completed• Safety- number of injuries with absence at work – O (small injuries- 10 /year)• Cost of faillure (normal 10%) first year 15 % reduce to 8 % in 5 years

– Employees:• Relationship and team spirit• Sick rate at 4%• Fluctuation of staff 6%

Alternatives

• CZ option– All employees are CZ– Company stays in CZ and operates in CZ market, have CZ sales– It is a new company – Partly young people but also older and experienced people. – Owned by CZ/NL

• NL option– All employees are NL– Company stays in NL and operates in NL market, have NL sales– It is a new company – Partly young people but also older and experienced people. – Owned by CZ/NL

Alternatives• Czechs in Holland

– Workers, foremen, site managers, and management are CZ people– Company is seated in CZ but operates in NL market– It is a new company – Partly young people but also older, mostly skilled and experienced

people. – Sales people are NL people.

• Mixture 1– Workers and foremen are CZ, site managers are NL. Management is

CZ+NL– Company is seated in CZ and operates in NL market (middle east of

NL), have NL sales– It is a new company – 80% skilled + 20% unskilled people. Young and older people.

Alternatives

• Mixture 2– Workers and site managers are CZ, foremen are NL. Management is

CZ+NL

– Company is seated in CZ and operates in NL market (middle east of NL), have NL sales

– It is a bought company.

– 20% skilled + 80% unskilled people. Young and older people.

Selection of alternative

options CZ

opt

ion

NL

optio

n

Cze

ch in

NL

Mix

ture

1

Mix

ture

2

criteriaquality 4 6 2 8 7profit 3 3 7 7 8time need for startup 6 7 4 6 7company culture fit 7 7 2 6 5

20 23 15 27 27

Higher score = better alternative

Winner

• Mixture 1– best because of culture fit.– See the flip chart

Action plan

• Set up the organisation „on paper“ by 25th June– Culture (GM), functionality, marketing plan, financial plan, financing the machinery etc.

• Prepare the plan for implementation of people to different culture by 1st July• Establish the sales office in NL (salesmen) by 1st August.• Establish the CZ office (management, purchasing, services, recruitment, planning,

architects etc.) by 1st July• Establish the backoffice in NL (facilities, machinery to store, warehouse, etc) by 1st

October• Recruit staff for NL and CZ by 1st August /October• Start working with people (tasks, culture, projects etc.) from August• Aquire contracts – projects to be built by end August• Prepare the first project by 1st February• Start and manage the first project from 5th February• Messuare and supervise the progress

Risk analysis

• No projects – starting with sales beforehand.• Culture problems – good implementation plan,

continues focus• Language problem - foreman is czech, he gets

language training, other people will be offered the training too.

• Recruitment problems in CZ – start early, might use a help of agenture

Reflection• Process

– Timing – no timekeeper but no problem, people were aware of timing. Slipping behind the schedule was due to not good distribution of tasks – (smaller teams working on different tasks could help)

– Listening at the beginning helped us to come to conclusion very fast at the end.– No formal leader was established but it caused no trouble. Open atmosphere and

cooperation

• Learning points– Criteria – not everything what seems important criterion is real criterion. – Theory came alive – especially when we were looking for advantages and

disadvantages of both cultures– Bicycle – we really had to adjust strategy to culture and other way round!– 1 + 1 = 3 - small things make the difference