Cultural Differences Between Thailand And The Netherlands

Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to compare and analyze how to handle cultural differences between Thailand and the Netherlands and give recommendations on how a Dutch person could behave in Thailand.

Life in the Netherlands
In The Netherlands, everyday life is rather casual. The Dutch celebrate many holidays and have many days off a year, whether it be King’s day, Whitsun, Easter, Christmas and many more. Dutch people are very friendly and they always greet everyone, regardless if they know them or not. “Dutch society is very egalitarian, individualistic and modern” (Wikepedia, 2015). Dutch people are very direct and informal in everyday life. There are variety of religions in the Netherlands, it is not clear which religion stands
In the Netherlands it is common that people are casual and informal in the work place and the difference in the level of hierarchy is not very rigorous. Communication between one employee and another is usually done in a very direct manner. Negotiations in the Netherlands are usually fast paced and forceful. Honesty and reliability are perceived as vitally important. “Yes” in business often means “yes”, “no’” means “no”, “maybe” means “maybe”. This means that The Netherlands is categorized as a low-context culture. “Low context culture as a culture that communicates information in a direct manner that relies mainly on words.” (Study.com, n.d.). The Netherlands is ranked moderately high when it comes to individualism, this means that the Dutch are really only interested in looking after themselves and their direct families. The Dutch are also one of the most feminine countries with a score of 14, according to Hofstede’s model of cultural dimension, being a feminine country means they like to solve problems by talking and discussing rather than the use of authority. All of these results contributes to how Dutch managers manage their employees. (Hofstede, 2015) (Eco, 2011) (Expatica, 2011) (Businessculture,
There are many heights where you can place your hand, depending on who you are ‘waiing’ to, if you are ‘waiing’ to an older person or a person with a higher status, your hand should be placed slightly higher on your chest than when you encounter someone of similar age and status . There are different types of ‘wai’, depending on your status and age. The level of hierarchy in an organization is well defined by rank, status and authority, it is not often seen that a person with high status within a company talking to someone with a lower status. Power distance in Thailand is relatively high. It is common, however, that the messages are passed down from a person with higher status through different mediums to reach a person with a lower status. Thai people are very indirect when it comes to negotiating and it is often the case that in business, a “yes” does not always mean a “yes”, it is a way of being polite as the Thai’s do not want to offend anyone. Because of the indirect method of communications, Thailand is said to be in one of the high-context countries. High-context can be defined as “communication are primarily transmitted through the use of contextual elements (body