Interview with Willem Dijkema

Citation

Vera, E. (2012), "Interview with Willem Dijkema", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccm.2012.13619baa.001

Interview with Willem Dijkema

Article Type: Executive Corner From: Cross Cultural Management, Volume 19, Issue 2

About the author

Elio Vera interviewed Willem Dijkema.Employed by Netherlands Airport Consultant (NACO), his current position is Team Leader at the Nairobi International Airport.

What are some of the current cross cultural management challenges within your organization or industry?

As airport engineering consultants we are working worldwide at various international airport projects. The main objective of staff employed at airport projects is to understand and meet the expectations of our Clients, usually government bodies who own and operate airports.

International airport construction projects are usually very construction projects which are administered under international building law (FIDIC). The Client is a local government body, the Contractor is a large international construction firm and the Engineer is a known international consultant. Needless to say that cross cultural management challenges do exist at this type of projects. Although it is not always possible to fully understand the cultural differences of each other we must live and work with it and avoid conflicts caused by cultural differences. The management challenge is to ensure that cultural differences should never result in contractual conflicts. One of the best manners to deal with cultural differences is to try and understand the culture of the people you are working with. Try to speak a bit of their language, specifically polite words, knowing a bit about the habits, history and geography of the country of your work always helps.

In your opinion, what are some of the major cross cultural challenges your company will face in the future?

To be honest I have never really thought about cross cultural challenges in the future. The world is becoming smaller and most people, worldwide, know much more about “the other world” than say 50 years ago. I believe and hope that cross cultural differences should in future become easier to deal with.

Please share an interesting anecdote or case you have experienced in managing your company across cultures

When working in Indonesia (I worked there for five years) I learnt that you should never expect people to fully understand what you are trying to tell them. It is not polite for an Indonesian to say that he does not understand you when you try to explain a specific work situation or task to them. Asking them if they understood what you said will not help because the answer is guaranteed to be: yes sir I understand.

“Yes” only means that he heard the words you said, it does not mean that he fully understood the meaning of what you have said.

What are some subjects or cross cultural themes that, in your view, could benefit from additional academic research?

It is always good to know the typical pit falls (what to do and what not to do) within the culture of the people you do business with. Because typical pit falls are not the same in each country further research on this subject would help.

A few typical pit falls which we encountered are: One of the first things one needs to do when arriving in a new country is look for accommodation, which is not always easy, once you rent a house you know that you will have to live there for a few years. House owners usually promise you everything before signing a rental contract only to find out that these promises = after signing= are interpreted by the house owner differently than you thought before the rental contract was signed.

Insufficient understanding about government rules can also be a source of problems.

In Indonesia we applied for a stay permit. After having applied for the stay permit we waited for the permit to be issued. Before the stay permit was issued we found out that we also had to register ourselves by the local police, the penalty for not registering was something like 10 US$ per person per day. We were with 5 expats and the period which we were not registered was about 100 days, so we had to pay 5,000 US$. Because our Client did not consider us fully responsible they paid the bulk of these expenses.

The importance of validity of passport is also often underestimated. Many countries require passports to be valid for minimum 6 months when you enter the country, sometimes passports need to be valid for 6 months when you exit the country. Non compliance may get you into unforeseen problems.

During implementation of large construction work contracts there will always be contractual arguments. Being a consultant at airport projects it is very important to handle contractual arguments in a pure contractual manner. Never let contractual arguments escalate into a personal conflict.

While implementing an airport project in Bulgaria we were confronted with a communistic building law which was in direct conflict with the specified international building law (FIDIC).

It took about two years and lots of frustration before all parties agreed that the project had to be implemented under FIDIC.

When working in countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt one must accept that the output of work during the holy month of Ramadan will slow down. Pushing the local nationals to increase their output of work is not going to work. Too much pushing will bring you into trouble with local authorities.

Hiring and /or firing local staff may also lead to unwanted situations.

Because alcoholic drinks are forbidden in Saudi Arabia many foreigners make their own wine.

After a colleague fired his household servant the police came to his doorstep and quickly found a few bottles of home brewed wine. My colleague had to spend a number of days in an Arabian jail before he was released. After having been released it still took a number of court cases before the case was closed.

In Sudan our household servant did not turn up after having worked in our house for about 2 months. A few weeks later the police knocked on our door to ask us if we had lost our air tickets and foreign currency. When checking the whereabouts of these papers we noted that they were not anymore located where they were supposed to be. The police informed us that they found these items in the house of our former house servant.

After the house servant had stolen these items he did not come back, his friend reported the case to the police and we suddenly found ourselves involved in a Sudanese court case.

Note from the wife: For a spouse to go with her husband she needs to be ready to give up her own career because in most countries it is very difficult or even impossible to get a work permit.

As a spouse you have to be very flexible to adapt in many different countries and cultures, every time making new friends and finding your way around. And even more important find something to do.

For myself; over the years I have done a lot of voluntary work, with organizations, clubs and international women’s groups. In Egypt and Kenya I started my own charity organization, helping women and children and I find it very rewarding to help the real poor.