Cultural Investigation: New Zealand

Geography

New Zealand is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean about 2,000 km (1,300 mi) southeast of Australia’s east coast. The country consists of two main islands known as the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and the South Island (Te Waipounamu), which are separated by the Cook Strait. New Zealand shares maritime borders with Australia and the island nations of Fiji and Tonga.

The capital is Wellington and the largest city is Auckland. New Zealand has a population of 4.9 million people (2020). Majority of New Zealand’s population is of European decent. The indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Language

The main spoken language is English (95%) followed by Māori (5%), the language of the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand.

Religion

Christianity makes up the largest religious group, although majority of the society is secular. According to a 2018 study, 48.5% selected no religion, 37% Christian, 2.6% Hinduism, 1.3% Islam, 1.1% Buddhism, 1.9% Other and 6.6% undeclared. The Māori religions are Ringatū and Rātana.

History & Politics

The islands of New Zealand were one of the last lands to be settled by humans. The Polynesian Māori people began to settle on the islands between 1280-1350. Dutch Explorer, Abel Tasman, was the first European to reach the islands in 1642. Eventually the islands were mapped by Captain James Cook in 1769. In the early 19th century missionaries began settling and attempted to convert the Māori to Christianity.

In 1840, Māori chieftains signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the United Kingdom, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. New Zealand then became a colony within the British Empire in 1841. In 1907, New Zealand became an independent dominion, but continued to provide military support to the British during both World Wars. Eventually, New Zealand gained full statutory independence in 1947.

The government is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. The British monarch remains the head of state. New Zealand is identified as one of the world’s most stable and well-governed states. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2017, New Zealand ranks first in government transparency and lack of corruption.

Cultural Values & Worldview

New Zealanders, also known as Kiwis, are friendly down to earth people who embrace the spirit of manaakitanga (hospitality).

The kiwi is a quirky, flightless bird unique to New Zealand. The Māori people always held the kiwi in high regard. In fact, their feathers were made into cloaks worn by tribal chiefs. In the 1900s, a cartoonist started to use images of the kiwi to represent New Zealand as a country. During the First World War, New Zealand soldiers referred to themselves as ‘kiwis’ and the name stuck.

New Zealanders greatly value environmentalism and have a strong desire to preserve their country’s beauty. Their stunning landscapes were used in the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy; Over 150 real New Zealand locations were used.

Kiwis embrace a café culture and are some of the biggest coffee drinkers in the world. In fact, this nation invented the flat white. Tea has also been a timeless tradition. Kiwis consume more than 6 kg each year, which is more than their British counterparts.

According to Hofstede Insights, New Zealand is a highly individualistic nation (79). They also scored high on the Indulgence dimension (75) meaning they possess a positive attitude and have a tendency towards optimism. In addition, they place a higher degree of importance on leisure time, act as they please and spend money as they wish.

It is important to note that Kiwi and Māori cultures have marked differences between them. Kiwis are friendly, outgoing, go not have a formal class structure, and do not place great importance on wealth or social status. They alsotake pride in individual achievements and believe opportunities are available to all. Māori tribal groups are friendly and place great value on hospitality. They will offer assistance to their guests, often to the point of going without, and attempt to hide any inconvenience. The Māori usually have a hierarchy in formal situations such as elders being seated in a specific area and asked to open and close a meeting.

Communication Styles

New Zealand is a low context culture, as defined by Edward T. Hall. This means they view the main purpose for communication as an exchange of information. Low context cultures tend to be logical, linear, individualistic, and action-oriented. They also value logic, facts, and directness. Communicators are expected to be straightforward, concise, and efficient in telling what action is expected.

Typically greetings are casual, often consisting of a simple handshake and smile. However, in Māori culture welcoming protocols may be practiced through the process of Powhiri – a formal welcome that takes place on a Marae. A Powhiri can take between 30 minutes to 2-3 hours depending on the importance of the event.

Business Culture & Leadership Styles

New Zealand scored very low on their Power Distance dimension on the Hofstede Insights (22). This low power distance indicates that within organizations, hierarchy is established for convenience, superiors are always accessible and managers rely on individual employees and teams for their expertise. Both managers and employees expect to be consulted and information is shared frequently. At the same time, communication is informal, direct and participative. According to Fontaine, “In low power distance cultures responsibility for decisions is more distributed among team members. Though the leader is still primarily responsible, others expect to and are often trained and paid to assist in that process, and can be resentful if they are not given that opportunity.”

When considering the perception of time, New Zealand view time linearly. Timeliness and schedules are important. Missing a deadline will be seen as poor management and inefficiency and may result in reduced confidence.

Team & Teamwork - New Zealanders are very egalitarian, comfortable working in teams and understand the benefits to be gained by working collaboratively in order to achieve a common goal. Managers tend to be task-oriented, yet they generally do not micro-manage their staff. Additionally, managers are appointed to their positions based on their performance, trustworthiness, and honesty. New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is a great example for a leader leading humbly with effective performance, trustworthiness and honesty.

Regarding intercultural teamwork, Fontaine points out that “more recently emphasis has shifted to the need for the team to develop a culture of its own, accommodated to all the team members and their tasks. Such team cultures have sometimes been referred to as “third cultures” (Casmir, 1999) or “micro cultures” (Fontaine, 2012).”

It is also interesting to note that intercultural teams tend to yield more valuable outcomes compared to homogenous teams. Studies conducted by Thomas, Ravlin and Wallace (1996) and D. C. Thomas (1999) showed that the effectiveness of intercultural teams is consistently higher than that of mono-cultural teams at all points of evaluation. Writing on the empirical studies on the effectiveness of international teams, Sumpf points out that “teams are unlikely to show peak performance from the moment of their conception. Instead, they require time for team members to come together, get to know each other and begin discovering mutual orientation and a shared normative idea about how the team is to proceed” (Stumpf, 2010). In summary, it may take time at the beginning to find a sense of cohesiveness, but eventually the teams will yield great results over time.

Team Leadership - A model by Maznevski and DiStefano (2000) presents the building block phases of mapping, bridging and integrating as a process for developing intercultural teams. The mapping phase encourages each team member to identify the relevant differences and similarities between them and how it may benefit team performance. During the bridging phase, communication processes must be established to ensure adequate interaction despite the differences. “Team members …. need to use their maps of differences to develop biculural tongues and ears” (Maznevski and DiStefano, 2000). Finally, the integration phase aims to build up the awareness and understanding of intercultural differences, bridge the gap between communication processes and ultimately achieve the common goal.

This process of mapping, bridging and integrating requires the support of the organization. Stumpf would argue that effective team performance does not happen spontaneously in culturally diverse teams (Stumpf, 2010). And Zeutschel (1999) would say “Synergy is not for free.” Some measures which can be taken by organizations are to provide training to enhance intercultural competence, selecting candidates with applied intercultural competence, offering person-focuses, on-the-job development, and providing team development measures.

Successful intercultural management will benefit from remembering that the role of the leader is to harness the talent of the group assembled, and develop any resulting synergies. “… The most productive managers in New Zealand recognize and value the specialized knowledge that employees at all levels bring.” (Commisceo Global)

Resources

Country Comparison. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/new-zealand/

Fontaine, G. (2018). Intercultural Teams. In The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication. Medford, MA: Wiley Blackwell.

Kästle, K. (n.d.). New Zealand - Country Profile - Nations Online Project. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/new_zealand.htm

https://www.newzealand.com/us/the-lord-of-the-rings-trilogy/

https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/new-zealand-people/

https://www.commisceo-global.com/resources/country-guides/new-zealand-guide

https://www.commisceo-global.com/resources/management-guides/new-zealand-management-guide

https://teajourney.pub/tea-consumption-in-nz/

https://www.transparency.org/en/news/corruption-perceptions-index-2017#

Stumpf, S. (2010). Intercultural Teams. In Thomas, A., Kinast, E., and Schroll-Machl (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural communication and cooperation. Oakville, CT: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. (pp. 301-312)