culture
Thursday, 28. June 2007, 12:27:38
First, a puzzle.
There are at least 5 mallard drakes in the pond in the park by our house. I've seen their brides, some weeks ago, but lately it's just the men. Where have the ladies gone?
H went with me to walk the dogs late one bright evening this week. As we passed by the water (she insists on throwing a pinecone in each time we go by) I asked her and she said, "I think I don't really know."
We have fairly regular manager training sessions and the most recent one was about culture and working cross culturally. There were exercises and lectures and no shortage of anecdote from both instructor and colleagues. We have roughly 41 nationalities represented among our employees and I believe the Oslo office has at least one of each. The company providing the training measures each countries values with 5 factors that have to with long term planning, risk aversion, individuality vs collective thinking. We all did a little self test assessment to see how well we fit the expectation of our home country and Norway.
Mostly I sat in between Norway and the US ... BUT one of the categories is misleadingly called "Masculinty"; this referes to the compassion and family orientedness of the culture.
Sweden has the lowest Masculinity of any country with a 4 followed closely by Norway with an 8. The US is almost a 70 and, I believe, Japan topped the Mas value with something in the 90s.
Mine was a zero (0). I am off-the-chart Feminine, while the department comprised of 3 women had the most Masculine score in the company. Like I said, it is misleadingly named. But I am proud of my score and glad that I'm a fit with the strong Scandinavian emphasis on caring, work-life balance, etc.
This week my boss took his direct reports out for a much needed evening of team building. This was accomplished by way of fine dining and an accompanying bottle of wine. It should go without saying that we all get along and enjoyed visiting in an off-campus setting. There are a lot of changes afoot to our group with one moving to another city, following his s.o. off to the south.
The atmosphere was really nice at the restaurant with it's wooden walls covered in whimsical watercolors, pen&ink drawings, and little sketches. The wait staff were very knowledgeable and helped us interpret the novella-sized wine list. Apparently they have an established tradition of recommending against any German wine to go with fish.
They recommend a seven course fixed price meal that can be cut to three courses but also have a nice a la carte selection. Some of the presentation was a bit twee (the itty bitty perfect pyramid of puree spinach was amusing and the scallop apetizer, which appeared to be lovely and raised smile on those who had it, was served on an absurdly elongated plate that didn't fit the åplace settings and forced peole to move their glasses or side dishes. But overall they maintained the air of casual with high quality. We didn't feel out of place in t-shirts and jeans even though the quality and prices are clearly up-scale.
Main course portions were lovely, not the tiny arty presentation I expected and not the American style excess, just the right amount. The desserts ranged from Mascarpone with Norwegian berries to a tarte of summer berries with homemade icecream to a selection of cheeses and homemade breads. A slice of the dark nut and fig bread was particularly good with coffee and the tart was really beautiful and well executed.
Walking back in the light summer rain, feeling sated but not stuffed, there was lots of laughing and joking. All in all a good team building, certainly more my style than playing laser tag or spending a weekend on a ropes course in an Eastern European forest.
There are at least 5 mallard drakes in the pond in the park by our house. I've seen their brides, some weeks ago, but lately it's just the men. Where have the ladies gone?
H went with me to walk the dogs late one bright evening this week. As we passed by the water (she insists on throwing a pinecone in each time we go by) I asked her and she said, "I think I don't really know."
We have fairly regular manager training sessions and the most recent one was about culture and working cross culturally. There were exercises and lectures and no shortage of anecdote from both instructor and colleagues. We have roughly 41 nationalities represented among our employees and I believe the Oslo office has at least one of each. The company providing the training measures each countries values with 5 factors that have to with long term planning, risk aversion, individuality vs collective thinking. We all did a little self test assessment to see how well we fit the expectation of our home country and Norway.
Mostly I sat in between Norway and the US ... BUT one of the categories is misleadingly called "Masculinty"; this referes to the compassion and family orientedness of the culture.
Sweden has the lowest Masculinity of any country with a 4 followed closely by Norway with an 8. The US is almost a 70 and, I believe, Japan topped the Mas value with something in the 90s.
Mine was a zero (0). I am off-the-chart Feminine, while the department comprised of 3 women had the most Masculine score in the company. Like I said, it is misleadingly named. But I am proud of my score and glad that I'm a fit with the strong Scandinavian emphasis on caring, work-life balance, etc.
This week my boss took his direct reports out for a much needed evening of team building. This was accomplished by way of fine dining and an accompanying bottle of wine. It should go without saying that we all get along and enjoyed visiting in an off-campus setting. There are a lot of changes afoot to our group with one moving to another city, following his s.o. off to the south.
The atmosphere was really nice at the restaurant with it's wooden walls covered in whimsical watercolors, pen&ink drawings, and little sketches. The wait staff were very knowledgeable and helped us interpret the novella-sized wine list. Apparently they have an established tradition of recommending against any German wine to go with fish.
They recommend a seven course fixed price meal that can be cut to three courses but also have a nice a la carte selection. Some of the presentation was a bit twee (the itty bitty perfect pyramid of puree spinach was amusing and the scallop apetizer, which appeared to be lovely and raised smile on those who had it, was served on an absurdly elongated plate that didn't fit the åplace settings and forced peole to move their glasses or side dishes. But overall they maintained the air of casual with high quality. We didn't feel out of place in t-shirts and jeans even though the quality and prices are clearly up-scale.
Main course portions were lovely, not the tiny arty presentation I expected and not the American style excess, just the right amount. The desserts ranged from Mascarpone with Norwegian berries to a tarte of summer berries with homemade icecream to a selection of cheeses and homemade breads. A slice of the dark nut and fig bread was particularly good with coffee and the tart was really beautiful and well executed.
Walking back in the light summer rain, feeling sated but not stuffed, there was lots of laughing and joking. All in all a good team building, certainly more my style than playing laser tag or spending a weekend on a ropes course in an Eastern European forest.
Dude, that is hysterical. And really, not that surprising. You don't exactly scream traditional (bad) masculinity.
The weird thing, though, is that they'd even call that category masculinity. I mean, doesn't that just speak volumes?
By anonymous user, # 28. June 2007, 21:43:49
We also read a case study about an American doing business here and he kept talking derisively about the "Socialist culture" of Norway. And I'm off to the side thinking, "cool, a Socialist culture". :)
By balzac, # 29. June 2007, 08:47:06
W said the duck mystery may be the females are on their nests. That's his best guess. We, on the other hand, are growing webbing between our toes from all the rain but see that you're inundated, too. Hope Oslo has a reprieve in September!
By anonymous user, # 30. June 2007, 17:12:06
Mom, T said Dad must be right. He and H went to walk the dogs this morning and noticed a female duck with her new brood on the pond.
By anonymous user, # 1. July 2007, 12:08:05
I vant to pump YOU up, girl man
By anonymous user, # 5. July 2007, 18:39:32