wtfeWays They Frame Engineering
日本語

South Koreavsthe Netherlands

韓国とオランダKRNL

Seen from South Korea: each line below describes the Netherlands relative to South Korea.

Swap: see South Korea from the Netherlands

Culture Map: eight scales

Erin Meyer's eight scales, sorted by how far apart South Korea and the Netherlands sit, largest gap first.

Filled dot: South Korea, where you are looking fromHollow ring: the Netherlands

Where you will notice the difference5 scales

  1. Evaluating

    The Netherlands gives negative feedback more directly than South Korea (5 steps)

    South Korea +2, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Direct negative feedback) to +3 (Indirect negative feedback).

  2. Leading

    The Netherlands keeps less distance between boss and team than South Korea (5 steps)

    South Korea +2, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Egalitarian) to +3 (Hierarchical).

  3. Communicating

    The Netherlands spells things out more explicitly than South Korea (4 steps)

    South Korea +2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Low-context) to +3 (High-context).

  4. Trusting

    The Netherlands builds trust through reliable work more than South Korea (4 steps)

    South Korea +2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Task-based) to +3 (Relationship-based).

  5. Disagreeing

    The Netherlands is more willing to disagree openly than South Korea (4 steps)

    South Korea +2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Confrontational) to +3 (Avoids confrontation).

Not placed3 scales

These scales are left unmarked: either Meyer leaves a country off the scale or no source places it, and drawing it anyway would be guessing.

  • PersuadingMeyer leaves South Korea off this scale and describes its reasoning as holistic
  • Deciding, SchedulingNo source places South Korea on these scales
† position taken from a review or summary, not from Meyer's own chart.Positions are read by eye from Erin Meyer's published charts and rounded to seven steps. A step means “further towards that pole”, not a measured distance. How the positions were read

Hofstede: six dimensions

Scores from 0 to 100, sorted by the gap between South Korea and the Netherlands. They describe national averages, not either country's character.

  1. Individualism

    The Netherlands scores 42 points higher than South Korea (100 against 58)

    South Korea 58, the Netherlands 100, on a line from 0 (Collectivist) to 100 (Individualist).

  2. Indulgence

    The Netherlands scores 39 points higher than South Korea (68 against 29)

    South Korea 29, the Netherlands 68, on a line from 0 (Restrained) to 100 (Indulgent).

  3. Uncertainty avoidance

    The Netherlands scores 32 points lower than South Korea (53 against 85)

    South Korea 85, the Netherlands 53, on a line from 0 (Tolerant of ambiguity) to 100 (Avoids ambiguity).

  4. Motivation towards achievement and success

    The Netherlands scores 25 points lower than South Korea (14 against 39)

    South Korea 39, the Netherlands 14, on a line from 0 (Consensus-oriented) to 100 (Decisive).

  5. Power distance

    The Netherlands scores 22 points lower than South Korea (38 against 60)

    South Korea 60, the Netherlands 38, on a line from 0 (Low power distance) to 100 (High power distance).

  6. Long-term orientation

    The Netherlands scores 19 points lower than South Korea (67 against 86)

    South Korea 86, the Netherlands 67, on a line from 0 (Short-term) to 100 (Long-term).

Country averages. About 80% of variation in values is between people inside a country (Taras et al. 2016).Source: The Culture Factor — Country comparison tool (2026).About the Hofstede dimensions

What the sources say, theme by theme

Entries for South Korea and the Netherlands, side by side on wide screens. Each keeps its own confidence label and citations.

Design & quality

South Korea3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Failure & risk

South Korea3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

  • ING moved to a Spotify-style structure of squads and tribes in 2015. In a McKinsey interview (2017), it described each tribe writing down its results and biggest learnings every quarter and celebrating both successes and failures.

    Attested1 source2017nl-failure-1

  • According to Thomke (HBR, 2020), only about 10% of Booking.com's experiments produce positive results; the other 90% or so do not support the hypothesis. The company runs its experiments on that assumption.

    Attested1 source2020nl-failure-2

Feedback & code review

South Korea2 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Hierarchy & decisions

South Korea4 claims

Netherlands3 claims

Communication & docs

South Korea2 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Work & careers

South Korea7 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Open source & community

South Korea4 claims

Netherlands2 claims