wtfeWays They Frame Engineering
日本語

The NetherlandsvsSouth Korea

オランダと韓国NLKR

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

Swap: see the Netherlands from South Korea

Culture Map: eight scales

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

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

Where you will notice the difference5 scales

  1. Evaluating

    South Korea gives negative feedback more indirectly than the Netherlands (5 steps)

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

  2. Leading

    South Korea keeps more distance between boss and team than the Netherlands (5 steps)

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

  3. Communicating

    South Korea leaves more to be read between the lines than the Netherlands (4 steps)

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

  4. Trusting

    South Korea builds trust through personal relationships more than the Netherlands (4 steps)

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

  5. Disagreeing

    South Korea avoids open disagreement more than the Netherlands (4 steps)

    The Netherlands −2, South Korea +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 the Netherlands and South Korea. They describe national averages, not either country's character.

  1. Individualism

    South Korea scores 42 points lower than the Netherlands (58 against 100)

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

  2. Indulgence

    South Korea scores 39 points lower than the Netherlands (29 against 68)

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

  3. Uncertainty avoidance

    South Korea scores 32 points higher than the Netherlands (85 against 53)

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

  4. Motivation towards achievement and success

    South Korea scores 25 points higher than the Netherlands (39 against 14)

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

  5. Power distance

    South Korea scores 22 points higher than the Netherlands (60 against 38)

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

  6. Long-term orientation

    South Korea scores 19 points higher than the Netherlands (86 against 67)

    The Netherlands 67, South Korea 86, 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 the Netherlands and South Korea, side by side on wide screens. Each keeps its own confidence label and citations.

Design & quality

Netherlands2 claims

South Korea3 claims

Failure & risk

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

South Korea3 claims

Feedback & code review

Netherlands2 claims

South Korea2 claims

Hierarchy & decisions

Netherlands3 claims

South Korea4 claims

Communication & docs

Netherlands2 claims

South Korea2 claims

Work & careers

Netherlands2 claims

South Korea7 claims

Open source & community

Netherlands2 claims

South Korea4 claims