wtfeWays They Frame Engineering
日本語

Polandvsthe Netherlands

ポーランドとオランダPLNL

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

Swap: see Poland from the Netherlands

Culture Map: eight scales

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

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

Where you will notice the difference7 scales

  1. Leading

    The Netherlands keeps less distance between boss and team than Poland (4 steps)

    Poland +1, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Egalitarian) to +3 (Hierarchical).

  2. Communicating

    The Netherlands spells things out more explicitly than Poland (2 steps)

    Poland 0, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Low-context) to +3 (High-context).

  3. Evaluating

    The Netherlands gives negative feedback more directly than Poland (2 steps)

    Poland −1, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Direct negative feedback) to +3 (Indirect negative feedback).

  4. Persuading

    The Netherlands wants examples and the conclusion before the theory more than Poland (2 steps)

    Poland −1, the Netherlands +1, on a line from −3 (Principles-first) to +3 (Applications-first).

  5. Scheduling

    The Netherlands sticks to fixed plans and deadlines more than Poland (2 steps)

    Poland 0, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Linear time) to +3 (Flexible time).

  6. Trusting

    The Netherlands builds trust through reliable work more than Poland (1 step)

    Poland −1, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Task-based) to +3 (Relationship-based).

  7. Disagreeing

    The Netherlands is more willing to disagree openly than Poland (1 step)

    Poland −1, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Confrontational) to +3 (Avoids confrontation).

Not placed1 scale

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.

  • DecidingNo source places Poland on this scale
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 Poland and the Netherlands. They describe national averages, not either country's character.

  1. Individualism

    The Netherlands scores 53 points higher than Poland (100 against 47)

    Poland 47, the Netherlands 100, on a line from 0 (Collectivist) to 100 (Individualist).

  2. Motivation towards achievement and success

    The Netherlands scores 50 points lower than Poland (14 against 64)

    Poland 64, the Netherlands 14, on a line from 0 (Consensus-oriented) to 100 (Decisive).

  3. Uncertainty avoidance

    The Netherlands scores 40 points lower than Poland (53 against 93)

    Poland 93, the Netherlands 53, on a line from 0 (Tolerant of ambiguity) to 100 (Avoids ambiguity).

  4. Indulgence

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

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

  5. Power distance

    The Netherlands scores 30 points lower than Poland (38 against 68)

    Poland 68, the Netherlands 38, on a line from 0 (Low power distance) to 100 (High power distance).

  6. Long-term orientation

    The Netherlands scores 18 points higher than Poland (67 against 49)

    Poland 49, 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 Poland and the Netherlands, side by side on wide screens. Each keeps its own confidence label and citations.

Design & quality

Poland3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Failure & risk

Poland2 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

Poland2 claims

  • According to Talaera, Meyer's Culture Map places Poland on the direct side for negative feedback. The company says criticism that concerns a person's performance tends to be given one-on-one.

    Thin1 source2026pl-feedback-1

  • English written by Polish speakers is said to use few softeners and many imperatives, so it can read as more direct than intended. The evidence comes mainly from studies of learners' English writing.

    Thin1 source2026pl-feedback-2

Netherlands2 claims

Hierarchy & decisions

Poland2 claims

Netherlands3 claims

Communication & docs

Poland2 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Work & careers

Poland3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Open source & community

Poland2 claims

  • GitHub's "Made in Poland" collection includes the headless commerce platform Saleor (about 23,000 stars), Software Mansion's react-native-reanimated and the data grid Handsontable (about 22,000).

    Attested1 source2026pl-oss-1

  • In the GitHub Innovation Graph, developer accounts located in Poland grew from about 530,000 in Q1 2020 to about 2.07 million in Q1 2026, roughly a fourfold increase.

    Well attested1 source2026pl-oss-2

Netherlands2 claims