Swiss Culture and Mentality

A working understanding of Swiss cultural values such as attitudes towards the future, gender equality, or assertiveness can be a useful asset for executives doing business in a Swiss environment.

Text by Elisabeth Stern (*)

The latest work by renowned Swiss author and philologist Peter von Matt, “Das Kalb vor der Gotthardpost” (Calf Fleeing from the Gotthard Mail Coach), deals, among other things, with the Swiss soul being under attack from all sides. This idea inspired me to take a closer look at the GLOBE Study. Like von Matt’s book, this worldwide collection of data, which includes Switzerland, sheds an intriguing light on the concept of Swissness as a cultural phenomenon. It deals with various cultural dimensions and the underlying cultural values they represent. In the following, I will outline some of the aspects of Swiss mentality that emerged from the GLOBE Study and its implications for the way leadership is understood in Switzerland.

The GLOBE Study

The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) Research Program comprises the work of some 170 scholars who investigated the crosscultural forces relevant to effective leadership and organizational practices in 62 countries, including Switzerland. It was conceived in 1991 by Robert J. House of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2004, its first comprehensive volume on “Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies” was published, which is based on a survey of 17,300 middle managers from 951 organizations in the food processing, financial services, and telecommunication services industries. A second volume, “Culture and Leadership across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-Depth Studies of 25 Societies” appeared in early 2007.

Various cultural dimensions were investigated, including the should-be value, i.e. the value placed on how participants would like it to be, as compared to the as-is value. Findings on Switzerland’s Societal Culture Future Orientation measures the degree to which a society encourages future-oriented behavior. In this category, the Swiss achieved an as-is score which put them in second place among all the countries participating in the study; their should-be value was almost the same. The high level of economic development, the educational standard (including delayed material gratification), the religious roots of a partly Calvinist society (i.e. hard work and little fun in the present), as well as the high savings rate are offered by the researchers as explanations why Switzerland ranks so highly.

Uncertainty Avoidance measures the degree to which a society strives to avoid uncertainty by norms, rules, rituals, and bureaucratic practices. Switzerland is the country with the highest as-is value and the lowest should-be value, which seems strange. What is also puzzling is the fact that, on the one hand, we have high Future Orientation, and, on the other hand, also high Uncertainty Avoidance. However, these results point exactly to what Peter von Matt says about the Swiss in his interpretation of the famous painting by Rudolf Koller, The Gotthard Mail Coach. Von Matt points out the simultaneousness of the different speeds in Koller’s painting: the coach with the five horses racing down the mountain, the calf in front of it in bewildered flight, and the motionless herd of cows as onlookers. His interpretation of the painting leads von Matt to the heart of his thesis on Swiss mentality as a combination of conservatism and a belief in progress, Janus-like, i.e. looking forward and backward at the same time. According to von Matt, Switzerland has been preoccupied with either retreating or advancing since the very beginning and it is this dialectic which has formed Swiss mentality.

Power Distance measures the degree to which a society expects and agrees that power should be shared and distributed. In the study, the Swiss respondents expressed the view that their society has quite a high level of Power Distance and that it needs much less. Because democracy, freedom, and self-determination have been seen as basic and stable cornerstones of the Swiss national consciousness for centuries, it is not surprising that Power Distance achieved a low grade on the should-be scale. The best-known Swiss myths and legends feature as protagonists individuals (like William Tell) or groups who successfully resist authority and the abuse of power.

Gender Egalitarianism measures the degree to which a society minimizes the gender gap. The study’s respondents acknowledged the existence of a high level of emphasis on the male role, but stated that they would like to see more gender equality. Indeed, Switzerland still has a long way to go in this respect and urgently requires a more equitable, creative, and innovative outlook on gender issues.

Humane Orientation measures the degree to which a society encourages individuals to be humane and rewards them for being fair, caring, and compassionate. Here, the as-is score for Switzerland is in the lowest quartile of GLOBE countries. The should-be value for Humane Orientation is significantly higher. In their report, the researchers speculate about this discrepancy between the as-is and the should-be scores. One explanation given is Switzerland’s high score on Performance Orientation, a characteristic which could be seen to be in contrast to Humane Orientation. In addition, the quality of the Swiss public welfare system may lead people to think that the responsibility for social problems can be passed on to one of the many public institutions. However, the result could also indicate a great awareness of humane issues and a sense of frustration that this high ideal can never be reached.

In-group Collectivism measures the degree to which individuals express their loyalty and a sense of belonging to their organization or team. Institutional Collectivism refers to the extent of institutional practices that encourage and reward collective action and the distribution of resources. As the GLOBE results show, Swiss people feel comfortable being integrated within groups of manageable size, yet they want to keep their individual identity within the collective.

Performance Orientation measures the degree to which a society encourages and rewards performance improvement and excellence. As has been mentioned already, a strong work ethic is valued highly in Swiss society and it is therefore not surprising that in this category, Switzerland is the winner among all the GLOBE countries. The researchers consider this to be the result of Switzerland’s particular history. Until the beginning of the last century, Switzerland was fighting a losing battle against poverty. As a mountainous country with few natural resources, Switzerland needed its people to work hard and make a special effort. In the GLOBE study, the respondents mentioned Swiss efficiency, as well as order and security.

What is interesting is that almost half of the Swiss interviewees stated that they wished work was a less important part of their lives. However, when given the chance to increase their annual vacation time to six weeks in a nationwide referendum this spring, voters decided against it by a high majority. Considering Switzerland’s second place in the category Future Orientation, this voting result makes sense. The fear of an additional economic burden for Swiss companies (99 percent of all Swiss work for SMEs) in the present context of general economic uncertainties and the presently very strong Swiss franc, led people to choose a conservative path. They put the collective good above their own immediate benefit (Collectivism) while, at the same time, refusing to take the risk of potentially upsetting the status quo (Uncertainty Avoidance). Instead, they favored a more long-term, sustainable perspective (Future Orientation).

Assertiveness measures the degree to which individuals are allowed to be dominant, aggressive, and confrontational in social relationships. Swiss people favor non-dominant behavior, harmony, and consensus. They quickly perceive others as being aggressive. The need to build bridges and avoid conflict is omnipresent in Swiss society and can slow down decision-making processes.

Implications for Leadership and Business Interactions

Some of these cultural dimensions, which represent underlying cultural values, have implications for the way leadership is understood in Switzerland. According to Weibler and Wunderer, two of the authors of the GLOBE Study, hierarchy as a concept of control is recognized and accepted, as long as those in power exert their authority over others humanely, and neither abuse it nor demand excessive levels of deference. Good leaders must have both a sense of modesty and the ability to achieve consent. A close link between the leader and the led is preferred, where leaders set the goals and take the decisions, which are accepted by the team members. Harmony and the consensus are valued. An alpha leadership goes against the general understanding of direct democracy. For those wanting to work or do business successfully in Switzerland, it might be of advantage to take some of these cultural findings into the equation.

(*) Originally published in Swissness. The Magazine of the School of Management and Law at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. International Edition, No. 1, July 2012.