Cross Cultural Management in Hong Kong workplace

Hong Kong had a long history as part of the territory of China over the centuries until the mid-late Qing Dynasty, where 3 unequal treaties were signed between the British Empire of gradual successions of Hong Kong: <Treaty of Nanking>(1842), <First Convention of Beijing>(1860) and <Second Convention of Beijing>(1898). During the second world war, Hong Kong was annexed by Japan from 1941 to 1945, entering the struggling era of three years and eight months (Chua, Pua, 2019). British colonial rule commenced and practised different governance and political system, until the handover in 1997.

During the colonization period, a hybrid of British and Chinese cultural influence was observed, which colonialism of Britain transformed and shaped its historical development in the form of the encounters between the Chinese and British (Carroll, 2007). However, high-tier political representatives are concentrated in the British hand, political rights of indigenous Chinese have been suppressed, political power was largely controlled by European minorities, who enjoyed superior status and isolation from the Chinese community (Goodstadt, 2007). In 1984, <Sino-British Joint Declaration> was signed between the United Kingdom and PRC, including the negotiation about future of Hong Kong after expiration of terms, guaranteed “The current social and economic systems in Hong Kong will remain unchanged for 50 years” (Joint-Declaration, 1984), and full implementation of Basic Law, which is a national law between China and Hong Kong, after 1997.

The draft of Basic law and the historical event of 1997 had unprecedented importance of shaping modern Hong Kong and its relationship between PRC, reaffirming the implementation of one country two systems and protecting the rights and lifestyle of Hong Kong people. (Tung Chee-Hwa, 1997). On the other hand, distrust towards PRC emerged that parties of local democratic forces highly doubted the abolishment of the promise, pointing towards the retrogression of democratic development of Hong Kong (Nok, 2007). In 2014 and 2019, there were two civil disobedience protests about reforms of Basic Law about universal suffrage of chief executive and extradition arrangement of criminals respectively, these can be observed that Hong Kong people are reluctant towards PRC direct political and judicial intervention into Hong Kong affairs within these 50 years, which meddles in Hong Kong’s politics and economic life, and tramples upon their freedoms. (Hsiung, 1999)

In the business context, the colonization era marked a mix of Chinese and western business practices. Most of the conglomerates nowadays in Hong Kong were rooted from either western-invested, regional centre for merchant and commercial services during colonization period on the late 19th century (Schenk, 2008), such as Jardine Matheson and Swire or local-founded enterprise that is founded by immigrated mainland Chinese tycoons in 1960s such as New World Development (新世界發展) and Sun Hung Kei Properties (新鴻基地產).

The significance of handover is the reform of Hong Kong’s business context, that helps to shape Hong Kong’s organizational cultures nowadays (Interviewer T.? Kyle). The implementation of “one country, two systems” defined the economic features of Hong Kong as a small, rich, free-market, capitalist, a low-intervention city with a respect for rule of law and civil liberties (Ngok, 2007). Together with CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement) established between PRC and Hong Kong, tightened business mutual relationship, instead of PRC-led economic intervention, is built, it accelerates the economy of Hong Kong ager the SARS epidemic crisis in 2003 (Kong, 2003), crafting Hong Kong as the largest The Global Offshore Renminbi Business Hub (HKMA, 2016). In 2016, The State Council of PRC introduced ”One Belt One Road Initiative” and “Greater Bay Region Development Plan” that strengthened Hong Kong as a bridge between Mainland Chinese and Overseas Market.

Tradition:

The strategic intersection of Chinese and colonial English historical contexts, Hong Kong successfully crafted its own history and identity which leads to its cultural uniqueness of Hong Kong is the possession of a high degree of Internationalization, having a hybrid mix of western and eastern cultural values, including a dual mix of festival celebration, including Chinese festivals like Lunar Chinese New Years, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn festivals and Buddha's Birthday; while western festivals celebration like Christmas and Easter is also inevitable.

Most of the Chinese traditional cultures retained and still reflect nowadays after the handover. The emphasis of social ties, family relationships and harmonious relationships magnify the importance of Guanxi (Interviewer T. Kyle). Cultural rituals such as gifting and filial piety still served as important elements in Chinese festival celebration. Rituals like giving red packets, temple worship are still common in annual Chinese festival celebrations. Moreover, iconic Chinese traditional ritual activities such as Bun Scrambling Contest during Buddha’s birthday and dragon boat racing that serves as an attraction of the tourism of Hong Kong (National Geographic, 2019). For the western festival celebration, however, is commercialized, it is regarded as the theme of marketing as discounts offerings or theme-based promotions in numerous shopping malls.

On the other hand, superstitious also shaped business and social landscape of today Hong Kong, for example, the old generation of Hong Kong people used to pray in Temple worshipping their god, Wong Tai Sin in for the sake of good fortune; well-wishing activities like Tossing joss paper to the wishing tree in Lam Tsuen, Tai Po represents traditional conservative Chinese cultures in the village customs. (HK Tourism, 2012) Moreover, Taboos such as 4 and 13, “West” should not be mentioned or emphasized in the naming of floors or business setups. (Wong, 2009)

Under rapid internationalization after the handover, Hong Kong has a diverse religion and racial composition, a plethora of religious festivals and ceremonies can be observed (Carroll, 2007). As a multiple inclusive society, festivals and customs from Muslim, Taoist or Sinkhists these minority religions are fully accepted (HK Research Office, 2017). Chungking Mansion, which is a dilapidated building that is described as “ghetto at the centre of Hong Kong” (BBC, 2013) consists of diversified ethnicities doing business and staying there, reflecting “low-end globalization” (Matthews, 2007) of Hong Kong that people from multiple religious backgrounds are able to accommodate peacefully with each other.

Country-specific phenomenon:

Although Hong Kong has undergone massive economic prosperity and attained a high degree of internationalization, Chinese traditional cultural values can still be reflected in common business practices and social landscapes. High Confucian Dynamism plays an important role of interpreting the current business context of Hong Kong, for people from the senior generation, which prefers harmony to conflict and competition, stresses authority rather than freedom, and does not have traditional concepts of individual rights (Lau,1984). However for the millennials or junior generation, Confucian beliefs are not their priority, influences from western cultures are more obviously observed from them, guiding their mindsets to be more individualistic and radical. (Interviewer F. Gabriel).

Guanxi (關係, relationships) and Xinyong (信用, credibility) are also dominant in business cultures of Hong Kong under the principle of Confucianism (Interviewer L. Kwan), it is observed that such spiritual virtues have been inherited for a century. The emphasis of social ties, family and harmonious relationships and harmonious relationships magnifies the importance of Guanxi. (Interviewer T. Kyle). Mianzi (面子, face) symbolise a person’s “status, prestige, social position” (O. Yau, R. Chow - 2007) that Chinese value the most of it, as an old Chinese saying, “Face" is as important to man as the bark is to the tree, getting along well with each other is highlighted in people’s behaviour and interpersonal relationships, and it is the most delicate standard by which Chinese social intercourse is regulated. (Lin Yu-Tang, 1935).

Cultural values like Hierarchical management structure and high power distance are observed. High power distance is observed under Hofstede's cultural dimensions model, the subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized; and rarely will people judge the decision-makers of the higher position (Hofstede, 1992). It is reflected in the ethnic Chinese cultures, power distance high that makes it impossible for subordinates to have direct interaction with their seniors. Moreover, Hong Kong attains a relatively high degree of in-group collectivism under the GLOBE project (GLOBE, 2013), depicting people in Hong Kong tends to be working in a group, emphasizing on collective gain and rewards.?

Hong Kong is regarded as fast-paced, by having an intense competition with colleagues with minimal annual vacations while suffering from high working hours. In particular, Hong Kong employees work for more than 50 hours per week, 63% of employees subject to unpaid overtime (Chung, Pang and Tong, 2010), work-life conflict is magnified and worse than the scenarios in other western countries (Chou & Cheung, 2013).?

Chapter 3: Recommendations

Leadership

Implementation of an expatriate training and personal coaching program, to develop a foundation of understanding and core skills

When expatriate managers take on an assignment, they often experience cultural gaps between their home and host country, presenting numerous challenges in communication and other domains (Interview - Kwan, 2020). To allow an individual to deal with such situations, Steers et al has identified the understanding of local work environments and three cross/cultural skills as core to expatriate leadership success. The skills consist of openness & attentiveness, the ability to represent & articulate dynamics and mediation & integration of ideals (Lecture 5). Nevertheless, such knowledge and skills need to be fostered to develop a foundation of understanding, representing the roots of operation. Enabling such a development, expatriate leadership training programs present a viable opportunity, providing a platform to nurture the knowledge and skills of participants in a controlled environment. Likewise, a study conducted by Jan Selmer (2002) has highlighted that individuals receiving prior training adjust more quickly to and are more satisfied with their assignments. Therefore, providing an opportunity to ease the transition process, we recommend the introduction of an expatriate training and counselling program.

The program will be taught over 6 months in a sequential nature, shifting away from the traditional pre- and post-arrival sessions, more suitable for individuals entering significantly different environments. Beginning 3 months in advance with an introductory session followed by a “pilot trip”, this first stage allows individuals to gain initial experience in the Cantonese context and adjust their expectations to be more accurate. This stage is crucial for individuals with no cross-cultural experience, to highlight the need for training which is often undermined (Selmer, 2020). Furthermore, as spouse adjustment is the predominant cause for expatriate failure, the introductory stage will include two environmental briefing and Q&A sessions, aimed at assisting in finding a school, housing or even a job. Following, the course will be structured in 3 stages, according to the core skills identified by Steers et al.. Firstly, the course will focus on developing openness and attentiveness, by focusing on the culture’s foundation - the dual influence of Confucian and Western values, including history. Concepts such as Mianzi, not losing face, will be core to lay the groundwork for respectful interaction. Secondly, to develop the ability to represent and articulate dynamics, subjects such as communication, which is opposingly high context, and the Hong Kong working environment, to gain an understanding of the influences and expectations, will be taught. The last stage mediation and integration will be the longest, focusing on shifting individual behavior to accommodate both contexts and mastering the attached skills. However, to ensure a successful long-term facilitation of the skills and behavior, this stage has to be fully conducted in Hong Kong, as expatriate training can only facilitate such practices, if the individuals perceive them as functional in their current state.

Lastly, the whole program will be taught by highly cross-culturally competent local individuals possessing ‘expert knowledge’. These experts will be employed by the organization in the new role of SHAPE representatives at the rate of one per department, and additionally act as personal expatriate executive coaches. This way, executives do not have to wait until the next training session to resolve conflicts or get input timely, crucial in today's non stopping business world to succeed. At last, respecting the high-power distance and strict hierarchy in Hong Kong, as identified in Chapter X, the SHAPE representatives will be employed at the same hierarchical level as executives to avoid power distortions. All in all, this hybrid program will allow expatriates to develop useful skills and knowledge for managing cross-culturally in Hong Kong, whilst being able to attain help at any moment in time.

2. Establish a paternalistic leading role emphasizing collectiveness

Once new social skills have been acquired, the leader should begin fostering a supportive role model, aimed at collective gain. In Hong Kong business culture, the leader’s role in a company is aligned with the father’s role in a family (Wong, Wong & Heng, 2007). Thus, the leadership’s approach is called paternalistic approach, which delineates the leaders’ figure as authoritarian, benevolent and moral (Cheng, Chou, Wu, Huang & Farh, 2004). The leader should establish authority but also provide its subordinates with guidance, leading by example and acting as a role model (Chen, Li & Leung, 2017). This can be done by conducting a first session with its subordinates, during which the leader talks about his own values, his achievements and way of operating, showing the path to follow in order to succeed and creating a collective vision. The foreign leader may find himself/herself in many different hard situations to deal with. An example would be the case in which a follower makes a mistake in completing his task, causing the final result to be underperformed. As it was mentioned by Mr. Kwan (2020), in such a situation, in Hong Kong, the followers’ reaction would be to panic. This is because they know the leader would be more interested in the person who committed the mistake than in how the mistake was made, and, recognizing his authority, they would fear his/her punishment (Kwan, 2020). In this case, the leader should handle the situation by communicating to the followers what they did wrong and guide them in understanding what could be improved for the future, showing benevolence and empathy, but also punishing them to show his authority and make them learn from mistakes. Obviously, apart from punishing followers when they do something wrong, the leader should also reward them when they achieve successes, as a father would do with his children (Cheng, Chou, Wu, Huang & Farh, 2004). This potential situation highlights one of the most important dimensions in the Confucian culture, being high power distance, which is the awareness and acceptance in an organization of the existing hierarchy and role power differences (CITATION BOOK). In Hong Kong the working schedule is very strict, and respect and discipline are keys to successfully do business (Fung, 2020). Thus, the leader should work for longer hours, being a role model and showing devotion and respect for the job he is performing. Additionally, the leader can show respect to its followers by avoiding public criticism, which is defined as losing face, in order to maintain harmony (Wong, Wong & Heng, 2007). Furthermore, to establish his authoritarian position, the leader should also impose strict deadlines to his followers, as a way to impose control and discipline on them. As a father would do, a leader has to also show interest in the well-being of his followers (Cheng, Chou, Wu, Huang & Farh, 2004). Thus, in order to do that, he should allow them to have enough time after lunch to take a nap, which is something that is appreciated by the employees in Hong Kong (Fung, 2020). Overall, by implementing these above-mentioned actions, the leader would be able to establish his authority and a role model of a paternalistic leader.

3. Establish and communicate a clear collective vision?

After establishing a role model, the leader has to create and communicate a clear vision to his followers. In Hong Kong business, the communication is indirect, and characterized by unsaid meanings, (Kwan, 2020). Additionally, as previously mentioned, due to high power distance, organizations are very hierarchical (Kwan, 2020). Thus, to effectively communicate with subordinates, the communication has to respect the hierarchy of the organization. To achieve this successfully, at the beginning of each month the CEO can make company announcements (as broadcasts) to communicate the general goals to achieve. Then, at the end of the official announcement, the divisional managers should state the sub goals of each division and the leaders of sub teams should set the personal goals. In this way, the employees would all be aligned and thus, they would have a collective vision. Additionally, the leader should use terms as “we” and “us” to further establish a sense of collectiveness and familiarity among the subordinates.

4. Implementation of a Personal Development Program with feedback loop capabilities to cater to employees’ expectations and ensure efficient operation.

Having established the trunk, more precisely how to manage such a hierarchical society and how to nurture growth through a clear vision, attention must be shifted to how to motivate and retain employees, crucial for sustainable operations. Nevertheless, opposingly to the Western monetary incentive approaches, the influence of Confucian values, especially loyalty and learning, have fostered a different hierarchy of importance. This hierarchy becomes evident in a 2013 poll of Hong Kong employees, in which 65% rated Job security as the most important incentive (Intrinsic), followed by salary (63%) and advancement opportunities (44%). This reinforces the findings established in the interview with Kwan (2020), who underlined the need for a complementary incentive/motivation structure next to monetary compensation in the domains of job security and advancement. Thus, an organization must create a feeling of belonging and has to be seen as an opportunity provider, which is why we recommend the implementation of a personal development program to cater to employee expectations.

Facilitated by newly employed PROGRESS Representatives, the program will provide educational opportunities with a focus on skill extension, catering to the result orientated personalities of Cantonese employees. Taking place in monthly group sessions with a follow up individual session, the program will begin with a cultural awareness course, aimed at providing an understanding of the agreed upon similarities and differences compared to their Western counterparts, encouraging convergence and establishing a sense of belonging through a common understanding. Moreover, subsidiary executives will play a key role in the program next to the representatives, teaching leadership, management and other courses related to their strengths. Such knowledge will also be valued by employees, who often view, standalone, the management skills of Westerners as superior to local bosses. Thus, this inclusion assists executives in establishing a role model position in the organization and facilitate their supportive leadership style. Lastly, another advantage of such implementing such a? program is the opportunity to shape individual behavior to be better aligned with the corporate culture. Achieved by representatives subtly embedding corporate values and ‘ways of working’ when mediating discussion and the use of model solutions in explanation, this technique can harmonize the organizational micro environment.

However, similarly to the SHAPE representatives, one must stress the importance of employing the Progress Representatives at the same level as the employees they are educating, to avoid hierarchical distortions and enable a more open and productive learning environment. This becomes even more important when considering the individual follow up sessions. Aimed at providing a platform for personal reflection, but more importantly acting as a feedback loop, the inclusion of individual sittings combats the strongly prevalent groupthink bias. Sessions will revolve around asking the individual to reflect on the current state, with respect to the regular work environment and recent group session. Elaborations on what they have learnt and which challenges they are facing will be asked for, allowing the representative to gather indirect feedback about working at the company.? Nevertheless, the directness of questions should vary between participants, reflecting the varying receptiveness between ‘seniors’ and ‘juniors’ established in the interview. This gathered lower level knowledge and feedback is highly valuable to higher executives to make more educated decisions and thus must be transferred. Nevertheless, the high power distance results in employees not giving their opinion and feedback to respect the hierarchy in place, underlining the need for an indirect feedback loop. This loop will work based upon the introduced SHAPE and Progress Representatives, where the Progress group collects the individual feedback and recirculates it to the SHAPE individuals. Following, the executive coaches will integrate the feedback in their coaching sessions, to further shape his/her leadership style, whilst highlighting possible recommendations. Thus, circumventing the possible hierarchical boundaries, the use of local knowledge is ensured. In closing, a personal development program with feedback loop capabilities yields multiple advantages ranging from targeting employee expectations to harmonizing the organizational micro environment.

Negotiation

Negotiation procedures are important. Study found that negotiators from different cultures are likely not to change their negotiation strategy in conflict; having someone from Hong Kong to negotiate or assist could help to avoid conflict.

1. Building and maintaining your Guanxi is important for collaboration between companies

Relationship building and trust are especially important parts of the negotiation process in Hong Kong.? As earlier discussed, Guanxi is an important part of the Chinese and Hong Kong culture that has shaped how individuals interact with each other. Guanxi is highlighted in the Hong Kong negotiation culture as it includes the development of relationships especially with influential people who you can exchange favors with (Buttery & Leung, 1998). In order to benefit from favors, one must have the right connections to reach out to the right people for negotiation purposes. Relationship building and trust are perceived to be more important by the Hong Kong people as transactions are not pure economic processes (Buttery & Leung, 1998, Kwan, personal communication, 2020). Building Guanxi is in essence creating relationships with people and institutions that you and your company could benefit from and vice versa.?

Upon arrival in Hong Kong, encourage your executives to attend networking events and industry conferences in order to build their Guanxi.

2. Familiarize yourself with the negotiation process

The usual negotiation process often starts by reaching out to the right person from the counterparty on the same hierarchical level through networks, Guanxi. The first meeting is meant to explain the value proposition to the counterparty. However, it is very important to not dish out your full proposal and entace the counterparty to ask for it. The second meeting is used to spark more interest, and only in the third meeting the parties discuss how they can work together and how the discussion will proceed over time (Kwan, personal communication, 2020).?

Negotiation meetings in Hong Kong are more structured than in The Netherlands and there are certain steps that cannot be missed (Kwan, personal communication, 2020). Respect is crucial in the business world and failing to meet these steps may cause losing face. Before entering a meeting you must know who is attending the meeting from your and the counterparty's side. The persons with the highest hierarchical level present from each sider are assumed to have the same power in their companies. In addition, knowledge of who attends the meeting is used to determine the seating order in the meeting which may take a considerable amount of time and preparation before a meeting. In roundtable meetings, the attendees are in an order based on their hierarchy and position. For example, attendees with the same position or placement in hierarchy always sit opposite of each other and those with less power sit further away from the person with the highest status

Before a meeting proceeds, the parties exchange business cards which has to be treated with respect. During a meeting, it is important to keep eye contact when addressing someone and opinions must be expressed cautiously. Gift-giving is an important part of any business meeting. The value of a gift signals the importance of the relationship and established hierarchy (Woo & Prud’homme, 1999).

3. Acquire a local negotiator or an assistant

Even if you familiarize yourself with the procedures of a negotiation meeting, it is helpful to have someone who is familiar with the Hong Kong culture on your side. Hong Kong has a high context culture which may lead to misunderstandings on the low context Dutch side and eventually losing face.

A local expert would help you to understand what a Hong Kong negotiator actually means when saying ‘no’ or nodding their face. It is very common for Chinese negotiators to use the word ‘no’ in order to begin negotiations and not end them (Camp, 2014). This common negotiation technique takes time to learn, and a local expert would also help you to say no.?

In the case of personal conflict, Chinese are most likely to end the negotiation whereas the Western counterparts would be friendly or consult their superior (Tse, Francis & Walls, 1994).

Teamwork

Lastly, at the core of any successful business’ operation the need of a successful leader and negotiator is very important but along with these two a cooperative culture that has strong teamwork is also needed. Hence, the third part of the recommendations focuses around the domain of teamwork and the strategy connected with working with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. The recommendations will focus on what is needed to mitigate these challenges and how to improve the working culture within a business managing a global team in order to reach its goals.

1. Task Management Software

When starting a subsidiary in a culture that is very different from the company's origin, having a software that aligns tasks and clearly presents and highlights what is needed can go a long way to ease the adaptation to meshing both work cultures. This will provide a simple work interface that offers a seamless transition. Since Dutch working culture incorporates a lot of meetings while culture in Hong Kong leans to being more outcome and solution oriented, having a task management software that can combine features that favor both work cultures is an optimal solution to the different mindsets. This recommendation will also help maintain the efficiency that the Hong Kong culture is used to while also being able to mitigate internal problems. Since communication is crucial if there are less frequent meetings, the task management software is optimal for this as the application allows teams to gather information and conversations in one place with real time syncing across the board. This means that there should be no micromanaging meaning teams should be given the time, space and independence to produce work on their own without feeling like they are always being watched or judged (Source). The specific task management software that is recommended is Scoro. Scoro is a comprehensive end to end solution that contains an extensive amount of features to help simplify all business operations. With features such as work and meeting scheduling, communication and file sharing, project and task management, and real time dashboards with time tracking along with other beneficial features Scoro helps streamline all work progress so more problems can be solved and to enhance productivity (Source Scoro). An example where Scoro was implemented to improve business processes and teamwork was in the company Stramark which is an online marketing agency from the Netherlands. For many years , Stramark struggled with information being scattered around and an overflow of emails, inefficient time-management processes, and no real-time overview which made it a challenge to work proactively. After implementing Scoro, team efficiency was increased as teams can work more autonomously because everyone knows their own responsibilities and with real-time information, everyone in Stramark had a clear understanding of the business to see if goals were achieved as all information was gathered in one solution (Source Scoro 2). The CEO of Stramark claimed that all employees and managers saved up to two hours every week due to the software and that it allowed the collective effort to focus on more important things such as strategy and development. Therefore the implementation of the task management software for the subsidy in Hong Kong could be a great stepping stone to successful teamwork.

2. Operating in an open office on same hierarchy

Research has shown that in the past two decades, the time employees spend on “collaborative activities” has increased by almost 50 per cent (Source the conversation). Therefore, introducing an operational structure such as an open office amongst the same hierarchy within the company can help ease the collaborative activities instead of a traditional cubicle layout. It is important that the layout is amongst people of the same hierarchy since otherwise the respective power gap and respect towards higher positions could cause conflict as everyone in the respective open office levels should be involved in decision making. This type of layout could foster success in a people oriented culture such as Hong Kong. While Dutch people are generally individualistic, they are not afraid to point out problems but people from Hong Kong have groupthink problems where they are usually too afraid to express their own opinion (source interview). By having a sense of personal involvement in the decision-making process, it will solidify individuals’ connection and investment in the team, making them feel like they are an integral part of something rather than just a piece of the puzzle. It is important to initiate clear team roles with diverse strengths to help empower the collective creativity. In addition to this, the open office layout will foster better communication amongst teams as employees are more accessible to each other. Furthermore, switching to an open office saves businesses money spent on furnishing dozens of cubicles which can be spent on integral parts of the business operation instead (Source Flockblog). However, for the open office layout to bring successful teamwork, it is crucial that some core values and rules are set up. Having mutual respect towards noise preferences is integral as otherwise team members might feel that they can not speak or that it is too noisy to concentrate. Rules for sharing the space are also important and making employees understand that interruptions can be seen as an opportunity to help others, rather than as a problem (Source conversation). Lastly, the making of a few breakout rooms could be beneficial if there is some vastly important team meeting that needs to be done in full silence or if a more formal discussion is needed with a client or external party.

3. Integrate cultural traditions to develop chemistry

When the subsidy first opens up in Hong Kong, the initial phase will still contain cultural barriers that hinder the full openness from both the Dutch and people from Hong Kong. To help develop relationships and connect the people with each other,? participation in cultural traditions can help socializing,? increase trust, and a sense of belonging. To honor the culture in Hong Kong, participation in traditional dragon boat racing is an activity that can help strengthen the employees' relationships. While the historical and cultural context of the event is less important, the satisfaction gained from participating in a physical and competitive activity can be seen as a positive (source udo merkel). What underpins this traditional activity is the values that are attributed to it. Hard work, as a defining characteristic of the races along with teamwork which seems to be a central element for all the racers. Ultimately, the team building and bonding with fellow racers can be viewed as a positive bonus to the already fun activity which can increase the sense of belonging.?