Let me this time tackle an aspect that is dealing with a typically Dutch ritual taking place at the end of each year: the famous (notorious?) kerstpakket. Although this habit is not very common in Flanders, I’m sure our Flemish colleagues can fully participate in the discussion and express their opinions, or possibly show envy…
Mid-December… Like many of their colleagues at Dutch universities, TU/e-employees will soon receive their Christmas gift box as a traditional sign of gratification for the hard work performed in the past year. Contents often range from big tutti quanti boxes to smaller sizes with often the traditional wine along with other goodies. It usually fits the Calvinist approach to gift-giving: neutral and universal, but with this festive touch allowed at Christmas and other celebrations. So far so good, although…
TU/e like many Dutch universities has become quite international with ca one-third of non-Dutch employees. This growing diversity impacts all kinds of practices and symbolic aspects of community life, but not its kerstpakket ritual (yet). Most people are happy with various goodies, but some may feel uncomfortable with the wine, due to religious, ethical, medical or personal reasons. This often results in the biggest trade-off or give-away of the year, so if you like wine and your colleagues don’t, be sure to be around…
This situation features a typical example of two opposites known in intercultural communication jargon as Universalism vs Particularism, or the rule vs the exception. TU/e, a secular state university, is universalistic, and it follows standardized procedures based on Dutch value patterns of equality and pragmatism –with wine as this small occasional luxury allowed for Christmas, and aimed at pleasing the vast majority of its employees. However, people with a more particularistic orientation, a worldview based on specific religious, ethical or social restrictions or preferences may object to this gift. Visually, the bottle(s) of wine can make up for the whole box, singling out other products. Trading the wine for other items is not necessarily fair, because they don’t represent the same money value. Consequently, some employees give their wine away, but get no compensation.
Can this difference in the values involved be reconciled? Let me explain. On the one hand, the university Boards want to apply uniform Dutch practices (festive wine at Christmas), but on the other hand, they also need to recognize diversity and allow for some exceptions or own preferences based on religions or other orientations. Unity vs diversity. Most employees will agree that for logistics and equality reasons, the contents must be similar for everyone. Most goodies are likely to be accepted by most recipients. So can the wine be replaced by a product with the same values, but with a larger acceptance within the diverse academic communities? Wine is meant for employees, but not for their kids, aha… so wine is not as general as it seems! So would a box of luxury chocolates meant for the whole family be of a similar value as the wine? This is certainly worth thinking about for the years to come. By the way, if you do so, please offer all types of chocolate to facilitate trading it off among employees. Good interaction at the end of the year. One objection to chocolate, I hear you say: it’s fat, rather unhealthy and… oh yes, possibly harvested by exploited workers, and… oh dear, no, we’ve had enough of that stuff earlier at sinterklaas… What a luxury problem we all have in Holland…
I’m anxious to hear about similar rituals (and possible debates) in other Dutch institutions and also what our Flemish colleagues think about this all. Please join the discussion in this typically Dutch microcosm!
Vincent Merk – v.merk (at) tue (dot) nl,
trainer intercultural communication at University of Technology, Eindhoven
