nldogbert

Hi,

Just read in one of the local Dutch online paper, Telegraaf, that the AF-KLM tie is a failure mainly due to cultural differences.
Am not surprised on this as I have heard numerous times each hand complains about how the other hand is working...

The study was done on both sides - one by a French Institute and the other person from the Tilburg University.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/dft/28673982...mislukt__.html

Guess you can google translate it..though not much details revealed more on this.

Cheers!

Gajan

I have not read the article yet, but from which perspective is it a failure?

ajeleonard

Article is very light on specifics, based on the google translate

They don't detail what aspects of "integration" have not been possible
They don't detail what cultural differences are alleged to have prevented this undefined integration objective
They don't give any reasons why the undefined cultural differences have prevented the undefined integration objective

Not really credible journalism

Zembla

Sums up "de Telegraaf"

irishguy28

Don't bash the journalist; these are the conclusions of an internal AFKLM report based on interviews of managers in both sides of AF-KLM.

NOS is now reporting it, and it will be featured on this evening's 1Vandaag.

It doesn't appear that the new report is available yet; but it is clear that AF-KLM have been, for some time, worried about the lack of cohesion between both sides of the business.

Here's a presentation from 2014 entitled "Comment mieux travailler ensemble"?

And here's the related earlier report from the same authors entitled "Projet de recherche EMLYON-Tilburg sur le rapprochement Air France - KLM : Résultats et perspectives".

irishguy28

The new 110-page report has been published by 1Vandaag (in Dutch)

BOSTravels

Anywhere an English version? (Considering the document name contains "AF.KLM.English.Final-")

San Gottardo

Jean-Marc Janaillac, in his role as CEO of the joint AFKL, artificially shifting growth from KL to AF only to please the AF pilots does not help. This is part of the agreement he made with the AF pilots' union in exchange for his (also flawed) Boost project.

Other than that, "a failure" is pretty broad and the question of "so what" begs to be asked. In terms of cultural integration, working as one, etc. - didn't work, so that is a failure. In terms of both companies strengthening their strategic position - it probably did help, so maybe not a failure, although other combinations (KL-BA) could have been even more beneficial, who knows. And now that it is recognised to be a failure, what happens? Is that a reason to de-merge the companies? Probably makes matters even worse for both of them

nldogbert

Thanks for sharing. A nice read. Although did not go through the whole report yet, from what I have read so far it seems indeed the differences in work culture and leadership point of view is hampering a lot of becoming one.

Some notable points
- lots of "I" and "they" situation especially in the group as a whole for all things
- too many red tapes even from managing point of view of the workers- especially highlighted by the KLM'ers that were interviewed, basically they have to report to mangers in both KLM and AF and they have limited authority for even basic self management tools like requesting for vacation days
- lots of double work and different procedures (depending if it's KLM or AF related) for daily operational work
- each group still determines the fleet composition (with still a need to get approval from the French HQ)
- different type of negotiation mentality - basically the French wants to always be the winning side, and the Dutch are more ok to win some, lose some

I still can't understand why it's difficult for the AF-KLM group to work together since other such cross-culture operations, e.g Shell, Unilever, etc is able to work things out.

Would recommend to just google translate the document for those that are interested, I am sure the message will still be there after the translation.


Cheers!

San Gottardo

Would be interesting to see how IAG and the Lufthansa Group of companies do in comparison.

irishguy28

Sorry, I have not found an English version but presumably the French and English versions will leak in time and be posted here.

Zembla

From what I read its very obvious: there are cultural differences which cause a lot of distrust and even jealousy, and no effort is made to do something about that. Some employees will have stronger feelings about it than others, and it can be contagious. But failure is a big word indeed. I'm convinced that if the merge hadn't happened at least one of the two companies might have been bankrupt by now. That would have been failure!

I work in a company where many different cultures get together, and from experience I can say a few things. It is easy to zoom into cultural differences when things get difficult, and then put the blame exactly there were the differences are. Easy: if you put focus on the differences it's always the fault of the other party! Instead, cultural differences can become a strength when all parties adapt and meet each other in the middle. But before you can adapt you'll have to understand the cultural differences, and that's something that can be learnt.

irishguy28

I know that there was a huge amount of resentment amongst some Iberia staff to the cuts imposed by Wee Willie Walsh but at least IAG now has Vueling in there to bolster the "Spanish-ness" of the group, and the HQ is in Madrid - so I would guess that IAG is more "balanced" than is AF-KLM.

As for the Lufthansa Group - and even given that they have now fully taken over brussels airlines - I would guess that there is a greater degree of linguistic and cultural similarity amongst the various airlines. (Of course, there are tensions in any group, and particularly when low cost and full service airlines are mixed together,e tc - but I don't think IAG or Lufthansa Group are grappling with quite the level of existential angst that seems to plague the AF-KL "fusion").

And in IAG and Lufthansa group, there are several "partners", whereas in AF-KLM, it is overwhelmingly just Air France and KLM - so if there is friction in other groups, the opponents may vary on occasion, but in AF-KLM, it's *always* Paris v Amsterdam. Us vs them.

Zembla

IMHO cultural differences and langue are not an excuse for success rate. Cultural differences can be bridged, even if they are big. AFKL didn't fail as a company, but maybe they are failing doing something about building bridges between cultural differences.

That is a good (and very bold) example of what could be done.

irishguy28

But this is the crux of the reports from this year and 2014.

According to some quuotes I've seen, it seems that AF has only recently started running Dutch courses for its staff - ten years into the "fusion".