LAUREA-POLYTECHNIC ESPOO-INSTITUTE FINNISH BROADCAST COMPANY YLE/FST

Transcription

1 LAUREA-POLYTECHNIC ESPOO-INSTITUTE FINNISH BROADCAST COMPANY YLE/FST Balint Szekely Dimitri Van Den Broecke Manuela Meindl Mirella Bearzatto Susanna Viikki ICM Report November 2003

2 The dice is the symbol of FST. 2

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 1 INTRODUCTION DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY Location History Product/Service Size Organisational chart International status FACTS AND FIGURES Personnel Foreign markets HOFSTEDE S FIVE DIMENSIONS Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Masculinity / Feminity Individualism / collectivism Time CULTURE ANALYSE Extern Intern CONCLUSION LIST OF SOURCES APPENDICES Appendix Appendix Appendix

4 4 1 INTRODUCTION In order to write this report we have attended the International Culture Management (ICM) seminar in Espoo, Finland. The lectures we had were about the differences in cultures. 50 Students from 5 different countries participate in the seminar. Students worked in groups with 5 people containing the participated nationalities, namely Belgium, Finland, Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands. Our group-members are: - Balint Szekely Hungary - Dimitri Van Den Broecke Belgium - Manuela Meindl Germany - Mirella Bearzatto The Netherlands - Susanna Viikki Finland Each group completes the seminar by writing a report and doing a presentation about a local company dealing with intercultural aspects. Our group interviewed on last Tuesday, November, the 18th Kenneth Nars, Design Journalist, Johan Förnäs, Purchase Journalist, and Brita Carpelan, Purchase Journalist, who are working at YLE /FST company. In this report we will look into the company s structure, the company s culture and how the company deal with cultural differences.

5 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY Location YLE/FST Radiokatu 5, Pasila, Helsinki Iso Paja brita.carpelan@yle.fi 2.2 History 1926: the Finnish broadcasting Company YLE is founded 1927: the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra FRSO is set up 1950: YLE joins the European Broadcasting Union EBU 1956: the VHF radio network is completed 1957: pilot television broadcasts commence 1958: regular television broadcasts begin 1959: the second and third VHF network are completed 1964: Tesvisio and Tamvisio are incorporated into YLE 1969: colour broadcasts start 1981: teletext begins 1994: the Act on Yleisradio Oy comes into force 1997: TV Finland launches digital satellite broadcasts to Europe 1998: the first digital radio channel Radio Peili is launched 1999: YLE s Distribution Engineering becomes the subsidiary Digital Oy 2000: pilot digital television broadcasts are launched 2001: YLE s 75 th anniversary; digital television begins 2002: the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra s 75 th anniversary 2.3 Product/Service The finish broadcasting, called YLE, is the national public service broadcasting company with two analogue (and digital) TV channels in Finnish (YLE1 and YLE2), one digital Swedish language TV channel (FST) and two digital

6 channels in finish (YLE Teema, YLE24). YLE operates thirteen radio channels and services complemented by regional radio programmes. 6 YLE s television channels and services provide programmes that meet the journalistic, cultural and entertainment needs of a public service. During the year, YLE attained a daily reach of modern 3 million viewers for the first time. However, audience level is not the most important level; well-made, impressive programmes are number one. YLE provides the themes for public debate and wants its viewers to react to them. YLE television is holding on to its strategy: independent, domestic news and current affairs programming and cultural and educational output will grow in importance in future. YLE has now got different channels: YLE TV1 TV1 is the leading channel for news and current affairs and the provider of culture, drama and satire in Finland. Its programming focuses on European production in all programme areas. TV1 is also the main channel for documentaries and background information. (YLE TV1D is the digital version) YLE TV2 TV2 is a very approachable channel for the whole Finnish nation, with programming that really points out life beyond Helsinki. An important part of the broadcasting programmes are children s programmes, sport events, service and lifestyle programmes and musical entertainment. (YLE TV2D is the digital version) YLE 24 This channel provides around-the-clock news and current affairs with news service, also on analogue channels. YLE Teema It s a digital channel for culture, education and science FST FST is a digital full service channel in Swedish for all audience groups. Programmes in Swedish are also available on YLE TV1 and YLE TV2.

7 7 Other channels and services are YLE Teletext, regional TV news, YLE Superteletext, TV Finland SVT Europa. The Finnish website of YLE ( is one of the most popular internet service with thousands of pages of comprehensive news, sports and weather service. Besides television channels, they also provide radio channels with great diversity and number of listeners. YLE radio channels reach 51% of the population each day. Its channels and services offer audiences a balanced mix of alternatives. YLE has also a symbol of its own: it is a dice with 5 eyes. The company has chosen that particular symbol because it stands for the 5 different channels of the entire company. 2.4 Size YLE/FST is the main television company in Scandinavian countries. The headquarters of FST is situated in Helsinki and from there they broadcast to the rest of the county... this results in a huge building built in Because television is always progressing in the field of technology, the company also has to keep pace with evolution and even revolution regarding technology, informatics That s why the company never ceases to expand. The surface is divided in different departments, each with its own characteristics. Beside the FST headquarters, they have also few other big bases in Western Finland like Vaasa, Turku and Åland Islands. You can also find a large number of smaller bases in the rest of the country where local stations can broadcast programmes.

8 8 2.5 Organisational chart Yleidradio Oye Administrative Council Strategic Projects Radio - Radio Ylen Ykkönen - Radiomafia - Radio Suomi - News - New Services Figure 1 Chart of YLE Board of Directors Director General Television - TV1 - TV2 - YLE Teema - YLE24 - Teletext - Joint operations - Production Service Corporate Affairs Corporate Finance Logistics and Properties Corporate Technology Swedish Language Radio and Television - FSR Radio Radio Vega Radio Extern - FST Television

9 9 Manager Ann Sandelin Common operations YLE FST Radio YLE FST Television Figure 2 Chart of FST News, sport, regional /territorial programs Documents/Theme programs Fiction Program purchase/ Common productions Programme Manager Office/Agency - Programme design - Broadcast operations activity - Program development - Publicity marketing - Staff/Personnel - Economy - Resource

10 2.6 International status 10 Their programmes are available to all Finnish people and even to the Swedish. YLE, together with FST are broadcasting some programmes to the rest of the world as well by the means of satellite. Consumers of television programmes really enjoy FST because they are trying to concentrate on the quality of the products rather than on quantity. The reason for this way of working is that this particular company doesn t have actual competitors. Although they don t actually have to compete with other television companies, they still have the highest viewer rates in the country. 3 FACTS AND FIGURES 3.1 Personnel Nowadays, YLE has employed about people and 200 people more or less is now working in FST. More than half the employees are women, even in the management environment. You can find all types of jobs in FST, from informaticiens to editors to journalists Administrations, services and maintenance: 27% Production: 18% Journalistic: 35% Programme services: 15% Others: 5% FST, not like most companies, doesn t have any foreign employee from other European countries, only from Sweden. 3.2 Foreign markets YLE s programmes are mainly European (86%) and domestic production (57%). One fifth (21%) of the domestic premiers were produced in co-operation with domestic independent producers, news and sport excluded. One third (31%) of the programmes were repeats.

11 Origin of programmes: Britain: 13% Finland: 57% France: 3% Germany: 3% Nordic countries: 6% United States: 9% Other European countries: 4% Others: 5% 11 4 HOFSTEDE S FIVE DIMENSIONS 4.1 Power distance It is very noticeable that in FST the power distance is incredibly low. Although there is a certain hierarchy, the interaction between chairman, managers and employees is very loose. Everybody addresses each other by their first name. Even the general manager is called Ann instead of Mrs. Sandelin. Nobody uses the function, they consider everyone equal. In other words, titles are of no importance and they leave status aside. What is quite striking as well is that employees are able to read almost every meeting on the intranet, so nothing is confidential. This advantage really gives the company a head start because everybody is well-informed. We weren t there long enough to experience if managers come to consensus in an easy way, but first appearances give us a good example that everything runs smooth there. So even though there is a kind of hierarchy, every management layer is of equal importance. 4.2 Uncertainty avoidance On one hand the company took quite some risks because they switched over to digital television. The reason why this is a huge risk nowadays is that only 6% or 7% have a license for digital TV. This is due to the fact that digital TV is still in an early stage and it costs more than normal cable TV. On the other hand FST are a bit careful regarding the market. They are continually investigating other

12 12 markets, the people s way of thinking and what they like or dislike. In this way the company is well-prepared for the future. Another subject that might lead to high uncertainty avoidance is that they don t have foreign employees, although they co-operate with other countries. They rather prefer employing translators instead of foreigners. Personal initiative is one of the most important things in the company because almost every person has his or her own job, for example editing, writing reports, journalistic text writing, etc. However, every subject of the process is holding hands with the next one. So the tasks depend on one another and the results are as good as the weakest link in the chain. 4.3 Masculinity / Feminity Looking at the facts and the things we heard, feminity is a main characteristic of the company. This is a result of the large amount of women who work at FST. More than half the employees are female, even in management level and they needn t to make more effort than men. People also have 9 to 5 jobs like most companies, depending on the type of job. People who work longer and make extra hours are rewarded by extra days of holiday. But working doesn t come in the first place, they still like a couple of days off to relax, spend spare time with family or friends because all work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Their motto is quality and not quantity! If someone does a good job and makes a lot of effort, then he or she can be rewarded with promotion regardless nature of sex. The managers we had interviewed were rather modest than assertive. However Brita Karpelan, she is one of the company buyers, need to be assertive from time to time.

13 4.4 Individualism / collectivism 13 As we said in the second dimension, lots of people strive for personal initiative because their job is very much individual orientated. Of course promotion is something that is not left out. In this way people are more motivated to do their job well irrespective their age. It is the performance that counts. There are not many differences in wages. Of course a manager earns more money than an employee. But everyone can make a good living. 4.5 Time During work time the employees have some time on their own. They can manage their own time, their own time schedules, but still most of them must keep the deadlines in mind. Nevertheless the company offers a lot of flextime as long as the work is done at the end of the day. As we had already mentioned, the mayor part of the employees have a 9 to 5 job. As far as holidays, they have about 30 days of holidays like in other countries but they don t have as much official holiday as for example in Belgium. 5 CULTURE ANALYSE The Finnish television market consists of four main national channels watched by two million Television-Households. Two of these channels are commercial channels. YLE supplies two nation wide channels, TV1 en TV2. Both channels are broadcasting programmes in Finnish and Swedish. A part is produced by own production and other programmes are imported. Finland s Svenska Television, also named FST, is the Swedish-language YLE s digital television. FST provides full service for the Swedish-speaking Finnish or Swedish viewers.

14 14 No one could imagine that Finland would have a Swedish digital language TV channel these days. Two years ago, the digital revolution was a big opportunity for YLE to set up this new way of media. The language of this channel is Swedish, but most of the programmes have Finnish subtitles. The most important thoughts for establishing this new channel was improving the Swedish-speaking Finnish culture and the Swedish-language of the Finish people. Although Finland is a bilingual country, there is a declining number of Swedish inhabitants and only 6 % of Finland s inhabitants have a digital receiver. FST do not have enough financial resources to compete with other commercial channels. They compete in the television market to offer alternative programmes and set a high value on qualitative programs. Their main goal and service is to give their viewers something what they do not get from commercial channels. Variety is quality! Extern The Viewers Byers and Sellers Intern Intern organization/employees Figure 3 FST s relationship figure 5.1 Extern FST have three different kinds of relationships. The first relationship is the viewer, secondly the programme buyers and thirdly the program sellers. It is very important for FST to remain all these different relationships and make new ones. The viewer is the most important relationship of FST. The viewer gives FST the information about what they want to see and hear on the television. Important to know is that there are no large cultural differences between the Finnish and Swedish inhabitants of Finland. The only difference is the language. Their target

15 group is much larger then only the Swedish speaking people because FST provides subtitles. 15 FST have good and long relationships with other buyers, sellers and broadcasting companies for example with the EBU (European Broadcast Union) and other Scandinavian broadcasting companies. (e.g. Swedish TV Channel)... FST experience many cultural differences for example the formality. Typical for Finish employees and their culture is the high informality and freely expressing their opinion directly to each other. A programme director must have sufficient international knowledge and experience in order to establish a good relationship. Also good communication skills and culture knowledge are of great importance. 5.2 Intern 190 employees are currently working at FST. Most of them speak Finnish and Swedish, which is also an important requirement for applying for a job at FST. The Swedish speaking minority do not have the feeling that they are not part of the group. Every department respects each other work and function. The company gives students the opportunity to do an internship of apply for a job, especially in the summer holidays. This will give the student more experience. Most of the characteristics will also be mentioned in Hofstede s five dimensions. 6 CONCLUSION At our company visit at FST we got very positive experiences about this TV station. We could investigate the company, which is very interesting from our point of view, because it broadcasts programmes all over the world but also for Swedish people living in Finnland. We could see how people are working there, and what are the conditions of working like. We had a really friendly guide, who took us on a tour through the company, and gave us a lot of imformation. Last but certainly not least, we received a present. It was the symbol of the company, namely the dice with the five eyes.

16 16 Our questionary was based upon Hofstede`s cultural dimensions and was a actually a useful tool. We can say that FST is a horizontal structured company. The managers and the employees are having an informal relationship with one another and this results in a very friendly and close atmosphere. One reason for that could be that the manager Ann Sandelin used to work in Stockholm Sweden and there people are used to this kind of friendliness between management top and employees. In Sweden it is more usual to have direct interaction between managers and employees. It might cause protocollar difficulties for the managers when they meet with foreign partners (eg. they forget to say Mrs. or Mr. to foreign partners). They are very proud to their culture, and that they could adopt the Swedish working customs. Thank you for giving us such an excellent opportunity. We really all enjoyed it and we hope that in the future we have more of this types of chances. It is well worth of participating on such seminars.

17 17 7 LIST OF SOURCES Brochure This is Yle 2002 Brochure FST Finlands Svenska Television 2003 Course from ICM: Report writing. course given by Johan D Haveloose Negociating technics. course given by Adrian Borggreve and Kristina Henriksson Behaviour techniques. course given by Annie Van Wanseele and Rolf Schwermer Cultural differences. course given by Annie Van Wanseele and Ildiko Dosa Interpersonal skills. course given by Ildiko Dosa Cultural dimensions. course given by Johan D Haveloose

18 APPENDICES 1 Appendix 1 QUESTIONNAIRE FACTS 1. How many employees does YLE have? 2. How many employees does FST have? 3. Who is watching FST and how many? 4. How many foreign employees does your company have? 18 EXTERN POLICY 5. Does FST have an own vision/mission and strategy? 6. Who/What is the market they operate on? 7. What is the target-group? 8. What is their market share? 9. Are they thinking about expansion? 10. Does the company make profit? 11. What are the needs of the customer? 12. Are you the main channel or do you have competitors? 13. What was the purpose to establish the Finish channel FST? 14. Can you watch FST only in Finland or Sweden or in other countries as well (technology)? 15. How do you know what the people (your target-group) want to see? 16. Are you doing market-research? INTERN POLICY 17. Is there a vertical or horizontal hierarchy between FST s departments? 18. Is there a minority-group? 19. Are the sexes considered equal? (Wage differences?) 20. Does the company have policy procedures to deal with foreign employees? 21. Does the company provide integrate programs or do they accept trainees? 22. What kind of requirements should the employees have? Do they also need some skills of languages? 23. What is the relationship between managers/ directors and other employees? 24. Does the company have flexible working-hours? WAY OF WORKING 25. Are you also making programmes of your own? 26. Do you sell them to other countries? 27. Are you buying programs? And if yes from which country? POSSIBLE PROBLEMS 25. Is there a difference between Swedish and finish, besides the lingual difference? 26. What are those differences? 27. What are the culture programme differences? 28. If there is a possible conflict between different cultures, how does the company solve them?

19 2 Appendix 2 The Group log 19 In the beginning, nobody didn t really know what to expect of the seminar. It was sometimes hard to get to know the other members, but this problem has been solved during these two weeks. Everybody has a different kind of personality and has other skills; therefore we had to discover what the abilities of everyone are and to accept how each one is working. This was possible because of the very different kind of task we had to do during the lectures, like Negotiations, Cultural Dimensions, Team Roles and Intrapersonal skills and above all the evening programs with games (e.g. the survival case). At the beginning it didn t go off with a flying start because some people were not that communicative because of the language or language, which was sometimes a big barrier between group members. Therefore expressing yourself has been sometimes not that easy. Although there were a few problems, the team was quite motivated during the last two weeks and we have learned a lot of each other, of the other ways of life and the foreign culture s customs. At the end, we functioned very well as a team.

20 3 Appendix 3 Time log 20 At Thursday, 13 November we got the name of the company we need to visit. We didn t know anything about the company before Monday. At Monday, 17 November, we had about two hours time to inform about YLE/ FST. At Laurea Polytechnic we had searched for information in the internet and discussed about the issue. The next morning we needed about two hours to prepare the questionnaire for the company visit. At we arrived at YLE/ FST, which is located in Pasila, Helsinki. The appointment was arranged at 13.30, and Kenneth Nars showed us around for about a half an hour and while telling us a lot of information about the company. After going to the conference room, we met Johan Förnäs and Brita Carpelan. First they showed us the homepage of FST and Kenneth together with Johan explained more about the company. After the short presentation we asked our questions, because Johan had another appointment after that, so Brita continued to explain about her job. We spent about one hour in the conference room. Later Kenneth gave us a tour around the company and we had the opportunity to have a look at different types of studios. We were really surprised about the sheer size of the building. All in all we were about two hours in the company, we spent six hours preparing the report, today ten hours to write the report and to prepare the presentation.