Cultural Values in Building the Channel Tunnel

This report examines the cultural values and working patterns of British and French managers involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel. It discusses the challenges faced by the two nations and how they were overcome. It also explores the benefits of the Channel Tunnel for international businesses.

Individuals in Society

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Describe the two nations involved in building the Channel ......................................................1
What were the challenges faced by the two nations and how these have been overcome..........2
What are the benefits of the Channel for international businesses.............................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Organisational culture is undertaken as the collection of significant values, practices and
expectations that tends to provide effective guidance in terms of informing the activities and
actions of team members (Barwick and Le Galès, 2020). The below report is based on the
channel tunnel which is also termed as “Euro tunnel” that is developed among the England and
France. For this, the report depicts the cultural values and prominent instrument that are taken
from the Hofstede undertaking the behavioural instrument in order to examine the personality
and working pattern of British and French managers who work towards the channel tunnel
project. The channel tunnel is the constructing idea of English channel which was revived in
1986 and the initiative took by UK and France.
MAIN BODY
Describe the two nations involved in building the Channel
This section depicts the findings of Hofstede considering the cultural values but it does
not support the effective implications for the behaviour. For t his, the British ware found more
bureaucratic and team oriented whereas the French managers are counterparts in terms of being
more competitive (Emery, 2018). It also tends to depict the effective relationship among the
behaviour and culture which is identified among the managers and employees of both the nations
with the help of Hofstede culture model in terms of identifying the behaviour of managers
considering the cultural and organisational variables. In regard of this, the cross national
comparison is done in terms of cultural values and organisations and its major contribution is
towards the effective understanding of national business culture. Hofstede model is helpful in
terms of identifying the various dimensions of culture and it is described with the help of various
factors: Power distance: This power depicts the inequality that exist among people with or
without power. For this, high power distance depicts that society need to accept the
hierarchical distribution of power and inequality which people need to understand the
proper system. Meanwhile, low power distance depicts that effective power is being
shared among the employees which widely dispersed among the members of society and
they does not tends to accept the situation (Billé, 2020). Considering the project of
channel tunnel, in this British managers plays an important role regarding the effective
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collaboration as the French managers tends to report for the high cohesion which is based
on the competitive units among the two nations. As per this, French managers also had
more work and rights to take decisions whereas British managers are less procedure
oriented as they does not follow proper process. Furthermore, British managers also get
less feedback and opportunity regarding the conflicts that arise at the time of Channel
tunnel project for the mutual adjustment. Individualism vs. Collectivism: It depicts the strengths that ties people to have others in
their community. For this, weak individualism depicts the weak interpersonal connection
to those who are not the core part of institution. For this, people take less responsibility
for others in terms of taking actions for the desired outcome. Moreover, the collectivist
society depicts those individuals who are loyal towards the group work and for this,
group tends to defend their interest (Walls, 2017). Considering the channel tunnel project,
people take responsibility for the well being of each other and also prefer to work on the
collective basis which is useful to accomplish prominent goals undertaking the well-
being of group. In regard of this, French people are tends to work on the individual basis
that depicts the significance on the grounds of accomplishing goals and objectives
considering their self image as they work for itself. Uncertainty avoidance: This factor represent that how people can overcome from the
factor of anxiety. For this, various societies tends to score high towards uncertainty
avoidance and people also attempt to make their life more controllable and predictable
which becomes as possible (Restrepo Acevedo, 2018). For this, they can find things
which are not in control and also tempted to stop trying to catch out the opportunities. In
regard of this, the managers of British has the low tolerance for uncertainty, ambiguity
and also tends to eliminate risk through strict rules and norms. Meanwhile, the managers
of French represent the high tolerance for the uncertainty, risk taking and also openly
accept the prominent regulations and rules.
 Masculinity vs. femininity: It depicts the effective distribution of roles among the male
and female. For this, masculine factor refers the roles of men and women that tends to
overlap less and men are expected to behave more assertively. In terms of feminine
element, it depicts the great deal that tends to overlap among the male and female
considering their roles that give great importance for the good relationship which
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prominently supervise the working with people and also tends to cooperate in an effective
manner with one another (Liang and et. al., 2018). Considering the project of Channel
tunnel it is the mining and digging work and for this, females are not involved at the
lower level as they tends to work at the higher level and these are also majorly British
women as they have the effective knowledge for working effectively and managing
various task at one time.
What were the challenges faced by the two nations and how these have been overcome
It depicts that when the England and France decided to link their countries with just a 32
mile rail tunnel beneath the English channel and for this, engineers face lot of challenges at the
time of building the longest tunnel in the world. For this, they need to convince public that
passengers would be safe at the tunnel in this size. In regard of this, company tends to face lot
issues such as search of proper area, tunnel fire and many other disaster in which people died
while performing their work. It depicts that channel include three significant tunnel as each of
them are 50 km long as two of the tubes are full sized and properly accommodate for rail traffic.
Moreover, it is undertaken as the complex project and severe for the engineering
challenge in terms of making 40 km long tunnel under sea as it tends to undertake effective and
critical research in order to find prominent path and way to construct the tunnel. At times, project
has seen various issues and problems at the time of digging including leakage of water, wastage
of rock and so on. For this, few challenges are discussed as under:
 Extensive amount of research can be done before any tunnelling could be done in order to
find out the kind of soil and rock should be encounter and the best place to make way for
the tunnel (Young Jr and et. al., 2017). In regard of this, more than 3,000 bore holes were
drilled to find prominent path for the channel to acquire core sample of the rock between
the ocean. For this, engineers also found that around 45 meters below the seabed they can
offer the suitable medium for the tunnel.
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 After this, they need to find out the prominent machine for the engineers in which they
need to design new tunnel boring machines in terms of drilling through the rock. For this,
they also tends to conduct research to find out the best location after six faulty lines that
were found criss-crossing the few miles for the path of tunnel as the tunnel's path is off to
the French coast.
 Furthermore, the concrete lining had to be enough for the 150 feet of seabed above it. It is
also close to one million concrete lining sections that are made on the walls of tunnel.
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 For this, tunnel was completed considering the several factors like cooling, ventilation,
pumping and so on but despite of that, an incident occur regarding fire when train carries
passengers (Kronlage and et. al., 2018). For this, the most serious fire have occurred in
1996 that tends to damage 500 meters of the tunnel and impact the operations for six
months and after that an automatic fire dousing house system has installed to deal with
that type of situation.
Ways to overcome challenges:
 In regard of this, there are various ways to overcome these challenges, as they can use
most prominent and effective architects at the time of building tunnel and also also tends
to opt prominent security and safety measures in order to deal with the complex situation
which occur.
 Along with this, it also depicts that government need to provide prominent benefits and
allowances to workers who work for the development of tunnel as they tends to put their
life at risk at the time of performing their job and task.
What are the benefits of the Channel for international businesses
The channel tunnel prominently change the way of doing business in UK as it tends to
enable integrated manufacturing across the continent and open various ways for the new markets.
Its few benefits are mentioned as under:
 The channel tunnel tends to offer the fast, reliable and frequent route in terms of
accounting for €138 billion of trade and around 21 million passengers for each and every
year. It tends to change the way of transport and logistics across the continent (THE
CHANNEL TUNNEL: WHAT ECONOMIC VALUE TO EUROPEAN TRADE?, 2018).
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 Moreover, goods are not much subjective to customs delays as the drivers and passengers
breeze through the borders. For this, just-in-sequence effective production is considered
from the norms of food and drinks which is delivered freshly anytime in order to meet the
needs and requirements of customers. It also tends to express deliveries that are available
for the online shoppers within just 24 hours and also tends to provide medical treatment
that can be prepared on the one side and also deliver for the same day.
 Moreover, the tunnel has enormous capacity for the low marginal cost that tends to
impact the driving down cost and prices and also provide huge social benefit. They also
tends to get the private profitability which is less clear and positive which is quite
sensitive regarding the changes that can become strength for the competition and demand
(Loesch, 2016).
 It also tends to analyse that economic advisory currently completed the research part and
project that tends to look for the economic footprint of the channel tunnel and also depict
the significance for the key industrial sectors and regions of the European Union.
 Moreover, channel tunnel project tends to invite the high level stakeholders for the
workshop in terms of discussion the future and trade for the tourism through channel
tunnel which depicts the significance of high speed, prominent frequency transport and
supply chain for the EU, most of the sectors are beneficial because of the tunnel as it
tends to provide fastest and on time delivery to the businesses and undertaken as the fast
mode of transform that cover long distance in just few minutes (Mészaros, 2016).
In regard of this, most of the countries are depend of the channel tunnel in terms of trade
and tourism that tends to impact the elimination of facility of speed and frequency of transport. It
also tends to make sure the effective benefits of time which is gained by the channel tunnel that
can be maintained for the post-Brexit for trade and tourism.
CONCLUSION
By considering the preceding discussion, it is identified that for the effectively
completion of any task and project it is important to identify the behaviour and personality of
employees are related with the project. The report consider the effective collaboration of two
nations in terms of making a tunnel and also tends to manage the conflicts and confusion among
the managers in terms of the prominent challenges which they face while constructing tunnel and
also find significant ways to overcome the challenges. Lastly, it also tends to depict the
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significant benefits for the international businesses from the channel tunnel as it tends to cover
long distance in few minutes which is beneficial for businesses regarding their transportation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barwick, C. and Le Galès, P., 2020. Work in London, love in Paris: middle class mobility over
the Channel Tunnel. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. pp.1-17.
Billé, F., 2020. Subterranea: Notes on the notion of a geopolitical unconscious. Geoforum.
Emery, P.A., 2018. In the Footsteps of Thomas Hardy: Archaeology and Exhumation at St.
Pancras Burial Ground, London. Death Across Oceans: Archaeology of Coffins and
Vaults in Britain, America, and Australia.
Kronlage, M and et. al., 2018. Peripheral nerve diffusion tensor imaging (DTI): normal values
and demographic determinants in a cohort of 60 healthy individuals. European
radiology. 28(5). pp.1801-1808.
Liang, S and et. al., 2018. Quenching of spin polarization switching in organic multiferroic
tunnel junctions by ferroelectric “ailing-channel” in organic barrier. ACS applied
materials & interfaces. 10(36). pp.30614-30622.
Loesch, C.W., 2016. The Impact of New Technologies on Networking. FAIMA Business &
Management Journal. 4(4). p.33.
Mészaros, E.L., 2016. FAILURE OF THE MIGRATION POLICY AND OF
MULTICULTURALISM IN THE EU? THE ‘CALAIS JUNGLE’AND THE SETUP
OF PARALLEL SOCIETIES. Research and Science Today. (1). pp.81-93.
Restrepo Acevedo, I.C., 2018. Interactive narratives: addressing Social and Political Trauma
through New Media.
Walls, J., 2017. Great British plans—Who made them and how they worked, by Ian Wray:
London, England, Routledge, 2016.
Young Jr, W.F and et. al., 2017. Screening for endocrine hypertension: an endocrine society
scientific statement. Endocrine Reviews. 38(2). pp.103-122.
Online
THE CHANNEL TUNNEL: WHAT ECONOMIC VALUE TO EUROPEAN TRADE?. 2018.
[Online] Available through <https://events.euractiv.com/event/info/the-channel-tunnel-
what-economic-value-to-european-trade>./
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