FENNO-UGRIC CORE VALUES?
THE CASE OF ESTONIA AND FINLAND
Raimo Nurmi & Raoul Uksvärav
INTRODUCTION: Culture in Layers
Culture became a most popular topic in management and business literature as well as seminars during the 1980's. This was on the one hand a reaction against (too) rational view of business among researchers. But cross-cultural phenomena were confronted also in practice by companies in their growing international.
The concept of culture is used in two meanings in business literature. Microculture (corporate culture) refers to the values and beliefs inside an organisation. Macroculture or values and beliefs in the business environment is most noticeable on moving from one geographical area to another. The encounter may be dramatic between, e.g., Western and Islamic environments, but it is remarkable even between nation states.
The discussion on culture has loomed large. For the present purpose we cut corners and discuss culture using the "layer" model. According to this model, culture can be described with the innermost core values and the layers of rituals, heroes and manifestations of culture around the core values (Deal & Kennedy, 1982; Lewis, 1993). So, rationality and economical and technological efficiency are Western core values, while religious values characterise the Islamic, collective values the Japanese, and interpersonal values the Black African cultures. Rituals and ceremonies are a kind of "dance" around the totem of core values - consumption in the West, prayers for the Muslim, corporate for the Japanese, and dancing (literally) for the Black Africans. The heroes of a culture are another reflection of its core values from Henry Ford to Nelson Mandela. Cultural manifestations are in the outermost layer. The members of the culture may not be conscious of the cultural roots and relativity of the manifestations, as they have grown into them during their socialisation process from the early childhood onwards. One’s native language and communication patterns form part of the cultural manifestations that we take for granted and that we tend to take with us even when talking another language in another culture with a different communication pattern. For instance, the Americans consider using first names egalitarian and familiar, while in Germany and Japan a more formal way of speaking is used to show reverence.
In the Following, we try to describe Estonia and Finland by way of this layer model. The two nations share a common Fenno-Ugric ethnic background including languages that are close to each other. Geographical neighbourhood and a joint past as parts of Sweden in the 17th century and czaristic Russia in the 19th century create similarities between the countries. The fifty years after World War II divided the nations more than any other period, as Estonia belonged to the Soviet union, while Finland maintained its political independence and democratic institutions.
We are conscious that a description of national cultures by way of a simplified model is debatable, to say the least. We have had a chance to collect material (Uksvärav & Nurmi, 1993; Nurmi & Uksvärav, 1993; Nurmi & Uksvärav, 1994), but the interpretation of it cannot be unequivocal. Nonetheless, we decided to document our thoughts, and we hope that this conjecture takes us a little bit ahead towards a better understanding of its subject matter.
ESTONIA:
The Struggle for National Survival
Nationality, the maintenance and development of Estonian identity, can be seen as an Estonian core value that has grown out of and been strengthened by the history of the country under foreign rulers. Nationality for the Estonians is not notorious, aggressive nationalism, but a struggle for national survival against occupants of and threats toward their country. It is due to this core value that Estonian people have survived and gained their independence. The last 50 years of sovietisation and russification just crystallised this national feeling - at times to the extent of stubbornness. The same period corroborated the western value base, individualism and legalism that were rooted in Estonian culture way back in its history before and during the first period of independence. At the same time, the Estonians cherished patience, adaptability and the ability to learn from prevailing conditions. Estonians prefer to join good causes (e.g., The Song Festivals, The Baltic Chain) to being vocal or emancipating their core values at times that are not susceptible to their wider proclamation. During the Soviet period, Estonian national rituals and ceremonies were forbidden. Nevertheless, national music and The Song Festival every five years, in particular, created an inherently powerful national ethos. The new national awakening was aptly referred to as "A Singing Revolution". Estonians were masters of silent protest throughout the Soviet period in ways that communicated to every Estonian, but not to a foreigner, including the foreigners who occupied the country. Estonian heroes arose from this struggle for national survival. Wars breed heroes, but in the case of Estonia, cultural heroes are just as important. 
The Estonian language is an important bearer of national identity. It belongs to the Fenno-Ugric group of languages and bears a strong resemblance to the Finnish language. The vocabulary and the grammatical structure of the two languages have much in common. There are no articles, sex or future tense in the languages, which is said to indicate modesty, egalitarianism and nonassertiveness - all of which were virtues in the Ural Forests, from which the Fenno-Ugric peoples originate. Even the communication pattern shows similarities; for instance, interrupting is considered impolite, while other cultures, such as the American, regard interrupting as showing an interest in what the speaker is saying. Most people in northern Estonia understand Finnish, as the Finnish radio and television were their most important channels for western news and views during the Soviet period.
On the other hand, the Estonian language and communication pattern are strikingly different from the Russian ones. There was a tendency to sovietise the Estonian language in the post-war years, but it affected the communication pattern only at the surface. The Estonians learned to use two registers of communication: they learned to pay lip service to the official dogmas and ways of speaking in public; whereas, the other, genuinely national parlance was used in the family and with close and reliable friends. Children learned this finesse before they started to go to school. Estonians have learned to be silent in public, and this manifests itself in the modesty, patience and reservedness seen even today.
A longing for western values, individuality, inner-directedness and a mistrust of the Russians can be seen in many ways, even today in the present political debates following the first years of the democratically elected parliament. Old Tallinn, probably the most authentic Hansa Town that the Estonians cherish with due pride, is one more manifestation of the core values dating way back into the Estonian past.
FINLAND:
Independence in a Structure"Sisu"
("guts" is perhaps the nearest translation) is the legendary Finnish value. Even if it is a stereotype or a myth, it shows what has been valued in the culture. In the post-war period, the struggle for material welfare was a most visible value. Now, with the depression and 20% unemployment, long shadows have been cast on the belief in material values. Even the welfare society is at stake, and individual "sisu" is being sought again. This is the official doctrine of the Government, but many people simply have to resort to it.Finns are better in rugged
individual effort than in smooth co-operation or teamwork. During wartime, Finnish strategy and tactics worked better when based on guerrilla warfare than on massive operations. In sports, Finland is internationally known for its long-distance runners, skiers and racing drivers - all of these are sports where a Finn can enjoy fighting all by himself against the rest of the world. Finnish success in team sports has been much more modest.
Yet, co-operation is required in a modern society and particularly in a modern corporation. In a small country, nation-wide co-operation is easily attained, since all the influential people know each other and meet frequently, officially and unofficially. But this kind of co-operation is more
structured than it is in other Nordic countries, such as Sweden, or in the Anglo-Saxon countries. The structure gives the independence of the individual a framework within which he can move about, and, yet, contribute to the whole of the society. Independence in a structure can be seen as a Finnish core value. This suggests that Finland falls between the non-socialist collectiveness of the Japanese and the American preference for individual initiative and control.All societies have to find a balance between individualism and the collective. The appreciation of individualism grows towards the West, that of collectiveness as one moves further toward the East. But there are differences even in the western concept of individualism. Berry (1992) calls the Finnish solution
self-bossed/competent individualism, as compared to Swedish co-operative/committee individualism, German compartmentalised individualism, French hierarchical individualism or American competitive individualism. Finns can accept co-operation as a means to achieve what is good for an individual. However, they do not accept co-operation, group or collectivity as an end in itself. Therefore, Finnish co-operation on the national, institutional, organisational and group level tends to be structured.The
sauna is the most famous Finnish ritual - a ritual of enjoying being independent and withdrawn from the stresses and strains of the day. It is like a Confession for the true Catholic - being purified in body and soul. Sauna is used deliberately in political and business negotiations for sharing this feeling and for gaining consensus. It is difficult to be litigious when sweating naked in the humid heat. Finnish drinking has a similar type of a ritualistic feeling - it may be a special occasion of its own rather than a toast to accompany a social occasion. Forests have metaphorical connotations for the Finns and moving within a forest has an almost ceremonial meaning.Sven Dufva, Aleksis Kivi, Paavo Nurmi and the characters of Vainö Linna's "The Unknown Soldier" (1957) are archetypes of the Finnish heroe.
Sven Dufva was a simple-minded, but righteous and courageous soldier obeying orders and stopping the Russian attack. Aleksis Kivi and his "Seven Brothers" (1929) as well as the soldiers described by Linna were sons of the forest. Paavo Nurmi ran against the stopwatch rather than against his competitors. Sibelius and Mannerheim built on and created a mythical history.The Finnish language and communication pattern have deep cultural roots and bear a close resemblance to an
Eastern communication pattern. Finns do not think aloud as much as do other western Europeans, e.g. the British. Finns are less open and slower in their communication, and they are relatively more synthetic than analytic in their thinking. What is communicated, is meant to be more certain, serious and reliable than in countries west of Finland. When a Finn attempts to give a foreigner solid information, he may be seen as dead serious, censored or even blunt, not only because of what he says, but more importantly because of what remains unsaid. A Finn, in turn, may see his more sophisticated, smooth and easy-going western European counterpart as flippant and unreliable, because what the latter says is not necessarily meant to be solid or factual. What a Finn says is more likely to be regarded as a promise, and less likely as an idea that one is just muffing over in passing. Speaking is for informing, telling the truth instead of small talk. The present participle (i.e., -ing) is not used as often and naturally as in English: this is because a Finn communicates more of what he believes to be solid and lasting and less of what may hold good only for the time being. Words like "assertiveness", "establishment", "integrity", "leadership", "substance" are difficult to translate into Finnish, as they do not fit in with a sense of modesty. It is difficult for a Finn to talk in superlatives about himself or about his products. Americans who talk with superlatives, without meaning it literally, may think that what a Finn presents is of poor quality, as the American presumes that the speaker will naturally exaggerate the good sides of what he presents.
CONCLUSION: More Resemblance than Meets the Eye
The cultural layers of Estonia and Finland show more resemblance than meets the eye. Different cultural manifestations are reactions to different environmental pressures, but they may be traced to similar cultural origins. The differences looked very wide during the post-war years when core values were hidden and masked by official political doctrines. However, the differences in deep cultural layers were not affected as much as it was thought. Indeed, even the present differences in core values may be more differences in wording in the two countries than differences in substance.
In order to maintain and develop their cultural identity the Estonians and Finns are interacting with the world. However, they prefer
structured co-operation that leaves room for their independence, and they fear that military and political might would be predominate in a situation of unstructured co-operation. This preferred kind of co-operation is enriching the national identity. Co-operation is a means towards developing the identity, it is not an end or a goal or a value in itself. National identity and independence in a structure have arisen from historical experience in a "sandwich" position between the East and West. The national rituals, ceremonies, heroes and cultural manifestations are reflections of these core values, and they show a certain uniqueness on the European scene.
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