Management Culture in Romania: Patterns of Change and Resistance

Zusammenfassung

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This study examines how far restructuring has involved a change in leadership style and the development of new philosophies and approaches which derive from the Anglo-American model of 'people management'. During the Communist period, Romania experienced a highly centralised system of management. Broader currents of historical and political culture also served to inculcate values of bureaucratic formalism. In transitional times it appears that the management role is being re-defined and management culture is changing. This article seeks to understand these changes in the culture and identity of Romanian management by examining experience in a range of organisations. It also considers how far Anglo-American values of HRM and managing are relevant to a country where the wider cultural and historical experience differs so strikingly from that in the West.

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Auszug

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Management Culture in Romania: Patterns of Change and Resistance

Introduction

Since the fall of Communism, Romania has set out on the hard road of renewal to become a democratic market economy within a community of European nations. This is a road also travelled by other East European countries but few have had to start the journey from so far back or with the same weight of cultural baggage from the past. There is broad agreement across the ideological divide that Communist dictatorship in Romania flattened society and made initiative, critical thinking and innovation dangerous, yet these may be the qualities which management in a democratic market economy most needs. Here we look at how management culture in Romania seems to be adapting to new conditions and how far it is still influenced by the deadweight of history.

The research study

In this report we have focused on the compatibility of Western ideas concerning management style and behaviour and the dominant values of Romanian management culture. In particular we examine the following:

* How is Romanian management culture changing during the post-Communist period and how far does the historical legacy continue to exert an influence?

* How do societal assumptions impinge on management culture and the practice of management in Romania?

* Is there evidence of convergence towards an Anglo-American model of management and, if so, how appropriate is this model to the historical and cultural experience of Romania?

These are big themes relatively unexamined by research in cross cultural HR, but given sharp contemporary relevance by the recent accession of Romania to the EU. Timely diagnosis of existing cultural processes and the conditions under which 'best practice' seems to flourish may be useful for Romanian organisations attempting to become more competitive in world markets and Westerners wanting to do business in Romania.

Research methods

This research has evolved from the authors' involvement in teaching on a management development programme for middle and senior managers in Romania. Our students helped with contacts for our first sample of four multinationals and foreign owned organisations operating in Romania (Dalton 2006). Since then we have engaged in 'snowball sampling' by which organisational 'gatekeepers' have recommended others who might have a perspective relevant to our research.

In this second phase of research we have tried to expand our sample to include Romanian organisations, both those which are still evolving from the mould of the old order and those which are actually embracing 'marketisation', as well as international organisations operating in Romania. We have also revisited our previous core of companies (12 organisations in total). These are the organisations in our sample:

* A large brewery which had been run by the state, now owned by a large international brewing company (BrewLite)in Bucharest.

* A large ball bearing company, now part of a foreign group (SteelCoJin Ploiesti.

* A medium sized supplier of security products now in foreign ownership (Securicare)in Lugoj.

* The foreign subsidiary of a transnational express delivery service (ExpressAir) in Bucharest.

* A joint owned software/ IT consultancy company (Softsolutions)in Bucharest.

* A Romanian owned IT consulting company (SoftCo)in Ploiesti

* A foreign owned trading and distribution company (TradeWinds)m Ploiesti

* A well known transnational manufacturer of soft drinks (SoftDrinkJm Bucharest.

* A foreign owned clingfilm manufactur...

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