Style of management in different countries

The characteristics of management often vary according to national culture, which can determine how managers are trained, how they lead people and how they approach their jobs.

I. Now you will find five brief portraits of managers in five different countries: The usa, the uk, France, Germany and Sweden, decide which country each of these portraits correspond to.

1. Managers from this country:

• Consider professional and technical skills to be very important;

• Have a strong sense of authority;

• Respect the different positions in the hierarchy of their companies;

• Clearly define how jobs should be done;

• Are very loyal to their companies and expect their subordinates to obey them;

• Are often older than in other countries.

2. Managers from this country:

• Receive a general education;

• Delegate authority;

• Take a practical approach to management;

• Have relatively formal relationships at work;

• Encourage their employees to work individually;

• Believe it is important to continue education and training at work.

3. Managers from this country:

• Consider social qualities to be as important as education;

• Encourage their employees to take an interest in their work;

• Pay close attention to the quality of working life;

• Do not use as much authority as in other countries;

• Appreciate low-level decision-making;

• Are often women.

4. Managers from this country:

• Generally attend business schools;

• Communicate easily and informally at work;

• Admire the quantities of a leader;

• Expect everyone to work hard. Individual performance is measured and initiative is rewarded;

• Have competitive and sometimes aggressive attitudes towards work;

• Often accept innovation and change.

5. Managers from this country:

• Go through an elitist educational system;

• Have a strong sense of hierarchy and power;

• Often have impersonal relationships at work;

• Analyze problems in great detail before taking decisions;

• Consider speaking skills to be particularly important;

• More easily between state and private sectors.

Mark Powell, Ron Martinez, Rosi Jillett, New Business Matters, Coursebook

II. Choose a country, research its mentality and demonstrate the style of management used there in organizations in the form of Power Point presentation\organizational chart, etc.

Something interesting

Remember famous successful companies. Find out what management style is used there to succeed.

Personal management style

There are many high-profile examples of how to develop a successful management style. Managers like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have famously developed their own distinctive management style from which others can learn.

Gate’s style and management practice at Microsoft was based on control and concerning himself with detail almost to the point of obsession. The onus that the Bill Gates management style placed on the monitoring of staff and figures is demonstrated by the fact that he even used to sign expenses for Steve Ballmer, his right-hand man.

Buffett, on the other hand, always stressed a desire for the managers of Berkshire Hathaway to think like owners. He urged them to “look at the business you run as if it were the only asset of your family, one that must be operated for the next 50 years and can never be sold”.

Sometimes unorthodox management behaviour can develop into a very effective management style. A case in point is that of Ricardo Semler and his Brazilian engineering company SEMCO. His management policies included unusual practices such as shutting down the company for an afternoon twice-yearly for all employees to clean out the places where they work. He also limited all memos and reports to one piece of A4, always topped by an eye-catching tabloid-style headline to sum up the key message.

Perhaps most interestingly of all, he implemented a system where employees would assess their own managers, with a low rating putting the manager’s job at risk.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Speaking

In pairs discuss pluses and minuses of Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s management style. Explain their company’s success. If you had your own firm what method of running it would you prefer? Give your arguments.