Read the text (by yourself - 1 min., aloud - 2 min.). International manager

International manager

In recent years, many companies have expanded globally. Because of this globalization trend, many more employees are working abroad. Although many people have difficulty adapting to the new culture.

Two typical failures have been described in the journal Management Today. The first example concerns a German manager with IBM who took up a position as product manager in England. He found that at most lunchtimes and especially on Fridays, many members of staff went to the pub. “I stopped that right away”, he says. “Now they are not allowed off the premises. It didn’t make me very popular at the time but it is not good for efficiency.

The second example is about American manager who came to France on a management assignment. He was unable to win the trust of his staff. He set clear goals, worked longer hours than everybody, participated in all the projects, visited people’s offices and even took employees out to lunch one by one. But nothing seemed to work. This was because the staff believed strongly that the management were trying to exploit them.

The German manager’s mistake was that he hadn’t foreseen cultural differences.The American manager used the ways he was familiar with to gain the staff’s trust. To them he seemed more interested in getting the job done than in developing personal relationships.

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