Italian Business Management Style

Paternalism sits quite comfortably with family orientation and a manager is expected to act like a manager and appear authoritative and in control.

This desire for managers to be authoritative should not, however, be confused with a desire for managers to be authoritarian. The Italian manager who gives dictatorial instructions without reference to the thoughts and ideas of subordinates will probably find many of those instructions ignored or even actively obstructed. It is important to be decisive after thorough consultation – listen and then use your experience and expertise to make a definite decision.

Your level of power as a manager will probably be determined by the strength of the relationships you enjoy with senior management. Thus the respect that subordinates hold you in and their willingness to follow your decisions will also be ultimately decided by such considerations. It naturally follows, therefore that a good amount of management time will be spent networking and maintaining or improving these all-important relationships.

As detailed long-term planning is not undertaken with such relish as it might be in a country such as Germany, control and the ability to react to changing circumstances are key attributes for an effective manager in Italy. A good manager will consistently follow up on work being undertaken, making ongoing adjustments where necessary.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Italy only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.