Cultural Awareness - Working with Italian People

ActionCOACH Executive Coaching Program

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.
Power as a manager will probably be determined by the strength of the
relationships you enjoy with senior management. Thus the respect 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.
Communication Styles:
Italians speak a lot. Good communication is loquacious and voluble. In order to
convey a strongly felt point it is important to use all possible powers of rhetoric
to sway the listener.
Debate is an emotional issue where emphasis is highlighted through increased
resort to emotionalism. Reserve or business detachment can be interpreted as
signs of disinterest rather than professionalism. If you are engaged in the
process and have strong opinions why not show them?
The combination of loquacity and visible emotion can often be misinterpreted
by other cultures as lack of professionalism or even aggression. The ability to
use language in such a way in Italy is, however, a key management tool and
without the ability to veer towards theatricality, a manager's armory might seem
a little light.
Formal presentations feature less heavily in Italian business life than they do in
the USA or the UK and when given can seem a little stiff and even overly
academic. Information would typically be disseminated in a less formal manner
in smaller meetings.
Italians put more faith in information given to them orally by somebody with
whom they have a strong, trusting relationship than any information sent in
writing from afar. Discuss things in Germany in a meeting and a request for
written confirmation of the ideas will invariably come as the meeting
concludes: send something in writing to Italy and a request invariably comes
back for a discussion of the issues.
Teamwork:
Teams work best under the supervision of an authoritative leader who can
generate enthusiasm and a sense of loyalty to the team as well as giving a
clear focus and direction for each team member.
Teams which are not given such clear guidance and allocated structure can
become prey to a strong sense of individualism which may result in each
team member 'doing their own thing' with little reference to the rest of the
team.
Due to the relationship nature of approach to work in Italy, once a strong
team has been forged it is not a good thing to dismember it - rather look for
other projects for the 'family'. Try to foster the team spirit with social
events - preferably centered around good food.
20 Cultural Tips
Tip 1
Italians are uneasy with the search for an absolute truth. The truth is a flexible
commodity, which can change shape and move position with great rapidity. The
search for an absolute answer is non-practical and over-rigid.
Tip 2
In-depth, long-term planning is not really expected or respected. Such planning is
pointless in a rapidly changing, volatile business and personal environment. Long-
term plans, if they exist at all, tend to be in grand-outline terms only.
Tip 3
The greatest amount of respect is not necessarily due to the person with the greatest
depth of technical merit. Personal qualities and loyalties are far more important.
Tip 4
Decisions are rarely reached by voting. It is important to get consensus and buy-in to
a decision. If no real consensus is arrived at it is possible that dissidents could
undermine the group's work from within.
Tip 5
Leadership styles are varied in Italy but traditionally tend towards the authoritative
with direct instructions given by a strong leader. A sense of authority is important
and this derives more from the personal qualities of a leader than their technical
expertise.
Tip 6
Outbursts of emotion in the workplace are viewed positively and do not mean that an
individual is out of control or non-professional. It would be dangerous to
underestimate an Italian because of their emotive nature in meeting situations.
Tip 7
It is not always sufficient to get a verbal agreement - this may be given merely out of
politeness. Persuasion, insistence and follow-up are essential.
Tip 8
Relationships are all important in Italy. Everything flows from these networks of
relationships. An essential pre-requisite to successful co-operation in Italy is the
establishment of strong, long term ties. Do not view such relationship-building
exercises as time wasting.
Tip 9
Delegation tends to be on the basis of individual relationships rather than on
technical competence. This means that one individual may seem to have an alarming
variety of responsibilities. Job descriptions tend to be imprecise.
Tip 10
Some small talk is usually engaged in before the meeting proper starts. This stage of
the meeting is, however, rarely protracted (five minutes or less.)
Tip 11
Teams built across hierarchical lines tend to be difficult to arrange as they interfere
with the normal relationship networks. (Unless the cross-departmental team mirrors
one of the existing networks.)
Tip 12
Any impression that the meeting is an open forum for decision-making is likely to be
pure theatre. Even when a decision is agreed it is likely that a different decision will
be made elsewhere and implemented by the loyal allies of the person making the
decision
Tip 13
Meetings are usually informal and are in order to assess the mood of people, gauge
the strength of feeling on particular issues and not necessarily in order to reach a
decision.
Tip 14
It is difficult to go through a pre-arranged agenda in a structured way. Viewing the
business holistically, all items are inter-related.
Tip 15
Everybody at the meeting is entitled to have a say. The importance placed on ideas
put forward rests more on the character and influence of the speaker than the weight
of the idea itself.
Tip 16
It is acceptable to leave or enter a meeting as necessary. Small sub-meetings often
develop within meetings. Mobile phone calls are often accepted - especially if
waiting for a call from somebody trusted or admired.
Tip 17
More reliance is placed on the spoken than the printed word and it is always,
therefore, important to talk to people directly rather than to rely solely on written
information. The ability to speak eloquently and at length is valued.
Tip 18
Humour is used less than in the UK but much more so than in Germany, Switzerland
etc. It is important to be seen as not too serious - life must still be enjoyed.
Tip 19
Punctuality is important but human relations are more important. Italians will appear
on time if they can but other, more vital, human transactions may interfere.
Tip 20
Food is important and meal times are more for human interaction and relationship
building than for discussing detailed business matters.

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