Italy is like the fun aunt or uncle that comes to visit, wonderful company and great stories. Italy is a very expressive country full of robust food, art and communication. The Italians have had and continue to have significant cultural and historical influences in the world today. In fact the Roman Empire still impacts modern society, including languages, art, and democracy. The rise and fall of the Roman Empire has been studied and written about for centuries, comparisons have been made to modern day countries- one being the United States. Many compare and contrast wondering if the US will have the same fate.
The influences that have been made to the world are great but no greater in my opinion than language. The Latin language has deep roots in many modern languages- including English, Spanish, French and Italian (Redmond, 2017). Today, Italy is known largely for food, fashion, and religion. The Vatican is highly influential as it is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic religion, which is the religion of around 1.2 billion people (CIA, n.d.). Vatican City is located in Rome but is actually considered its own country within Italy.
Very like the United States, Italy’s regions can vary and be quite different from one another, very rarely would you hear an Italian use their country and not their city/region to describe where they are from (Moran, 2014). Northern and Southern Italy are vastly different in their Power Distance and individualism scores too. The differences between the two seem to be the differences from the North East and the South here in America. For example, Northern Italians enjoy a more open and equal type of decision making and strongly dislike feeling controlled or ‘bossed around, and focus more on the individual than the group itself (Hofstede, 2017). Whereas Southern Italians are very family focused and consider the Northern Italians colder, they also prefer a more structured environment which is very different in a power score from the north (Hofstede, 2017).
Looking at Italy from a business aspect, it’s very important to know that Italians typically are not very secretive, in fact there is no word for privacy in the Italian language (Moran, 2014). So don’t expect employees to be very tight lipped when making business transactions. That being said just because Italians are not very good at keeping a secret that will not keep them from trying to pull on past you. Furbo is an Italian word that does not have a direct translation into English, very much like the word privacy in Italian. Essentially, furbo means trying to outsmart someone (Moran, 2014).
Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ). ( n.d. ). The world factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/ library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vt.html
Hofstede, G. (n.d.). Italy. Retrieved April 5, 2017, from https://geert-hofstede.com/italy.html
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Oxon: Routledge.
Redmond, B. (2017). Pennsylvania State World Campus. Lesson 12: Western Europe. Retrieved April 5, 2017, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1826457/assignments/8870129?module_item_ id=21654183
I love Italy, the country and the culture. It has such a rich and diverse heritage that has influenced many other cultures.
It is so interesting that you pointed out the Italians inability to be discrete in business transactions. I had worked with an Italian business colleague and found this to be so true. I would share some confidential information and it would not take long for it to get back to me that the information and been inadvertently shared. He was so darn charming though so I could not stay upset with him for long.
As you pointed out, in dealing with Italians, it is important to understand what region or what city they are from as there are distinct differences (Moran, 2014). Knowing the cultural differences and idiosyncrasies can go a long way in ensuring successful business interactions.
Work Cited:
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Oxon: Routledge.
The Latin language does indeed have a huge impact in a lot of the modern language that we speak today. In law and the medical field, they still use most of the terms of these profession in Latin. Countries in western Europe are rich in history like places like Italy. Rome the capital of Italy is the home of the colosseum is the roman people had their games. The stadium itself could hold 50,000 to 80,000 spectators which we see this similar construction in modern stadiums we see today. So, history is teaching us that was done in the past can manifest into today’s modern structures.
I like how you described Italy as the fun aunt or uncle that comes to visit – it does seem like a wonderful place!
The country has picturesque villages and stunning countryside, historic and beautiful cities, a dynamic language, and incredible food and wine (Moran & Moran, 2014). I found it interesting though that Italy is described as having two faces. How on one hand there is modern science and technology, but then there’s old traditions, and in a constant state of change. Then the north being an industrial powerhouse and one of the richest places in Europe, but the southern half of it being one of the poorest places (Moran & Moran, 2014.) So especially for doing business with Italy, it’s important to know the differences about the regions of the country, along with what you mention about their power distance, individualism, and environment.
Reference:
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Oxon: Routledge.
A few weeks ago in this class I began to fall behind. I was working on a project for my company, an international pharmaceutical.
The problem was that I was matched up with our company’s Italian office for this U.S. project. The reasoning from management was that Latinos and Italians are so alike.
Oh how wrong they were? I chafed, my contact was indeed very talkative, super charming, but worked on 100 projects at the same time, her calls came hours after the appointed time, and she would confess her sexual conquests while talking to me about business.
I was frustrated, our part of the project was in danger of missing a deadline, which Illaria felt was just merely a suggestion, which I explained was not.
I talked to my management and said, these are the issues, of course they knew about them. They basically said, Lourdes, chill out, you are dealing with the Italian office, it will get done.
This is where I learned the value of this class, as well as the value of learning how to communicate with someone from another culture. Had I not been taking this class, I would have judged her actions as those of a lazy, scattered person. But no, this was her way of life, her culture.
Our section of the project was two weeks late, but it was wonderful, at the end of the day I needed to understand the needs of the pharmaceutical market in Italy and that is exactly what I did learn; but I also learned to put the skills I picked up along the way, during the semester to understand my situation a whole lot better.