For the last two and a half years I have been working in a French owned company and since we are learning about ‘western European” culture I figured I would share my experiences a bit. Firstly, the French have a much different work schedule than Americans. It is common for a French worker in France to stay in our office there until 8 or 9 P.M. In America this is unheard of, that is not to say that it does not happen when we need to get things done but it most certainly is not a common place. Conversely, it is also common for the French to take a two hour lunch in the middle of the day whereas most Americans in my office eat at their desks. This issue really confused me when I first started working there, I just couldn’t understand how anyone could want to spend almost 12 hours a day at work but then I realized that in Europe it is common for new employees to received 4-6 weeks a year of vacation. Additionally, our office close down for almost the entire month of August. Obviously, this is far greater than the average in America of 2 weeks of vacation to start a new job. I guess when you take everything into perspective it balances itself out.
Another interesting aspect of working with the French is that I learned a good amount about their education system. In fact, the French government only charges about $2,000 a year for any public Universities in France. Now, this isn’t to say that the cost is that much different as the French income is taxed at a higher rate than American income. However, what this cheap schooling does is put Americans at disadvantages when competing with foreign student for jobs abroad. This is because it is common for many European students to hold multiple Master’s degrees. This is due to the low cost of the degree but also to the fact that it only takes one year to complete a Master’s degree in most European countries. A good global leader would take advantage of this fact and put a higher emphasis on hiring employees with more prestigious degrees in Europe. From a cross cultural perspective it is common for most students from EU countries to diversify their education and get degrees from Universities in multiple countries (Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014)). This allows them to learn to work with and do business with multiple cultures. In addition, most Europeans speak more than 3 languages. A joke I learned when I was in Europe was: what do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American. As an American I can agree with this joke, we do not do a good job as a culture of learning multiple languages despite the increasing diversification of our own country.
I also find it fascinating and intriguing that the modern American leadership concepts came from the European Renaissance (PSU WC OLEAD410 L12). These concepts include self-awareness, leadership self-identity, leading by example, etc. basically, all of the transformational leadership theories. These concepts have been around in America sine the American Revolution which used Liberty as its rallying cry. Liberty was ones rights to be free from oppressive authority such as the European monarchies had become. This concept of Liberty would shape how we picked our leaders as we only looked for those who would liberate the people (PSU WC HIST020).
In conclusion, Western Europe and America have many similarities but at the same time are very different. From the way we work day to day, to our education system a good global leader must account for his or her team’s backgrounds and then adjust their leadership style to fit with what works for that person’s culture. If you are in America this means doing more than giving directions and managing, it means being a leader, liberating your team and leveraging time tested renaissance leadership theories to continuously improve your team.
References:
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Oxon: Routledge.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016) LER201 Employment Law
I really enjoyed reading your blog about working in France. I’ve always been curious about the different work schedule there, and often pondered if it yielded more productivity. I heard everything completely shuts down throughout all of Europe during the whole month of August, in almost every country (I’ve also heard that August is the worst month to travel to Europe as a tourist because of this).
I found a great article in Business Insider that states “some might criticize the French for being lazy…The real message here is that the French are likely some of the most productive people in the entire world” (Carney & Fernando 2009). The article goes on to state that France is #18 globally in terms of GDP per capita ($36,500 per person) and yet the French work much less than people in the other most developed nations. In fact, the French achieve their high standard of living while working 16% less hours than the average world citizen, and almost 25% less than their Asian peers (Carney & Fernando 2009).
It would be interesting to see what levels of productivity could be achieved in the US if some companies adopted this style. As you stated, as a global leader one must definitely be ready to adopt and be open to different working conditions such as those in France.
References:
Carney, John & Fernando, Vincent. (2009). French: The Most Productive People in the World. Business Insider. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/are-the-french-the-most-productive-people-in-the-world-2009-8
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Oxford:Routledge.