Familiarity breeds contempt – and stifles SME development, too!

Citation

Sears, W.H. (2001), "Familiarity breeds contempt – and stifles SME development, too!", European Business Review, Vol. 13 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2001.05413eaa.001

Familiarity breeds contempt – and stifles SME development, too!

Familiarity breeds contempt – and stifles SME development, too!

There are three levels of knowing:

1. 1.

   familiarity with the subject;

2. 2.

   ability to discuss the subject knowledgeably; and

3. 3.

   ability to perform associated tasks against accepted standards.

Where application of Western management techniques is concerned, especially regarding employees and their potential for contribution, managers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) appear stuck at the familiarity level.

Familiarity is insufficient to overcome the authoritarian and punitive management practices that have been brought forward into the post-Soviet organizational culture. In fairness, it must be noted that employees often appear willing to accept the status quo of minimal effort for subsistence wages. "It is the tall blade of grass that gets cut," they say about volunteering ideas or extra effort. But, they often add with a cynical wink, "Give us more money and we'll do more work."

So, enterprise development in many instances is stalled between managers' mistrust of their employees, and the "tall blade of grass" imagery that restrains employee contributions. This is a fundamental issue, one of those "facts of life" that get overlooked by those who wonder why economic development in CEE has been slower than expected. Certainly, state-level corruption and the daily depredations of petty bureaucrats suck down economic growth. But these are not symptoms of a sick system, and treating them will not create something better!

The heart of the economic engine is the entrepreneurial individual in tandem with the enthusiastic participation of the people who implement visions and turn them into profit-making, tax-paying enterprises.

Most of the money Western governments are investing in developing SMEs (small-and medium-sized enterprises) will be dissipated with minimal results until the dynamics of the entrepreneur/worker hook-up become the focus of consulting support.

That is why the book I co-authored focuses on a model to convince managers and decision makers in CEE that involvement and partnership with workers is the only way to prosperity. There are compelling reasons and credible evidence to support a sharp shift away from development and management.

Until that shift occurs, and until CEE managers' knowledge of the fundamentals of Western human resource development is deepened, familiarity will continue to breed contempt for the supporting and facilitating half of the entrepreneurial hook-up. The consequences in this important part of the world are more than economic, and their significance should not be underestimated by neighbours to the West.

Woodrow H. Sears