How to lead Russia

Citation

(2000), "How to lead Russia", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 21 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2000.02221aab.004

How to lead Russia

How to lead Russia

Keywords: Managers, Expatriates, Russia

A new management study from executive search company Amrop International provides insights into selecting senior managers to work successfully in Russia. The report says that top executives moving to the country face, "the realities of ineffective systems and procedures, dealing with intricate bureaucracies and struggling with contradictory legislation and underdeveloped or non-existent business infrastructure".

Detailed interviews with 35 top executives of multinational com-panies, each having an average of five years experience of Russia, highlight the special skills required to operate effectively. The executives sampled in the study were drawn from 18 US companies, 16 European companies and one Asian company. Sixteen respondents were Third World country nationals.

The report says that executives moving to Russia need to bring their market mentality, know-how and technical expertise as well as organization culture, discipline and work ethics"". This should be used to encourage local talent. "The use of human capital - both expatriate and local - is a powerful factor that makes the business machine run effectively"", says the report.

Amrop found that for international businesses working in emerging markets there is an imbalance between the demand for, and availability of, experienced executives. The report says, however, "In the present unstructured and unstable Russian business environ-ment the role of personality in business leadership is a crucial success factor"".

The study also looked at a wide range of issues encompassing the challenges and pressures of management roles, local business culture factors, culture shock to personnel selection and development.

Better insights

The report provides a more detailed characterization of the personal profile of potential candidates to fit senior roles. It hopes to make personnel selection procedures more efficient and to prepare executives to function more effectively in the Russian environment. For example, the report points out the importance of "a higher awareness of the cultural specific issues general managers face"". Furthermore, the report observes that "a perfectionist will fail in Russia", the right person has to be highly tolerant of inefficiency in day-to-day operations. Getting a task done may take three to five times longer than in other parts of the world.

It also says that time and energy must be invested in team building processes in order for local talent to be encouraged.

For more information contact: Ekaterina Kimpelainen, Amrop International, 22/25, Bolshoy Stochenovsky, Pewreulok, 113045 Moscow, Russia. Tel: +7 095 797 5952; Fax: +7 095 797 5953; E-mail: ekaterina.kimpelainen@amrop.com; Internet: http://www.amrop.com