In the former socialist countries the lasting experience of communism remains the biggest influence on the business environment. They have made significant progress in transforming institutions and systems but old expectations and beliefs about business and institutional life still remain, even among a younger generation. There is a deep distrust of corporate or public institutions, the feeling that they are not there to serve the interests of their employees, clients and customers but those who have power within them. Instead, people relied on networks of family and close friends for emotional and economic support. With the collapse and transformation of institutions these networks became even more important.

Feelings of inferiority towards westerners create defensive barriers. A comment often made by people who grew up in these countries is that they were cut off from the rest of the world. They feel they lack the knowledge, experience and skills necessary to work on the same footing as other Europeans. Attitudes such as these influence all levels of interaction from negotiation to the daily encounters of normal business life. For example, most western employees are used to the management techniques of coaching and evaluation. The basic elements of these techniques – performance measurement, self-appraisal, personal goal setting – can hark back to the self-criticism and public censure of the old days. Those old enough to remember communism have learned to distrust commitment to organisations, to keep themselves to themselves, to be careful not to reveal anything that might be held against them.

Western managers wishing to introduce team-based management methods may also come across resistance from those who remember the teams they belonged to in the Soviet period. From childhood in the Pioneers and Oktobryaska to work groups in factories and offices people were organized into teams that competed with each other. However the organisation, goals, and processes of these teams was handed down from above. The idea that a team was autonomous and that individuals within it shared responsibility for goals and performance was discouraged. Far from being empowering a team was restricting and oppressive. Appealing to the success of the team is not as motivating as it is in some other cultures Managers who come in from outside with glib talk of teams perhaps should make sure that everyone shares the same understanding of how they should work...