Developing competent managers: the ‘shadow’ of Hungarian history

Abstract

Hungary is deemed to be one of the economies that has successfully undergone the changes needed to enter the European Union. Despite this, it has been pointed out that Hungarian managers are still lacking in education and training, that there is a lack of innovation, and that there is still a certain resistance to change manifest in the continuance of the 'black market' economy. However, it is optimistically expected that the influx of Western managerial practices will soon put this to rights (Agenda 2000). In this paper, we question these assumptions. Firstly, we argue that change is a more complex sociological and historical phenomenon than most organisational writers would have us believe. To illustrate this point, we draw on the work of the social historian Elias, who shows us that macro-societal developments and changes at the micro-level are interrelated. Following Elias, we then examine the nature of change at an institutional level in Hungary, set against the wider historical background that has shaped these changes. Then, drawing on literature and social research into values, we examine the nature of the Hungarian character, showing its development alongside and in tandem with the historical and institutional changes. What we find does not reflect the upbeat representation of the current Hungarian situation. Rather, using the language of Jung, we show that the particular historical changes that have taken place seem to have taken place at two levels, leading to a 'split' in Hungarian institutions (of which we consider the economy an example) and which is equally reflected by an 'alienation' in the Hungarian character. We question the notion that the practices recently being imported from the West will provide the solutions that the Hungarian economy is looking for. Indeed, there is a possibility that the wholesale importation of such practices may add to the 'alienated' nature of Hungarian organisations, and increase the split between the rulers and the ruled, whether we conceive of this at an institutional level, or at the level of the individual psyche. We suggest that, without understanding these deeper issues, the simple importation of Western ideas is unlikely to address the need to implement lasting changes in organisations and to develop competent and creative managers.

Contemporary performance measurement systems in central and eastern Europe: a sythesis of the empirical literature

“…Other studies report on the lack of general management skills and knowledge (Vámosi 2000;Slávik 2001) that goes back to the management formation and development practices germane to the CEE area (see also other studies, e. g. Child/Czeglédy 1996;Djankov/Pohl 1998;Pučko 1998;Edwards/Lawrence 2000;Robinson/Tomczak-Stepien 2000;Illes/Rees 2001;King et al 2001;Kozarzewski 2001;Warner et al 2005). Specific issues of interest include (a)…”

“…The growth of privatization, deregulation, international businesses, global competition, and new information and production technology has had special implications for performance measurement in these economies (Jaruga/Ho 2002). In numerous examples, companies from CEE countries enthusiastically introduced contemporary performance measurement frameworks developed for organizational contexts of the Western culture but did not achieve expected results (for discussions on historical, institutional, and cultural differences, see for example, Clark 2000;Illes/Rees 2001;Otte 2003;Warner et al 2005). In other cases, multinational companies were spreading their operations throughout the world and implementing standardized performance measurement and reward systems worldwide, including the CEE countries (Butler et al 1997;Bontis et al 1999;Weber/Schäffer 2001;Ahn 2001;Gehrke/Horvath 2002;Otte 2003;Bescos/Cauvin 2004).…”

Attitudes toward society, organisations, and work in the electronics industry in Finno‐Ugrian countries

“…Hungary was occupied by the Red Army from 1944 and subsequent Hungarian regimes were dominated by Hungarian communists who pursued a policy based on the Soviet model of nationalisation of private property, central planning of the economy, collectivisation of agriculture and industrialisation. Following the uprising of 1956, however, a Hungarian version of communism emerged (so-called "goulash communism") which took particular account of the material needs of the population (Bögel et al, 1997;Illes and Rees, 2001). By the end of the 1980s, moreover, the Hungarian communists were introducing increasingly liberal policies which contributed to the collapse of the Soviet system in Central and East Europe.…”