Issues of time in international, intercultural management : East and Central Europe from the perspective of Austrian managers

In 339 interviews we identified 449 time related and culturally determined critical incidents. We can clearly distinguish time behaviour of Anglo-German managers from that of managers from France and Italy and East Central Europe. These incidents with East Central European Managers can be grouped in two categories: slow speed of solving tasks and extreme length of negotiations and decision making processes. This time behaviour can be explained by working in collectives and priority setting by supervisors. Risk aversion, harmony seeking, and "saving own face" are values/culture standards that determine time consuming discussion and decision making behaviour. Wasting time of their (West European) counterparts is of no concern for East Central European Managers, unlike harmony within the collective.