Management culture in Romania : patterns of change and resistance

This study examines how far restructuring has involved a change in leadership style and the development of new philosophies and approaches which derive from the Anglo-American model of ‘people management’. During the Communist period, Romania experienced a highly centralised system of management. Broader currents of historical and political culture also served to inculcate values of bureaucratic formalism. In transitional times it appears that the management role is being re-defined and management culture is changing. This article seeks to understand these changes in the culture and identity of Romanian management by examining experience in a range of organisations. It also considers how far Anglo-American values of HRM and managing are relevant to a country where the wider cultural and historical experience differs so strikingly from that in the West.