Idiosyncrasy, heterogeneity and evolution of managerial styles in contemporary Russia

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine managerial styles of Russian managers in the context of institutional and economic environment of contemporary Russia. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a sample of 482 line and middle managers covering eight geographic regions, 14 industries and 80 organizations in Russia. Findings – Employing factor and cluster analyses the paper identifies four distinct managerial styles: paternalistic, exploitative, performance oriented and passive. In addition, the paper analyzes a number of contingent characteristics of these typological Russian managers such as their age, career development, regional, industrial and organizational presence. Originality/value – The analysis enriches the understanding of managerial style idiosyncrasy, heterogeneity and evolution in Russia. The identified plurality of managerial styles, differentially related to a number of contingency variables, indicates that it pays off for western companies to avoid using stereotypical ideas when dealing with their Russian counterparts and employ conscious strategies when recruiting managers to their Russian operations instead.