East European managers and Western management theories : an ethnographic approach of Romanian service sector enterprises

This paper addresses the values and beliefs behind the actions of Romanian managers in the field of human resource management, by situating them in their societal/national culture. The paper aims to explain why some managerial actions, inspired by Western management theories, threaten business performance. Despite the development of theories regarding cross-cultural knowledge transfer, the practice of managers in Eastern Europe suggests either a native understanding of knowledge transfer between Western and East European organisations, or an intended deformation/play on Western managerial advice in their own benefit.