French Business Management Style

Most senior management in most French companies were educated at the Grandes Ecoles which are the elite schools of France.

These colleges champion an intellectual rigour in their students, which is rarely matched elsewhere in the world. This produces a highly educated management population, which approaches leadership with an unusual degree of academic precision. Intellectualism is something to be cherished rather than sneered at and a comment once attributed a French manager sums this up well – ‘that idea seems alright in practice but will it work in theory?’

Thus management becomes an intellectual challenge to be mastered and thought about in terms of detailed analysis, the complete mastery of complex concepts and the eventual application of rational decisions. More pragmatic issues of buy-in, motivating staff etc. (in the Anglo-Saxon understanding of these terms) are not as prominent in French management thinking.

Decisions, once taken at senior levels, will be passed down the chain to lower management for implementation. This directive approach can be seen, especially by those from a consensus oriented, non-hierarchical background, as being overly authoritative and lacking in the necessary team-building elements.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture.  Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Australia only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in France only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.