Barrier:
Those French have a different word for everything! Frustration tramples innovation.

By Les Fondy

June 10, 2011 at 1:48pm

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Summary

We're the largest sub in a global company HQ'd in France. To "Control costs, Harmonize, Be more efficient..." the HQ org., has estabished technology shared services in low cost countries (Bucharest, India, China, Canada [no longer low cost]) that support our network, messaging, and enterprise applications. However, those teams are managed from Paris. Quaity is poor, the group lacks accountability, missing dates is common, and customer service is a term that just must not translate into french. Almost 8 years have past trying to get the point accross, attempting the stick, the carrot, the bread/bolgna/bread (throw in cheese and wine), and the hand grenade... Change is promised, but rarely occurs. What would you do?

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June 20, 2011 at 8:11am

Manuelle Charbonneau

If you are writing on this website, you probably have a mindset that is quite different from the mindset of most French people, even those at high levels and in seemingly progressive and succesful companies.

I AM French - living in the United States- and do think that France is truly amazing for its history, food, art etc.

For anything related to business and work however, things are pretty hopeless. The country is still trying to find its way out of centuries of monarchies and the way power dynamics of oppression and avoidance of responsibility consume everyday life are incompatible with the simplest work efficiencies.

For more information on understanding this complex culture, I highly recommend the very insighful book by Pascal Beaudry called "French and Americans: The Other Shore".
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keyw...

I would recommend, sadly, that you work for a company that better matches your standards and values. Hopefully there are a few of those around that would allow you to have the best of both worlds, American work standards with unsurpassed French "Art de Vivre"!

The alternative combination of American "Art de Vivre" and French work standards does require anti-depressants!