Leadership behaviour in Eastern Europe: Finnish expatriates' experiences in Russia and Estonia

Radical transformation of East European economies has caused extensive pressures on local organizations and managers to adapt to the requirements of free markets. It has also been reported that some fundamental changes in management principles have already appeared within this area, but mostly our understanding of East European managerial methods and behaviour is very limited. Furthermore, more and more Western companies are operating in East European markets and strive to produce required changes in the attitudes and behaviours of the local work force. Against this background, the present study reports experiences of Finnish expatriates on typical leadership styles of Russian and Estonian managers. On the average, these managers are reported to be less active than their Finnish colleagues in most forms of leadership behaviour proposed by Western leadership theories. In the end, pressures faced by expatriates to change their own leadership style when leading Russian and Estonian employees are presented.