A Contextual Approach to Management Learning: The Hungarian Case

Abstract

This paper is an interpretation and discussion of processes in which some barriers to managerial learning have emerged from interviews with managers working in International Joint Venture companies in Hungary. The authors have found that a major barrier to learning is the vulnerability of the social identities of Hungarian managers which are unrecognized and inappropriately handled by expatriate managers, who are seen as having colonialist attitudes, power and control. A further significant barrier is the uncertainty involved in societal acculturation alongside radical organizational changes and unrecog nized facets of group dynamics between expatriates and locals. Promoting means-and-ends learning without acknowledging that managerial learning is contextual, ideological and historical, was found to have resulted mostly in compliance. However, learning still occurred, though it is seen to be necessary to acknowledge outcomes and forms of learning which are not frequently addressed in relation to managerial learning.