Transcripts

"Commentary"-American Vs. European Corporate Management

SUSIE GHARIB: Tonight's commentator found some surprises when comparing American and European corporate management styles. He's Bill Baker, university professor at Fordham University and author of "Leading With Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Good Results."

BILL BAKER, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: I've been traveling and researching business practices for the last three months from my home base at the American Academy in Berlin, while working on a project to look at the differences in management styles between the U.S. and other places in the global economy. There may very well be differences. First, a couple of facts. The U.S. was almost half the world economy just after World War II. Today, it's only about 24 percent. So a great deal is taking place outside the U.S. borders. Second, in places like Germany, which has a reputation for high quality and engineering excellence, 90 percent of all the companies are small, employing less than 100 people. I expected to see a very top-down management style, but was very surprised and delighted to see a serious consensus-style approach in most places. Much of the psychological research supports this method as being the most successful way to get the best from your employees. It's interesting to note that European managers are on the consensus track. I saw it at companies like Roesch, Sennheiser and BMW. Meanwhile, many of America's most famous CEOs have a reputation of being imperial bosses. I believe this will change based on some initial feedback we are getting. The American Management Association will have a study of how employees feel about their bosses and their management styles. I'll be reporting on that in a few weeks. It might give us some insight as to where things stand and suggest where business should be going. I'm Bill Baker.