The Italians are charming, intelligent people to whom Europe owes a great cultural debt. They are excellent communicators and combine ultra-keen perception with ever-present flexibility. Their continuous exuberance and loquacious persuasiveness often produce an adverse reaction with reserved Britons, factual Germans and taciturn Scandinavians. Yet such northerners (including Americans) have everything to gain by adapting to Italians’ outgoing nature, meeting them halfway in their taste for dialogue. There is plenty of business to be done with the Italians, who export vigorously in order to survive.
There is a variance in the concept of space. Italians are used to being crowded and working in close proximity to each other. This creates an atmosphere of teamwork approximating that of the Japanese. A Briton, Finn or German needs more space or “elbow room” to work effectively, and this shows itself in such matters as office layout and use of space both in factories and in administrative areas. Be prepared to “rub shoulders” with Italians.
The “distance of comfort” is greater for northerners than for Italians. The English like to keep a minimum of 4 feet (1.2 meters) between themselves and their interlocutor. Italians are quite comfortable at 31 inches (80 centimeters). If you retreat from such a position, they will think you are avoiding them or that you find their physical presence distasteful. Make them feel more welcome by “standing your ground.”
Italians may touch your arm or shoulder or perhaps hug you if they are feeling friendly. After some months’ acquaintance, they may kiss you on both cheeks when greeting you or departing. They are showing affection and you must find some way of reciprocating. At least smile occasionally; your face will not break (in a southern climate). (Americans at least have no problem with smiling.)
Italians have a different concept of time from that of northerners and Americans. They do not arrive for appointments on time. Punctuality in Milan means they are 20 minutes late, in Rome 30 minutes and in the south, 45 minutes. You will not be able to change this, except in a fixed-hours factory or office environment. You must therefore adapt. Be prepared to wait 15 to 45 minutes before your Italian counterpart appears or lets you into his or her office. Take a good book or magazine. Alternatively, you can deliberately show up half an hour late, but in fact few northerners are able to do this.
Remember that the communication style is eloquent, wordy, demonstrative and apparently emotional. This is normal for them but may be overly dramatic for you. Do not be led into the belief that waving arms and talking with the hands denotes instability or unreliability. They think you, by contrast, are rather wooden and distant. Make them feel comfortable by showing more facial expression and body language. (See Figure 5.1 for an illustration of the Italian communication pattern.)
At meetings, Italians do not follow agendas as strictly as do northerners. They will jump ahead to later points or will loop back and discuss points you think have already been settled. They will talk loudly, excitedly and at length. Often several people will speak at once, and you may find two, three or more micromeetings going on simultaneously. They do not like silences of more than five seconds. If you are not running the meeting, there is nothing you can do except sit back and enjoy. If you are chairing the meeting, you have to create some kind of order, but you can only do this by establishing firm rules in advance. One German I know used yellow, red and green cards to discipline people at South American meetings. This humorous but firm approach achieved the desired result.
Italian wordiness versus northern succinctness is a constant pain in internal company communication, as both sides wish to achieve clarity, one through many words and the other through short messages and memos. A compromise must be reached. Northerners must teach themselves to be more explicit and explanatory, but also encourage their Italian colleagues to be more concise and economical with words and ideas and, whenever practical, to put them in writing. The inventions of the fax and e-mail have been valuable tools for Scandinavians and other concise peoples.
Italian negotiators are friendly, talkative, and ultimately flexible. They are less direct than northerners and often seem to proceed in a round about manner. Italians will discuss things from a personal or somewhat emotional angle, while northerners try to concentrate on the benefit for their company and stick to the facts of the particular deal. Northerners should approach negotiation with Italians with adequate time for the exercise and a large store of patience. They must be prepared to discuss at length and maintain calm. An Italian may get overheated on some point, but changes a moment later into the friendliest of negotiators. Italians may quarrel among themselves at the table, but are solid colleagues minutes later. Their starting price may be high, but they are prepared for a lot of negotiating down. The American, Scandinavian or Briton selling to them must show a first price which allows some room for a reduction later. They will expect it. They must come away from the deal showing they have won or gained something. Each member of their team must be granted something. Northerners will be at their best if they regard the negotiation as a kind of interesting game which must be played with many Italian rules, but which leads to a serious and beneficial result (for both).
The unification of Italy was late in European terms, and the different regions still retain their particular characters. Northern Italians have a tendency to look down on “southerners” (anyone south of Rome). People living in the industrial areas around Milan, Turin, Genoa and the Veneto show little enthusiasm for the lifestyles of Sicilians, Neapolitans and Calabrians, whom they see as lazy, overly emotional, often untrustworthy; as living in a previous century; and as a sizeable economic burden on their industrious selves. Having heard this description, non-Italians, when visiting the south, are usually pleasantly surprised to meet people who are friendly, hospitable and generous, trustworthy and loyal, perceptive and essentially human.
Differences are, however, striking:
| North | South |
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experience
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value for money
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factual
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imaginative
|
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modern
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traditional
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meritocratic
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patronage system
|
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industrial
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agricultural
|
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prosperous
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poor
|
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law-abiding
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authorities coexisting with the Mafia
|
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affinity with Austrians, Germans
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affinity with Mediterraneans, Africans
|
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often secular
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church-guided
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small families
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extended families
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family closeness
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family dominance
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upwardly mobile
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mentor-guided
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respect officialdom
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key connections
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scientific truth
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contextual, situational truth
|
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identification with company
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identification with in-group
|
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generalist
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particularist
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Italians like to share details of families, vacations, hopes, aspirations, disappointments, preferences. Show photographs of children; reveal some of your political or religious opinions—this is normal in Italy, you need not be an island unto yourself. Discuss beliefs and values. Do not be afraid to appear talkative. No matter how hard you try, the Italian will always consider you reserved (and talk ten times as much as you).
One characteristic of Italians is that they are not very chauvinistic and do not automatically believe that Italy and Italians must be best. This national modesty is rarely seen outside Finland and Italy. Capitalize on this trait by discussing Italy in a frank manner.
Italians, unlike Spaniards, Germans and French, are not particularly sensitive or touchy. They accept criticism and are very flexible. You may speak much more freely with them than with most Europeans, but do not exaggerate directness or bluntness. They are flexible, but also delicate.
Italians are much more polite, on the surface, than northerners, so you will often appear overly frank, blunt and even rude, although you do not intend this. Try to adopt a certain Italian smoothness or delicacy and use flattery more than you normally would. They like it. Open doors for women and stand up and sit down at the right times. You probably do this anyway, but notice how the Italians do it with charm and style. When leaving a room an Italian often says, “Con permesso.” Try a few tricks like that. If you still feel a bit awkward, console yourself by remembering that to a Japanese an Italian looks clumsy, emotional and often rude.
You will often find it difficult to rid yourself of the impression that the Italians are an unruly, disorganized bunch. They do not seem to plan methodically like you do. Do not forget they are the eighth industrial nation in the world and have outperformed even the Germans and Americans in such areas as domestic appliances and some categories of cars. On top of that they have an enormous hidden, or “black,” economy, the extent of which is unknown. Therefore they must be doing something right. Your task should be to discover where they act in a superior manner to you and whether you can learn to do the same. Their efficiency is not as “obvious” as yours, but it may have something to do with their gregariousness, flexibility, working hours, people orientation, teamwork, quickness and opportunism. Try to get into their shoes.
Italian flexibility in business often leads you to think they are dishonest. They frequently bend rules, break or “get around” some laws and put a very flexible interpretation on certain agreements, controls and regulations. Remember that this is the way they do business and you may well be able to benefit from this “flexibility.” They will regard your rather rigid, law-abiding approach as somewhat old-fashioned, short-sighted or even blind. In this respect they probably are closer to reality than you are and less ideal bound. They do not consider their approach to be in any way corrupt, immoral or misleading. They will happily take you into their “conspiracy.” They will share the “benefits” with you, if you accept. If you stick to the letter of the law, they will go on without you. We are not talking about clear illegalities. There are many gray areas where shortcuts are, in Italian eyes, a matter of common sense.
Italians are less private persons than linear-active people and they will occasionally borrow your property (or time) with some freedom. Eventually they will repay or return your property (calculator, car, report, etc.) so do not be unduly stuffy about it. Remember you can borrow from them whenever you like.
Italians often “borrow” your money in the sense that they pay late. This is another area where change of habit is very difficult to bring about. The best you can do is try to arrange satisfactory payment schedules in advance and/or take the probability of delayed payments strongly into consideration. Remember that the Italians will allow you similar latitude (if they can afford it).