Irish managers ‘putting success at risk’

IRISH managers are disorganised, poor at meeting deadlines and unfocused on customer needs, according to a survey of foreign managers working in Ireland published yesterday.

The survey warned that Irish managers were in danger of letting recent success go to their heads and needed to become more efficient and flexible to stay ahead of Asian and Eastern European competitors.

“Our findings suggest that deficits in Irish management will, if not addressed, undermine the country’s extraordinary economic achievements of the last decade by damaging international competitiveness,” warned Professor Chris Brewster of Cranfield School of Management, a leading British business school which conducted the survey along with Dublin consulting firm Torc.

Foreign managers living and working in Ireland were questioned on their perceptions of Irish managers and business practices. Many criticised their Irish counterparts for not following a planned strategic approach and said they needed to improve strategic thinking as well as developing better time management skills.

Two-thirds of respondents said managers here failed to treat meetings and deadlines seriously. The survey was heavily critical of the approach of Irish managers to international business and said there was a need to improve language skills and awareness of business cultures in other countries. “Poor language skills and lacklustre cultural adaptability are unforgivable in such a foreign trade dependent economy.”

This was particularly important as Irish businesses moved away from the dominant British and US markets.

Irish managers were also criticised for lacking focus on customer needs and customer service. Some 48% of respondents said Irish managers were not customer service oriented, while only 20% said they were.

The survey praised Ireland’s underlying business culture and said teamworking, sales and relationship-building skills were strong among Irish managers.

It questioned a number of Irish managers to compare their perceptions of themselves with those of foreign managers.

“The gap between how Irish managers see themselves and how their foreign peers see them reveals a degree of complacency that needs to be addressed,” said Torc managing director Paddy Collins.