Managers’ power in an environment of cultural diversity – in the opinion of managers from Poland, Spain and Italy

Abstract

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aims of the article are to describe how managers of different nationalities understand the concept of “power”, to identify the sources of their power and ways of exercising it, and to determine the impact of managers’ power on different areas of managing people in a culturally diverse work environment. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The research problems are an attempt to answer the following questions: How do managers who work with multicultural teams define “power”? What sources of power and ways of exercising power do they use in managing their teams? What areas of people management in culturally diverse teams are significantly influenced by their power? The research methods are a review of the subject literature and the results of 24 individual in-depth interviews. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The theoretical part of the article explains the term “power” and describes the sources of power used by managers in managing people. The research part reports the results of a qualitative study (interviews with the Polish, Spanish and Italian managers). RESEARCH RESULTS: Based on the subject literature and the results of the study, the author has demonstrated that managers’ power is of great importance as it affects employees and different areas of people management. This is very important in an environment of cultural diversity, in which employees from various cultural backgrounds can have different sensitivity to the sources of power used by managers. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Managers responsible for managing teams should pay special attention to the sources of power and the ways in which power is exercised, the impact of power on employees’ attitudes and behaviours, their motivation to work and the decisions taken in different areas of people management. Managers’ responsibility to use power appropriately is particularly important in work environment of cultural diversity.