Culture

Management cultures differences
in the outsourcing process

Should you decide to hire a team of dedicated developers developers and consider outsourcing to Ukraine, India or countries further away, Ukraine has an advantage of a relatively small cultural barrier. Moreover, we are experienced in overcoming challenges specific for Danish companies.

A 100% Danish management model is not always
the best

Danish management culture is highly democratic. It is not very common in Eastern Europe, so it can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. Danish project managers can find Ukrainians unwilling to take initiative or responsibility. On the contrary, Ukrainian developers can percieve Danish managers as lacking precision in their requests. It is a common problem that largely deals with different management cultures (see the table).

In Ukraine one takes only the decisions which are allowed to be taken. Danes can perceive this as a lack of initiative, but in reality it is a respect for hierarchy
Differences in management cultures*
Danish project manager Ukrainian project manager
  • Sets goals, but leaves many decisions to his employees.
  • Rarely uses his authority trying instead to convince others of his views.
  • Employees are those who must be motivated.
  • It is a BOSS (in capital letters) who gives direct orders and takes all major decisions.
  • Does not find it always necessary to argue or sell his case.
  • Employees are those who must be controlled.
Danish junior developer
  • Needs some freedom for decision making. Sometimes too much, when taking decisions is a system architect’s responsibility.
  • Is not afraid to be critical of the orders he gets. The same holds about Business Requirements, which is also necessary, as they are often unclearly specified.
 Ukrainian junior developer
  • Sticks to the orders coming from above.
  • Does not critise Business Requirements, but often suggests better technical solutions.
  • It does not matter much if a task is boring as long as the job gives opportunities to develop.
*Generalisation and over-simplification in order to promote understanding.
The differences are less noticeble with some years of experience, both on Ukrainian and Danish sides

Best-practice management techniques in the outsourcing process
1. Dialogue
A question like "What do you think?" is a compliment itself and prompts employee’s initiative and commitment. Hold regular conference calls.  		2. Be strict
It does not mean shouting, but taking responsibility and initiative, being very clear in communications. Nobody should be offended, for it is you who is a boss.		 3. Set clear goals
Create task lists, for example, and follow up on them. Be as much specific as possible when describing tasks. Consider using SCRUM methodology , prototyping, usecases, wire frames, etc. 		4. Be available
Be online on MSN or Skype in order to give fast answers to questions, but avoid spending too much time specifying entire systems this way. Use email instead to send the necessary information.
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