Cbapter 2 I Unit1jandCoherence 35Paragraph 2
FrenchandU.S.businessmanagershavedecidedlydifferentmanagement
styles.Frenchmeetings,forexample,arelongandrambling^3 andrarelyendon
time.Furthermore,meetingsoftenendwithoutclosure.^4 ManagersintheUnited
States,ontheotherhand,makeanefforttostartandstopa meetingontime,
andNorthAmericanbusinessmeetingstypicallyendwithdecisionsandaction
plans.Anotherdifferenceinvolvesdocumentation.NorthAmericansadore
documentation;theyhavea proceduremanualforeverything.TheFrench,in
contrast,thinkthisis childish.Frenchmanagersfindit difficulttosticktoa
schedule,butU.S.managersareintolerantofdelays.Inaddition,theFrench
prefertoworkalone,whereasNorthAmericansliketoworkinteams.Another
majordifferenceinmanagementstyleis thatinFrenchcompanies,authority
comesfromthetop;Frenchmanagersdonotshareinformationwith
subordinatesandmakedecisionswithlittleparticipationbyemployeesbeneath
them.InU.S.companies,however,topmanagersshareinformationand
frequentlysolicit^5 inputfromsubordinates("HowFrenchManagers'VKindoflogicalorder: ~__'__ _Paragraph 3
Ittookmorethan2,500yearstodevelopthecalendarusedinmostWestern
countriestoday.Inabout 700 B.C.E.,7theancientRomansuseda calendarthat
had 304 daysdividedinto 10 months;Marchwasthebeginningofeachyear.
Thereweremorethan 60 daysmissingfromthecalendar,soverysoonthe
calendardidnotmatchtheseasonsatall.Springarrivedwhenthecalendar
saidthatitwasstillwinter.A fewdecadeslater,theRomansaddedthemonths
ofJanuaryandFebruarytotheendoftheyear.Thiscalendarlastedabout
600 years.Thenin 46 B.C.E.,JuliusCaesar,theRomanruler,madea new
calendar.Hiscalendarhad 365 days,withonedayaddedeveryfourthyear.He
alsomovedthebeginningoftheyeartoJanuary1,andherenameda monthfor
himself:Julius(July).InCaesar'scalendar,Februaryhad 29 days.Theverynext
emperor,Augustus,notonlyrenameda monthforhimself(August),buthealso
tookonedayfromFebruaryandaddedittoAugustsothat"his"monthwould
bejustaslongasCaesar's.Thiscalendarworkedbetterthanthepreviousones,
butit stillwasnotperfect.By1580,thefirstcalendricaldayofspringwas
10 daystooearly,soin1582,PopeGregoryXIII,theleaderoftheRoman
Catholicreligion,madea smallchangetomakethecalendarmoreaccurate.
IntheGregoriancalendar,theyearis still26.3secondsdifferentfromthesolar
year,butit willbea longtimebeforethiscausesa problem.Kjndoflogicalorder: _3 rambling:notfocusedona specificgoal
4closure:decisionsaboutpointsdiscussed
5 solicit:askfor
6"HowFrenchManagersCompareto Americans."MoneyBeat.MarinIndependentJoumal30Nov.1993:B7.
7 B.C.E.:BeforetheCommonEra(TheCommonErabeganintheyear1.)