Work and business culture in Hungary

An article that appeared in HGV is the inspiration for today's post. It was written by Zoltán Novák, a research associate of the Méltányosság Politikaelemző Központ (Equity Center for Political Analysis), and was entitled "Repulsive Symptoms in the Hungarian Work and Business Culture."

Today is the perfect time to tackle this topic because I just finished listening to György Bolgár's talk show (Klub Rádió) which ended with a bang. A big bang. A grandmother of ten, screaming on the top of her lungs, went on and on about all those people who don't appreciate Hungarian culture, who make fun of Hungary's true heritage, who are enamored with other cultures, who want to force English on Hungarian students, and who want to teach all sorts of things about other countries while they are making fun of Hungary's past. Her harangue was not devoid of anti-Semitic remarks. And if that weren't enough, right after her came a man who suggested that since this government has achieved so much in the last three months or so, all newspapers should be supporting it instead of criticizing it. Well, this is the culture or rather the lack of culture that makes dialogue almost impossible in Hungary.

Zoltán Novák begins his article by asking whether a given society's culture can be changed. And should bad traditions be broken? Novák's answer to the second question is an unequivocal yes. Is there a need for change in a direction that is better, more effective, more helpful for the society as a whole? Again, the answer is yes.

Novák points out that in Hungary there is a lot of talk about the ills of political culture--an unwillingness to compromise and the presence of corruption. But this emphasis on political culture gives the false impression that "Hungary is a country of twenty million diligent hands" and that the bad political culture exists entirely independently of Hungarian society. But, as Novák says, "Hungary's political culture was not blown into the Carpathian basin from somewhere outside; it is the true mirror of our present conditions and organically attached to the culture of human relations. The quality of Hungary's political behavior is not worse than the average level of culture."

When it comes to work and business culture the biggest problem is that no healthy competition--either on the personal or the entrepreneurial level--has developed in the last twenty years. Apparently the situation on the individual level is really serious. According to Novák a fair amount of time is being spent "elbowing, backbiting, watching each other, checking on each other, reporting to the boss." This behavior shows a "misunderstanding of the nature of competition." Instead of concentrating on their own achievement Hungarian employees spend their energies discrediting the achievements of others. There are problems with the quality of leadership as well. There are bosses who want to control absolutely everything and those who let anything go. There are very few in between.

As for business culture it is very similar to interpersonal relations within the firm. There is stiff competition among big businesses, but once again the business owners don't concentrate on the effectiveness of their own firm. Instead they do everything in their power to discredit their competitors. Contracts between businesses are sometimes 10-15 pages long, yet it is often impossible to enforce their provisions. Then come the lawyers and the endless court cases.

The situation is no better in the world of small and medium-size businesses, which is especially worrisome given the new government's decision to pour money into this sector. In small and medium-size businesses formulating business strategy is almost unknown, and as a result even firms that are relatively well endowed can come close to bankruptcy in no time. Most of them spend whatever money comes in, and they irresponsibly take up loans. If Novák is right, it is very possible that the new Széchenyi Plan will not bring the desired results.

Novák focuses on the work and business elements of social intercourse, but there are others that in his opinion would need drastic change, such as ethnic intolerance. Some people like to blame the Kádár regime for all this, but the author suspects that "the problem is much more deep-seated." In any case, although they themselves create the atmosphere that surrounds them, it is a well-known fact that Hungarians don't like their own surroundings.

Finally, Novák poses the question: can deep-seated cultural traits be changed? The answer is yes and his examples are Finland, Ireland, and Spain where, according to him, a few decades were enough for "a cultural change that brought in its wake economic prosperity and political consolidation."

Let's hope that Novák is right--that some of the "repulsive symptoms" will eventually disappear and a better culture will emerge.

Comments

[Odin's Lost eye]

The Hungarian language is one of the millstones around Hungary’s neck. Beautiful, expressive and melodic it may be it has always isolated the Hungarians from their neighbours. This has produced insularity amongst its speakers within the Republic of Hungary
As Sandor Maia and other Hungarian authors have has written ‘the Hungarians are amongst the loneliest people on earth’. By this he meant they could not speak to any other peoples. Professor in your article you quote the story of the grandmother who illustrates this point. This incident shows that the grandmother knew nothing about the peoples who live beyond their borders. She sees foreigners as ogres who wish to steal the clothes from her back, eat little babies etc. I wonder how many Hungarians who escaped to other lands could put the lie to that? The cheerful generosity, care, kindness and compassion shown to those refugees is something which I think out good hostess experienced at first hand.
Isolation of a people on purely nationalistic, religious, political or linguistic grounds has caused more than enough carnage, destruction and horror. If you want to know more of the bestiality that blind nationalism and religious bigotry have caused, I would recommend that you read two books (‘Hitler’s Empire’ by Mark Mazower and ‘God’s Terrorists’ by Charles Allen).
In your article, Professor you quote Mr Novák where he poses the question: “can deep-seated cultural traits be changed? The answer is yes and his examples are Finland, Ireland, and Spain where, according to him, a few decades were enough for a cultural change that brought in its wake economic prosperity and political consolidation.”
I will agree with him, Yes, but you are up against ignorance and the blind prejudice folk like the old grandma who has probably never been further than Balaton and will pass her ideas on to her Grand Children. That is the core of the problem.
One thing which might be very helpful would be a collation (in Hungarian) of the experiences of Hungarian refugees from 1956, their heartache at leaving their homeland and kinsfolk, the problems they faced in assimilating themselves in to their new lands, languages, laws, customs and food. The little kindnesses they received at the hands of ordinary folk like old Jack Simpson. What a challenge for a journalist, but he/she will have to hurry it was over 54 years ago and none of them are getting any younger.

[Frank]

Odin,
It is not the language but the culture and the attitude that is the cause of the core of the problem. The language is a mere vehicle/expression for and of your culture. Marai felt that the Hungarians could not communicate( i.e. he is not talking about speaking or the Hungarian language) with other peoples. It is in our genes to be temperamental,this is a reflection of our history and experiences over time. Anyone listening to Liszt's Rapsodies will go trough a roller coaster of emotions, just like our ups and downs in our past.
In the article quoted above,Mr. Novak discusses work and business culture.
Time and time again I see comments on this blog complaining about Hungarians. All these deal with symptoms though I have yet to see a comment what the cause(s) is(are).

In my humble opinion, the present day Hungarians either grew up under the communist system or were raised by parents born in communist times. And what did you first learn under that system? You had to learn how to lie at an early age for your survival. We learned two Hungarian languages, the official one praising the system and its leaders, and the unofficial one used at home which reflected the ridicule/distrust/hatred for the system.
Kadar's biggest "achievement" was his discovery and maintenance of the "quid pro quo" principle,after his 1956 bloody take over/consolidation the state left you"to be" as long as you "shut up". To be meant you could "borrow", i.e. steal and "fogjuk meg es vigyetek",i.e laze around and expect full pay for it. Full employment with subsidized living costs.When the communist system collapsed, the former communists were able to translate their political grip on the country into economic power through privatization. What did the average Hungarian see after the change over? Corruption continued unabated and nobody was taken to task for the past. As if the communist rule was just a dream. Therefore, you can hardly blame the present day culture that is based on;feeds off and perpetuates past Hungarian attitudes.

But there is a ray of hope. People did see through the manipulations of the former governments of the past 8 years.
The professor and her leftist friends can cry "lagrimas negras", the left will be on the sideline for quite a while.

[John T]

Frank - Its very easy to scapegoat the previous government - I agree with you that the MSZP were useless. But every administration since 1989 has been useless. And if you think the current bunch of clowns offer a ray of hope, then I suspect you'll be disappointed. Orban believes he represents the elite. But outside of Hungary, he'd be considered distinctly average - I could walk down an High Street in the UK and find 20 people with more talent and ability than Orban or any of his government possess. The same goes for MSZP and LMP - no talent or leaders. And that is the problem - where is the talent required to take Hungary forward sensibly in the world. Sad to say, it probably doesn't exist. What limited progress that has been made in the country is down to having to adapt to international laws or EU rules - very little positive change has been generated domestically.

And while I'd agree with your points about life under Kadar, people have had 21 years to adapt to the wider world. All I see when I visit Hungary is a country where too many people (not all) do the minimum to get by, are indifferent to society and despite National holidays like St Stephens day, don't actual have much real pride in their country or self respect. And people look to the past rather than the future, which discourages them from trying to make a better life for themselves or creating a better society. There is too much mediocrity, yet you cannot point this out without Hungarians taking offence, even if you try to do it constructively. But you see it often - customer service is frequently poor and in most restaurants, you are served an average meal, obviously cooked without passion. And thats whats missing - passion and drive used positively.
You mention corruption - unfortunately it is too common. And sadly, most people have a racket of some kind or don't pay their fair share. But until people actually say that it will no longer be tolerated, it'll continue and a minority of honest people will carry the dishonest majority. And I don't see the will to stamp it out - politicians may be corrupt, but they are just one element of a wider malaise.

[Frank]

John T,
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. And even more disappointing is my thought that it
will take a couple of generations to turn things around.

[Odin's Lost eye]

Frank - It is the old question ‘which came first the chicken or the egg?’ The language isolates the people from their neighbours. Because of this simple ideas, and solutions, cannot easily permeate the main bulk of Hungarian society. Equally foreign ideas cannot spread outwards at the level of ‘hoi poli’. In the Turkish/Hapsburg periods the Hungarian language was the one thing which preserved Hungary. This engendered ‘insularity’ which in its self reinforces its self through the years.
Frank you talk of ** “It is in our genes to be temperamental,” **. It is in everyone’s genes to be temperamental. Some peoples however from a number of causes learn ‘self discipline’ which is the antidote to temperament. They also learn empathy in the form of the need to think of others. This can come from their religion, their peer groups, in their schools etc. However iron discipline can be an equally bad and can give rise to even worse results. One of these is the blind acceptance of ‘ideas from above’.
You also say ** “Time and time again I see comments on this blog complaining about Hungarians. All these deal with symptoms though I have yet to see a comment what the cause(s) is(are).” **. Perhaps I have given some clue to one of the possible causes –isolation-. If you have no other ‘role models’ then you develop your own. I will admit that the Communist period enhance the development of some of the worst aspects of the Hungarian life style. Break the isolation and you can start to change the culture. I will not comment on Hungarian business ethics (or lack of them).
Personally I find some aspects of the Hungarian culture/conduct infuriating. it is not however genetic. I have found that things give me the ‘slow boil’ amongst Hungarian Hungarians is greatly reduced amongst Hungarians who were born and live in surrounding countries. They are probably genetically similar, but are multi lingual. As such they have access to the ideas etc. of others. These people seem to be far more receptive to new ideas (especially in the fields of technology and handy-crafts) and often take a great delight in learning them and often like ‘Oliver Twist’ ask for more.
John T you write ** “There is too much mediocrity, yet you cannot point this out without Hungarians taking offence, even if you try to do it constructively” **. You are right; your observations correspond with mine. I have a feeling that this is again due to this dieses of ‘insularity’. I get the feeling that the Hungarian regard all foreigners as idiots, so what do ‘they’ know? -after they cannot really speak Hungarian but our toddlers can so therefore they must be cretins-. My reply is ‘what don’t they know’?

[Frank]

Odin,
I hate to get personal instead of arguing on an intellectual level. However, based on my review of your past comments on Hungarians in general I came to the conclusion that and they are so outrageously incorrect/demeaning that one almost feels the hatred emanating from your thoughts.
What makes an Englishman so bitter? Your inability to learn Hungarian ? Are YOU multilingual?
I met Cubans who after a year in Hungary were completely fluent in the language so it is not impossible. As the writer of these blogs said somewhere:.."it does not take high I.Q. to learn languages."
Or is your dismal lack of knowledge of Hungarian history that makes Hungarians dealing with you hostile? Or is it the company that you are keeping; you seem be always referring to comments made by people in kocsma? I don't even know if these places exist anymore in Budapest. (by the way learn how to spell kocsma)
Now, to your comments.
Hungarians before the war studied German at school. After the war Russian was mandatory.Now, I believe there is a choice.
As a 20 year old, when I escaped from Hungary in 1966 I spoke Russian, German, English( I wrote the state exam for the latter 2 and received extra pay), French and even took an Italian course.Of course you will say I was an exception. Not necessarily so. The private tutor, formerly a nun who survived under the communist regime from teaching languages spoke 8 including Latin.
I came to Canada and did rather well; university education (bachelor of business admin) chartered accountant, international tax specialist. I don't wish to brag about myself ,rather I want you to know that Hungarians are smart, open to new languages/ideas. We were never isolated as you believe. How could have been isolated if we were under the Turkish and Habsburg rule for so long. Do you think that the occupiers had to learn Hungarian or was it the other way around. If you look at out history, many Hungarians did not even speak Hungarian in the 1800'. German was the official language of the Monarchy for a long time. In the 1900' any well to do family hired tutors so their kids would learn German and French. And Hungary always had substantial minorities living on her soil so how could have Hungarians been isolated? Look up the number of Hungarians winning the Nobel prize and listen to the music of Kalman, Martok, Kodaly, Kalman, Lehar..just to mention a few. Isolation?
I started to read Marai's Diaries in Toronto as he was banned under the communist. If you wanted to understand his thoughts, as published in Toronto(without translation), you had better understand English, German, French and Italian. Before the communist took over in 1947 it was quite common for foreigners to come and study in Hungary (exp:go to Gundel Restaurant and find out what I am talking about)and many Hungarian tradespeople spent their journeyman years abroad.
Now, let's turn to the cause of the present day malaise of Hungarian life.
A few weeks ago, the writer of the blog was rather upset in commenting about Fidesz'announced action to review the prior government's thievery and to lay corruption charges.The next sentence is the most meaningful.They(i.e. Fidesz) stole too.
Yes, this is the typical communist mentality that people were exposed to over 40 years.
No, we don't say, it'e mea culpa promise that will vener happen again etc,....rather they did it too, we are all guilty so let's forget about it, close our eyes to it, carry on as if nothing has happened.
Unfortunately, a nation that does not learn from its history is doomed to repeat it. And there you have it.

[John T]

Frank - No doubt Odin will submit his reply in due course, but speaking as an Anglo-Hungarian, when I am critical of Hungarians, it is out of frustration and certainly not hatred. My frustration is that Hungarians should be capable of much better, yet are just drifting along. I visit Hungary at least twice a year. For as long as I remember, people have moaned about how crappy life is and will talk for hours about problems. But thats all they do, talk. Hardly anyone does anything positive to make life better. In England, we also moan, but the difference is that there are far more people who'll try to make things better. It's a noticeable contrast. And, we are still pioneers and innovators. This is what is currently lacking in Hungary.

As you mentioned Gundel, I think the restaurant sums up the country nicely - it certainly portrays an air of grandeur, but its current "product" overall is tired and lacks passion.

As for corrupt politicans, I think it is very true that some members of all parties are corrupt, either at a national or local level. If MSZP politicans are guilty, then fine, they deserve to be punished. But lets have zero tolerance across the piece, rather than a political vendetta.

[Frank]

John,
I used to visit Hungary about twice a year as well eventhough I had no family there anymore since my brother's passing. But I stopped about 3 years ago. It was truly painful for me to see what was happening.I had enough of what you are describing. I had enough of a society that only complained but made no effort to make any progress.
I now travel all over South America. It feels good because I am emotionally not involved.

[Eva S. Balogh]

John, Frank: "I had enough of what you are describing. I had enough of a society that only complained but made no effort to make any progress."

It is very tiresome, I agree. I listen to my cousin's complaints almost every day. She complains that the street is full of potholes. Then she complains because they are resurfacing the street and there is noise and dust. She complains that nothing happens in the city. It is neglected. But when they fixing up Pécs because of its new status as one of the cultural capitals of Europe she complains about the general upheaval.

Among other things the city is building a modern library building where all the libraries scattered in inappropriate places at the moment will be able to send their holdings.Of course, such a large and modern building cannot be built in the Old Town. She complains that the library will be too far. I asked whether she frequents the library at all. The answer was "no." Then, what's the problem? Everything!!!!

[Odin's Lost eye]

Frank, You are wrong in your analysis. For me it is pure frustration. I see something which isn’t working, is wrong, dangerous etc. but no one cares. To the Hungarian it is always someone else’s fault, so they do nothing.
I know my knowledge of Hungarian history is poor. I am not a historian. The history of a people or nation may well explain how those people/nation arrived where they are now. It does not give clues as to their future, but sometimes it does. If I was 50 odd years younger when I arrived in Hungary and had the same facilities as the Cubans maybe I could also speak fluent Hungarian, but I was not and did not have access to those facilities. I am retired, a pensioner and live in the boondocks. I had and still have a DIY Hungarian course. Whenever I reached for it and tried to begin, I could guarantee that within 5 minutes I will be called away to sort out some problem or other. As many Hungarians admit that they have a form of ‘tunnel vision’ where their own ‘agendas’ are concerned. This lack of ‘empathy’ towards the needs of others. This has been mentioned by other contributors to this blog. I spent my late teens and early 20s learning, spherical trigonometry –for Astro-navigation- etc. Coastal navigation, the Rules for the ‘Prevention of Collision at Sea’. The multitude of light patterns that could be used at night. You had to recognise them from any angle instantly. I also had to learn other nautical and engineering things etc. Languages well I learned French and Latin at school, but I have forgotten nearly all of the latter. I learned some Cantonese, Arabic, Malay, Pigeon, a bit of Portuguese but it was ‘dockyard stuff’ and I have forgotten all of it now. Except for the Pigeon ‘Him fella all buggered up’ –it is broken- and Nee boss! what time this big tin chicken go fly this fella (wherever) bye-me-bye?’. That one usually worries airline cabin crews who give you some very queer looks. It is quite fun –try it some time. Since then I have learned (and forgotten) some 10 or 12 computer programming languages, plus various dialects of them.
Thank you for correcting my Hungarian, my dictionaries ‘go walk-about’ with regular monotony. I have probably equipped several schools with several copies of the confounded things. I also have a dyslexic keyboard. Not a nice thing to have
John T - You say ** “speaking as an Anglo-Hungarian, when I am critical of Hungarians, it is out of frustration and certainly not hatred. My frustration is that Hungarians should be capable of much better, yet are just drifting along.” ** I know exactly what you mean. I have 3 hobbies. The first I have to use daily it is cooking. I know and have experienced the results of Hungarian Cookery in the so called ‘Great Restaurants’ but not Grundels –although I have a book of his recipes- the work is done by tired out technicians –not cooks, cooks have to have a vocation with all the verve and passion that involves. My late wife used to hate me cursing and growling when I was cooking and things were just not right.
You say ** “As you mentioned Gundel, I think the restaurant sums up the country nicely - it certainly portrays an air of grandeur, but its current "product" overall is tired and lacks passion.” **. This fits my impressions to a ‘tee’. I would add the inability to recognise these facts and worse (even when the problem is pointed out) the inability or unwillingness to do anything about it. The world moves on and you cannot live on the glories of the past, you have to change and. adapt or go into terminal decline.
My next door neighbour was winging about a hole in the track where we live. It was caused by his overloaded trailer. One night I took my shovel and filled it in. He then had the grump because the whole track had not been made up with tarmac. You cannot win even one!.

[Frank]

Odin,
I think you just made my point.You basically don't speak any other language beside English yet you are upset that the Hungarians that you know/deal with are not multilingual.Is this not a double standard?

It amazes me when visiting South America and Mexico I hear the North American(US &Canada) visitors griping about the fact that locals don't speak English. Any native English speaker seem to assume that anyone else, no matter the location/ country of origin, should speak English.

I don't think that your daily contacts(seems to be rather miserable) with the people around you is sufficient to form a representative picture of the Hungarian culture. Do you visit the opera, operette, Muveszek Palotaja, Liszt Ferenc Akademia performances? Budapest has more, and better, symphony orchestras than Toronto. The number of theatres is mind bugling in Budapest.Of course you would need to understand Hungarian to enjoy them.

Unfortunately, most of you contributing to this blog, are unable, or unwilling, to see that Hungarians were bastardized by the communists before 1990. Corruption continued unabated after the change over, so why are you wondering that Hungarians are not progressing to your liking? When a former Prime Minister is asked about his days as an informant for the communist secret apparatus and replies that he was, in effect, spying against the Russians then you have to admit that Hungarians can justify anything. John believes that 20 years are sufficient to get over the past and move on. I personally do not think so. If you survive as a dishonest person why would you change.
I hope that I am incorrect; regardless I hope there will be a generation of Hungarians in the future that will make Hungarians proud again.

If taxpayers believe that their taxes are spent foolishly, without any benefit to them, then how could you make the underground economy disappear and get everyone pay their share of the burden. Or how could you expect Biszku to see that 1956 was a popular uprising against a rotten regime?

[John T]

Frank,

I don't see that Odin has said Hungarians should be multi-lingual. He has merely said that the difficulty of the Hungarian language has isolated Hungary in the past. And you have to be realistic, because of factors such as trade, business, English, German and French have been the languages that people in Europe have traditionally learned as 2nd / 3rd languages.

As I said yesterday, I agree with you that Communism distorted the values of society. But decent people will know what is right and what is wrong. I haven't said, as you imply that 20 years is enough to get over the past. Of course it needs much longer. But, progress should have been made and it hasn't really. I'll make the point again - crooked politicans are just an example of the wider corruption that is still rife. So until Hungarians accept that everyone should pay taxes, that government should be transparent, that jobs should be filled on merit instead of because of who you know and that practices such as hálapénz have no place in a civilised society, nothing will change.

[Frank]

John,
may be I read too much into what was said. But this, I quote from Odin(Sept 2):
" I have found that things give me the ‘slow boil’ amongst Hungarian Hungarians is greatly reduced amongst Hungarians who were born and live in surrounding countries. They are probably genetically similar, but are multi lingual. As such they have access to the ideas etc. of others. These people seem to be far more receptive to new ideas"....
And from your comments on Sept 01:
"And while I'd agree with your points about life under Kadar, people have had 21 years to adapt to the wider world."

Am I misreading you guys?

[Odin's Lost eye]

Communism cannot be blamed for all the ills of Hungary. There was a time when the educated classes of this land had a language which was spoken by others it was Latin. During this period an adage was coined in translation it says “There is no life outside Hungary and if there is it is not really life”. (“Extra Hungarium non est vita . Si est vita, non est ita). This is taken from Paul Lendvai’s book called “The Hungarians 1000 years of Victory in Defeat’ and refers to the period of Maria Theresa (1740-1780). He also quotes from English travellers and observers of the period notably John Paget and Julia Pardoe. Their comments are substantially similar to those to those sometimes expressed by myself and other observers in this blog. May be I am too critical of both Hungary and developments in my own country. I also have several hours of work to repair ‘things’ broken by the ‘locals’ plus other work I wish to do.
So as we say I think we had best leave it at that! I will not talk about Hungarian business practices, ethics, and methods etc. Nor their attitude to work. Those that I have encountered are UGH!

[John T]

"Am I misreading you guys?"
Frank - only perhaps in so far as I was not saying I expected people to have completely adapted to the new realities / opportunities available. Clearly it will take longer and wont be easy for many.

I would also add that I think there is a noticably difference in attitude between those living in Budapest and those living outside of the capital. Most of my family live in Szombathely and I certainly notice people are more helpful and polite. There is also lots of cross border contact with Austrians, which I think has had positive benefits.