Any Interesting Anecdotes About Working With Argentines?
- Thread starter TehDeej
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In 2003 we got our new team together (50 people) to discuss mission, goals and objectives for our new company . We are a service company but the guys then wouldnt even hear mention of us providing excellent service as part of the mission ...to them, service equated to servitude...Here we are nearly 10 years alter and the ones still with us understand that customer service isnt a degrading position....Bsas has always looked so familiar to us from the outside but managing employees has taught us so much re cultural differences. Will be happy to bore you with more examples if willing...
la_guachita
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One of the most frustrating things about living here. . .
citygirl
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As Fifs said, customer service is not on the radar here. I found also that when employees made mistakes, the immediate reaction was to shift the blame to an external reason and not take ownership of it. Missed a deadline or didn't complete a project - they always had 3 reasons that it wasn't their fault. It was really difficult to explain to employees that screwing up happened and as long as they took ownership of the mistake, explained to me how it happened and we resolved it - it was okay. But blaming someone else and/or repeating the same thing again would get them fired.
Along the same lines, any complaint from our end customer was immediately denied and they would get quite aggressive back. As a service provider, as unreasonable as the client may be, it is not an employee's place to tell the end client no or they're wrong. But that's the mentality here.
When we built the team, I initially hired more experienced people. After the first 3-4 months, I realized that was a mistake and none of them were open to learning. So I started over with a group of young people that were finishing up their degrees and trained them the way I do things. It was much more successful.
Along the same lines, any complaint from our end customer was immediately denied and they would get quite aggressive back. As a service provider, as unreasonable as the client may be, it is not an employee's place to tell the end client no or they're wrong. But that's the mentality here.
When we built the team, I initially hired more experienced people. After the first 3-4 months, I realized that was a mistake and none of them were open to learning. So I started over with a group of young people that were finishing up their degrees and trained them the way I do things. It was much more successful.
Also, I'm probably getting stereotypical here but I've heard several times that there is a desire to hire Colombians here in Argentina for customer service due to their pleasent demeaner. I don't know if this is exactly true but my experience working in Colombia is that they are some of the most congenial people on the planet.
Montauk_Project
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In Anglo-Saxon culture (US, UK, Canada, etc) there is a concept that the company is paying for your time and therefore you need to always be busy (or APPEAR to be busy) during that time. For example, in New York I worked in a restaurant. If no customers came in, I was expected to clean out the fridge. Here it most workers/bosses would say that if there is a lull in work, there is no problem taking a break.
More emphasis on actual goals then on occupying time. More emphasis on getting the job done perfect than on being on time.
Also, expectation is that work will always be handed in late, so most workers or contracters in Argentina will underestimate delivery times with the understanding that it will be more. When I work with a US client I do the opposite: give them the worse case scenario time frame and then hand in the work early. In BsAs that wouldn´t fly: you wouldn´t get the job because people would be scared off by the estimate.
I work in the film industry, and this may be a bubble, but everyone shows up on time and takes their job very seriously. More likely to be motivated by the project or work conditions than salary--I´ve had technicians turn down "easy money" for "easy work" because they felt like it was beneath their artistic standing.
Great probelm solvers--since there is a more unstable economy, lack of imports, people here can get anything done with no resources. If they don´t have the correct tool they will find an alternative.
Of course, these are all generalizations! I could also write a longer essay on US clients and how they don´t listen to advice we give (not belieiving it) and then causing problems later on. They also tend to belittle local workers assuming that they are lazy.
More emphasis on actual goals then on occupying time. More emphasis on getting the job done perfect than on being on time.
Also, expectation is that work will always be handed in late, so most workers or contracters in Argentina will underestimate delivery times with the understanding that it will be more. When I work with a US client I do the opposite: give them the worse case scenario time frame and then hand in the work early. In BsAs that wouldn´t fly: you wouldn´t get the job because people would be scared off by the estimate.
I work in the film industry, and this may be a bubble, but everyone shows up on time and takes their job very seriously. More likely to be motivated by the project or work conditions than salary--I´ve had technicians turn down "easy money" for "easy work" because they felt like it was beneath their artistic standing.
Great probelm solvers--since there is a more unstable economy, lack of imports, people here can get anything done with no resources. If they don´t have the correct tool they will find an alternative.
Of course, these are all generalizations! I could also write a longer essay on US clients and how they don´t listen to advice we give (not belieiving it) and then causing problems later on. They also tend to belittle local workers assuming that they are lazy.
Montauk_project, great input. Regarding time, another reason things can take longer here is when doing new business you have to establish trust and a good relation. Per your comment about Americans not listening and judging locales. I worked with an American sales manager, he lived in Costa Rica 11 years and I'm pretty sure he spoke 11 words of Spanish and did not understand Latin culture. He used to push me to make business meetings for local clients weeks in advance. Of course this doesn't really happen. He would get really uptight 2 weeks before he visited and ask to cancel the trip. I would tell him over and over, "jusdt wait. A week to 10 days appointments will be confirmed and we'll be ok". He would usually make some disparaging comment and all would go well. LATER, when things move as fast as he wanted he would pressure local clientele in awful, awful Spanish to get thier butts moving. We lost several potential clients due to his impatience. Along with the clients I dropped the project as well. I still don't think he's gotten anywhere.
Montauk_project - I work in advertising, and have noticed the same thing. Most of my coworkers have a fantastic attitude with work and are very talented and professional. Argentina has a great reputation in most creative fields (the reason I moved here!) and I think that people are very proud of what they do. But I've heard from people from other industries like IT and finance that they've had the exact opposite experience.
GS_Dirtboy
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Working with Argentines ... an oxymoronic phrase!
In my service company of 16 people there are exactly 4 who know what it means to work, deliver service, and be accountable for results. I'm ready to fire the rest of them. The 3 Argentines in the group of 4 who understand service are the first ones to agree.
They complain constantly about not getting paid enough but when offered an opportunity to make extra money (for pulling extra partial shifts or projects) they always have a reason that they can't.
I've managed people literally all over the world (except the far east). The work ethic here sucks. Period.
In my service company of 16 people there are exactly 4 who know what it means to work, deliver service, and be accountable for results. I'm ready to fire the rest of them. The 3 Argentines in the group of 4 who understand service are the first ones to agree.
They complain constantly about not getting paid enough but when offered an opportunity to make extra money (for pulling extra partial shifts or projects) they always have a reason that they can't.
I've managed people literally all over the world (except the far east). The work ethic here sucks. Period.
