Culture

Religion

Russian Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim minorities

Notes

Russia has been communist for 70 years. It has been Russian Orthodox for 1000 years.
In 1480 (liberation from Tartars) Moscow saw itself as the third and last Rome. Constantinople had fallen to the Turks (1453). The term “Tsar” (Caesar) began to be used. Religious seclusion caused Russia to miss the following developments:
– Renaissance (arts)
– Reformation (pluralism of religion)
– rise of big cities
– development of modern agriculture and commerce
– scientific revolution
– economic liberalism
– rise of middle class
Result was vast, backward agricultural empire.
Every ethnic Russian has Orthodox heritage:
– Importance of Easter
– Resurrection of Nature and of Russian people after 250 years of Mongol rule. Also Christ over death.
– Consensus of Orthodox congregation seen as singular truth
– Led to disdain for dissidents.
– Orthodox well balanced between Catholicism (too authoritarian) and Protestantism (too individualistic).
– Orthodoxy seen as egalitarian.
– Communist Party replaced Church - intolerance of dissidents continued.
– Church a force in Russia once more.

Cultural classification

Multi-active (some reactive tendencies), dialogue-oriented

Languages

Russian

Values and core beliefs

Cultural black holes

Suspicion of foreigners, sense of vulnerability

Concept of space

Russians live in the largest country in the world and think big in many ways. Immense open spaces and virgin territory encouraged them to expand and conquer. The very hugeness of their territory also made them feel vulnerable and suspicious of neighbours. They stand closer to each other in everyday conversation than would Western Europeans and like touching, hugging and kissing friends and close acquaintances.

Concept of time

Not very punctual, but not outrageously late either. Chief problem with making appointments is that they are often cancelled from their side or they simply postpone indefinitely. Occasionally they do not turn up and only offer explanations later if requested to do so. Bureaucracy and inefficiency of officialdom often prevents them from travelling.


This diagram shows multi-active and reactive concepts of the use of time, which are largely similar. Instead of getting down to immediate action, cultures such as the Japanese or Hispanic prefer to “pool” tasks and issues and “walk around the pool” for some time to contemplate a course of action which will take into account the inter-relating factors between the different elements. Nothing should be decided or determined piecemeal; action should only begin when an all-embracing solution has been constructed. Such an attitude to time leads (in the eyes of linear-actives) to annoying delays, procrastination and mañana behaviour. Linear-active cultures are interested in speed. Multi-active cultures and reactive cultures give priority to getting it right.

Self image

Russians believe that they are the world’s greatest humanists. Related to this belief they think they are destined to unite Europe and Asia.

Culture: communication

Communication patterns

Russians are eloquent communicators and warm. They consider themselves very human and understanding and believe they can help others towards understanding and harmony. Their argument is roundabout, exploratory and indulges frequently in sentiment. Subjectivity has priority over objectivity. They can be poetic, and are aware of their great literary tradition. The level of English and other languages is surprisingly high. Circular style of discourse often confuses Westerners. Russians convey feeling well but are not high on clarity.


In the diagrams depicting communication patterns, the depth of the initial segment generally gives some indication of the relative verbosity of the speaker.

Barriers to the speech flow or progress of the meeting are shown by orange shaded divisions.

At the end (on the right) there is usually a comment on what the outcome was (e.g. clarity, inconclusive, etc).

Body language and non-verbal communication

Not so overt as with Latins or Arabs, but they use their hands frequently. Facial expressions more controlled – they can be poker-faced when they think this is appropriate. They generally enter meetings unsmiling and relax only when ‘melted down’ by your display of ‘humanity’.

Listening habits

Russians automatically distrust official statements, whether made by governments, state agencies or big multinationals. Personal messages, even rumour, ring true. Russians listen best, in small numbers or privately, to a person who presents an opportunity, shares their fate and conspires to ‘beat the system’. Speakers, especially foreigners, should be blunt, confiding and obviate any deviousness.


Key to Diagram
In the diagrams depicting listening habits, the orange zones indicates the areas of receptive, uncomplicated listening.

The yellow zones indicate the areas of complication or conlflict.

Audience expectations at presentations

• official view is a lie
• personal view is true
• changes are always bad
• suspicious of foreigners
• expects rhetoric
• expects sentiment
• expects complexity
• needs recognition
• people-oriented
• conspiratorial
• no war talk
• dislikes greed

Culture: interaction

Concept of status

In Russia this has varied according to the historical period. In Tsarist times the Royal Family as well as large numbers of nobles, dukes, princes etc. were highly visible. From 1917 to 1988 there was a Communist hierarchy. Less obvious, but nevertheless important throughout modern Russian history, is the status attributed to writers, scientists and dignitaries of the Russian Orthodox Church (1000 years of authority).

Gender issues

Often abused at home by drunken husbands, there is little equality in social life. In rural areas, and some times in the cities, women are seen to be engaged in heavy physical tasks - it is however possible for women to be upwardly mobile politically and many have achieved high ranking positions in the Party. Nowadays women entrepreneurs are slowly emerging. Women greatly outnumber men due to war deaths and early male mortality through alcoholism. Russian women are strong-willed but modest. Female networks have helped them through hard times.

Leadership style

The leadership concept is undergoing profound changes in Russia following the demise of the Soviet Communist state. Efforts made by managers to promote business through official channels only are likely to founder on the rocks of bureaucracy and Russian apathy. Using key people and personal alliances, the “system” is often by-passed and a result achieved.



Language of management

Nigel Holden sees Russian, where social distance is encoded in highly subtle ways, as resembling Japanese as a flexible management language in network mode. Soviet managers were involved little in such areas as leadership or motivation of employees. The management style utilised threats and coercion to produce results demanded by socialist ‘planning’. How Russian will develop as a language of management in the future will depend on modes of address using names and titles and the development of formal and informal mechanisms which do not remind subordinates of coercion and control.



Motivation factors

Russians love children more than most of us; exchange of photographs of your children is an excellent manner to build bridges.
They respect old people and scorn Americans’ treatment of the elderly. In the cruel Russian environment, family love was often the only enduring form of riches. Display your own family closeness, if appropriate.
If you have strong cards, do not overplay them. Russians are proud people and must not be humiliated.
They are people rather than deal-oriented. Try to make them like you.
One way to succeed is to conspire with them ‘to beat the system’. They dislike stringent regulations more than you do. They are very Italian in this respect.
Indicate your own distrust of blind authority or excessive bureaucracy as often as you can.
Do them a favour early on, but indicate it is not out of weakness. The favour should be person-directed, rather than related to the business being discussed.
You need not be unduly impacted by their theatrical and emotional displays, but you should show sympathy with the human aspects involved.
When you show your own firmness, let some glimmer of kindness shine through.
They will generally behave collectively, so do not single out any one individual for special attention. Envy of another’s success is also a Russian characteristic.
Drink with them between meetings if you are able to. It is one of the easiest ways to build bridges.
They prefer to drink sitting down, with time to make frequent toasts and short speeches.
They like praise, especially related to Russian advances in technology, but also about their considerable artistic achievements.
Take every opportunity to indicate your human side – emotions, hopes, aspirations, etc. They are much more interested in your personal goals than in your commercial objectives.
During your business discussions, their priorities will be personal relationships, form and appearance, opportunity for financial gain – in that order.
They have, in their history, never experienced democracy. Therefore, do not expect them to be automatically egalitarian, fair, even-handed and open to straight debate.
In this respect, it is advisable to show them clearly how you think about such matters and how you are basically motivated by these factors.
Terms such as ‘democratic’, ‘fair-play’, ‘profit’, ‘turnover’, ‘cash flow’, ‘public relations’, ‘goodwill’ have little meaning for them in any language, therefore use such words cautiously.
They like to say they understand when in fact they don’t, and also have the tendency to say things they think you want to hear (an Oriental trait), so do not take what is said for granted.
Anything you introduce as an official directive or regulation they will distrust. Something you indicate as a personal recommendation, they will embrace.
Excessive profits are often looked upon as illegitimate. Don’t be greedy, either for yourself or for them.
Russians are basically conservative and do not accept change easily. Introduce new ideas slowly and keep them low key at first.
Russians often push you and understand being pushed, but they rebel if they feel the pressure is intolerable. Try to gauge how far you can go with them.
Dissidence, in general, is not popular with them, as security has historically been found in group, conformist behaviour. Do not try to separate a Russian from his or her ‘group’, whatever that may be.
They love conversation. Do not hesitate to unburden yourself in front of them. Like Germans, they are fond of soul-searching.

General behaviour at meetings

Russians are good chess players and plan several moves ahead. They anticipate many of your reactions and are better prepared than they seem. They respect strength and firmness, will appear tough if you show willingness to retreat or compromise, will retreat themselves if you are tough. They will “sit out” deadlock situations with great patience. At meetings they speak with one voice. Their initial demands are often high and may appear unreasonable or over-ambitious. This is a tactic. They prefer the other side to speak first. (reactive characteristic). Suspicious of ‘easy’ business (in Soviet times everything was complicated).

The atmosphere at Russian meetings depends very much on the context. In Soviet times one was engaged in long-drawn out, cautious discussions with frequently intransigent civil servants. Russians of all categories know how to blow hot and cold and can be theatrically verbose as well as icily tight-lipped. In the current fluid situation Russian entrepreneurs are opportunistic and of many ethnic backgrounds (Armenians and Georgians are ubiquitous) and while they are more flexible than state officials, they are unlikely to be very accommodating and conduct negotiations in ‘chess tempo’.


Key to Diagram

Multi-active people are not happy with the bullet point approach, which they see as premature conclusions reached by their linear colleagues. They prefer to take points in random order (or in order of importance) and discuss them for hours before listing bullet points as conclusions. When they see them at the beginning they feel they have been manipulated.

Negotiating characteristics

Russian negotiating teams are often composed of veterans or experts, consequently they are very experienced.
They negotiate as they play chess, i.e. they plan several moves ahead. Opponents should think of the consequences of each move before making it.
Russians often represent not themselves, but part of their government at some level.
Sudden changes or new ideas cause discomfort, as they have to seek consensus from higher up.
Negotiations often relate the subject under discussion to other issues in which they are involved. This may not be clear to the other side.
Russians regard willingness to compromise as a sign of weakness.
Their preferred tactic in case of deadlock is to display patience and “sit it out”.
They will only abandon this tactic if the other side shows great firmness.
The general tendency is to push forward vigorously as the other side seems to retreat, to pull back when meeting stiff resistance.
Delivery style is often theatrical and emotional, intended to convey clearly their intent and requests.
Like Americans, they can use “tough talk” if they think they are in a stronger position.
They maintain discipline in the meeting and speak with one voice. When Americans or Italians speak with several voices, the Russians become confused about who has real authority.
Russians often present an initial draft outlining all their objectives. This is only their starting position and far from what they expect to achieve.
They will, however, concede points only in return for concessions made by the other side.
They often make minor concessions and ask for major ones in return.
They may build into their initial draft several “throw-aways” – things of little importance which they can concede freely, without damaging their own position.
They usually ask the other side to speak first, so they may reflect on the position given.
They are sensitive and status conscious and must be treated as equals and not “talked down to”.
Their approach to an agreement is conceptual and all-embracing, as opposed to American or German step-by-step settlement.
Acceptance of their conceptual approach often leads to difficulties in working out details later and eventual implementation.
They are suspicious of anything which is conceded easily. In the Soviet Union days, everything was complex.
Personal relationships between the negotiating teams can often achieve miracles in cases of apparent official deadlock.
Contracts are not so binding in the Russian mind as in the Western. Like orientals, Russians see a contract as binding only if it continues to be mutually beneficial.

A study of the above leads one to the conclusion that Russian negotiators are not easy people to deal with. We have no reason to believe that the development of entrepreneurism in Russia, giving added opportunities and greater breadth of vision to those who travel in the West, will make Russians any less effective round the negotiating table. Westerners may hold strong cards and may be able to dictate conditions for some length of time, but the ultimate mutual goal of win-win negotiations will only be achieved through adaptation to current Russian mentality and world attitudes.

Contracts and commitments

In Soviet times, the wheels of officialdom turned slowly, but, as most business was done with government agencies, contracts were generally guaranteed and adhered to. In the present economic turmoil with hundreds of thousands of new “entrepreneurs” at large, prudence is essential in making contracts. Fraud is common and one has to be aware of possible Mafia interference. There is low legal consciousness in Russia and parliament changes laws, or makes new laws, in exchange for monetary considerations Tax, company and property law is fragile.

Manners and taboos

Toasting. A serious business. Hosts toast first. Then guests according to rank. Short speech - poetic or dramatic. Sentimental.
Drink while seated. Russians are uncomfortable at standing cocktail parties.
Taboos include:
– wearing coats indoors (pyjamas OK in hotel corridor!)
– hands in pants pockets
– sitting with legs wide apart
– lunching on park lawns in city
– whistling in street
– public displays of affection
– saying you’re going to the toilet
Touching another person is a sign of confidence.
Russians begin conversations unsmiling (like Germans), then talk at great length in roundabout manner.
Russians don’t come on time for appointments, or discuss business until 10 in the morning.
Russians oriented towards thinking. Americans towards acting. After conference ends, Russians sit up all night reflecting on day’s events. Americans plan for next day.
Russians don’t answer other people’s telephones.

How to empathize with them

They are not as interested in money as you are, therefore they are more prepared to walk away from a deal than you.
You may base your decisions on facts which are cold to you, emotive to them.
They are sensitive about war talk, considering most Russian wars as defensive ones against aggressive neighbours. They have not been given your version of history.
Their attitude towards America is one of suspicion, tinged with outright admiration.
They often appear excitable, but are skilled at keeping their temper.
The Eastern and Western elements in their make-up often make them appear schizophrenic. Do not let this faze you – the other face will always reappear in due course.
It remains to be seen to what extent they will become risk-takers in a free market environment.
Right and wrong, in most Russians’ eyes, is decided by the feelings of the majority, not by law.
Russians are essentially nostalgic – the present does not dominate their thinking as it might with many Americans and Australians, for instance.
They achieve what they achieve in their own country largely through an intricate network of personal relationships. Favour is repaid by favour. They expect no help from officials.
Like Germans, they enter meetings unsmiling. Like Germans, they can be quickly melted down with a show of understanding and sincerity.
When they touch another person during conversation, it is a sign of confidence.

Russian values are essentially human, their heroes universally authentic, their manifestations and symbols richly artistic and aesthetic. To succeed with Russians, one must maintain these qualities in clear focus as opposed to paying too much attention to the enigmatic and often paradoxical aspects of their behaviour and current attitudes.

Special notes

Russian culture is very complex - a kaleidoscopic array of amazing contradictions. Many writers and statesmen have tried to describe Russians, their emotions and sentiments, their intriguing contribution to human behaviour. The following quotations and proverbs give an inkling of the nature of the Russian soul (dusha):

“I have never met anyone who understood Russians.”
Grand Duke Aleksandr Mikhailovich

“A man who was not Orthodox could not be Russian.”
Dostoyevsky, ‘The Possessed’

“It’s easy to steal when seven others are stealing.”
Russian proverb

“If all laws perished, the people would live in truth and justice.”
Russian proverb

“The slower you go, the further you’ll get.”
Russian proverb

“Together in the mir, we will move even mountains.”
Russian proverb

“At home do as you wish, but in public as you are told.”
Russian proverb

“A person without friends is like a tree without roots.”
Russian proverb

“More people are drowned in a glass than in the ocean.”
Russian proverb

“All civilizations are to some extent the product of geographical factors, but history provides no clearer example of the profound influence of geography upon a culture than in the historical development of the Russian people.”
George Vernadsky, ‘A History of Russia’

“In our cold winter each opening of the door is a repetition of dying. Russians do not fear death because every day is a struggle. It is a pity to die, and a pity not to die.”
Mark Davydov

“Among our Russian intellectual classes the very existence of a non-liar is an impossibility, the reason being that in Russia even honest men can lie…I am convinced that in other nations, for the great majority, it is only scoundrels who lie; they lie for practical advantage, that is, with directly criminal aims.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, ‘A Word or Two About Vranyo’

“Yes, the Russian is incapable of telling downright lies; but seems equally incapable of telling the truth. The intermediate phenomenon for which he feels the utmost love and tenderness resembles neither truth nor lozh (lie). It is vranyo. Like our native aspen, it pops up uninvited everywhere, choking other varieties; like the aspen it is no use for firewood or carpentry; and, again like the aspen, it is sometimes beautiful.”
Leonid Andreyev, ‘Pan-Russian Vranyo’

“Contradiction is…the essence of Russia. West and East, Pacific and Atlantic, Arctic and Tropics, extreme cold and extreme heat, prolonged sloth and sudden feats of energy, exaggerated cruelty and exaggerated kindness, ostentatious wealth and dismal squalor, violent xenophobia and uncontrollable yearning for contact with the foreign world, vast power and the most abject slavery, simultaneous love and hate for the same objects…The Russian does not reject these contradictions. He has learned to live with them, and in them. To him, they are the spice of life.”
George F. Kennan, ‘Memoirs’

“There is technical progress (in the West), but this is not the same thing as the progress of humanity as such…In Western civilization - which used to be called Western-Christian, but now might better be called Western-Pagan - along with the development of intellectual life and science there has been a loss of the serious moral basis of society. During these 300 years of Western civilization, there has been a sweeping away of duties and an expansion of rights…the only thing we have been developing is rights, rights, rights, at the expense of duty.”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“The Anglo-Saxons approach these issues like negotiated, legal agreements. It might be called a litigational approach. To the Russians, a commitment is binding as long as it is historically valid, so to speak. And its historical validity depends on the degree to which that commitment is either self-enforcing or still mutually advantageous. If it ceases to be self-enforcing or mutually advantageous, it obviously has lapsed.”
Zbigniew Brzezinski

“Russians maintain their integrity in a way that conforms to their inner notion of what a human being should be, in a manner they consider proper, and with an honesty and decency that I have seldom seen anywhere else in the world. Above all, they have an appreciation for tselnost (wholeness, complete commitment) and faith, no matter what that faith may be related to. To be a real human being, one must maintain that full commitment and respect it in other people as well. In this sense, it makes no difference to them whether the other person is a Marxist or a reactionary.”
Professor Irwin Weil, 1991

“Russians are more emotional, more likely to strike deep friendships, less superficially gregarious. They make great sacrifices for those within their trusted circle, and they expect real sacrifices in return. Their willingness, indeed their eagerness, to engage at a personal level makes private life in Russia both enormously rich and incredibly entangling. Close emotional bonds are part of Russia’s enchantment and also its complexity.”
Hedrick Smith, ‘The New Russians’

“The Russian is a delightful person till he tucks in his shirt. As an oriental he is charming. It is only when he insists upon being treated as the most easterly of western peoples instead of the most westerly of easterns that he becomes a racial anomaly and extremely difficult to handle. The host never knows which side of his nature is going to turn up next.”
Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Man Who Was’

“Logical categories are inapplicable to the soul. But Russian sensitivity, permeating the whole culture, doesn’t want to use logic - logic is seen as dry and evil, logic comes from the devil - the most important thing is sensation, smell, emotion, tears, mist, dreams, and enigma.”
Tatyana Tolstaya, ‘Notes from Underground’

“The famous ‘Russian soul’ was to no small extent the product of this agonizing uncertainty regarding Russia’s proper geographical, social, and spiritual position in the world, the awareness of a national personality that was split between East and West.”
Tibor Szamuely, ‘The Russian Tradition’

‘Dusha’ is described by Tolstaya as: “…sensitivity, reverie, imagination, and inclination to tears, compassion, submission mingled with stubbornness, patience that permits survival in what would seem to be unbearable circumstances, poetry, mysticism, fatalism, a penchant for walking the dark, humid back streets of consciousness, introspection, sudden, unmotivated cruelty, mistrust of rational thought, fascination with the world - the list could go on and on - all these qualities that have frequently been attributed to the ‘Slavic soul.’”
Tatyana Tolstaya, ‘Notes from Underground’

“On this continent - and not only on this one - we had since time immemorial been rivals with the Americans. We are now attempting, and not unsuccessfully, to interact.”
Eduard Shevardnadze, April 1990

Rusi neobicno vole sve slovenske narode osim Poljaka,jos jedna stvar,nikad se s njima ne treba takmiciti u alkoholisanju,ta bitka je unapred izgubljena...

Ti o Rusima nemaš veze, tj. vidiš ih samo kroz komunističku prizmu, no postoji druga, sve jača i moćnija slavenska Rusija i drugi Rusi koje tvoje komunizmom zaslijepljeno oko ne vidi.

Hladan narod sjeveroistočne Europe, mala poveznica sa Hrvatskim mentalitetom i temperamentom.

Jel imamo za hrvatsku kulturu karakteristike pa da možemo usporedit?

Nekoliko osobnih zapažanja. Rusi su mi super. Jako stručni, inteligentni, ali ipak umjereno odgovorni.

Nisu baš točni, ne poštuju rokove, ali ono što urade je uvijek vrhunsko. Imaju dosta godišnjim odmora i neradnih dana godišnje. U siječnju ih nema potrebe zvati nikako. Neće se javiti.

Istina nisu srdačni. Koliko su god zapadnjaci ljubazniji od nas, toliko su Rusi grublji. Rus je često namršten, ali to nije zato jer je ljut. Jednostavno mu nije ništa smiješno.

Kad se Amerikanac smije, to je radi lijepog ponašanja, želi biti fin, a nije ti ni prijatelj niti mu je nešto smiješno.

Kad se Rus smije, on se smije iskreno.

Namrštenost Rusa nije predrasuda zapadnjaka samo o njima nego i svim slovenskim i istočnoevropskim narodima.
Koliko mi je poznato turisti isto misle za hrvatske i crnogorske prodavce i konobare da ih streljaju očima i da ih gledaju kao da su im pobili familiju.
Ta pusta nasmešenost zapadnjaka je produkt protestantskog načina komunikacije jer za njih sve je trgovina pa shodno tome preporučljivo je da se se smešiš mogućoj mušteriji zarad moguće zarade.
Ja se lično osećam neprijatno kad mi u ovim modernim buticima odeće dođe neka žemskinja koja sa svojim keženjem i napadnom uviđajnošću hoće "pomoći" šta ću kupiti.

Mi smo negdje između zapadnjaka i Rusa. Možda bliže Rusima, ali oni su ipak još jedan nivo više.

Hrvati su se danas pomalo i promijenili. Rusi su negdje kao mi prije 50-60 godina.

Ukrajinci također, praktično isti kao i Rusi. Ja ih skoro i ne razlikujem. Najveći je problem kad Rusi i Ukrajinci trebaju zajedno raditi na nečemu, e tu stvari postaju ozbiljne.