It’s approaching 1 p.m. at McDonald’s on Pushkin Square, reputedly the busiest of the fast-food franchaise’s outlets worldwide. Sasha, a floor cleaner, pushes forward with his brush, eyes avoiding visual contact with the multitude of customers. Another employee drifts through the table area, casually glancing about, but also minimizing eye-contact with customers — and failing to clean a few tabletops in the process.

This is McDonald’s Moscow, not Dublin, Denver or Dubai. From an expatriate perspective, the restaurant may appear to be chaotic. However, whatever McDonald’s Moscow does, it does it Russian-style. The restaurant chain here has produced a local success story.

Worldwide, McDonald’s adapts its customer service culture to local prefer-ences. Staff in Moscow may not make eye contact as much as their fellows in the West because, after all, staring is considered impolite in Russia.

But while one does not expect McDonald’s staff to be chiming out "Have a nice day," American style, there is a growing expectation today for more quality throughout Russia’s nascent service sector. An ever-increasing number of Russians have experienced the superior quality of service and work practices while travelling abroad (or have experienced it inside a Western-managed company). And these Russian consumers are demanding change.

In the case of McDonald’s, the basics are already there. The fact that tables might not always be wiped spotless, might just suggest a need for a bit more supervision by middle management. But this is Russia and Russia is in transition.

The former state monopoly over services and supply, and the Soviet philosophy of "take it or leave it" is destined for the dust-bin of history. For Russia to build a private-sector economy capable of producing quality finished goods for domestic consumption or export, new systems will need to be put into place to train the next-generation workforce. Effective human resource management can facilitate these objectives.

The growing complexity of our global economy presents Russia with a dilemma that does not offer a choice in relation to training. It’s not a question of whether training will be accepted, but when and what kind of training? Russia cannot simply adopt Western systems of training, but must strive to adapt methods that relate to its own traditions. This is neccessary in order to create the motivation and initiative which will establish an ongoing entrepreneurial culture.

Change, and in particular, change in the workplace, is not always welcomed as a positive inevitability of progress.

Technological and economic change necessitates an innovative system of management of the work-force, which is too often resistant to new methods.

The provision of training as a base for new work practices does not in itself secure the implementation of new standards. The acceptance and application of new work practices can only be achieved through enhanced worker motivation and management supervision of the process.

Whether it is Moscow, Madrid or Manchester, training needs to be reinforced and its application monitored, otherwise staff may too easily revert to their former work pattern, which no longer relates effectively to today’s objectives.