Values,gender and attitudes towards environmental policy: A study of future managers

This study explores if the value priorities and their impact on future managers' attitudes towards environmental responsibilities vary with gender. While relevant prior studies mostly focus on gender‐based variations of individuals' personal values in developed economies, we concentrate on both personal values and pro‐environmental attitudes in an emerging economy. This study is built on MBA students (a proxy for future managers) in India since India is characterized as a male‐dominated society and a producer of larger number of MBA graduates. Overall, our results show that personal values and attitude towards environmental responsibilities do not vary significantly with gender. Only two values (among the 21 values) and one value type (out of 10 values) get significantly higher ranking from females compared with males. Further, although ‘universalism’ and ‘benevolence’ are found to have a statistically significant impact on respondents' attitude towards environmental responsibility, the latter is invariant to the respondents' gender. Our findings may indicate India's transformation from a male‐dominated society towards a more gender‐balanced society. These findings can be used to operationalize a pro‐environmental recruitment policy and to formulate strategies to improve female participation in MBA cohorts of business schools.     

基于虚拟团队的MBA学习模式探究

随着通讯信息技术的不断发展,国外的MBA教育已逐渐将竞争的焦点投射在如何在信息社会中,借助现代通讯信息技术提升MBA教育的有效性上。虽然中国的MBA教育从无到有取得巨大成绩,但在信息沟通技术飞速发展的今天却比较忽视信息沟通对MBA教育的影响。本文首先对国内MBA教育发展的现状进行了回顾,然后对应用虚拟团队于MBA学习的特征和作用进行了分析,对提高基于虚拟团队的MBA学习的有效性提出了建议。文章最后显示应用基于虚拟团队的MBA学习模式,对我国MBA教育质量的改善将会起到积极的影响作用。     

Subordinates' perception of managers' transformational leadership style and satisfaction: a comparison of electronic manufacturing companies in Mainland China and Taiwan

Rapid economic growth has made leadership studies a significant subject in Asia. The present research compared subordinates' different perceptions of managers' transformational leadership style in Mainland China and Taiwan. Quantitative methodology was used in collecting 250 random samples from Shanghai and Taipei. Subordinates in Taiwan perceived that more managers had a transformational leadership style and also employees had higher satisfaction with managers' leadership style than those in Mainland China. The results of the present research would provide suggestions and directions for industrial managers seeking to display appropriate management behavior for an effective business environment.     

The reception of Anglo leadership styles in a transforming society: the case of American companies in Vietnam

This article examines the transfer of Anglo leadership styles in a transforming society. It aims to investigate the transferability of two American leadership styles, namely performance-oriented and participative styles, to Vietnamese subsidiaries. Utilising an exploratory case study approach, this article presents evidence of a strong acceptance of these leadership styles, and tries to ascertain whether the adoption of a humane style of leadership in line with Vietnamese traditions is a means of leaders reconciling the cultural gap. Several complexities arise from the transforming nature of the Vietnamese socio-political and economic context. Specifically, the importance of subcultures – particularly those relating to generation – is highlighted. Situational contingencies, such as the skills set of the recipient group, also emerge as important considerations. Finally, the authors call for leadership dynamism as a means of facilitating congruence and adaptability between the leadership styles used and the various contextual complexities encountered in the transfer and reception process.     

A comparison of American and international prototypes of successful managers

In the present study, similarities and differences between prototypes of successful managers were examined across four cultural groups: Americans, Europeans, Asians, and Latin Americans. Managers from the hospitality industry (N = 366) used an 84–item attribute inventory to rate a successful middle manager. In addition, Americans' stereotypes of ethnic managers were compared with prototypes held by managers from those ethnic cultures. Specifically, American managers' perceptions of Asian and Hispanic managers were compared against Asian and Hispanic/Latin American managers' prototypes. A high level of correspondence in prototype characteristics was found across the four cultural groups. In addition, American‐defined ethnic manager stereotypes also contained profiles similar to cultural prototypes. However, important differences were also detected on many managerial characteristics. Implications of the findings for cross‐cultural congruence and areas for future research are discussed.     

从文化的视角看中外MBA教育

本文从文化的视角对中外MBA教育的教学模式及内容进行了比较分析,认为国内MBA教育应积极学习国外MBA教学模式,注重案例教学,鼓励教学创新;在教学内容上,则要在以往学习西方理论和教科书的基础上,立足于东方文化兼容并蓄西方文化中有益的方面,开发本土案例教材,建立具有本土特色的管理思想体系,在实现MBA本土化的同时实现MBA的国际化。     

Promoting Effective Psychological Contracts Through Leadership: The Missing Link Between HR Strategy and Performance

This article offers line managers and HR professionals an actionable, research‐based framework for developing psychological contracts with employees that suit their organizational and human resource (HR) strategy. Leadership styles supporting the firm's HR strategy are key to making psychological contracts that benefit both the firm and its members. When managers' styles are out of sync with HR strategy, this mismatch can lead to poorer performance through ineffective and unfulfilled psychological contracts with workers.     

Variation in the average leadership behaviour of managers across countries: Finnish expatriates’ experiences from Germany,Sweden, France and Great Britain

This paper presents the experiences of Finnish expatriates (n=36) from four European countries representing proposed cultural clusters in Western Europe. The focus is on variation in manager–subordinate interaction, i.e. on leadership behaviours of managers across countries. Based on cultural theory and existing comparative research, the national origin of managers is expected to influence their leadership behaviour. By reviewing various earlier comparative studies, working hypotheses are formed about expected variation across countries. The results indicate that variation could be identified in the average styles of managers across countries, although in most cases differences also emerged between expatriates’ reports. This variation in expatriates’ experiences indicates that variation within countries should also be kept in mind when discussing variation across countries. However, it was regarded as possible to form a model of typical characteristics of leadership styles of managers across countries from the perspective of Finnish expatriates based on the identified variation. The implications of variation identified across countries for expatriates and multinational companies are also discussed.     

Trending Now: Digital Leadership Education Using Social Media and the Social Change Model

The current article examines social media applications as a tool for positive social change. The number of users on applications from Facebook to Twitter and Instagram continues to increase in all demographics. These tools are being integrated into our daily activities and challenging boundaries, roles, and even possibilities globally. Currently, there exists a gap in developing competent leaders capable of leading change using social media. Education leaders and leadership education programs can adapt the values of the Social Change Model to reflect and apply digital competencies to their practice. Digital leadership requires reflection on online self‐awareness and congruence, grappling with the controversy that comes with cyber civility and how to be a digital citizen prepared to inspire positive social change.     

Developing leadership capabilities of global corporations: A comparative study in eight nations

Changing competitive dynamics are influencing the leadership capability requirements of global corporations. More than 1,200 managers from ten major global corporations in eight countries responded to an international survey on the core capabilities required for competitiveness. While the results highlighted six leadership capabilities that are globally valued, a comparative analysis of the data shows that culture affects the relative importance given to a leadership capability requirement. The article also investigates the most effective methods for developing each of the core leadership capabilities. Implications for HR professionals are suggested as they devise strategies for leadership development. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Cognitive‐Experiential Leadership Model: How Leaders’ Information‐Processing Systems Can Influence Leadership Styles,Influencing Tactics,Conflict Management,and Organizational Outcomes

The current article provides empirical evidence in support of a new Cognitive‐Experiential Leadership Model. The foundation of the model is based on the integration of the Cognitive‐Experiential Theory (CET; Epstein, 2014), a personality‐based theory, and the Full‐Range Leadership Theory (FRLT; Bass, 1985). Results show a strong connection between the rational system and constructive elements of the CET’s experiential system, and transformational leadership and conflict‐handling styles. There is also preliminary evidence that developing leaders’ CET information‐processing systems could increase transformational leadership. Leaders who are high in rational thinking and constructive thinking may also elicit extra effort from their followers, effectively manage conflict, choose effective influencing tactics, and achieve positive organizational outcomes. Implications and future research directions examining the Cognitive‐Experiential Leadership Model are discussed.     

Auditor choices and auditor reporting practices: evidence from Finnish small firms

Abstract

This paper examines whether book-tax conformity (i.e. reducing the gap between financial and taxable incomes) can restrain managers from opportunistically reporting financial profits and taxable income. Empirical work on this relation so far is limited and provides contradictory results. Using publicly available financial statements from 1994 to 2007 for 16,739 firms across 32 countries, I construct a new proxy for mandatory conformity and document that high book-tax conformity is associated with lower levels of earnings management and tax avoidance. These results persist even after controlling for firm characteristics and institutional factors, such as legal enforcement, investor protection, legal systems, capital market development, and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Additional tests reveal that the deterrent effect of conformity on earnings management is more pronounced in code-law countries but does not differ between IFRS and non-IFRS adopters, and between developed and developing capital markets.     

Managing employee innovative behaviour through transformational and transactional leadership styles

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the associations between leadership styles and employee innovative behaviour. We studied the implementation of an ambitious innovation strategy in a large Danish municipality and examined how transformational and transactional leadership styles relate to innovative behaviour. We combined data from two sources rating leadership styles of immediate supervisors and employee innovative behaviour. The findings suggest that transformational leadership and one component of transactional leadership, namely verbal rewards, are positively associated with innovative behaviour. The interaction between the two shows that innovative behaviour is most likely when the leader combines transformational leadership with verbal rewards.     

Personal attributes of expatriate managers,subordinate ethnocentrism,and expatriate success: a host-country perspective

This study had two objectives. First, to establish the relative importance of expatriate managers' job knowledge, relational leadership skills, and cultural openness and adaptability for expatriate success from the perspective of host-country national subordinates, and to test whether these personal attributes are related to expatriate success criteria (expatriate work adjustment, subordinate commitment, subordinate job satisfaction, and unit performance). Second, to test whether host-country national subordinate ethnocentrism is related to expatriate work adjustment. Respondents were 129 host-country national subordinates of expatriate managers. Results showed that subordinates perceived all personal attributes as important and that all personal attributes were positively related to most of the success criteria. However, relational leadership skills was the most important personal attribute, and it was the crucial success factor for expatriate managers' unit performance. Subordinate ethnocentrism was negatively related to expatriate work adjustment. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Climate control? The relationship between leadership,climate for change,and work outcomes

Transformational leadership is seen as one of the most effective leadership styles from which the dynamic context of temporary work agencies may benefit. The current paper presents a theoretical framework that introduces participative leadership as an additional appropriate leadership style. The prediction is that transformational leadership and participative leadership both impact work outcomes via a climate for change. Data from 258 employees working for a large Dutch employment agency support these hypotheses. Results show that transformational leadership and participative leadership are both independently related to work outcomes. Moreover, results support an indirect process from participative leadership to work outcomes, via a climate for change.     

Introduction

This symposium addresses the challenge of educating global leaders through a collection of scholarly perspectives and practices that focus the development of global leadership and intercultural competency, specifically through immersive international contexts. Through this symposium, we addressed the cognitive, behavioral, and affective competencies that aspiring leaders need to be successful in global contexts. It focuses on the importance, issues, and methods of developing global competence as part of leadership education. Although this symposium is timely, global and intercultural competence is not new. Scholars of 19th‐century Europe shaped the original thoughts of global competence. Their focus was internationalization through colonial conquering, and the ultimate goal was to “learn from the West” (Baumgratz, 1995). This globalization piece did not gain much attention on an international scale. In fact, many managers in the 1960s and 1970s did not consider the international piece of business to be of much importance, often with very small specialized operational departments as the sole contributor to globalization within organizations (Morrison, 2000). However, a rapid shift of perspective occurred in the 1980s when the rise of Japanese businesses began to bring to focus the importance of global leadership. The climate of this theoretical foundation has shifted again recently as leadership educators are faced with preparing students to meet the needs of a dynamic and complicated organizational landscape. Expanding these challenges globally comprises a new level of preparedness for aspiring leaders. Globalization, and the technology that increasingly bridges countries and cultures, requires fresh paradigms and new leadership competencies (Bueno & Tubbs, 2004). Global managers will be expected to master an ever‐expanding range of knowledge and skills that will allow them to be successful in international contexts (DiStefano & Maznevski, 2003). Cultural competency development and a globalized curriculum are perhaps paramount to this charge as educators embark upon the challenging journey of providing the next generation of global leaders. The following questions provide educators with opportunities for reflection and discussion as we attempt to develop global competencies in the students we serve.     

Organizational diversity programs across cultures: effects on absenteeism,turnover, performance and innovation

This study examined data from over 5000 organizations in 22 countries to address three complementary issues: (1) the influence of national culture on the adoption of diversity programs aimed at recruiting, training and promoting individuals from specific target groups; (2) the moderating effect of national cultural practices on the relationship between these diversity programs and the organizational outcomes of absenteeism and turnover; and (3) the mediating effect of absenteeism and turnover on the relationship between diversity programs and organizational performance and innovation. National cultural values and practices were taken from the GLOBE study and assigned respectively to the organizations in our sample. A multilevel path analysis supported the hypothesized effects of national cultural values on organizational diversity programs. Moreover, cultural practices were found to moderate the relationship between diversity programs and absenteeism and turnover. Our hypotheses on the role of absenteeism and turnover as mediators of the relationship between diversity programs and organizational performance and innovation were also supported. Our findings may help guide managers' decisions on the adoption of diversity programs in units operating in different national cultures. We discuss the implications of our findings for scholars and practitioners concerned with diversity management issues in a global context.     

Leading in the chaos of the 21st century

In the transition from a Newtonian paradigm of control and equilibrium to one of chaos and disequilibrium, organizations have substantially changed their structures (e.g., moving to diverse project‐based teams, advancing knowledge management, and building innovative cultures), but they have only minimally changed their leadership styles and practices. This paper describes a model of leadership proposed by Ron Heifetz that optimizes the characteristics of the 21st century in which the leader's role is to disturb equilibrium, differentiate between technical and adaptive challenges, and engage the followers in solving the organization's problems. This model is contrasted with other leadership models to validate its usefulness in the face of chaos, ambiguity, and rapid change. The commitment of the leader to holding steady in the face of predictably strong resistance and the dangers to the leader in using this model are discussed.     

The purchasing department's leadership role in developing and maintaining a preferred customer status

Developing and maintaining a preferred customer status is one of the main objectives of organizations that want to obtain a better access to supplier's information, resources, and innovation. This paper addresses the extent and the nature of the purchasing department's leadership role in the process of developing and maintaining a preferred customer status. A qualitative exploratory approach based on eleven cases has been used in order to take into consideration the context specific to the buyer-supplier relationship in a preferred customer scenario.Our study shows that the purchasing department performs four main categories of roles: (1) identifies and selects the best supplier, (2) structures and segments the supply base, (3) builds close relationships with selected suppliers and (4) develops working relationships, using an effective communication. Each of these roles is related to three key components of the purchasing department's capabilities: boundary, relational, and coordination. These four categories of roles illustrate supply's ability to recognize and understand the specifics of the preferred customer situation. Based on our analysis, the purchasing department should be viewed as extending an organization's resource base, making the organization more competitive.Our analysis also shows that the purchasing managers' leadership is critical for the development and the coordination of activities with selected suppliers, as well as proper communication with them. Specifically, the purchasing manager's transformational leadership generates more internal user and supplier involvement through the creation and articulation of a common vision, by establishing shared goals with other organizational units, and by focusing on activities that benefit the organization; this allows to move from initiative-driven efforts to an “institutionalized preferred customer status management” in the organization.