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.     

The impact of personal and organisational variables on the leadership styles of managers

While several studies have examined only one dimension of the leadership styles of managers this study has investigated several variables for their possible individual and joint impact on the managerial practices of organisational leaders. The rationale for the study was to obtain a more complete and accurate picture of the variables related to leadership practice. Collecting data from more than 400 managers from UK industries, it finds that age is directly related to the consultative, participative and delegative leadership styles of managers. The older a manager, ceteris paribus, the more consultative, participative and delegative leadership processes s/he engages in, preferring more of collective decisions in contrast with younger managers who appear happy to take decisions that may not necessarily get the approval of the majority of workers. It was interesting to find that hierarchy is directly related to consultative and participative leadership style, but not to directive or delegative leadership. While gender alone does not appear to affect the result in any significant and systematic way, a number of multiple variables, including gender and hierarchy, for example, proved to be useful in explaining the complex styles of managers.     

Assessing public leadership styles for innovation: a comparison of Copenhagen,Rotterdam and Barcelona

This article explores which leadership qualities public managers regard as important for public innovation. It is based on a survey of 365 senior public managers in Copenhagen, Rotterdam and Barcelona. Five perspectives on leadership were identified and tested using a number of items. Some of these proved to be more robust than others. Analysis of the three cities reveals a nuanced set of leadership styles, which include a transformational style, and one that is more dedicated to motivating employees, risk-taking and including others in decision-making. This suggests the need for more research on leadership and public-sector innovation.     

Exploring the structure and meaning of public service motivation in the Turkish public sector: a test of the mediating effects of job characteristics

Using a data set consisting of 315 middle-managers at the district level in the Turkish public sector, we develop a structural equation model (SEM) for assessing the impact of empowerment and stewardship on public service motivation (PSM) through job characteristics. The results demonstrate that stewardship and empowerment are distinct ‘levers’ that managers can use in novel ways to influence PSM; and cultural context may factor into the manipulation of these levers. We find that job-based mediators may not compliment leadership styles and self-generating rewards, but, rather work separately in their appeal to PSM.     

Examining relationships between director leadership practices and manager worklife and burnout

Managers are subject to high stress and burnout in their demanding roles, so addressing their worklife and level of burnout is important to retain leadership in healthcare organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the observed leadership style of directors and the worklife and burnout of healthcare managers. A secondary analysis of data from 176 leaders in five different managerial cohorts within a provincial cancer agency was conducted using multiple regression and MANCOVA analysis. The study used data collected from the Worklife Improvement and Leadership Development study in 2006, the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Practices Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Areas of Worklife Survey. Findings indicate the importance of transformational leadership styles to empower managers. Directors may improve the worklife of managers by using transformational leadership practices to address the amount of control and appropriateness of rewards to positively influence the job satisfaction of managers.     

Leadership styles, need satisfaction and the organizational commitment of Greek managers

This article presents the results of an empirical study of the relation between the leadership styles, need satisfaction and the organizational commitment of Greek managers. The findings show that there is a negative relationship between need satisfaction and organizational commitment. This relationship is stronger for the higher-order than for the lower-order needs. Furthermore, the results provide some empirical evidence regarding the relationship between the superior's leadership style and the subordinate's organizational commitment. The findings show that in most cases studied, the commitment of the Greek managers was higher when the superior adopted a consultative leadership style. This style was also the one preferred by the majority of our respondents.     

Expatriate or local bosses? HCN subordinates' preferences in leadership behaviour

This article explores host-country national subordinates’ preferences in leadership behaviour comparing expatriate bosses and local bosses. From a sample of 240 middle managers in Hong Kong with experience with both local Chinese bosses and expatriate bosses from a broad spectrum of Western and Asian countries, it was found that the subordinate managers assessed the leadership behaviour of their expatriate bosses to be significantly closer to that of their perceived ideal boss. American leadership behaviour was the most preferred and Japanese leader style was the least preferred, with British leadership style comprising a middle group. Implications of these findings for international business firms and future academic research are discussed.     

Leadership for Collaboration

Abstract

‘Leadership’ and ‘collaboration’ are integral to twenty-first century governance and management but, despite a growing literature, understanding about leadership for collaboration is hampered by a lack of specificity and nuance in theory and empirical research. This article responds to these limitations by working within an interpretive framework and employing Q-method to uncover different interpretations of leadership for collaboration operant among public managers in Wales. The article uses the concept of situated agency to explain why public managers offer diverse interpretations of leadership for collaboration despite working within the same governance framework, and to identify challenges to public managers in determining appropriate leadership for collaboration.     

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.     

Participative Leadership by American and Chinese Managers in China: The Role of Relationships*

abstract Developing participative leadership may be particularly challenging when managers are working cross‐culturally and in China. One hundred and sixty‐three Chinese employees from various industries in mainland China were surveyed about their relationships and the effectiveness of their participation with American and Chinese managers. Results, including structural equation analyses, support the hypotheses that cooperative, but not competitive or independent, goals helped Chinese employees and their foreign and Chinese managers strengthen their quality relationships as measured by supervisor–subordinate guanxi and leader–membership exchange; quality relationships in turn enhanced effective participative leadership as measured by the opportunity for joint decision‐making and the open‐minded discussion of opposing views (constructive controversy). Results suggest that cooperative goals and the Chinese value of guanxi may be important for overcoming obstacles and developing participative leadership within and across cultural boundaries.     

Networks and leadership development: Building linkages for capacity acquisition and capital accrual

Social networks can aid the leadership development process through facilitating access to important developmental assignments and the acquisition of capabilities to handle associated challenges. Although much of the traditional focus of leadership development has been on building intrapersonal capabilities, functioning effectively as a leader necessitates the development of interpersonal capabilities associated with dyadic ties and relational capabilities associated with patterns of ties within networks. Such capabilities allow aspiring managers to accrue not only human capital, but social and system capital as well. Aspiring managers can tap task, career, and friendship/support networks to aid developmental and career success. Structure factors, including strategic choices, network characteristics, and the technological interface moderate the ability of managers to convert potential network contacts into significant leadership development and capital accrual. Personal factors also influence leadership development prospects. Overall, there are many ways in which network concepts associated with dyadic and relational levels of analysis can facilitate addressing the challenges that are key to leadership development.     

Leadership styles and gender: An extension

Leadership remains an elusive concept despite decades of research. In this paper, we attempt to deconstruct the concept by exploring the possibility of developing new measures of leadership, focusing on the attributes of “good” and “bad” leaders. Using a sample of 312 managers, we conducted factor analyses to reduce 13 “good” leadership attributes to two factors, the “visionary” and the “good,” and 13 “bad” attributes to two factors, the “inept” and the “evil.” Second, we assessed how male and female followers perceive the leadership styles of their best and worst bosses. We found that women viewed their best bosses differently from their male counterparts on several dimensions; however, there is little contrast in how bad bosses are perceived by men and women.     

Leadership ideologies among European managers: A comparative survey in a multinational company

Adopting a subjective culture approach, the present study focuses on managers' beliefs about ideal leadership behaviour in organizations (i.e. leadership ideologies). On the basis of reported cultural dimensions which distinguish countries from one another, it is expected that the national origin of European managers will significantly influence their ideologies. The findings provide support for this assumption, since significant differences appeared between countries in eight aspects of leadership. Finally, the findings are compared with existing knowledge of cultural variation between these countries.     

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.     

Managerial style and the strategic choice of executive incentives

This paper analyzes a two-stage duopoly model where owners provide incentives to managers who then select output levels. Unlike the previous Cournot models on the strategic use of incentives (e.g. Fershtman and Judd, 1987; Sklivas, 1987), managers hold different beliefs about their rivals. Managers and executives are classified by ‘management style’ based on the aggressiveness of their beliefs. It is shown that many of the standard results of the strategic managerial incentive literature no longer hold when executives have differing managerial styles. For example, owners may ‘penalize’ their managers for sales, or they may optimally instruct their managers to maximize profits, in contrast to the standard Cournot findings. Indeed, the model yields a necessary and sufficient condition for compensation contracts to specify pure profit-maximizing behavior when managers have differing managerial styles. Thus, the analysis suggests that when ownership and control are separated, owners must carefully assess the belief structure (management style) of their executives before designing the compensation package.     

Shatter the glass ceiling: Women may make better managers

There is considerable evidence that women encounter a glass ceiling or barrier to advancement into the executive ranks of organizations. Although many expected this barrier to be obliterated with the large influx of women entering the work force over the last two decades, little change has actually occurred in the most senior ranks. In most sectors, women still comprise less than 5 percent of board directorships and corporate officerships. This article focuses on emerging evidence which indicates that the trend in U.S. corporations toward high-involvement work teams, consensus decision making, and empowerment may actually benefit the leadership styles that women already exhibit. Preliminary evidence is also provided which indicates that female managers are seen as more transformational than their male counterparts—a leadership style that has been shown to have a strong positive impact on individual, group, and organizational performance.     

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.     

An exploratory review of global leadership: The example of French and British leadership styles

The emerging global leader must demonstrate specific competencies to succeed in the international marketplace. International leaders must be able to create strategic partnerships with individuals from different cultures. In this article, the author, after reviewing state of the art research in the field, describes the difficulties involved in leading multicultural teams in Franco–British collaborative ventures. Corporate human resource managers at British Petroleum and Vivendi Corporation in the United Kingdom and Eurotunnel Corporation in France revealed that cultural differences impact international leadership styles.     

STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY TOP EXECUTIVES AND MIDDLE MANAGERS WITH DATA AND PROCESS DOMINANT STYLES

The influence of a manager's decision style in strategic decision-making is explored using simulations. The Jungian style classification is extended to identify ‘data and process dominant’ styles of decision-making. Managers with process dominant styles can use several types of data and managers with data dominant styles can apply various modes of data processing. Both the expanded and the traditional definitions of style are used as factors to explain how 79 top executives and 89 middle managers rated project simulations. Decision style is found to be a key factor in explaining the likelihood of taking strategic action and the risk seen in this action. Decisions made by top executives are more style dependent than those of middle managers. The extended definition of style reveals more about the preferences of top executives than traditional style categories.     

Western MBA Education and Effective Leadership Values in Developing Countries

Abstract

The study seeks to develop a leadership portrait of MBA graduates from developing countries. It examines the congruence between the effective leadership values as perceived by MBA graduates from developing countries and expected, accepted and effective leadership styles in their cultures. One-Way ANOVA and Duncan Multiple Comparison analysis revealed that MBA graduates from developing countries have the tendency to embrace western leadership values without forsaking traditional indigenous values. The research provides evidence to suggest that western MBA education is contributing to the conformity to the latest leadership paradigms across cultures and thus the formation of a shared knowledge structure which reduce the variability of future managers' perceptions towards leadership styles.

The study seeks to develop a leadership portrait of MBA graduates from developing countries. It examines the congruence between the effective leadership values as perceived by MBA graduates from developing countries and expected, accepted and effective leadership styles in their cultures. One-Way ANOVA and Duncan Multiple Comparison analysis revealed that MBA graduates from developing countries have the tendency to embrace western leadership values without forsaking traditional indigenous values. The research provides evidence to suggest that western MBA education is contributing to the conformity to the latest leadership paradigms across cultures and thus the formation of a shared knowledge structure which reduce the variability of future managers' perceptions towards leadership styles.