Contingent model of chinese leadership

Building the Global Competence for Asian Leaders Hangzhou, Dec 29th 2010

Xiaojuan Wang

Contingent model of Chinese leadership:

Challenge of internationalization for Chinese leaders

Building the Global Competence for Asian Leaders

Agenda

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1 China: Tradition and Modernization 4

2 Chinese Culture: evidence from GLOBAL study 7

Prototype leadership of different cultures 10

Insights from global study 11

3 Contingent model of Chinese leadership 14

integrated theoretical model 16

Suggestions for the managers 19

China: Tradition and Modernization

Contingent model of Chinese leadership


China: Tradition and Modernization

4

China has enjoyed great economic prosperity and societal development since then in 1978 when Chinese government decided to develop its economy with reform and open policy .

Along with the economic prosperity and societal development , internationalization and scientific advancement transform Chinese behavior and values. Specifically, the youth generation are socialized by the society values and practices.

Extreme long history and profound influences of Confucius philosophies make China different from all the other countries in the sense that the basic values, beliefs and preferences here are very difficult to change completely. “Guanxi”, “power distance”, “Confucius ethics”, “loyalty”, et al. still determines the individual `s preference and behavior to a great extent than nobody can ignore it.


Most influential philosophies in China: Confucianism

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Personal development: Confucianism argue that

there is no end for learning and advancement and

stress the individual contribution to family and

country.

Interpersonal relationship:Confucianism stress “Five

relationship” that deal with the norms and duties of five

pivotal relationships in society: ruler-minister,

father-son, elder-younger brother, et al.

Mencius (372 BC-289 BC)

Confucius(551 BC – 479 BC)

Tung Chung-shu, (179BC–104 BC)


Potential “leading generalization”

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• the Bird's Nest Generation

• the Bird's Nest Generation– Volunteers of 2008 Beijing

Olympic Games

• “elegant and proficient in foreign languages, good communication, respect for the rules, strong sense of responsibility, advocate participation, with the characteristics of the era of reform and opening”

– China daily,2008

• The group, aged 10 to 29, accounts for about one third of China's 1.3 billion people .

Chinese Culture: evidence from GLOBAL study



External adaption-empirical evidence

8

Performance orientation

assertiveness

p v p v

Confucian Asia 4.58a 5.53c 4.09 4.54a

Southern Asia 4.33 5.99a 3.86c 4.65a

China 4.45 5.67 3,79 5.44

Indonesia 4.41 5.72 3.87 4,72

Singapore 4.9 5.73 4.17 4.41

a: significantly higher than the other countriesc: significantly lower than the other countries (House,et al.,2004)

•Value training and development•Emphasizing results more than people•Rewards performance•Value assertiveness, competitiveness•Value bonus and financial rewards

It is most cherished by all the cultures among the cultural dimensions


Internal integration-empirical evidence

9

Power distance

Uncertainty avoidance

p v p v

Confucian Asia 4.19a 4.0a 4.42 4.74

Southern Asia 4.41a 3.77a 4.1 5.16a

China 5.04 3.1 4.94 5.28

Indonesia 5.18 2.69 4.17 5.23

Singapore 4.99 3.04 5.31 4.22

•Power is seen as providing social order, relational harmony•Information is localized•Limited upward social mobility•Different groups have different involvement•Strong normative historical influences

•Formalize their interaction with others•Be orderly, keep meticulous records•Take more moderate calculated risks•Show stronger resistance to change

a: significantly higher than the other countriesc: significantly lower than the other countries (House,et al.,2004)


Prototype leadership of different cultures

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House et al.,(2004) found that the same

leadership was evaluated differently in

various cultural background

+: positive correlation between the cultural dimension and leadership -: negative correlation between the cultural dimension and leadership


Insights from GLOBAL study

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Problem arises when evaluating the effectiveness of different types of leadership if thinking Chinese cultural pattern rather

than focus on the single cultural dimension.

Obviously, Chinese managers have no idea of what kind of leadership is most suitable for them since some types of

leadership on the opposite side if considering the three cultural dimension at the same time.

• Chinese leaders should adopt charismatic leadership, team oriented leadership, human oriented leadership, self-protective leadership et al., in order to gain success according to GLOBAL

study.


Insights from Global study

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The key to solving the problems lies in finding out the contextual factors or moderate variables that influence the effectiveness and practicality of different leadership.

individual differences? organizational variables? relational factors? cultural background?




Findings from western viewpoints

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• Western researchers have already proposed the contingent theory of leadership since half a century ago.

– Fiedler (1962):Contingency model of leadership effectiveness

– House (1971):path-goal theory– Vroom and Yetton (1973) argued that

the organizational structure, the threat faced by leaders and the group, the degree of formalization of the situation, the sophistication of the subordinates will influence the decision-making style of the leaders.

Fiedler (1962)

House (1971)


Findings from eastern viewpoints

15

• Zheng (1995) and other Asian scholars proposed the paternalistic

leadership based on the Asian culture.– The leaders behave like a father, and they provide support and protection for the

followers not only in work situations but also in life. The followers trust and show their loyalty to leaders.

• Morality, friendliness and authority characterize paternalistic leadership, which means that the leaders use an authoritarian style, derogate subordinate capacity, manage the image and teach the followers to gain respect, trust and fear from the followers.

• Paternalistic leadership has very close relationship with Chinese culture, especially the Confucius philosophy.


integrated theoretical model

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• western scholars should examine the effectiveness of contingent leadership theory in China, where culture is significantly different.

• Chinese scholars should do more study in

evaluating the paternalistic leadership

in a new perspective, which means that they

should take the response of youth

generation, the internationalization and

scientific development into consideration.

A model including individual differences, organizational variables, relational factors and cultural background



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• individual differences– power of leader– sophistication of the subordinates

• organizational variables– organizational structure– Formalization of tasks– Challenge of global competition

• relational factors – In-group vs. out-group

• cultural background– Power distance– Performance orientation

• Relevant variables • Dimension of the contingent model

• Reciprocity-focused– Personal growth &Well-being – Information sharing– Trust building

• Performance-focused– High standards– Performance improvements– Material rewards

• Status-focused– Clear hierarchy– Role model– Protection & loyalty



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demands

Reciprocity-focusedPerformance- focusedStatus-focused

resource

power of leader

organizational

structure

sophistication of subordinates

In-group vs. out-group

Power distance

Performance orientation

Challenge of global competition

Formalization of tasks


Suggestions for the managers

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cultivate democratic atmosphere and reduce power distance in organizations progressively in organization.

keep an open mind with learning orientation know the most recent developed managerial ideology or theory.

be cautious when applying the newly developed managerial theory

There is no perfect and universal theory or method whose effectiveness is guaranteed

find out one`s owe leadership patterns which combine characteristics of several kinds of leadership

take one`s position, working industry and environment issues in to consideration when decide whether take certain leadership or not.


Global Competence for Asian LeadersResearch Partners:

An applied research collaboration supported by the Human Capital Leadership

Institute (Singapore) with the objective to derive a model for Asian leaders, which will

lead to systematic global leadership development programs with Asian

characteristics.

Built on our previous researches on Chinese and Indonesian intercultural sensitivity,

we continue in this study by elaborating the cross-cultural experiences of the

Chinese, Indonesian and Singaporean international assignees and their respective

local co-workers in China and Indonesia. Intercultural sensitivity has been widely

accepted as one of the most significant element of global competencies and one of

the strongest predictor for global leaders and managers accomplishments.

The principal investigators of the project are Dr. Hora Tjitra, Dr. Hana Panggabean,

and the research team of the the Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, China), Zhejiang

University of Technology (Hangzhou, China) and the Atma Jaya Indonesia Catholic

University (Jakarta, Indonesia).

Funding Partner:

Zhejiang University

China

www.zju.edu.cn

Zhejiang University of Technology

China

www.zjut.edu.cn

Atma Jaya Catholic University

Indonesia

www.atmajaya.ac.id

Human Capital Leadership Institute

Singapore

www.smu.edu.sgHora Tjitra

Hana Panggabean

Juliana Murniati

Quan HE Jiewei ZHENG

Chaohui ZHANGTeng SHENTU Jia ZHOU

Xiaojuan WANG

Dan ZHAOXixie ZHANG

Sebastian Partogi Yuanbo LIU Tayyibah Mushtaq


Thank YouThank You

Contact us via …

Mail: [email protected]: twitter@htjitraWebsite: http://sinau.me/hcli

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Contingent model of chinese leadership