Implicit Leadership Theory The Implicit Leadership Theory (ILT) asserts that people's underlying assumptions,
stereotypes, beliefs and
schemas influence the extent to which they view someone as a good leader. Since people across cultures tend to hold different implicit beliefs,
schemas and
stereotypes, it would seem only natural that their underlying beliefs in what makes a good leader differ across cultures.
GLOBE The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Project
(GLOBE) study incorporated both the ILT and Hofstede's dimensions into one unique research study. The GLOBE study extended the ILT to include individuals of a common culture maintaining a relatively stable common belief about leaders, which varies from culture to culture. They labeled this the Culturally Endorsed Implicit Leadership Theory (CLT). Paternalistic leadership is composed of three main elements: authoritarianism, benevolence, and moral leadership. These leaders want to transform a team into a family-like group. They would like to know employees' quality of the life overall such as hobbies, parents' health condition, and children's education. A great deal of research has been conducted on the prevalence of this leadership style in non-Western business organizations, indicating the prevalence of paternalistic leadership in countries like
mainland China and
Taiwan. However, considerably less research has been done on whether paternalistic leadership exists in
Western cultures. Recently, there has been an increase in the amount of attention placed on paternalistic leadership in non-Western cultures. Although it is a relatively new area of focus in leadership research, evidence has been found supporting the relationship between paternalism and positive work attitudes in numerous cultures, including those of the
Middle East,
Latin America, and
Pacific Asia.
Transformational & transactional leadership Transformational leadership is loosely defined as a charismatic leadership style that rallies subordinates around a common goal with enthusiasm and support.
Transactional leadership is characterized by a give-and-take relationship using rewards as an incentive. In a 2004 questionnaire study of employees at 10 different banks, responses indicated that only 3 of the 7 factors that were found in the ideal leadership style in
Egypt corresponded with the US factors. The other 4 were unique to Egypt or perhaps the Middle East in general. These results indicate an inability to assume that transactional and transformational leadership will succeed in non-western cultures. In a study of transactional and transformational leadership in
China and
Australia, transformational leadership predicted performance and trust in the Australian population, but only predicted trust, not performance, in the Chinese population. Transactional leadership did not predict trust or performance in either population. Other findings, however, saw a strong presence of transformational and/or transactional leadership in China, India,
Kenya, and the U.S. Allocentrists, similar to
collectivists, respond more positively to transformational leadership because they unite individuals around a common goal. Idiocentrists (individuals found in
individualistic cultures) are more amenable to transactional leaders who reward individuals for hard work and success and less amenable to leaders who encourage group work and reduce individual identity.
Effects of cultural values in management Differences in performance of
management functions (Planning, Organizing, Commanding, Coordinating, controlling) across countries arise from different value orientations.
Time focus Different cultures have different perceptions of time according to their environment, history, traditions and general practices. •
Monochronic -
Planning is task-oriented;
Organizing is structured, linear and task-focused;
Commanding - put emphasis on making and following plans, managing the inflow and distribution of detailed information;
Coordinating is focused on the shorter term, meets immediate needs and requirements;
Controlling use control systems that depend on detailed information and involve strict deadlines. •
Polychronic -
Planning is people-oriented;
Organising is less structured, more holistic in nature and people-focused;
Commanding - flexible, react to changing circumstances, give priority to people over plans, relies on sharing knowledge and information;
Coordinating - is focused on the longer term, with concern for building relationships over time;
Controlling use more flexible control systems involving people in addition to information.
Power •
Hierarchy -
Planning - autocratic;
Organization structure is tightly controlled, authority and responsibility are centralized;
Commanding - employees are closely supervised and feel comfortable with a directive supervisor;
Coordinating - subordinates expect bosses to take initiative to train, develop and promote them;
Controlling - personal control preferred over impersonal control systems. •
Equality -
Planning - participative planning;
Organizational structure encourages individual autonomy, authority is decentralized to lowest possible level;
Commanding - participative or consultative management style, employees are not afraid to disagree with their managers;
Coordinating - work relationships are not strictly prescribed in terms of behaviours and roles;
Controlling - subordinates work with bosses to develop, implement, monitor and alter performance objectives.
Competitiveness •
Competitive -
Planning - emphasis on speed and task performance;
Organization structure individual achievement is encouraged in organizing the work, managers have more of leadership role;
Commanding - leader's role is to track and reward achievement, higher stress in working process;
Coordinating - employees are selected on their ability to work independently;
Controlling - performance-based systems. •
Co-operative -
Planning - emphasis on maintaining relationships in plan implementation;
Organization structure group integration, positive working environment, convenient schedules, managers have facilitating role;
Commanding - leader's role is facilitate mutually beneficial relationships;
Coordinating - employees are selected on their ability to work well in group;
Controlling - task performance and team effectiveness.
Activity •
Doing cultures -
Planning - developing measurable, time-framed action steps;
Organizing involves action-oriented documentation for project management with clearly spelled out tasks;
Commanding - managers are effective if they have the necessary expertise and competence;
Coordinating - employees are chosen on their ability to carry out organizational tasks;
Controlling - estimates task performance and the way how it was done. •
Being cultures -
Planning - strong focus on the vision or ideal a company wishes to attain;
Organizing more focused on common vision and personal trust;
Commanding - managers are effective if their personal philosophy, values and style are seen are compatible;
Coordinating - career development is based not only on performance but also on personal and social criteria;
Controlling - estimates effectiveness and adaptability.
Space •
Private -
Planning - usage of individualistic or systematic forms of planning;
Organizing approaches are centred on tasks;
Commanding - managers and employees do not share the same office;
Coordinating - explicit information about how staff should be employed;
Controlling - managers use explicit measures of performance. •
Public -
Planning - usage of group-oriented or authoritative forms of planning;
Organizing approaches are centred on relationships;
Commanding - location and size of office where employee works does not reflect that person's rank in the company;
Coordinating - implicit information about how staff should be employed;
Controlling - managers use explicit measures of performance.
Communication •
Low-context -
Planning - explicit, detailed, quantifiable and information-based;
Organizing - task-responsibility guidelines are explicit;
Commanding - managers get work done through others by outlining specific goals and ways to achieve them, explicit communication and depersonalized conflict;
Coordinating - detailed contracts of employment and explicit performance appraisals;
Controlling -task driven control in accordance with monitoring and control procedures used to ensure performance objectives. •
High-context -
Planning - implicit, less detailed in terms of instructions;
Organizing - job descriptions and responsibilities are implicit and understood according to the context;
Commanding - managers get work done through others by giving attention to relationships and group processes, conflicts must be resolved before work can progress;
Coordinating - criteria, methods for recruitment, selection, appraisal process and firing are not explicit;
Controlling -process-driven.
Structure •
Individualism -
Planning - those, that involved in planning will take initiative to present their views;
Organizational structure emphasize the individual in tasks assignments and resources allocation;
Commanding - leaders expect employees to meet or exceed their responsibilities and defend their own interests;
Coordinating - organizations are not expected to look after their employees' career development;
Controlling tends to be exerted by individual standards of excellence, fear of losing self-respect discourages deviance from standards. In their research, Dickson, Den Hartog, and Mitchelson (2003) delve into the nuances of how individualism shapes leadership dynamics across different cultures. They suggest that the cultural backdrop significantly influences how leaders develop their individualistic qualities, which in turn affects their decision-making and leadership styles. •
Collectivism -
Planning - plans are developed within the shared values used for measuring and justifying activities in the organization;
Organizational structure emphasize the group, the team is assigned tasks and resources;
Commanding - leaders expect loyalty in exchange for protection, group or top-down decisions are the norm;
Coordinating - promotion is based primarily on seniority, managers are evaluated according to how well they conform to organizational or group norms;
Controlling deviation from standards and expectations is discouraged through group-oriented pressure. == Definitions ==