Cross cultural management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cross cultural management - Essay Example Studies of the ancient china are useful in the understanding of the leadership models in modern china. Research on Chinese leadership is accredited to a scholar known as Misumi, who was Japanese. According to his research, he categorized Chinese leadership into two major classifications notably the model of performance and the maintenance. Maintenance factor is the step taken towards improvement of the human labour force. An interesting close examination of the leadership style adopted in China reveals that leadership characteristics are spread along the organizations with close similarity. For example, according to Mobley, Wang and Li, the survey conducted on state owned enterprises and the private owned enterprises shows that the managers are more sensitive to the environment, are less authoritarian, and encourage a lot of moral behaviors. In particular, the traditional cultural values have more often shaped the styles of leadership and mode of management in china. According to Bod en, leadership in china originates from various qualities as compared to other nations; leaders are created on the basis of knowledge and attitude. The advantage that the ruler has is that the Chinese are very loyal to their leaders and are always ready to take up the responsibility whenever a need arises. The current leaders in china are more linked to the olden traditional rulers because they share certain traditional similarities. According to Boden (2008), these values are Confucian approach, legalistic approach, naturalistic approach, as well as the strategic approach. The Confucian approach, which is also known as the humanistic leadership requires a leader to have moral character and proper conduct. He is also expected to be a lifelong learner. The legalistic approach demands that a leader undergoes punishment whenever he goes wrong; it articulates for stricter codes of conduct. This leader is also expected to have the skills of attracting skilled and knowledgeable followers, rather than them having to display their skills. In this case, the leader is expected to be wise, and at all times, avoid getting into trouble. The delegated duties should be accompanied by rewards if a worker performs well. China is a unique nation with a different cultural setup compared to other nations in the West; this has led to its unique ways of leadership styles that do not conform so much to those of the Western countries. The methods of leadership practiced in other nations have to be greatly modified if they are to fit the nation of China and the vice versa. Gallo points out that â€Å"in fact many of them will never work well here† (2011, p. 5), meaning in China. There are cultural differences that exist between China and the countries from the west. There is also difference in which expectations are laid between the workers and the leaders. Another contributing factor to these differences in leadership styles are the societal values that do vary; some of the values from other nations that may be seen as good can be perceived differently in China. Challenges of leadership are complicated and harder especially when members of an organization come from different cultural setups from that of their leader. The naturalistic appr