A comparison of American and international prototypes of successful managers

Abstract

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 ϭ 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.

A within-country study of leadership perceptions and outcomes across native and immigrant employees: Questioning the universality of transformational leadership

“…We found no difference in the perception of transformational leadership between native Danish and immigrant respondents – neither in reported mean level, in pattern and magnitude of item loadings, nor in pattern of association by item intercorrelations. While these findings correspond with some current research suggesting a trend towards cultural convergence in employees’ perception of successful managers (Lankau & Chung, 2009), they do not support the contingency proposition that cultural differences determine different perception processes of leadership (Yan & Hunt, 2005). Although our findings could indeed be interpreted to lend support to the universality theory of transformational leadership, the fact that we find similar perceptions across native and immigrant groups could reflect an assimilation process rather than transformational leadership universality.…”

The competencies of global managers in multinational corporations

“…There are various prototypes of successful managers. Studies show that a factor such as culture has an impact on the perception of leadership behavior and attributes that are considered effective (Lankau and Chung, 2009). Studies show that the characteristics of a good leader vary depending on the culture from which the respondents come from.…”

“…There is a need to diagnose what type of managerial competence will effectively manage intercultural teams. Globalization also puts an emphasis on the development of skills that are universal and have a global character, regardless of culture (Lankau, 2009).…”

Engineering Leadership in a Chinese Industrial Context: An Exploration using the Four Capabilities Model

“…Leadership can have different meanings within varied cultural contexts [19][20] . We expect that an understanding of engineering leadership within different cultural contexts will further facilitate engineers' training to be competent leaders in an increasingly global context.…”

“…However, because of the unique characteristics of leadership that may result from different cultural contexts [19][20] , it is necessary to understand the essence and the demonstrations of engineering leadership in a Chinese context before a robust training program is constructed. Therefore, in this work, we tried to explore the essence and practical demonstrations of engineering leadership in a Chinese industrial context from the perspectives of working engineering professionals in the context of the 4-Cap Model.…”