Flowers in a Greenhouse: profiling excellence in leadership in Singapore

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing cultural values that influence the perception of managers to leadership excellence in their organisations in Singapore. Design/methodology/approach -Summated scales for the importance of excellent leader, personal qualities, managerial behaviours, organisational demands and environmental influences were developed using most of the items categorised by Selvarajah et al. (1995) and several other items rated highly in this study. A structural model was constructed to explain the relationship in excellence in leadership. Findings -In all, 249 managers, from the three main ethnic groups: Chinese, Indians and Malays participated in this research. The findings suggest that ethnic differences are not strong determinants of managerial values in organisations in Singapore. However, gender is seen as a differentiating factor in the behavioural values of Singapore managers. Research limitations/implications -This study is purely an exploratory study and the size of the sample is not large enough to create purposeful causal relationships. Certainly the effect of ethnicity on the study should be explored further with a larger sample. Practical implications -Singapore is a highly globalised country that attracts international investments. Statistics in Singapore clearly suggests that there is a sharp increase in women managers in employment. Therefore, understanding the changing behavioural values of managers of both sexes are important for a foreigner engaging with Singapore nationals. Originality/value -This is the first study that looks at behavioural values of Singapore managers with regard to leadership excellence. The masculinity-femininity dimension is pronounced in the gender split.

Dutch Managerial Leadership Strategies: Managing Uncertainty Avoidance, Feminine-Related Social Roles, Organisation Prosperity Focus, and Work Orientation within A Polder Framework

“…These five constructs are universally applicable in the sense that their relationships are critical for understanding ILTs across countries, societies, sectors, industries or organisations. This is demonstrated in much of the EIL research in Asia (see Selvarajah and Meyer 2008a;2008b;Selvarajah, Meyer and Davuth, 2012;Selvarajah, et al, 2013b;Selvarajah, et al, 2014;, South Africa (Shrivastava, et al, 2014) and the Netherlands (De Waal, et al, 2011). Thus, the EIL model's leadership perceptions are influenced by national and societal culture.…”

“…In Cambodia, pragmatism is underscored by Buddhist beliefs, which often influence managerial behaviours (Selvarajah et al, 2012). This study posits that if polder values are as pervasive in Dutch culture as ubuntu is in the South African (Shrivastava et al, 2014), and Confucianism is in the Chinese (Selvarajah and Meyer 2008b;Selvarajah, et al, 2013b), then they might affect several EIL variables to produce a unique cultural model for the Netherlands. Accordingly, the next section focuses on polder-driven values to provide a more fine-grained analysis of the affected EIL variables in a Dutch research context.…”

Exploring Ethical Business in Central Europe: Leaders’ Values and Perspectives on Good Practices

“…Previous implementations of the APEL model have found 37 to 60 different behaviors describing dimensions within the five behavioral categories, in a wide range of Asian countries [78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86], in Europe [87], and in Africa [88]. In this study, the APEL framework was extended to include ethical values as highlighted in Figure 4 to examine the relationship between leadership practices and ethical values of managers from the Central European Visegrád nations.…”

“…The APEL questionnaire consisting of 94 items for measuring leadership excellence through behaviors was developed by Selvarajah et al [77] and validated in Asia: Malaysia [79,80], China [81], Singapore [86], Vietnam [83], Cambodia [82], Thailand [89], and trialed in Europe, in the Netherlands [87] and trialed in Africa, in South Africa [88]. Comprehensive analysis of the results was conducted for selected ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries by Taormina and Selvarajah [78], confirming the applicability of the four broad categories identified in the APEL model.…”

Organisational Leadership in Bangladesh: An Investigation of Managerial Response to A Change Environment

“…Selvarajah et al (1995) developed their EIL model in order to theorise leadership excellence in Asia and identified four behavioural dimensions of an excellent leader: personal qualities, environmental qualities, organisational demands, and managerial behaviours. With the inclusion of excellent leadership, the five-construct model has been applied to describe managerial leaders in Asia including Cambodia (Selvarajah, Meyer, & Davuth, 2012), China (Selvarajah & Meyer, 2008b), Indonesia , Malaysia (Selvarajah & Meyer, 2006;2008a), Singapore (Selvarajah, Meyer, Jeyakumar, & Donovan, 2013a), India (Selvarajah et al, 2014), and Thailand (Selvarajah, Meyer, & Donovan, 2013b). The five constructs, which are central to the EIL framework, are defined below (excerpted from Selvarajah, Meyer, & Donovan, 2013a: 359):…”