Guanxi and leader member relationships between American managers and Chinese employees: open-minded dialogue as mediator

Abstract

Effective open relationships with employees can help foreign managers rely upon and utilize the local knowledge of their employees. One hundred and sixty-three Chinese employees from various industries in China were surveyed on their relationships (leadership–member relationship and personal guanxi) with American and Chinese managers, their constructive controversy, that is, their constructive controversy with them, and the job assignments and promotions received from their managers. Results support the hypotheses that quality leader–member relationship and personal guanxi promoted their constructive controversy, which in turn facilitated employees receiving challenging jobs and promotions. Results suggest that leader–member relationship and Chinese value of guanxi may be important for enhancing their constructive controversy; this kind of open dialogue can be a foundation upon which American managers can develop the confidence to give their Chinese employees challenging tasks and promotions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007Guanxi, Leader–member relationships, Open-minded dialogue,

The Leader–Member Exchange Theory in the Chinese Context and the Ethical Challenge of Guanxi

“…Guanxi highlights the importance of the particular relationship between two parties (Chen & Chen, 2004;Chen & Tjosvold, 2007;Huang & Wang, 2011), such as the leader-member relationship between a manager and a subordinate, and shares many things in common with the LMX theory. However, although it is one of the key factors in successful leadership in China, the role of guanxi and the subtleties of the concept may not be familiar to Westerners.…”

“…Understanding and learning to build high-quality guanxi in China is not only helpful in terms of personal connections but also in terms of success at work. Those with personal guanxi are accorded a high level of trust and respect and to them people sense some kind of obligation, but those who do not share the common personal guanxi are easily excluded from the social network (Chen & Tjosvold, 2007).…”

“…It is also considered to be a strategic resource, a substitute for formal institutional support for organisational leadership, facilitating desirable business results (Xin & Pearce, 1996;Tsang, 1998;Chen & Tjosvold, 2007). At the individual level, guanxi is thought to be a key factor in personal effectiveness, and managers have been advised to develop and maintain guanxi with their staff members (Pearce, 1997).…”

“…Studies have shown that building personal guanxi is a foundation for effective leadership (Hui & Graen, 1997) even when managers and subordinates in the leader-member relationship come from different cultures (Chen & 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Tjosvold, 2006). Personal guanxi is said to promote constructive controversy between expatriate managers and employees, and help the managers to become knowledgeable and confident in their leadership role; as a result they can provide Chinese employees with challenging assignments and encourage their success and promotion in foreign ventures in China (Chen & Tjosvold, 2007).…”

“…When Western managers develop high-quality guanxi with employees, the local Chinese employees feel a strong bond. The importance of building up this kind of relationship must be clear (Pearce, 1997;Chen & Tjosvold, 2007).…”