Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T15:32:45.760Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Archetypes of the Malaysian manager: Exploring ethnicity dimensions that relate to leadership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Christopher Selvarajah  and
Denny Meyer
Christopher Selvarajah
Affiliation:
Faculty of Business & Enterprise, Swinburne University, Hawthorn VIC, Australia
Denny Meyer
Affiliation:
Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University, Hawthorn VIC, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper extends the boundaries of theories in leadership studies to sub-cultures of a country. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between the concept of an excellent leader and ethnicity in a multicultural society while formulating ten underlying dimensions for this concept. Data on leadership behaviour were gathered from 292 managers in Malaysia and were subjected to factor analysis, MANOVA analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling. The results suggest that, in Malaysia, strategic orientation acts through operational behaviours, producing excellence in leadership. However, the study demonstrates that there are significant ethnic differences in regard to the dimensions that relate to excellence in leadership. Studies such as this are useful in extending the understanding of the dimensions of leadership in pluralistic societies where the cultural frameworks of workers may not be the same. Most studies have looked at the leader from a mono-cultural perspective and this study addresses this deficit.

Keywords

Malaysian managementethnicity in managementcross-cultural leadershipethnic leadership
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , November 2006 , pp. 251 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdullah, A (1992) Understanding the Malaysian Workforce – Guidelines for Managers, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Management.Google Scholar
Abdullah, A (1996) Going Glocal, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Management.Google Scholar
Abdullah, A (2001) Cultural Dimensions of Anglos, Australians, and Malaysians, Malaysian Management Review, 36 (2): 9–12.Google Scholar
Abdullah, SH (2003) ‘Managing in the Malaysian Context and the Evolution of Management Thought’, in Chin, T (ed.), Management in Malaysia: A Basic Text on General Management with Local Reference to Managing a Malaysian Business, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Management, pp 1–16.Google Scholar
Ahmad Saufi, R (2002) Leadership Style Preferences of Malaysian Managers, Malaysian Management Digest 37 (1): 1–10.Google Scholar
Bass, BM (1990) Bass and Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Broadbeck, FC, Frese, M and 44 European Co-investigators (2000) Cultural Variations of Leadership Prototypes across 22 European Countries, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 73(1): 1–29.Google Scholar
Cattell, RB (1966) The Scree Test for the Number of Factors, Multivariate Behavioral Research 1: 245–276.Google Scholar
Chin, T (2002) Editorial, Malaysian Management Review 37 (1): iii–iv.Google Scholar
Chin, T (2000) Developing in Line with Vision 2020, in Chin, T (ed.), Voice of Management: The Malaysian Challenge, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Management, pp 288–291.Google Scholar
Den Hartog, DN, House, RJ, Hanges, PJ, Ruiz-Quintanilla, SA, Dorfman, PW and other Globe Country Investigators (1999) Culture Specific and Cross-Culturally Generalizable Implicit Leadership Theories: Are Attributes of Charismatic/Transformational Leadership Universally Endorsed?, Leadership Quarterly 10: 219–256.Google Scholar
Dooley, R (1997) Four Cultures, One Company: Achieving Corporate Excellence through Working Cultural Complexity, http://www.globalinterculturaltraining.com/Four%20Cultures,%20One%20Company%20in%20HTML.htm, (accessed 17 Oct 2004).Google Scholar
Goleman, D (2000) Working with Emotional Intelligence, New York: Bantam Doubleday.Google Scholar
Gupta, JL and Sulaiman, M (1996) Ethical Orientations of Managers in Malaysia, Journal of Business Ethics 15: 735–48.Google Scholar
Hair, JF, Anderson, RE, Tatham, RL and Black, WC (1998) Multivariate Data Analysis, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Haire, M, Ghiselli, EE and Porter, LW (1963) Cultural Patterns in the Role of the Manager, Industrial Relations 2(2): 95–117.Google Scholar
Hanges, PJ, Lord, RG and Dickson, MW (2000) An Information Processing Perspective on Leadership and Culture: A Case for Connectionist Architecture, Applied Psychology: An International Review 49: 133–161.Google Scholar
Hamzah, S, Madsen, J and Thong, GTS (1989) Managing in a Plural Society. Singapore: Longman.Google Scholar
Hofstede, GH (1984) Culture's Consequences, New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Hofstede, GH (1993) Cultural Constraints in Management Theories, Academy of Management Executive 7(1): 81–94.Google Scholar
Hofstede, GH (1991a) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, London: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Hofstede, GH (1991b) Managing in a Multicultural Society, Malaysian Management Review 26(1): 10–19.Google Scholar
Hofstede, GH and McCrae, RR (2004) Personality and Culture Revisited: Linking Traits and Dimensions of Culture, Cross-Cultural Research 38(1): 52–88.Google Scholar
Horn, JL (1965) A Rationale and Test for the Number of Factors in Factor Analysis, Psychometrika 30: 179–186.Google Scholar
House, RJ, Hanges, PI and Ruiz-Quintanilla, SA (1997b) GLOBE: The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program, Polish Psychological Bulletin 28: 215–254.Google Scholar
House, RJ and Podsakoff, PM (1994) Leadership Effectiveness: Past Perspectives and Future Directions for Research, in Greenberg, J (ed.), Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science, Hillsdale NJ: Earlbaum.Google Scholar
House, RJ (1995) Leadership in the Twenty-First Century, in Howard, A (ed.), The Changing Nature of Work. San Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
House, RJ, Wright, NS and Aditya, RN (1997a) Cross-Cultural Research on Organizational Leadership: A Critical Analysis and a Proposed Theory, in Early, PC and Erez, M (eds), New Perspectives in International Organizational Psychology, San Francisco CA: New Lexington, pp. 535–625.Google Scholar
Kaiser, HF (1959) The Varimax Criterion for Analytic Rotation in Factor Analysis, Psychometrika 23: 187–200.Google Scholar
Karande, K, Rao, CP and Singhapakdi, A (2002) Moral Philosophies of Marketing Managers: A Comparison of American, Australian, and Malaysian cultures, European Journal of Marketing 36 (7/8): 768–791.Google Scholar
Kennedy, JC (2002) Leadership in Malaysia: Traditional Values, International Outlook, Academy of Management Executive 16(3): 15–25.Google Scholar
Koopman, PL, Den Hartog, DN, Konard, E and 50 co-authors (1999) National Culture and Leadership Profiles in Europe: Some Results from the GLOBE Study, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 8(4): 503–520.Google Scholar
Kotter, JP (1990) What Leaders Really Do, Harvard Business Review 05–June, pp 103–111.Google Scholar
Lim, L (2001) Work-Related Values of Malays and Chinese Malaysians, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 1(2): 209–226.Google Scholar
Malaysian Census (2000) Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristics: Report Population and Housing Census 2000, Kuala Lumpur: Government Publisher.Google Scholar
Manan, WA (1999) A Nation in Distress: Human rights, Authoritarianism, and Asian Values in Malaysia, Sojourn 14(2): 359–381.Google Scholar
Mansor, N and Mohd Ali, MA (1998) An Exploratory Study of Organizational Flexibility in Malaysia: A Research Note, The International Journal of Human Resource Management 9 (3): 506–515.Google Scholar
Pearson, C and Entrekin, L (1998) Structural Properties, Work Practices, and Control in Asian Businesses: Some Evidence from Singapore and Malaysia, Human Relations 51(10): 1285–1306.Google Scholar
Peter, TJ and Austin, N (1985) A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference, New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Puthucheary, M (1987) The Administrative Elite, in Zakaria, A (ed.) Government and Politics of Malaysia. Singapore: Oxford University Press, pp. 94–110.Google Scholar
Pye, L (1985) Asian Power and Politics. Boston MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ronen, S and Shenkar, O (1985) Clustering Countries on Attitudinal Dimensions: A Review and Synthesis, Academy of Management Review 10: 435–454.Google Scholar
Saufi, RA, Wafa, SA and Hamzah, MYZ (2002) Leadership Style Preferences of Malaysian Managers, Malaysian Management Review 37(1): 1–10.Google Scholar
Schermerhorn, JR Jr (1994) Intercultural Management Training: An Interview with Asma Abdullah, Journal of Management Development 13(3): 47–64.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C (1991) The Cultural, Political and Environment of International Business, in Selvarajah, C and Cutbush-Sabine, K (eds), International Business, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, pp 1–27.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C, Duignan, P, Nuttman, C and Suppiah, C (1995) In Search of the Asian Leader: An Exploratory Study of Dimensions that Relates to Excellence in Leadership, Management International Review: Journal of International Business 35(1): 29–34.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C and Meyer, D (2006) Profiling the Malaysian Manager: Exploring Dimensions that Relate to Leadership, Working Paper Series, Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology (under review).Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C, Rahman, FF, Masli, EK and Kakanamveetil, A (2005) ‘Ethnic Entrepreneurial Business Cluster Development: Chinatowns in Melbourne’. Paper presented at the International AGSE Entrepreneurship Conference 12-14 02, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Sharif, MY (1997) Amalgamation of East and West Cultures, New Straits Times 23 09, p. 7.Google Scholar
Sinha, D (1999) Approaches to Indigenous Management, in Kao, HSR (ed.), Management and Cultural Values: The Indigenization of Organizations in Asia, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Sinha, JBP (1995) The Cultural Context of Leadership and Power, New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Smith, PB, Peterson, MF and Misumi, J (1994) Event Management and Work Team Effectiveness in Japan, Britain and the USA, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 67: 33–43.Google Scholar
Squires, G (2001) Management as a Professional Discipline, Journal of Management Studies, 38(4): 473–487.Google Scholar
Steers, RM, Porter, LW and Bigley, GA (1996) Motivation and Leadership at Work, New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Strait Times (2000). We are responsible to the Malays, 13 05, p. 6.Google Scholar
Swierczek, FW (1991) Leadership and Culture: Comparing Asian Manager, Leadership and Organisation Development Journal 12(7): 3–10.Google Scholar
Taromina, RJ and Selvarajah, C (2005) Perceptions of Leadership Excellence in ASEAN Nations, Leadership 1(3): 299–322.Google Scholar
Thong, GTS (1991) Managing Process in Bumiputra Society – Malaysia. Putti, JM (ed.), Management: Asian Context, Singapore: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Triandis, HC (2004) The Many Dimensions of Culture, Academy of Management Executive 18(1): 88–93.Google Scholar
Tsui, AS, Wang, H, Xin, K, Zhang, L and Fu, PP (2004) Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom: Variation of Leadership Styles among Chinese CEOs, Organizational Dynamics 33: 5–20.Google Scholar
Wah, SS (2002) Chinese Classical Leadership Revisited: Lessons for the Contemporary Leader, Malaysian Management Review 37(1): 11–18.Google Scholar
Wong, KC (1991) The Style of Managing in a Multicultural Society – Singapore, in Putti, JM (ed.), Management: Asian Context, Singapore: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar