The Differences In French And Chinese Managers' Use Of Power Sources: From A Cross-cultural Perspective

With increasing globalization, cross-cultural management is receiving more and more attention from both academic and business circles. Culture is used to explain managerial behaviors to increase management efficiency, especially in leadership.The establishment of an all-round strategic partnership between France and China will undoubtedly bring about intense interactions between business people of the two nations. To enhance their co-operation, it is necessary to make a cross-cultural comparative study of French and Chinese managers' leadership behavior, particularly their use of power sources, since power is the resource that enables a manager to perform and improve leadership.With Hofstede's cultural dimensions and French & Raven's power taxonomy as the basic theoretical framework, this thesis is designed to explore the differences in French and Chinese managers' use of power sources and the cultural explanations behind these differences. The cases of Guangzhou Peugeot and Carrefour China are analyzed in terms of power source uses. Meanwhile, a questionnaire survey is conducted with 47 managers from 8 French and Chinese companies for the quantitative analysis of the differences in power source uses by French and Chinese managers.The two cases show that great differences exist in French and Chinese managers' intercultural awareness and use of power sources, which leads to their respective experience in China.The empirical data demonstrates that with distinct leadership orientations, French and Chinese managers' use of power sources differs a lot in daily operation and strategic decision-making when facing various employees' readiness levels; and these differences are culturally conditioned.This thesis also finds space for improvement in both French and Chinese managers' use of power sources; therefore, constructive suggestions are given to increase their leadership effectiveness.