The Empirical Research Of Appropriateness Of Two Leadership Approaches

With their UK and US origins, leadership theories have undergonetremendous empirical researches and gained practical implications inwestern world. But the generality and universality of these theories arenot necessarily proper. Under swift transformations in all aspects ofsociety, the strengthening of leadership in the government of X city inchina at different levels is an outstanding issue in rounds ofgovernmental reforms. This project aims to explore the appropriatenessof transactional and transformational leadership approaches in X’s localgovernment sectors under Chinese cultural context.This project examines the literature on leadership by identifying keytheories and approaches in the development of leadership. Special effortsare given to the comparison of transactional and transformationalleadership approaches, and the influence of culture onleadership(Hofstede’s dimensions). The review finds that theappropriateness of leadership approaches is confined to real culturalcontexts.Applying an inductive approach, data collected from semi-structuredinterviews with convenient samples in X’s local government sectorsexamines the application and effectiveness of transactional andtransformational leadership approaches based on Bass and Avolio’s (1997)full-range leadership model. Research shows that leadership in X’s localgovernment sectors is taking transactional approach as the basis with atrend to apply some elements of transformational style. In this process,Chinese culture has a deep-rooted influence on leadership with updatedchanges.Following the analysis and conclusion, recommendations at the end of thearticle are categorized: To learn subordinates’ motives to work,leaders should take a proactive and open-minded manner to find out anddevelop different methods to stimulate them; Leaders should improve theirCharisma by negotiating, participating, studying and being paragons ofvirtue。...