A Cultural Contingency Leadership Model for Multinational Joint Ventures

Abstract

Fieldler‘s (1967) contingency theory with its Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) instrument, while groundbreaking, has not been the subject of significant recent research in leadership theory. A significant opportunity to apply the theory to culturally contingent leadership (CCL) research has thus been missed as it is one of the few theories that contain a Western leadership model that addresses both the individualism of the West and the collectivism of the East. This research uses the framework provided by Triandis (1993) to capitalize on the values orientation of two organizational/leadership researchers, Hofstede (1980) and Fiedler. In the first step in developing a model which can be used by practitioners in the global environment to develop the leadership necessary for bi-national combinations of professionals working on, for instance, a joint venture, the relationship between the research of these pioneers was explored. Next, original research on the cultural values of almost 200 professionals from the United States and Germany was compared to research from both Hofstede (1980) and Hoppe's (1990) comprehensive replication of Hofstede's research on IBM employees. This was used to corroborate the contention by Hofstede and Peterson (2000) that existing research on cultural values can be used as long as there is a close match between the characteristics of the sample upon which the previous research was conducted and the current sample. Finally, using the established cultural values and the values generated by this research, a flowchart model developed through the use of the Triandis framework was employed to recommend CCL for teams of professionals from different countries which are involved in cooperative (joint) ventures by organizations representing predominately two national cultures.

Keywords: cultural contingent leadership (CCL) model, Hofstede‘s cultural dimensions, Hoppe, joint ventures, leadership, multinational firms, relationship oriented leader, task oriented leader, Triandis, values