Guanxi and professional leadership in contemporary Sino-American joint ventures in mainland China

Abstract

In Sino-American joint ventures in mainland China, cross-cultural differences regarding the relational components can produce misunderstanding and conflict. The Chinese relational system called Guanxi can render Western leadership relations such as articulated in Leader-member Exchange Theory (LMX), compromised. We examine the roles of a post modern organization career-based leadership relationship (LMX) and the Confucianism supported feudal/family-based relationship (guanxi) in building successful organizational cultures in contemporary mainland China. We discuss the weakening of traditional guanxi by the events of the last fifty years. Recommendations for synthesizing the two different relational components into a third culture are offered and discussed. © 1997 JAI Press Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.