Leadership and culture: When stereotypes meet actual workplace practice

Abstract

This chapter explores the complex relationship between leadership and culture with a particular emphasis on critically discussing some of the cultural stereotypes that exist about leadership in the context of Hong Kong. Drawing on audio- and video-recorded data collected at two workplaces in Hong Kong, this paper challenges some of the predominant stereotypes about leadership in Hong Kong and contrasts them with insights gained through a fine-grained in-depth analysis of leadership discourse that occurred in actual workplace encounters. Findings illustrate that while there is evidence in our data to support some of the cultural stereotypes about leadership in Hong Kong (e.g. that Chinese leaders tend to be autocratic and often assume a ‘father’ role while subordinates are submissive and expect to be told what to do), the everyday practices of leadership of actual people interacting with each other in actual workplaces doing actual things are much more complex and often more contradictory than these stereotypical claims and grand statements suggest. In actual practice, leadership is a highly complex and multifaceted concept and people draw on a wide range of different leadership styles to meet the situational demands.