Effective leadership is dependent on several factors including culture, context, values, and the endeavors of an organization. Situations and experiences demand that a leader adapts his or her strategy to the needs of the followers and the organization where effectiveness is anticipated. Globalization has created a situation in which most businesses are crossing international borders as part of development and expansion. Internationalization has become an inevitable phenomenon for firms that wish to succeed in the modern global context. Diversity and globalization are major aspects in adaptive leadership, particularly in internationalization endeavors where a firm has to adapt to the demands of a new environment different from the context of the parent firm. China and the United States (U.S.) are two different countries necessitating leadership adaptability where either country establishes commercial undertakings in another.
U.S. Leadership in China
One of the most emphasized aspects of the Chinese leadership is flexibility. China is one of the global contexts that act to meet the customer’s preferences as per the demand (Hout and Michael, 2014). For a U.S, leader who wishes to succeed in China, one must relate well with the government and local authority as they play a critical role in ensuring the continuous operation, particularly for private firms. Good relations with the state and party leaders ensures that one operates at a low cost, accesses markets more easily, and bypasses the bureaucratic undertakings involved in tax obligations. The relations with the government are, however, supposed to be mutual with both the entrepreneur and the government having something to gain (Zhao, 2008).
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Improvisation is another aspect that a U.S. leader should adopt in a bid to realize success in the Chinese context. Worth realizing is the fact that quality is not so much a factor in China but availability of a desired commodity. One should be ready to utilize what is readily available to meet the needs of the Chinese populace. A Chinese company will not stop operating just because the raw material it uses in making a specific product is unavailable. As such, a U.S. leader should be in a position to encourage innovation among his or her followers to ensure the availability of products to customers on demand. Improvisation does not embark on perfection but offering a solution to meet a specific need on demand (MIT Sloan Executive Education, 2017). This means that the U.S. leader would be required to be lenient on his or her focus on quality and instead prioritize convenience in a bid to ensure the availability of specific products once the business is established. According to Hout and Michael (2014) China does not rely on managerial practices, such as Total Quality Management (TQM) but will use every means available to ensure the continuity of business.
The idea of short term gains is highly valued in the Chinese business context. While short term focus may be universally accepted by firms, particularly multinationals, China appears to be the most preoccupied country with this idea. This notion is founded on the need to gain as much profits as possible as a means for future survival of a business establishment (Gallo, 2011). The implication is that line managers concentrate on matters of economics rather than issues of training, employee retention, and leadership succession planning. The latter are preoccupations of the Western leadership, with U.S. being one of them.
The idea of autonomy of firms is also a major issue for a U.S leader operating in China. The Chinese leadership allows every establishment to operate autonomously in a bid to reap maximum gain without interruptions from the parent firm. In essence, every firm that branches from a specific establishment has its manager and the operations of such a firm are independent (Hout & Michael, 2014). The implication is that such a firm has its departments that reinforce the continuity of activities within it and issues of accountability are held by the manager of the firm rather than a CEO who is empowered with operations of a long chain of firms, like is the case in America.
Challenges of a U.S. Leader in China
While it may be easy to obtain a business permit to operate in China, a U.S. leader might find it tough to adapt with the requirements for success. According to Mills (2005), the top leaders of companies in the US are not used to a situation where they must work with the government or politicians to succeed. Again, Americans are used to predetermine leadership styles, such as democratic, participative, autocratic, and the like. As such, a US leader may find it hard to adapt a leadership style that seems to lack a definition. However, the notion of transformational leadership may go a long way in enhancing a US leader’s adaptability and flexibility (Spreitzer, Perttula & Xin, n.d.).
Conclusion
The business context in China has various demands for a leader to succeed in the modern times. While the US business leadership seems to embark on readily predetermined issues, China presents an uncertain situation where one must adapt from time to time. The pressure to meet the needs of one’s customers places one in a dilemma in alignment with quality and convenience. The Chinese leadership values the latter more than the former. Collaboration with the government is a requirement for success yet most of the CEOs in the US only consider issues of the government in terms of legal stipulations and not personal relations. Improvisation emerges as a strong element in ensuring success through innovation. As a leader, one is expected to use the means available to ensure that the customer gets what he or she needs. With adaptability and flexibility aligned with transformational leadership, a US leader will operate a business effectively in the Chinese context.
References
Gallo, F. T. (2011). Business leadership in China: How to blend best practices in Western with Chinese wisdom (2nd Ed.) . John Wiley & Sons.
Hout, T. & Michael, D. (2014). A Chinese approach to management. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/09/a-chinese-approach-to-management
MIT Sloan Executive Education (2017). Improvisation is an important business tool for leaders. Management and Leadership. Retrieved from https://executive.mit.edu
Spreitzer, G., Perttula, K. H. & Xin, K. (n.d.). Traditional matters: An examination of the effectiveness of transformational leadership in the U.S. and Taiwan. Retrieved from http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/spreitze/Pdfs/traditionalitymatters.pdf
Zhao, S. (2008). Chinese pragmatic nationalism and its foreign policy implications. Retrieved from https://sites01.lsu.edu/faculty/voegelin/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2015/09/Suisheng-Zhao.pdf
