Leadership and Culture: Comparing Asian Managers

The issues of culture and leadership in the Asian context are discussed and the cultural perspectives related to Asian management style are reviewed. A qualitative research study is presented in which two different groups of Asian managers describe their best or worst leader. The results indicate that leadership behaviours are better indicators of effective leadership than are leadership characteristics. This sample of Asian managers prefers leaders who are both task‐and people‐oriented. They prefer participation to direction.