Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-qfg88 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T22:58:05.812Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparing Dutch and British high performing managers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2015

André A. De Waal ,
Beatrice I.J.M. Van der Heijden ,
Christopher Selvarajah  and
Denny Meyer
André A. De Waal*
Affiliation:
Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands Center for Organizational Performance, the Netherlands
Beatrice I.J.M. Van der Heijden
Affiliation:
Radboud University, Institute for Management Research, Nijmegen, the Netherlands Open University of the Netherlands, School of Management, Heerlen, the Netherlands
Christopher Selvarajah
Affiliation:
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Denny Meyer
Affiliation:
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
*
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

National cultures have a strong influence on the performance of organizations and should be taken into account when studying the traits of high performing managers. At the same time, many studies that focus upon the attributes of successful managers show that there are attributes that are similar for managers across countries. This article reports on the development of empirically validated profiles of Dutch and British high performing managers. Based on a sample of 808 Dutch and 286 British managers and using the cross-cultural framework of Excellent Leadership by Selvarajah et al., the profiles of excellent Dutch and British managers was derived. The profiles of Dutch and British high performing managers can be described by a four-dimensional factor structure consisting of Managerial behaviours, Environmental influences, Personal qualities and Organizational demands. Based on these validated profiles, the similarities and differences in attributes for managerial success between Dutch and British high performing managers can be identified.

Keywords

country or area studiesEuropecomparative organizational studieshuman resource management (HRM)management effectivenessorganizational performance
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , May 2016 , pp. 349 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashkanasy, N. M., Trevor-Roberts, E., & Earnshaw, L. (2002). The Anglo cluster: Legacy of the British Empire. Journal of World Business, 37, 28–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aasland, M. S., Skogstad, A., Notelaers, G., Nielsen, M. B., & Einarsen, S. (2010). The prevalence of destructive leadership behavior. British Journal of Management, 21(2), 438–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baskerville, R. F. (2003). Hofstede never studied culture. Accounting, Organizations & Society, 28(1), 1–14.Google Scholar
Bennett, R., Aston, A., & Coiquhoun, T. (2000). Cross-cultural training, a critical step in ensuring the success of international assignments. Human Resource Management, 39(2/3), 239–250.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beugelsdijk, S., Van Schaik, T., & Arts, W. (2006). Toward a unified Europe? Explaining regional differences in value patterns by economic development, cultural heritage and historical shocks. Regional Studies, 40(3), 317–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boehnke, K., Bontis, N., DiStefano, J. J., & DiStefano, A. C. (1999). Transformational leadership: an examination of cross-cultural differences and similarities. Working Paper No. 050199, Richard Ivey School of Business.Google Scholar
Bosak, J., & Sczesny, S. (2011). Exploring the dynamics of incongruent beliefs about women and leaders. British Journal of Management, 22(2), 254–269. Academic Journal.Google Scholar
Bret Becton, J., & Field, H. S. (2009). Cultural differences in organizational citizenship behavior: A comparison between Chinese and American employees. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(8), 1651–1669.Google Scholar
Brodbeck, F. C., Frese, M., Akerblom, S., Audia, G., Bakacsi, G., Bendova, H. et al. (2000). Cultural variation of leadership prototypes across 22 countries. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73, 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, B. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications and programming. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Chong, J. K., & Park, J. (2003). National culture and classic principles of planning. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 10(1), 29–39.Google Scholar
Crampton, S. M., & Wagner, J. A. (1994). Percept-percept inflation in micro-organizational research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 67–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deal, T. E., & Kennedy, A. (1982). Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of organizational life. Reading, MA: Mass Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
den Hartog, D. N., House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., & Dorfman, P. W., GLOBE Associates (1999). Culture specific and cross-culturally generalizable implicit leadership theories: Are attributes of charismatic/transformational leadership universally endorsed? The Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 219–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Waal, A. A. (2008). The secret of high performance organisations. Management Online Review, April.Google Scholar
de Waal, A. A., de Heijden, B. I. J. M., van der, Meyer, D., & Selvarajah, C. (2012). Characteristics of high performing managers in the Netherlands. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 33(2), 131–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deutskens, E., Ruyter, K., De Wetzels, M., & Oosterveld, P. (2004). Response rate and response quality of internet-based surveys: An experimental study. Marketing Letters, 15(1), 21–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickson, M. W., Den Hartog, D. N., & Mitchelson, J. K. (2003). Research on leadership in a cross-cultural context: Making progress, and raising new questions. The Leadership Quarterly, 14, 729–768.Google Scholar
Dorfman, P. W., Howell, J. P., Hibino, S., Lee, J. K., Tate, U., & Bautista, A. (1997). Leadership in Western and Asian countries: Commonalities and differences in effective leadership processes across cultures. The Leadership Quarterly, 8(3), 233–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabrielsson, M., Darling, J., & Seristö, H. (2009). Transformational team-building across cultural boundaries, a case focusing on the key paradigm of leadership styles. Team Performance Management, 15(5/6), 235–256.Google Scholar
García-Cabrera, A. M., & García-Soto, M. G. (2008). Cultural differences and entrepreneurial behavior: An intra-country cross-cultural analysis in Cape Verde. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 20, 451–483.Google Scholar
Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V. (1994). Cross-cultural comparison of leadership prototypes. Leadership Quarterly, 5(2), 121–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Girlando, A. P., Anderson, C. J., & Zerillo, J. W. (2004). An examination of Hofstede’s paradigm of national culture and its malleability: Italy and U.S. thirty years later. Journal of Transnational Management, 10(1), 23–36.Google Scholar
Gupta, V., Hanges, P. J., & Dorfman, P. W. (2002). Cultural clusters: Methodology and findings. Journal of World Business, 37(1), 11–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis. NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Harrison, G. L., & McKinnon, J. L. (1999). Cross-cultural research in management control systems design: A review of the current state. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 24, 483–506.Google Scholar
Hazucha, J. F., Hezlett, S. A., Bontems-Wackens, S., & Ronnkvist, A. (1999). In search of the Euro-manager: Management competencies in France, Germany, Italy and the United States. In W. H. Mobley, M. J. Gessner, & V. Arnold (Eds.), Advances in global leadership. Stamford, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Hoecklin, L. (1995). Managing cultural differences: Strategies of competitive advantage . Boston: Addison Wesley Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Hoel, H., Glasø, L., Hetland, J., Cooper, C. L., & Einarsen, S. (2010). Leadership styles as predictors of self-reported and observed workplace bullying. British Journal of Management, 21(2), 453–468.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. (2001). Cultures consequences: comparing values. Behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. J., Pedersen, P., & Hofstede, G. (2002). Exploring culture: Exercises, stories and synthetic cultures (1st ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press.Google Scholar
Hoppe, H. (2004). An interview with Geert Hofstede. Academy of Management Executive, 18(1), 75–79.Google Scholar
House, R. J., Wright, N. S., & Aditya, R. N. (1997). Cross-cultural research on organizational leadership: A critical analysis and a proposed theory. In P. C. Earley, & M. Erez (Eds.), New perspectives on international industrial/organizational psychology (pp. 535–625). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (Eds.) (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations, the GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Iguisi, O. (2009). Motivation-related value across cultures. African Journal of Business Management, 3(4), 141–150.Google Scholar
Javidan, M., & House, R. J. (2001). Cultural acumen for the global manager: Lessons from project GLOBE. Organizational Dynamics, 29(4), 289–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Javidan, M., House, R. J., Dorfman, P. W., Hanges, P. J., & De Luquet, M. S. (2006). Conceptualizing and measuring cultures and their consequences: A comparative review of GLOBE’s and Hofstede’s approaches. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6), 897–914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juhl, H. J., Kristensen, K., Kanji, G. K., & Batley, T. W. (2000). Quality management: A comparison of cultural differences. Total Quality Management, 11(1), 57–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerlinger, F. (1973). Foundations of behavioral research. New York, NY: Holt Rinehart and Weiston.Google Scholar
Kilmann, R. H., Saxton, M. J., & Serpa, R. (1985). Gaining control of the corporate culture. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Kirkman, B., Lowe, K., & Gibson, C. (2006). A quarter century of culture’s consequences: A review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede’s cultural values framework. Journal of International Business Studies, 37, 285–320.Google Scholar
Laurent, A. (1983). The cultural diversity of Western conceptions of management International Studies of Management and Organizations, 8(2), 75–96.Google Scholar
Lee, S. K. J., & Yu, K. (2004). Corporate culture and organizational performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19(4), 340–359.Google Scholar
Lesley, J. B., & Van Velsor, E. (1998). A cross-national comparison of effective leadership and teamwork: Toward a global workforce. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.Google Scholar
Matiċ, J. L. (2008). Cultural differences in employee work values and their implications for management. Management, 13(2), 93–104.Google Scholar
McCoy, S., Galletta, D. F., & King, W. R. (2005). Integrating culture into IS research: The need for current individual-level measures. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 15, 211–224.Google Scholar
McSweeney, B. (2002). Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences and their consequences: A triumph of faith – A failure of analysis. Human Relations, 55, 89–117.Google Scholar
Mehta, R., Larsen, T., Rosenbloom, B., Mazur, J., & Polsa, P. (2001). Leadership and cooperation in marketing channels: A comparative empirical analysis of the USA, Finland and Poland. International Marketing Review, 18(6), 633–667.Google Scholar
Merchant, K. A., & Van der Stede, W. A. (2003). Management control systems – Performance measurement, evaluation and incentives. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Millar, M. M., & Dillman, D. A. (2011). Improving response to web and mixed-mode surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 75(2), 249–269.Google Scholar
Mohr, G., & Wolfram, H. J. (2008). Leadership and effectiveness in the context of gender: The role of leaders verbal behavior. British Journal of Management, 19(1), 4–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., Mackenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method bias in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 879–903.Google Scholar
Puck, J. F., Kittler, M. G., & Wright, C. (2008). Does it really work? Re-assessing the impact of pre-departure cross-cultural training on expatriate adjustment. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(12), 2182–2197.Google Scholar
Robie, C., Johnson, K. M., Nilsen, D., & Hazucha, J. F. (2001). The right stuff: Understanding cultural differences in leadership performance. Journal of Management Development, 20(7), 639–650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ronen, S., & Shenkar, O. (1985). Clustering countries on attitudinal dimensions: A review and synthesis. Academy of Management Review, 10, 435–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selvarajah, C. (2008). Dimensions that relate to excellence in leadership in Cambodia. Paper presented during the British Academy of Management conference, Harrogate: UK.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C., & Meyer, D. (2007). Profiling the Chinese manager: Exploring dimensions that relate to leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 29(4), 359–375.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C., & Meyer, D. (2008). One nation, three cultures: Exploring dimensions that relate to leadership in Malaysia. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 29(8), 693–712.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C., Meyer, D., & Davuth, D. (2012). The effect of cultural modelling on leadership profiling of the Cambodian manager. Asia Pacific Business Review, 18(4), 649–674.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C., Meyer, D., Jeyakumar, R., & Donovan, J. (2013a). Flowers in a greenhouse: Profiling excellence in leadership in Singapore. Leadership and Organizational Development Journal, 34(8), 784–804.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C., Meyer, D., & Donovan, J. (2013b). Cultural context and its influence on managerial leadership in Thailand. Asia Pacific Business Review, 19(3), 356–380.Google Scholar
Selvarajah, C., Duignan, P., Nuttman, C., & Suppiah, C. (1995). In search of the Asian leader: An exploratory study of dimensions that relates to excellence in leadership. Management International Review: Journal of International Business, 35(1), 29–34.Google Scholar
Shrivastava, S., Selvarajah, C., Dorasamy, N., & Meyer, D. (2014). Exploring excellence in leadership perceptions amongst South African Managers. Human Resource Development International, 17(1), 47–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverthorne, C. (2001). Leadership effectiveness and personality: A cross cultural evaluation. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(2), 303–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, P. B. (1992). Organizational behavior and national cultures. British Journal of Management, 3(1), 39–52.Google Scholar
Suutari, V. (1996). Leadership ideologies among European managers: A comparative survey in a multinational company. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 12(4), 389–409.Google Scholar
Szabo, E., Brodbeck, F. C., Den Hartog, D. N., Reber, G., Weibler, J., & Wunderer, R. (2002). The Germanic Europe cluster: Where employees have a voice. Journal of World Business, 37, 55–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taormina, R., & Selvarajah, C. (2005). Perceptions of leadership excellence in ASEAN nations. Leadership, 1(3), 299–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taras, V., Rowney, J., & Steel, P. (2009). Half a century of measuring culture: Review of approaches, challenges, and limitations based on the analysis of 121 instruments for quantifying culture. Journal of International Management, 15, 357–373.Google Scholar
Yukl, G. (1989). Managerial leadership: A review of theory and leadership. Journal of Management , 15(2), 251–289.Google Scholar
Zagersek, H., Jaklic, M., & Stough, S. J. (2004). Comparing leadership practices between the United States, Nigeria and Slovenia: Does culture matter? Cross Cultural Management, 11(2), 16–34.Google Scholar