How Does Culture Affect Leadership - DiVA Portal

Master ThesisHow does culture affectleadershipCase study ThailandAuthor: Federico VailatiSupervisor: Dr. Björn BjerkeExaminer: Dr. Philippe DaudiDate:02/06/2014Subject: Business AdministrationLevel: Master ThesisCourse code: EALM1

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“How does culture affect leadership”“Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one.Try,instead, to work with what you've got”.Peter Drucker“We were not born to sue, but to command”.William ShakespeareFederico Vailati(Richard II, Act I)2

“How does culture affect leadership”AcknowledgementI would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone who contributed in the draftingof this thesis. First of all, I had the great opportunity to work under the supervision ofBjörn Bjerke that encouraged and inspired me. I am also grateful to Philippe Daudifor his friendly and continuous support.A special thanks goes also to Prof. Dr. Patchanee Taraseina of Burapha University inThailand.Grazie mille.Federico Vailati3

“How does culture affect leadership”AbstractThe culture is a key factor that profoundly changes our perception of the world. Thecultural influences on the leadership aspects need to be taken into particular accountin order to achieve an effective leadership.The main purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of the relationship betweenthe culture and the way in which leadership is perceived/exercised in Thailand.The case study is represented by the current situation in Thailand. The aim is to focuson Thai case in order to demonstrate that leadership styles cannot be imported andexercised in the same way across different cultures and countries. A leadership stylemay have different effects and meanings in relation to the cultural environment inwhich it is exercised. Understanding a culture is the essential step in order to considerthe real effects of a leadership approach.Keywords: Culture, Leadership, Thailand, Asia, Thai habits, Thai culture, Thaileadership.Federico Vailati4

“How does culture affect leadership”Table of ContentsAcknowledgment.3Abstract.4Table of contents.5List of figures.7List of tables.81. Introduction.101.1Context.101.2Purposes and objectives.101.3Limitations.101.3.1The culture’s theme is very broad and complex.111.3.2Culture as a stereotype.111.3.3Discover Thai culture.11Design .112. Methodology .132.1Methodological approach and ways to collect data.132.2The choice of the topic.142.3Why Thailand?.142.4Writing process and style.142.5Qualitative data approach.162.6Conversations.161.42.6.1The structure of the conversations.172.7The author’s presence.172.8Why is it important?.183. Literature review.193.1Structure .193.2Culture .193.2.1What are the features of the culture.213.2.2The role of communication within cultures.223.2.3Culture and globalization.223.2.4Collectivism vs. Individualism.23Federico Vailati5

“How does culture affect leadership”3.33.4Culture and leadership.243.3.1Weick’s vision: leaders deal with follower’s culture.243.3.2Culture and the legitimation of power.25Thai Culture.263.4.1Hofstede cultural dimensions: Thailand.263.4.2The Hall’s dimension.313.4.3The Komin Study.313.4.4The impact of Buddhism on the Thai culture.333.4.5The role of family in the Thai culture.343.5Asian leadership.363.6Thai leadership.364. Conversations.394.1394.2Academic conversations.4.1.1Mr. Steven Bodley.404.1.2Prof. Tuomo Rautakivi.404.1.3Asst. Prof. Dr. Patchanee Taraseina.414.1.4Mr. Soklin Suon.42Religious conversations.424.2.1Son Dhammiko.424.2.2Maha Vera Mahavero (Phra Kroo Soravichai).43Personal reflections.445. Findings.466. Conclusions.497. References.538. Appendix.594.3Federico Vailati6

“How does culture affect leadership”List of figuresFigure 1Writing process.15Figure 2Mental programming by Hofstede.27Figure 3Leadership differences between West and Asia.38Figure 4Leadership differences between West and Asia.38Figure 5Leadership differences between West and Asia.38Figure 6Culture affects Leadership style.46Figure 7Leaders deal with cultures.51Federico Vailati7

“How does culture affect leadership”List of tablesTable 1List of participants to the discussion.17Table 2Hofstede's indices of cultural dimensions (a selected sample).27Table 3High power distance vs. low power distance.28Table 4Collectivism vs. individualism.29Table 5Equality vs. non-equality society.30Federico Vailati8

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“How does culture affect leadership”1. INTRODUCTION1.1 ContextCulture plays a primary role on the person's perception of the world. Many studieshave shown that people from different cultures perceive things differently. Perceptionis the process by which we become aware of our environment. Culture and perceptionare closely related, because it is through the own culture that people view andperceive themselves and others in the environment.The application of a leadership style cannot be an imposition but needs to consider thediversity of cultures in order to be effective. Although we live in a globalizedeconomy in which everything is standardized, it is unlikely to find a generalization ofthe way culture influences leadership perception and execution.1.2 Purposes and objectivesThe objective of this thesis is to study the influence that a culture might have onleadership. As this topic is very broad and tailored on each culture, the focus chosenfor this paper is Thailand. The main Thai traditions and values (i.e. family, Buddhism)have been studied in relation to their influences on a leadership perspective.This thesis provides points of reflection about several Thai sociological aspects thatcould be potentially helpful, not only for an entrepreneur planning to start up abusiness in Thailand but also to anyone who has to manage a leadership role withinThai organizations.1.3 LimitationsGetting and explaining a different culture is definitely a difficult task. In fact, oftenwe try to interpret a culture starting from our own values, without consideringdifferent possible interpretations. Hereunder I listed the major limitations that I facedwhile dealing with this dissertation. This is an essential part to understand thestructure of the thesis and the reason why some topics are explained more in depthrather than others.Federico Vailati10

“How does culture affect leadership”1.3.1 The culture’s theme is very broad and complexDefining a culture, in a world that has been characterized over the last few years bythe rapid increase of exchange processes, connection and interdependence, is a verycomplex task. I am firmly convinced that the best way to provide the reader with aclear overview about the culture’s theme, it is to exclusively take into account thoseaspects which really contribute to define the cultural identity of a country. This meansthat in this dissertation I am not going to touch all the philosophical theories that havebeen elaborated around the meaning of “culture”, but I will mainly focus on the twocomponents that seems to affect the most Thailand’s cultural identity: namely, familyand religion.1.3.2 Culture as a stereotypeIn my opinion, concepts such as history, habits, religion, language and values cannotbe reduced only to distinctive marks of a certain group of people, but they also haveto be considered as factors that greatly differentiate the cultural identity of eachperson within a territorial dimension.A person is influenced by his/her culture, but in different ways and measures. Theconsideration of this variability may help to think that, despite a number of commonfactors, each individual is unique.1.3.3 Discovering Thai cultureThai culture is very ancient and deeply rooted in local habits. As a consequence, it isquite difficult to collect an appropriate amount of information within a limitedtimeframe. Furthermore, the temperament of the Thai population, which proved to bevery reserved and restrained, increased the complexity in collecting reliable andcredible data. One of the most difficult parts consisted in getting what Thai peoplereally think, as their culture sometimes pushes them to be condescending withinterviewer’s ideas.1.4 DesignThis dissertation begins with a brief overview of the culture’s concept and definition.Afterwards, it develops a study upon the cultural features and some others aspectsFederico Vailati11

“How does culture affect leadership”related to culture. The focus moves then to the leadership aspects of the issue, takinginto consideration the perception and execution of leadership in relation to differentcultural environments.The case study is, as said, the Thailand context, and is characterized by the analysisand understanding of the Thai culture and leadership. Finally, the way in which theleadership is perceived and practiced by Thai people is discussed and observedalongside with the theoretical part.Federico Vailati12

“How does culture affect leadership”2. METHODOLOGY“Nous appelons mauvais écrivain celui qui s’exprime en tenant compte d’un contexteintérieur que le lecteur ne peut connaître. L’auteur médiocre, par là, est amené à diretout ce qui lui plaît. La grande règle de l’artiste, au contraire, est de s’oublier àmoitié au profit d’une expression communicable.”Albert CamusThe Style Guide of “The Economist” (pp.1), written by Johnny Grimond in 1986stated this sentence in the introduction: “readers are primarily interested in what youhave to say. By the way in which you say it you may encourage them either to read onor to give up”. Inspired by this vision, one of the fundamental principles followedduring the drafting of this thesis was the clarity and linearity in the development ofthe argument.2.1 Methodological approach and ways to collect dataAfter a careful examination of each and every methodological approach, I realizedthat the approach that better fits for this study is the system view approach. Thismethodological style offers a huge degree of flexibility, which makes it easier when itcomes to analyze the interactions between different factors. Furthermore, this methodhelps the writer to better stick to the reality of what he is writing by forcing him totake the interdependence that characterizes the different elements of the reality intoconsideration.The aim of this methodological view is to come up with a system model built throughmetaphors and analysis. The system being studied is the Thai culture and its relatedinfluences on leadership; the understanding and explanations of the reality arediscussed in the last section of the thesis.According to Arbnor and Bjerke (2009), there are two sets of data which can possiblybe collected: primary and secondary. Primary data are first hand data that can becollected through face-to-face techniques, such as: interviews or discussions, orobservations and experiments; secondary data comes instead from sources like books,articles, magazines, etc. In this thesis I referred to both primary and secondary datasources.Federico Vailati13