li li nian [management ideas]’’ in the same database and found a huge
number of articles: 164 published in 1990–1999, 2595 in 2000–2002,
and 4904 in 2003–2005. Given that the majority of articles in this
database are news reports of management practices, we had a glimpse
of how Chinese business leaders are concerned with management
philosophies in their business operations. However, despite the huge
number of media reports about business leaders’ management philos-
ophies, there is a need to delve into the content of the management
philosophies and their sources. We tried to meet this need in our
research.
In the academic community, business leadership research has
focused on business leaders’ competencies and styles with little atten-
tion to leadership philosophies. While there are monographs providing
cultural and philosophical analyses of Chinese management practices
(Cheng, 1999 ; Zeng, 2004 ), which prescribe management principles
that business leaders ‘‘should’’ or ‘‘should not’’ adopt, little is known
of the extent to which business leaders indeed subscribe to those
principles and put them into practice. Some books that claim to
cover management philosophies only provide basic knowledge of
general management such as business strategy or effective human reso-
urce management (e.g. Chen, 2004 ), without discussing philosophical
notions of management.
It therefore befits the theme of this book that we initiated a research
project to explore Chinese leaders’ management philosophies. We
conducted semi-structured interviews with business leaders in China
to identify their management philosophies and to examine the sources
of these philosophies and their impact on management practices.
Through this research we seek to draw attention to this important
area, to provide insights into the fundamentals of Chinese manage-
ment practices, and to provide the groundwork for cross-cultural
comparative research on leadership and management.
The term ‘‘business leader’’ in this chapter refers to the top-level
manager of a firm who is equivalent to a chief executive officer. The
official title could be Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer,
General Manager, or President. We define management philosophies
as general, overarching notions or principles that business leaders use
to guide their business operations and management practices. These
philosophies capture business leaders’ fundamental values and beliefs:
values regarding organizational missions and priorities, and beliefs
240 Zhi-xue Zhanget al.