Leadership and Management in China: Philosophies, Theories, and Practices

management philosophies and Western business role models. With
increasing business globalization, the advancement of information
and communication technologies, and the international expansion of
Western business education, more and more Chinese business leaders
have access to Western academic as well as practitioner-oriented
writings and direct personal interactions with Western management
academics and business leaders. There is evidence that Western busi-
ness practices and their underlying leadership and management philo-
sophies have been affecting the thinking and action of Chinese business
executives. It should also be pointed out that Western philosophies that
were introduced to China through translations in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries had a serious influence on modern
Chinese thinkers (Elvin, 1985 ; Lee, 1985 ; Munro, 1985 ) and on revo-
lutionaries, including some of the intellectual pioneers of the Chinese
Communist Party; Mao and Deng’s writings on socialist revolution
and construction are no exception. Most modern Chinese revolution-
ary thinkers appealed to Western concepts of liberty, freedom, and
equality to advocate social, political, and cultural reform in China
although much of the Western individualist orientation of these concepts
was ultimately coopted into a utopia of socialistic and communistic
equality of all individuals, groups, and nations (Elvin,1985 ). Modern
Chineseleadershiptheoriesandpractices,betheypaternalism,socialism,
or capitalism, seem to be eclectically constructed with threads from
various traditional Chinese and modern Western philosophies. Such
Chinese–Western stranding is evident in the catchy, politically correct
guiding principle of ‘‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’’ or, more
app ropriately, ‘‘capita lism with Chi nese charac terist ics.’’ Figure I.1
depicts sources of influence from Chinese and Western philosophies.

Chinese traditional

philosophies

Modern Chinese leadership

theories and practices

Western modern

philosophies

Figure I.1.Chinese and Western philosophical influences on modern Chinese
leadership.

16 Chao-chuan Chen and Yueh-ting Lee