the situation and the field than toward the person and the actor,
and that the locus of action lies in the group rather than in the
individual. All these might suggest a rather passive or constrained
model of Chinese leadership. However, analyses of Chinese leadership
philosophies have found more complexity regarding this issue. First,
there are diverse conceptions of individual selves and human nature
in Chinese philosophies. That the Chinese emphasize the extension or
even the merging of the self with fellow human beings, to communities,
and to nature does not mean that they do not have an independent
and complete sense of self. Indeed, all three types of self-conception,
the individualist, relational, and collectivist selves (Brewer and Chen,
2007 ), exist in Chinese individuals. Second, the holistic world outlook
of the Chinese does not necessarily lead to a reduced sense of individ-
ual agency especially from the point of view of the leader. Sunzi’s
strategic leadership demonstrates a very realistic and holistic approach
to war and meticulous and systematic attention to geographical,
meteorological, and socio-political fields of a particular battle or
war, yet that does not prevent him from placing a very strong agency
in the general and his commanders relative to the soldiers or the
contingent situations. Xunzi holds it to be the duty and responsibility
of the leader to cultivate community through creating and developing
culture. Indeed, Lee ( 1985 ) entertained the possibility of a romantic
and heroic Chinese leader that emerged out of the collective and
holistic self with the vision of an ideal world, a conviction that the self
is on the side of history, and a determination to personally translate
that vision into reality. Lastly, even the philosophy of non-action does
not prevent individual proactiveness. One variant of active non-action
is no big action (wu da wei) but proactive small actions, which requires
holistic insights or foresights into the hidden, underlying forces of the
situation and taking small actions that make subsequent drastic actions
unnecessary. In summary, research is needed to explore further the
complexity of the Chinese people’s conceptions of self and of leadership
agency, and their cognition of self–situation relationships.
Eclectic and holistic perspectives of Chinese leadership
While Confucianism has been dominant in history for a long time,
Chinese managers have also been exposed to, and are familiar
with, ancient and modern schools of thought including Legalism,
Introduction 21