Daoism, socialism, and some Western management theories. Such
diversity of thoughts and perspectives, while a source of conflict, is
also tremendous intellectual capital for Chinese leaders, who only a
few decades ago were thrust into a new and changing world that was
drastically different from that to which they were accustomed. This
world is more global, diverse, uncertain, and competitive, which
exposes both China’s strengths and its vulnerabilities. To effectively
lead and manage in this new environment, the divergent Chinese
philosophies of leadership provide both challenges and opportunities
for organization and management scholars and practitioners. The
major challenge is how, in the midst of diversity, change, and global
competition, to create a relatively coherent and unifying philosophical
vision for the organization and for the majority of its members (Tsui
et al., 2006 ). Leaders of business organizations operating in China, for
example, face the growing divergence of beliefs and values between
the more traditional workforce of the rural areas, the inland regions,
and the older generation and the more modern workforce of the
metropolitan areas, the coastal regions, and the younger generation;
the culture of money, wealth, and materialism versus that of relation-
ship, tradition, and spirituality; the need for efficiency and productiv-
ity through discipline and control versus the need for innovation and
flexibility; the paternalistic and socialist model of treating employees
as family and community versus treating them as resources and
commodities exchangeable on the market; the growing legitimacy of
pursuing corporate profit versus corporate social responsibility to the
employees, the government, and the natural environment; sensitivity
and responsiveness to the domestic and global economic and market
forces versus the social and political constraints associated with the
one-party state system of China. To be sure, conflicting forces exist in
all societies and organizations, but their magnitude and velocity may be
greater because of the Chinese economy’s size and speed of development.
These challenges call for the multiple and divergent perspectives
and approaches that are revealed in this book. To take advantage of
the rich and diverse set of Chinese leadership philosophies, researchers
and practitioners of leadership must develop sufficient familiarity
and understanding of the different philosophies and take eclectic and
holistic approaches to their application. Without attempting to build
specific leadership models we propose a general approach of eclecticism
and holism to the study and practice of leadership in China.
22 Chao-chuan Chen and Yueh-ting Lee