and significance with regard to leadership theories and practices
in modern and contemporary Chinese and Western business organi-
zations should be considered. Much of relevance can be drawn dir-
ectly from the discussions of the philosophy of human nature and
human society. In the following we draw attention to theoretical and
practical implications in three major areas: transformational leadership,
bureaucracy, and culture-building.
Sage-kingship and transformational leadership
Xunzi’s theory of kingship in the context of reconstructing a new
social order should shed light on transformational leadership theories
and practices. Both Xunzi’s theory of kingship and Western theories
of transformational and charismatic leadership place the greatest
importance on leadership for organizational success, especially the
success of organizational change (e.g. Bass and Avolio, 1994 ; Conger
and Kanungo, 1998 ). Although Xunzi viewed both character and
talents as important for good governance, he clearly put greater
emphasis on character, especially for those in higher leadership posi-
tions. He insisted that the highest position-holders must be selected
and appraised according to the highest standards of moral character
and conduct propriety. Such insistence on moral leadership over
2000 years ago turns out to be also the most essential characteristic
of Chinese business leadership, especially in Chinese family businesses
(Farh and Cheng, 2000 ; see also this volume,Chapter 6). However,
the concept of moral character is not prominent in major transform-
ational leadership theories in the West. If it were, it would save a lot of
scandals and demises of organizations led by highly talented CEOs
with weak moral character. There clearly needs to be more theory
and research on how the character and conduct of top management
have a cascading effect on the character and conduct of middle-level
managers and rank-and-file employees.
A related striking difference lies in the emphasis by Xunzi on the
necessity of the leader being transformed first and foremost, whereas
in Western theories, transformation is rarely inwardly of the self,
but mostly outwardly for the organization as a whole or downwardly
for lower-level organizational members. One component of Western
transformational leadership is to subjugate followers’ self-interest to
the collective interest of the organization. The question Xunzi would
Bridging Confucianism and Legalism 75