The leader, being top to identify the opportunities and advantages of going global, transformed the tiny marshy island in to one of the Asia’s four tigers and forms a different proud nation which never exist a fifty years ago. As a leader his traits and characteristics took the best interest among the world who studies managerial leadership and it is indeed what paves the way for this article.The paper will develop a managerial leadership profile based on success of Singapore leader in light of traits characteristics and passion of former president as a global leader. It surface Lee’s managerial leadership style with respect to the global influence he poses. Then his style is profiled in to portrait of international managerial leadership model which could be well utilized to form future leaders for international business.
“I think we have to go in whatever direction world conditions dictate if we are to survive and to be part of this modern world. If we are not connected to this modern world, we are dead. We’ll go back to the fishing village we once were.” - Lee Quan Yew
Fifty years ago, Singapore was a third world country suffered severely from poverty, and post colonialism. Geographically being a tiny swampy island, without having valuable natural resources, by now along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan - Singapore stays as one of four Asian Tigers leading the world’s cleanest green cities(Thomas, 2008). It should note that Singapore society is multicultural and highly diverse in terms of ethnicity where Buddhism is the most practiced, while Chinese, Indians, Malays, Tamils and Eurasians home the world’s second largest population density. Lee Quan Yew lead Singapore from 1959 and left the country with a per capita GDP of $14,000 by his step down in 1990 (Appendix A) after 31 years. Singapore is now known as a county which is successful in their globalized strategy in it’s social, economical, political and technological connections (Lobe, 2003).
Lee, the leader of Singapore’s celebrated success, born 16 September 1923, graduated from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University with a first class for Law, while working as a lawyer, he lead the Singapore's Pre-People’s Action party and later became the Singapore prime minister (Walsh, 2005).Management and leadership is differently taught in different schools of thoughts. If one have a look to the traditional management functions it can be observed that managerial leadership is always among four key management functions - planning, organizing, leading, controlling and monitoring. People have attempted to to model Leadership styles in various forms like Great man theories, Trait theories, Situational theories, Participative theories, Management theories, Relationship theories etc.However separation of management and leadership styles are very controversial as management is involved in leadership- i.e implementation, and leadership is involved in management –i.e motivation. In order to understand this a recent research on leadership styles describe managerial behaviors (Deresky, 2008), variously termed
1. Autocratic vs. democratic
2. Participative vs. directive
3. Relations-oriented vs. task oriented
4. Initiating structure vs. consideration continuum
As far as Lee is concerned more or less, it is observable that most these models can be used in understanding his style. But at the same time due to the limitations in each approach, a single theory approach would not be comprehensive. Global acceptance of Lee as a global leader makes the situation further complex. As a result taking key points of each above theories along with some contemporary thinking of international management the author develop the following profile.
Helen Deresky(Deresky, 2008) found a definition for global leadership considering the leader as a person accepted internationally. According to her
“Effective global leadership involves the ability to inspire and influence the thinking, attitudes, and behaviors of people anywhere in the world.”
Provided this definition, the leaders are expected to be in the capability of global influence. Hence this globalized approach suggests that leadership styles should be culturally sensitive. Helen Deresky(Deresky, 2008), talking on GLOBE project - Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness, (Gove, 2005)points out that there are culture sensitive leadership styles and at the same time there are culture insensitive generally accepted leadership qualities.
GLOBE found that the following five leadership styles are highly dependent on culture. That means the traits the leaders follow in these leadership styles can be appreciated and accepted as at one culture, the same style will not be appreciated or valued at the same level in another different culture. Taking lee as a successful international role model leader, the following styles are explored with respect to Lee's traits in handling situations.
1. Charismatic Style
a. Inspirational
Lee inspired the Singaporeans to be a different independent nation though Singapore majority holds Chinese origin and a relation to Chinese.
b. Visionary
Lee brought innovative concepts like Garden cities – now green cities, immune corruption, graduate mothers, Graduate match making agency, Singapore armed forces, and many other ideas in to practice in his vision for a successful Singapore. Moreover Lee studied the world’s trend and he educated and trained the nation to face and succeed the challenges on globalization on his way to Singapore success. The Singapore success in industrialization its success in green cities, its GDP per capita, its success in sophisticated hospital systems etc will best describe the outcomes of his vision.
c. Self-Sacrifice
It was hard to found evidence on Self-Sacrifice by Lee. However there are enough stories about lee as a leader taking the pains on behalf of his colleagues and family members. in general self scarifications will make others confident of once leadership.
d. Integrity
Time Asia describes Lee as a man of Integrity.(McCarthy, 1999). Authors’ believe integrity brings trust and faith to the leader.
e. Decisive
"Have a purpose driven life and finish well" – Lee Quan Yew (“Lee Quan Yew: Have a purpose driven life and finish well,” 2010). Authors argue that leaders have to be decisive in order to finish their visions. Deceive in the sense will not mean to be stubborn.
f. Performance oriented
No doubt Lee is performance oriented. To make an island with any constraints prosper must have been a challenge to him. His philosophy was if you take on the job, you have to do it well without any excuses or "ifs" and "but". If you feel you cannot handle a particular job, then don't take it.
Taking all these charismatic features, Lee can be considered as a charismatic leader. But authors argue that having other attributes of below leadership styles can improve the pervasiveness and glaze of a leader.
2. Team-oriented style
a. Collaborative team orientation
b. Team integrator
c. Diplomatic
d. Administratively competent
e. Malevolent (reverse scored)
Thinking of above team oriented features, Lee’s traits cannot capture as a person with team-oriented characteristics. But he is very competent in administration; otherwise he could not rule a country for such long (31 years) as a prime minister and will not be respected by its citizens as a minister mentor. Lee is stylish diplomatic leader in foreign affairs. He is a Leader who manages kept China and the western part of the world both at same comradeship (Wong, 2010). He is considered as a very diplomatic leader in the region and manages to keep closer ties with neighboring countries as well. Lee is not a malevolent leader. Though he kept tight control over the power, he didn’t use that in negative things like corruption, negligence of social ware, egocentric wars etc.
3. Self-protective style
a. Self-centered
b. Status conscious
c. Conflict-inducer,
d. face-saver
e. Procedure
Authors’ view to Self-protective is that it can earn negative reputation at many cultures. Again being Status conscious, Procedure, Face-Saver at certain situation, can bring positive reputation and recognition to the leadership depending on the situation. Conflict induction can be seen as a negative characteristic of Lee as well. He was known for his confrontational style (McCarthy, 1999). The same style can be argued as a way that control some unwanted unprogressive arguments and negative attitude restrictions of subordinates.
4. Participative style
Reflects the degree to which managers involve others in making and implementing decisions. Being participative in decision making it can generate many alternatives in decision making at the same time it will bring the disadvantage of time consuming and brings unwanted exposure for some decision. A leader should compromise the participation on such situations.
When Lee is concerned there are allegations that he followed an autocratic style.
5. Humane style
Reflects supportive and considerate leadership, but also includes compassion and generosity. Authors argue that being compassionate, and generous at correct circumstances is will inspire and influence people. But as far as Lee is concern He was not a compassionate ruler. There are critics for him for harassing opposition and having tight control.(Nair, 2007)
6. Autonomous Style
This refers to independent and individualistic leadership. For this profile this style will not be considered.
Having going through all above styles, authors suggest that Lee’s characteristics, passion and style in leadership cannot just be boxed in to one particular style. However his characteristics can be captured with different styles from different angles. So it is authors’ view that a comprehensive leadership profile should take all above styles in to consideration but leaders should select correct traits according to the culture and situation.
The GlOBE project found out generally accepted leadership traits which are renowned all around the world at relatively the same strength, despite the variety of culture. These include
1. Trustworthy
2. Encouraging
3. Effective bargainer
4. A Skilled administrator and a communicator
5. Team Builder
At the same time they found there are negatively regarded traits as well. They are
1. Uncooperative
2. Egocentric
3. Ruthless
4. Dictatorial
It is observable that these traits can be blend in above leadership styles described before. So a comprehensive Leadership profile should avoid these negative traits, and should enhance these positive traits.
To study the real stems of leadership this paper also will discuss the leader subordinate relationship in terms of Hofstede cultural dimensions. As the name suggest all following dimensions will vary with culture.
1. Power distance
Some cultures expect that leaders should be kept with some distance to subordinates to have leaders work get done. For the provided definition it is author’s argument that power distance can demotivate, frustrate and discriminate people relative to their leader. But Lee kept a significant power distance to his subordinates.
2. Individualism vs Collectivism
Humans are social animals by their origin. Collectivism brings Synergy to organization. So it is authors’ view that Leader’s should encourage collectivism with its correct directions. Collectivism can cause negative impacts if it is not correctly directed. As far as Lee is concern his western oriented style was more towards individualism in decision making. But at the same time he managed to delegate power to well disciplined people. Lee encourages Asian value system. He saw the negativities to humanity on capitalism (Kim, 2007).
3. Masculinity vs Feminity
Lee can identify as a masculine Leader as he expects and kept more control with him. As once described in Time Asia,(McCarthy, 1999) Lee loves Singapore but has relatively few close Singaporean friends or confidants. He is a man of great intelligence, with no patience for mediocrity; a man of integrity, with a relentless urge to smite opponents; a man who devours foreign news but has little tolerance for a disrespectful press at home.
4. Long Term Short term orientation
Asian’s are relatively long term oriented.(Deresky, 2008). But a leader should think about sustainability (Long term) and sometimes short term as well. It has to be best compromise on situation. Taking Lee in to example, he is generally long term oriented. Examples can be found in Lee’s leadership style for persistence (perseverance), ordering relationships by status, and thrift.
Leaders may behave differently with subordinates. Lee’s approach will not necessary to be followed by others. But global leaders can benefit these four dimensions to measure the leader subordinate relationship and then act accordingly.
Lee managed this miraculous transformation in Singapore's economy while maintaining tight political control over the country; Singapore's government can best be described as a "soft" authoritarian regime, and at times it has not been so soft. (Zakarie, 1994). To authors’ that is how the polymorphism of Lee’s style best explained. Authors’ suggest a leader can behave in following four modes.
1. Aggressive
Lee was very aggressive towards critics and his opponents.(Nair, 2007). It is authors argument that Leaders should aggressive to some situations.
2. Assertive
Lee is very assertive and intelligent toward global situations. He introduced English as Singapore official language, and started to continue all studies in English. That help make him bring the world wide knowledge acceptance and opportunities to his country.. Assertiveness is a positive characteristic of a leadership.
3. Moderate
Lee was moderate towards culture. There were no diversity discriminations in Singapore. Lee was a leader embraced by all nationalities in Singapore due to the moderate attitude of him towards culture. Leader’s have to be moderate when there are conflicting situations among different groups.
4. Conservative
Lee can be treated as a very conservative leader as far as his family politics is concerned. Though this can be criticized as a negative feature, it has been the same story so far in the world from past. But having a different view to these, leaders can be conservative towards, when there are good sustainable already existing practices.
It is authors’ argument that these four modes bring wider amplitude to leaders. They can be used to sharp the contextual pragmatism of leadership traits.
Time Asia found Lee as one of the most influential political figures in Asia within the last century.(Hajari, 1999). Lee has been invited by many TV, Radio and news channels, Journals, magazines, Universities, etc and produced enough articles, documentaries on him around world. These include, CNN, BBC, New York Times, Forbes, Australian Broad Casting, White house, Indian broadcasts, Chinese newspapers and broadcasts (“Lee Kuan Yew | Articles Speeches and Interviews,” n.d.) and many more. No other evident would need to the influence and reputation that Lee earned as a role model of leadership to the world irrespective of geographical and political boundaries.
Lee’s success in global arena was tried to analyze in terms of Aristotle’s art of rhetoric.
In simplest terms, ethos corresponds to one’s credibility. Being born to a rich western oriented reputed Chinese family Lee entered to the Singapore politics as lawyer having completed his degree with a two star first class from University of Cambridge, England (“Lee Kuan Yew: A Chronology, 1923-1965,” n.d.). There after he produced many results including Singapore independence, giving leadership to the nation from different directions as described over this article. The credibility Lee earned as a responsible person will brief follows.
1. Homogeneously distributed achievements throughout the life span
Consistency and continuity in Lee’s carrier vs life achievements seems to be the most import in terms of ethos. Below figure:1 was sourced from Lee Quan Yew site www.lee-kuan-yew.com. (“Lee Kuan Yew: A Chronology, 1923-1965,” n.d.)
Figure 1: Lee's Achievements
2. Ethical and exemplary family life
At home Lee is a devoted husband, father and a spiritual family man who kept Asians value system to maximum (“Lee Kuan Yew learnt Mandarin at 32 years old,” n.d.). Lee’s wife has been bedridden and mute for the past two years, but still cognitive. Even Lee being 87, keep him to next room with her groans and grunts, and every night he use to tell her about his day’s work, read her favorite poems so that she feel comfortable (“Lee Kuan Yew learnt Mandarin at 32 years old,” n.d.). No other words would best explain Lee’s valued life.
3. Healthy mind and healthy body
“Mens sana in corpore sano – Healthy mind is in healthy body”
Lee kept physically fit and mentally young, as he swims, and as he cycle. He practices meditation to keep his mind tune (Pengayau, 2010). There for this article argue the need for
keeping good health practices in order to maintain a healthy personality.
Lee’s superiority in above three factors contributed to his highly consistent, committed, ethical, swift, boyish, resultful and prolonged life style which made him a credible person in the society.
Pathos describes emotional connection to the audience (Dlugan, 2010). Ironically, Lee, being ethnic Chinese, could barely speak his mother language. He grew up speaking English with his parents. In order to have direct communication with various ethnic groups in his campaign in the late 1950s, he made intense efforts to learn Hokkien, Mandarin, and Malay.
Lee realized early on that English is the future of international commerce, which is what Singapore is all about. To promote the teaching of English and at the same time to avoid being seen as "an oppressor in a government of pseudo foreigners who forget their ancestors" were tricky. But Lee Quan Yew was a political genius. He was able to manage these conflicting objectives at the operational level. In order not to alienate his Chinese base, he sent all three of his children to Chinese schools until his two sons finished their primary schools and his daughter finished her high school. He had journalists of major newspapers taken his pictures when he visited his children in Chinese schools (“Lee Kuan Yew learnt Mandarin at 32 years old,” n.d.).
There for Lee was accepted as a leader of more than just for the Chinese speaking.
In contrast Lee is regarded unlike any politician. There were no smiles, no jokes, and no bonhomie (Zakarie, 1994). Logos means the appeal based on logic or reason. Further it talks about logic or reason internal consistency of the message--the clarity of the claim, the logic of its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence. Lee was a sound academic and he was a sound professional. That can be best understood by reading through his book ‘From Third World to First World’ where he provides reasons for his visions to make better Singapore. There for Lee will be understood as a leader with strong logos.
Going through this section it is evident how effective these rhetoric factors to one’s Leadership style. These should be considered as a tool to image building process in a leadership profile.
Lee planned for the people that will take over him years before he actually stepped down as Prime Minister. He saw the importance of rising up the next generation of leaders to lead the nation.(“Lee Kuan Yew Leadership,” 2010). This article argues that leaders must strive to create an organization that can survive after them, and that will be a sign of successful leadership.
Considering all above factors and taking the above definition of leadership, assuming that in a particular culture at a particular situation if Ethos, Pathos and Logos are the determinants on the Rhetoric art of influencing, it is Author's view that
· Leadership style should change from culture to culture. There cannot be standard leadership profile which matches every culture. Similarly there cannot be a standard leadership profile which matches every situation.
· Once the leader captures the culture context correct, he should then decide the Situation context.
Figure 2 : Culture should capture first, then the situation
Provided above Managerial Leadership profile and the Analysis, taking Lee into example, Authors conclude that
1. Global leaders should be visionary, but they should choose the correct traits, and the correct style according to culture, then to situation. For that, intelligent global leaders should be culturally savvy and situation sensitive.
2. Leaders can manage present and future, not past
a. Reactive : To present
b. Proactive : To Future
3. Lee’s approach to Singapore’s success can theme as think global, act local.
4. Lee’s Leadership style perhaps suits best for transforming 3rd world uneducated nation to first word. But when nations mature, too control would not be efficient and productive as before.
5. Lee is 87 now. He is still unbroken. Authors argue that Lee’s imperishable success as a leader prolongs, as he manage to keep Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit so far, so long, consistent, unflawed.
Having explained everything authors would agree the top quote borrowed from Lee Quan Yew. Adding more to it authors suggest that leaders should prolong their core values unflawed at whatever challenges globalization carries.
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Appendix A
Following graph, i.e. Figure:1, was derived from statistics that found publicly available from a site maintained by Singapore department of statistics - www.singstat.gov.sg.
Figure 3: Singapore GDP per capita growth trend
