Finding a New Narrative of Chinese Business Leadership
Kurki, Suvi (2018-04-11)
Finding a New Narrative of Chinese Business Leadership
Kurki, Suvi
(11.04.2018)
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Turun yliopisto
Tiivistelmä
The thesis studies Chinese business leadership from the post-heroic point of view, as it tries to understand the culture that creates power dynamics in China. The thesis challenges the dominating narrative of Chinese leadership, which is the Confucian style autocratic leadership. The thesis combines cultural studies and leadership studies. The theoretical framework has been constructed by including both the Western views and the indigenous views on Chinese culture and business leadership. Special attention is given to the power distance dimension of Hofstede’s cultural studies in both the theoretical and empirical work in order to understand the construction of hierarchies in the Chinese context.
The empirical work wants to give voice for the Chinese Millennials by using the method of empathy-based stories as the method of inquiry. The data was collected in Renmin University of China, Communications University of China and Nanjing University of Technology between late May 2016 and July 2016. There were in total 111 respondents from three different universities. All of the respondents were Chinese nationals between 18 to 23 year old. The responses were written by hand using Chinese characters. The data was analyzed by using thematic analysis, tabulation, discursive analysis and typology building.
The data suggests that Chinese Millennials prefer low power distance to strong power distance. Chinese Millennials have a very pragmatic and logical approach to leadership. They want to create organizations that have good co-operation between all organization levels. The opinions of subordinates are important in decision-making process. Big differences in salaries and other benefits are not accepted by the Chinese Millennials. The reward and punishment system should be performance-based and fair for everyone. Chinese Millennials have a humble attitude and they believe in continuous improvement within organizations. Similar to their counterparts in other countries, the Chinese Millennials are ethically and socially conscious. They show a high-degree of compassion towards people in weaker position.
The results pave the way for future research on Chinese business leadership. The results should be verified by a large-scale survey-study. The Chinese organizations might see a big change in the coming decades once the Chinese Millennials take over higher positions and scholars should keep up with this process. The results of this thesis might offer a good starting point for future research on studying the differences between different generations in China.
The empirical work wants to give voice for the Chinese Millennials by using the method of empathy-based stories as the method of inquiry. The data was collected in Renmin University of China, Communications University of China and Nanjing University of Technology between late May 2016 and July 2016. There were in total 111 respondents from three different universities. All of the respondents were Chinese nationals between 18 to 23 year old. The responses were written by hand using Chinese characters. The data was analyzed by using thematic analysis, tabulation, discursive analysis and typology building.
The data suggests that Chinese Millennials prefer low power distance to strong power distance. Chinese Millennials have a very pragmatic and logical approach to leadership. They want to create organizations that have good co-operation between all organization levels. The opinions of subordinates are important in decision-making process. Big differences in salaries and other benefits are not accepted by the Chinese Millennials. The reward and punishment system should be performance-based and fair for everyone. Chinese Millennials have a humble attitude and they believe in continuous improvement within organizations. Similar to their counterparts in other countries, the Chinese Millennials are ethically and socially conscious. They show a high-degree of compassion towards people in weaker position.
The results pave the way for future research on Chinese business leadership. The results should be verified by a large-scale survey-study. The Chinese organizations might see a big change in the coming decades once the Chinese Millennials take over higher positions and scholars should keep up with this process. The results of this thesis might offer a good starting point for future research on studying the differences between different generations in China.