A Seven Nations Study of Leadership Attributes

Abstract

The overall purpose of this paper was to compare a representative sample of Polish middle managers with a representative sample of chief executive officers (CEOs) from six chosen countries, in regard to selected leadership traits and behaviors. We present a small portion of data collected under the GLOBE project, Phase 3, and longitudinal research findings concerning subordinates′ assessments of Polish middle managers in relation to their attributes from 2008 to 2012. The GLOBE, Phase 3 research is the first study to investigate several thousands of CEOs and senior management teams in 24 countries, to empirically and directly assess the relationship between culture and leadership traits and behaviors. We provide research evidence that the investigated CEOs from the United States, Austria, Germany, China, and Taiwan (with the exception of Russian CEOs and Polish middle managers) were generally positively evaluated by their direct staff in regard to: inspirational, visionary, integrity, and performance-oriented leadership behaviors (constituents of charismatic leadership), team-oriented behavior, and participative leadership style. Empirical findings under the GLOBE project, Phase 3 revealed that the charismatic leadership behavior of CEOs has a huge influence on top management teams′ (TMTs) dedication to organizational goals, and is the most predictive of all leadership behaviors for TMT commitment to organizations. The analyzed research findings indicate that CEOs in Russia and Polish middle managers display strong similarities. They tend to behave in less charismatic, team-oriented, and participative ways than CEOs in the remaining countries.