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Flowers in a Greenhouse: profiling excellence in leadership in Singapore

Christopher Selvarajah (Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia)
Denny Meyer (Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia)
Robert Jeyakumar Nathan (Multimedia University, Melaka, Malaysia)
Jerome Denis Donovan (Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia)

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

ISSN: 0143-7739

Article publication date: 28 October 2013

1183

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing cultural values that influence the perception of managers to leadership excellence in their organisations in Singapore.

Design/methodology/approach

Summated scales for the importance of excellent leader, personal qualities, managerial behaviours, organisational demands and environmental influences were developed using most of the items categorised by Selvarajah et al. (1995) and several other items rated highly in this study. A structural model was constructed to explain the relationship in excellence in leadership.

Findings

In all, 249 managers, from the three main ethnic groups: Chinese, Indians and Malays participated in this research. The findings suggest that ethnic differences are not strong determinants of managerial values in organisations in Singapore. However, gender is seen as a differentiating factor in the behavioural values of Singapore managers.

Research limitations/implications

This study is purely an exploratory study and the size of the sample is not large enough to create purposeful causal relationships. Certainly the effect of ethnicity on the study should be explored further with a larger sample.

Practical implications

Singapore is a highly globalised country that attracts international investments. Statistics in Singapore clearly suggests that there is a sharp increase in women managers in employment. Therefore, understanding the changing behavioural values of managers of both sexes are important for a foreigner engaging with Singapore nationals.

Originality/value

This is the first study that looks at behavioural values of Singapore managers with regard to leadership excellence. The masculinity-femininity dimension is pronounced in the gender split.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Professor Robert Cochrane, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Newcastle in Singapore for allowing us access to the university campus as the base for the data collection in Singapore. They also thank Dr Gian Casimir from the Newcastle Graduate School of Business for his support with the identification of a suitable organisational database and encouragement rendered to us throughout the data collection phase of this study in Singapore. They are also indebted to Mr Tan Sei Bee, a prominent lawyer and partner of the Stamford Law Firm in Singapore who has provided valuable feedback.

Citation

Selvarajah, C., Meyer, D., Jeyakumar Nathan, R. and Denis Donovan, J. (2013), "Flowers in a Greenhouse: profiling excellence in leadership in Singapore", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 34 No. 8, pp. 784-804. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-02-2012-0023

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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