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What is leadership, how do Romanians relate to their organization's leaders, which are the most common leadership behaviors and which leadership style is best for Romania? This paper attempts to address these issues.

Data were collected on actual Romanian leadership and preferences in leadership's styles. The questions were grouped according to the two major continuums: autocratic style versus democracy style and task orientation versus relationship orientation.

Regarding the autocratic style‐democratic style dimension, Romanian leadership leans towards the autocratic style and research results show that leaders in Romania are 55 percent authoritarian and 45 percent democratic. Romanian leaders are inclined towards less involvement of subordinates and frequently retain the final decision. They make use of coercion. The autocratic dimension is slightly higher in state‐owned enterprises, due to the strong centralization and to the remains of communism. The research also indicates that men are more task‐orientated (71.8 percent) than women (64 percent). Since, Romanian organizational leaders are task oriented (67 percent) and authoritarian (55 percent), the conclusion drawn is that Romanian leaders fit in the “Military Man” pattern. This conclusion was expected because Romanians exhibited a strong dictatorial leadership during communism. However, Romanian leaders of the future will move from the Military Man type to the Academician type, which is still goal‐centered, but has a more democratic leadership approach. Results also showed that Romanians would like to have leaders more democratic‐oriented (95 percent) than authoritarian (5 percent). This is an important shift.

This paper develops a better understanding of Romanian leadership, a subject that has been largely ignored. The paper offers important knowledge and ideas on that which is considered to be organizational leadership in Romania, explaining its roots as well as its behavioral fruits and the contextual environment in which it takes place. Researchers who study organizations may also find the paper a rich source for future inquiry and a confirmation or challenge to their own opinions on leadership in Romania.