Abstract
Purpose – This research aims to describe leadership practices that fit into Egypt national culture, in Multinational Companies (MNCs) work environment. Taking two of the top companies in leadership field as an example, this research helps in presenting guidelines for the best leadership practices for MNCs, operating in Egypt.Design/methodology/approach – This research employed qualitative case study, using semi-structured interviews. Two-case studies were conducted to reach more comprehensive findings. Findings –Leadership practices associated with Egypt’s national culture are macro managing employees; involving employees in decision making; providing clear vision and objectives; maintaining context which includes providing clear rules and guidelines, coaching employees, maintaining a follow up system on employees performance and maintaining a clear rewarding and penalizing system; and focusing on humane aspects which includes managing conflicts, keeping employees in harmony and considering individuals’ differences. Implications– This research highlights a gap between theory and practice. Some of the presented leadership practices presented in this research contradict with the literature’s classification for Egypt’s’ national. This indicates that further research work should be conducted to generalize findings.Originality/value –The research emphasizes that there is a shift in people’s perception towards best leadership styles and practices. The cultural aspects identified in this research challenges the classification of Egypt as high power distance and masculine society. Further, findings present new prospective for some of the leadership practices. The paper also proposes that short-term orientation is also a cultural aspect associated with workplace. Keywords: National culture, Humane-orientation, Short-term orientation, Leadership practices, Individualized consideration, Employees’ performance, Case study, Interviews analysis techniques DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-3-07 Publication date :March 31 st 2019
Highlights
Some multinational companies (MNCs) choose to develop their own cross-culture leadership model
Taking 3M Company and General Electric (GE) as examples of leading companies, in the leadership field, this research aims to identify leadership practices that fit into Egypt national cultural aspects and to present a guideline for other MNCs, operating in Egypt
The leadership practices associated with Egypt national culture are macro managing employees; involving employees in decision making; providing clear vision and objectives; maintaining context; and focusing on humane aspects
Summary
Some multinational companies (MNCs) choose to develop their own cross-culture leadership model. Managers and subordinates, who work in some of those companies, believe that such cross-culture leadership model fits into employees’ cultural values and concerns. Taking 3M Company and General Electric (GE) as examples of leading companies, in the leadership field, this research aims to identify leadership practices that fit into Egypt national cultural aspects and to present a guideline for other MNCs, operating in Egypt. This will be through identifying the leadership practices that fit into Egyptian employees’ cultural concerns and presenting the theoretical and practical implications for the identified leadership practices. Among the researchers conducted were Suutari (1996.a) and Van Oudenhoven (2001) whom presented different frameworks addressing leadership in cross cultural settings, in general
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