CULTURE, LEADERSHIP-STYLES AND STRESS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF JAPANESE AND AMERICAN JOINT VENTURES IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This exploratory study examined differences between Japanese- and American joint ventures in Indonesia in relation to culture. Especially leadership-styles and stress are examined as effects of differences in national cultures. It was expected that the Japanese management-style would better fit in with the expectations of Indonesian workers and that the level of stress experienced by Indonesian workers would subsequently be lower in these Japanese/Indonesian joint-ventures, compared to the American/Indonesian joint-ventures in our study. In decision making we expected the Japanese managers to focus more on consensus, which would result in a more 'human-oriented' leadership-style. American managers on the other hand would be more 'task-oriented' as a result of their focus on goal-attainment. Result indicate that the leadership-style of Japanese managers fits in better with the expectations of Indonesian workers than do the leadership-styles of American managers. However, we found that both Japanese and Indonesian managers are more human-oriented than American managers and more task-oriented as well. They simply seem to be more active than the American managers. Indonesian employees managed by American managers experienced less stress than Indonesian employees managed by Japanese or Indonesian managers.