Martial Arts Leadership: Cultural and Regional Differences in Motivations, Leadership & Communication

Abstract

With the aim of better understanding the motivations for studying martial arts, and finding examples of valued leadership skills and methods in instruction, a comparison of martial artists (instructors, students and parents of younger students) was conducted via a survey across several countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Finland. The framework taken to evaluate ‘leadership’ within martial arts is the theory of transformational leadership, developed by Bass [1985]. In this framework, transformational leaders display certain characteristics, such as espousing ideals, acting as role models, and showing care and concern for followers. They are also noted to inspire their followers by formulating a vision and setting challenging goals, as well as stimulating them intellectually to think about old problems in innovative ways. We propose, based on the findings from the international survey, that transformational leadership theory may provide a framework for instructors. The overall results and comparisons of the study may be pertinent to instructors and students of martial arts. For instructors, understanding what students look for in a club in terms of values and characteristics sought through training and leadership styles is valuable. This work could be used to help instructors understand and develop the traits and characteristics that could be used to construct motivational or instructional methods to best achieve goals in their respective curriculum.