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 International Management – Research paper

Profile for successful managerial leadership in Singapore

Australian College of Business and Technology

By Danansooriya K. A.C.J
&
S.C.F.Amarasinghe

Word count ~ 3200

Word Limit – (2700 – 3300)

Lecturer: Mr. Trevor Mendis

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 Table of Content
ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET..............................................................................................................................i
PROCEDURES AND PENALTIES ON LATE ASSIGNMENTS......................................................................................i
Admission, Enrolment and Academic Progress Rule 24(6) and Assessment Policy......................................................i
ASSIGNMENT RECEIPT To be completed by the student if a receipt is required (not normally given).....................ii
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................................................v
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................1
2 Managerial leadership profile.......................................................................................................................................3
1.1 A definition to leadership..................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Culture sensitive contingent leadership styles..................................................................................................3
1.3 Culture insensitive generally accepted leadership qualities.............................................................................6
1.4 Leader-Subordinate expectations and relationship..........................................................................................6
1.5 Polymorphism of leadership styles..................................................................................................................8
1.6 Influence as a global leader..............................................................................................................................9
1.1.1 Ethos..............................................................................................................................................................9
1.1.2 Pathos..........................................................................................................................................................11
1.1.3 Logos...........................................................................................................................................................11
1.7 Plan the succession........................................................................................................................................12
3 Analysis......................................................................................................................................................................12
4 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................13
5 References.................................................................................................................................................................14

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 Executive Summary

Singapore is regarded as a country which transformed from first world to third world with in a
very short period of time. Their economic success is well known in the world as to their highest
per capita GDP, the world busiest harbor, their cleanest and green urban structures with rapid
industrialization with relatively no natural resource. The secret behind success of Singapore can
be credited to its leadership by different means.

The leader, being top to identify the opportunities and advantages of going global, transformed
the tiny island in to one of the Asia’s four tigers. It is Mr. Lee Quan Yew who is considered the
visionary leader behind present Singapore. As a leader his traits and characteristics took the best
interest among the world who studies managerial leadership. Though there are critics to his style,
the global reputation he earns as a leader will second to none.

The paper will develop a managerial leadership profile based on success of Singapore in light of
its former president Lee Quan yew. Paper finds some contemporary international management
approaches to capture Lee’s style. Further it will study Lee’s managerial leadership style with
respect to the global influence he poses based on art of rhetoric. Then the profiled leadership
traits will be analyzed to produce an effective model.

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“I think we have to go in whatever direction world conditions dictate if we are to survive and
to be part of this modern world. If we are not connected to this modern world, we are dead.
We’ll go back to the fishing village we once were.” - Lee Quan Yew

1 Introduction

Fifty years ago, Singapore was a third world country suffered severely from poverty, and post
colonialism. Geographically being a tiny swampy island, without having valuable natural
resources, by now along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan - Singapore stays as one
of four Asian Tigers leading the world’s cleanest green cities(Thomas, 2008). It should note
that Singapore society is multicultural and highly diverse in terms of ethnicity where
Buddhism is the most practiced, while Chinese, Indians, Malays, Tamils and Eurasians home
the world’s second largest population density. Lee Quan Yew lead Singapore from 1959 and
left the country with a per capita GDP of $14,000 by his step down in 1990 (Appendix A)
after 31 years. Singapore is now known as a county which is successful in their globalized
strategy in it’s social, economical, political and technological connections (Lobe, 2003).

Lee, the leader of Singapore’s celebrated success, born 16 September 1923, graduated from
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University with a first class for Law, while working as a
lawyer, he lead the Singapore's Pre-People’s Action party and later became the Singapore
prime minister (Walsh, 2005).

However, this paper will focus on the factors that shape managerial leadership style of
successful first world transformed country Singapore in light of its former prime minister and
present minister mentor Lee Quan yew.

Management and leadership will be differently taught in different schools of thoughts. If one
have a look to the traditional management functions it can be observed that leadership is
among one of the four key functions - planning, organizing, leading, controlling and
monitoring. More over leadership was tried to understand in different means.

During the research it was found out that there are many theories to describe leadership.
1. Great Man theories
2. Trait theories
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3. Situational theories
4. Behavioral theories
5. Participative theories
6. Management theories
7. Relationship theories

Separation of management and leadership sometimes will be very controversial as

management is involved in leadership- i.e implementation, and leadership is involved in
management –i.e motivation. There for leadership and management can be seen as two
distinctly different roles with somewhat paradoxical relationship.

In order to understand this relation a recent research on U.S on leadership styles describe
managerial behaviors (Deresky, 2008), variously termed

1. Autocratic vs. democratic

2. Participative vs. directive
3. Relations-oriented vs. task oriented
4. Initiating structure vs. consideration continuum

As far as Lee is concerned more or less, it is observable that most these models can be used in
understanding his style. But at the same time due to the limitations in each approach, a single
theory approach would not be comprehensive. Global acceptance of Lee as a global leader
makes the situation further complex. As a result taking key points of each above theories
along with some contemporary thinking of international management authors develop the
following profile.

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2 Managerial leadership profile

For rest of the Article following definition that was founded by Helen Deresky(Deresky,
2008) will be used.

1.1 A definition to leadership

“Effective global leadership involves the ability to inspire and influence the thinking,
attitudes, and behaviors of people anywhere in the world.”

Provided this definition, the leaders are expected to be in the capability of global influence.
Hence this globalized approach suggests that leadership styles should be culturally sensitive.

Helen Deresky(Deresky, 2008), talking on GLOBE project - Global Leadership and

Organizational Behavior Effectiveness, (Gove, 2005)points out that there are culture sensitive
leadership styles and at the same there are culture insensitive generally accepted leadership
qualities.

1.2 Culture sensitive contingent leadership styles

GLOBE found that the following five leadership styles are highly dependent on culture. That
mean the traits the leaders follow in these leadership styles can be appreciated and accepted
as at one culture, the same style will not be appreciated or valued at the same level in another
different culture.

1. Charismatic Style
a. Inspirational
Lee inspired the Singaporeans to be a different independent nation though Singapore majority
holds Chinese origin and a relation to Chinese.
b. Visionary
Lee brought innovative concepts like Garden cities – now green cities, immune corruption,
graduate mothers, Graduate match making agency, Singapore armed forces, and many other
ideas in to practice in his vision for a successful Singapore. Moreover Lee studied the world’s
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trend and he educated and trained the nation to face and succeed the challenges on
globalization on his way to Singapore success. The Singapore success in industrialization its
success in green cities, its GDP per capita, its success in sophisticated hospital systems etc
will best describe the outcomes of his vision.
c. Self-Sacrifice
It was hard to found evidence on Self-Sacrifice by Lee. But in general self scarifications will
make others confident of once leadership.
d. Integrity
Time Asia describes Lee as a man Integrity.(McCarthy, 1999). Authors’ believe integrity
brings trust and faith to the leader.
e. Decisive
"Have a purpose driven life and finish well" – Lee Quan Yew (“Lee Quan Yew: Have a
purpose driven life and finish well,” 2010). Authors argue that leaders have to be decisive in
order to finish their visions. Deceive in the sense will not mean to be stubborn.
f. Performance oriented
No doubt Lee is performance oriented. To make an island with any constraints prosper must
have been a challenge to him. His philosophy was if you take on the job, you have to do it
well without any excuses or "ifs" and "but". If you feel you cannot handle a particular job,
then don't take it.

Taking all these charismatic features, Lee can be considered as a charismatic leader. But
authors argue that having other attributes of below leadership styles can improve the
pervasiveness and glaze of a leader.

2. Team-oriented style
a. Collaborative team orientation
b. Team integrator
c. Diplomatic
d. Administratively competent
e. Malevolent (reverse scored)
Thinking of above team oriented features, Lee’s traits cannot capture as a person with team-
oriented characteristics. But he is very competent in administration; otherwise he could not
rule a country for such long (31 years) as a prime minister and will not be respected by its

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citizens as a minister mentor. Lee is stylish diplomatic leader in foreign affairs. He is a
Leader who manages kept China and the western part of the world both at same comradeship
(Wong, 2010). He is considered as a very diplomatic leader in the region and manages to
keep closer ties with neighboring countries as well. Lee is not a malevolent leader. Though he
kept tight control over the power, he didn’t use that in negative things like corruption,
negligence of social ware, egocentric wars etc.

3. Self-protective style
a. Self-centered
b. Status conscious
c. Conflict-inducer,
d. face-saver
e. Procedure
Authors’ view to Self-protective is that it can earn negative reputation at many cultures.
Again being Status conscious, Procedure, Face-Saver at certain situation, can bring positive
reputation and recognition to the leadership depending on the situation. Conflict induction
can be seen as a negative characteristic of Lee as well. He was known for his confrontational
style (McCarthy, 1999). The same style can be argued as a way that control some unwanted
unprogressive arguments and negative attitude restrictions of subordinates.

4. Participative style
Reflects the degree to which managers involve others in making and implementing decisions.
Being participative in decision making it can generate many alternatives in decision making
at the same time it will bring the disadvantage of time consuming and brings unwanted
exposure for some decision. A leader should compromise the participation on such situations.
When Lee is concerned there are allegations that he followed an autocratic style.

5. Humane style
Reflects supportive and considerate leadership, but also includes compassion and generosity.
Authors argue that being compassionate, and generous at correct circumstances is will inspire
and influence people. But as far as Lee is concern He was not a compassionate ruler. There
are critics for him for harassing opposition and having tight control.(Nair, 2007)

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6. Autonomous style
This refers to independent and individualistic leadership. For this profile this style will not be
considered.

Having going through all above styles, authors suggest that Lee’s characteristics, passion and
style in leadership cannot just be boxed in to one particular style. However his characteristics
can be captured with different styles from different angles. So it is authors’ view that a
comprehensive leadership profile should take all above styles in to consideration but leaders
should select correct traits according to the culture and situation.

1.3 Culture insensitive generally accepted leadership qualities

The GlOBE project found out generally accepted leadership traits which are renowned all
around the world at relatively the same strength, despite the variety of culture. These include
1. Trustworthy
2. Encouraging
3. Effective bargainer
4. A Skilled administrator and a communicator
5. Team Builder
At the same time they found there are negatively regarded traits as well. They are
1. Uncooperative
2. Egocentric
3. Ruthless
4. Dictatorial
It is observable that these traits can be blend in above leadership styles described before. So a
comprehensive Leadership profile should avoid these negative traits, and should enhance
these positive traits.

1.4 Leader-Subordinate expectations and relationship

To study the real stems of leadership this paper also will discuss the leader subordinate
relationship in terms of Hofstede cultural dimensions. As the name suggest all following
dimensions will vary with culture.

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1. Power distance
Some cultures expect that leaders should be kept with some distance to subordinates to have
leaders work get done. For the provided definition it is author’s argument that power distance
can demotivate, frustrate and discriminate people relative to their leader. But Lee kept a
significant power distance to his subordinates.

2. Individualism vs Collectivism
Humans are social animals by their origin. Collectivism brings Synergy to organization. So it
is authors’ view that Leader’s should encourage collectivism with its correct directions.
Collectivism can cause negative impacts if it is not correctly directed. As far as Lee is
concern his western oriented style was more towards individualism in decision making. But
at the same time he managed to delegate power to well disciplined people. Lee encourages
Asian value system. He saw the negativities to humanity on capitalism (Kim, 2007).

3. Masculinity vs Feminity
Lee can identify as a masculine Leader as he expects and kept more control with him. As
once described in Time Asia,(McCarthy, 1999) Lee loves Singapore but has relatively few
close Singaporean friends or confidants. He is a man of great intelligence, with no patience
for mediocrity; a man of integrity, with a relentless urge to smite opponents; a man who
devours foreign news but has little tolerance for a disrespectful press at home.

4. Long Term Short term orientation

Asian’s are relatively long term oriented.(Deresky, 2008). But a leader should think about
sustainability (Long term) and sometimes short term as well. It has to be best compromise on
situation. Taking Lee in to example, he is generally long term oriented. Examples can be
found in Lee’s leadership style for persistence (perseverance), ordering relationships by
status, and thrift.

Leaders may behave differently with subordinates. Lee’s approach will not necessary to be
followed by others. But global leaders can benefit these four dimensions to measure the
leader subordinate relationship and then act accordingly.

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1.5 Polymorphism of leadership styles

Lee managed this miraculous transformation in Singapore's economy while maintaining tight
political control over the country; Singapore's government can best be described as a "soft"
authoritarian regime, and at times it has not been so soft. (Zakarie, 1994). To authors’ that is
how the polymorphism of Lee’s style best explained. Authors’ suggest a leader can behave in
following four modes.

1. Aggressive
Lee was very aggressive towards critics and his opponents.(Nair, 2007). It is authors
argument that Leaders should aggressive to some situations.

2. Assertive
Lee is very assertive and intelligent toward global situations. He introduced English as
Singapore official language, and started to continue all studies in English. That help make
him bring the world wide knowledge acceptance and opportunities to his country..
Assertiveness is a positive characteristic of a leadership.

3. Moderate
Lee was moderate towards culture. There were no diversity discriminations in Singapore. Lee
was a leader embraced by all nationalities in Singapore due to the moderate attitude of him
towards culture. Leader’s have to be moderate when there are conflicting situations among
different groups.

4. Conservative
Lee can be treated as a very conservative leader as far as his family politics is concerned.
Though this can be criticized as a negative feature, it has been the same story so far in the
world from past. But having a different view to these, leaders can be conservative towards,
when there are good sustainable already existing practices.

It is authors’ argument that these four modes bring wider amplitude to leaders. They can be
used to sharp the contextual pragmatism of leadership traits.

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1.6 Influence as a global leader

Time Asia found Lee as one of the most influential political figures in Asia within the last
century.(Hajari, 1999). Lee has been invited by many TV, Radio and news channels,
Journals, magazines, Universities, etc and produced enough articles, documentaries on him
around world. These include, CNN, BBC, New York Times, Forbes, Australian Broad
Casting, White house, Indian broadcasts, Chinese newspapers and broadcasts (“Lee Kuan
Yew | Articles Speeches and Interviews,” n.d.) and many more. No other evident would need
to the influence and reputation that Lee earned as a role model of leadership to the world
irrespective of geographical and political boundaries.

Lee’s success in global arena was tried to analyze in terms of Aristotle’s art of rhetoric.

1.1.1 Ethos

In simplest terms, ethos corresponds to one’s credibility. Being born to a rich western
oriented reputed Chinese family Lee entered to the Singapore politics as lawyer having
completed his degree with a two star first class from University of Cambridge, England (“Lee
Kuan Yew: A Chronology, 1923-1965,” n.d.). There after he produced many results
including Singapore independence, giving leadership to the nation from different directions
as described over this article. The credibility Lee earned as a responsible person will brief
follows.

1. Homogeneously distributed achievements throughout the life span

Consistency and continuity in Lee’s carrier vs life achievements seems to be the most import
in terms of ethos. Below figure:1 was sourced from Lee Quan Yew site www.lee-kuan-
yew.com. (“Lee Kuan Yew: A Chronology, 1923-1965,” n.d.)

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Year Achie
1923 Born
1940 Come
Figure 1: Lee's Achievements

2. Ethical and exemplary family life Ande

At home Lee is a devoted husband, father and a spiritual family man who kept Asians value
system to maximum (“Lee Kuan Yew learnt Mandarin at 32 years old,” n.d.). Lee’s wife has
been bedridden and mute for the past two years, but still cognitive. Even Lee being 87, keep

1947 Secre
him to next room with her groans and grunts, and every night he use to tell her about his
day’s work, read her favorite poems so that she feel comfortable (“Lee Kuan Yew learnt
Mandarin at 32 years old,” n.d.). No other words would best explain Lee’s valued life.

3. Healthy mind and healthy body

“Mens sana in corpore sano – Healthy mind is in healthy body”

Camb
Lee kept physically fit and mentally young, as he swims, and as he cycle. He practices
meditation to keep his mind tune (Pengayau, 2010). There for this article argue the need for
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keeping good health practices in order to maintain a healthy personality.

Lee’s superiority in above three factors contributed to his highly consistent, committed,
ethical, swift, boyish, resultful and prolonged life style which made him a credible person in
the society.

1.1.2 Pathos

Pathos describes emotional connection to the audience (Dlugan, 2010). Ironically, Lee, being
ethnic Chinese, could barely speak his mother language. He grew up speaking English with
his parents. In order to have direct communication with various ethnic groups in his
campaign in the late 1950s, he made intense efforts to learn Hokkien, Mandarin, and Malay.

Lee realized early on that English is the future of international commerce, which is what
Singapore is all about. To promote the teaching of English and at the same time to avoid
being seen as "an oppressor in a government of pseudo foreigners who forget their ancestors"
were tricky. But Lee Quan Yew was a political genius. He was able to manage these
conflicting objectives at the operational level. In order not to alienate his Chinese base, he
sent all three of his children to Chinese schools until his two sons finished their primary
schools and his daughter finished her high school. He had journalists of major newspapers
taken his pictures when he visited his children in Chinese schools (“Lee Kuan Yew learnt
Mandarin at 32 years old,” n.d.).

There for Lee was accepted as a leader of more than just for the Chinese speaking.

1.1.3 Logos

In contrast Lee is regarded unlike any politician. There were no smiles, no jokes, and no
bonhomie (Zakarie, 1994). Logos means the appeal based on logic or reason. Further it talks
about logic or reason internal consistency of the message--the clarity of the claim, the logic of
its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence. Lee was a sound academic and
he was a sound professional. That can be best understood by reading through his book ‘From

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Third World to First World’ where he provides reasons for his visions to make better
Singapore. There for Lee will be understood as a leader with strong logos.

Going through this section it is evident how effective these rhetoric factors to one’s
Leadership style. These should be considered as a tool to image building process in a
leadership profile.

1.7 Plan the succession

Lee planned for the people that will take over him years before he actually stepped down as
Prime Minister. He saw the importance of rising up the next generation of leaders to lead the
nation.(“Lee Kuan Yew Leadership,” 2010). This article argues that leaders must strive to
create an organization that can survive after them, and that will be a sign of successful
leadership.

3 Analysis

Taking the above definition of leadership assuming that in a particular culture at a particular
situation if Ethos, Pathos and Logos are the determinants on the Rhetoric art of influencing,
Authors conclude that
• Leadership style should change from culture to culture. There cannot be standard
leadership profile which matches every culture. Similarly there cannot be a standard
leadership profile for situation.
• Once the leader captures the culture context correct, he should then decide the
Situation context.

Culture

Figure 2 : Culture should capture first, then the situation

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4 Conclusion

Provided above Managerial Leadership profile and the Analysis, taking Lee into example,
Authors conclude that
1. Global leaders should be visionary, but they should choose the correct traits, and the
correct style according to culture, then to situation. For that, intelligent global leaders
should be culturally savvy and situation sensitive.
2. Leaders can manage present and future, not past
a. Reactive : To present
b. Proactive : To Future
3. Lee’s approach to Singapore’s success can theme as think global, act local.
4. Lee’s Leadership style perhaps suits best for transforming 3rd world uneducated nation
to first word. But when nations mature, too control would not be efficient and
productive as before.
5. Lee is 87 now. He is still unbroken. Authors argue that Lee’s imperishable success as
a leader prolongs, as he manage to keep Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit so
far, so long, consistent, unflawed.

Having explained everything authors would agree the top quote borrowed from Lee Quan
Yew. Adding more to it authors suggest that leaders should prolong their core values
unflawed at whatever challenges globalization carries.

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5 References

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