How the LMR Model applies to leadership style
Leadership styles vary according to category.
Linear-active managers demonstrate and look for technical competence. They place facts before sentiments, logic before emotion. They are basically deal-oriented with a view to immediate achievement and results. Time is money.
Multi-active managers use human force and strong personal relationships as an inspirational factor. They rely on their eloquence and ability to persuade to give them control.
Reactive leaders dominate with knowledge, patience and quiet control. They create a harmonious atmosphere by displaying modesty and courtesy towards their subordinates.
Americans, Brits, Australians and Germans are good examples of linear-active leaders. Japanese, Koreans and Chinese fall into the reactive category. Most Arab leaders behave in a multi-active manner. This category also includes the Italians and other Mediterranean peoples.
The UAE version of multi-active leadership
Like leaders in other multi-active cultures, Emirati managers practise leadership with a human face. The basic Islamic values of respect and surface harmony encourage managers to be “hard on issues, but soft on people.” The UAE is a high power distance culture where huge salary differentials and numerous status symbols signify an emerging class system throughout the region. The collectivist nature of Arab societies, however, leads to long periods of consultation and consensus-building, which conform to the basic egalitarianism of Islamic teachings and tribal values.
Indeed, in the UAE, the society at large continues to operate in a lower power distance manner, with generally contented subjects. It is within larger organizations that bureaucracy and numerous layers of power created centralisation which makes access to real decision-makers difficult. Decision-makers can also be hidden. Ottoman hierarchical systems of government that dominated Arab life for several centuries have left a permanent mark on many Arab societies.
Foreign managers interacting with UAE leaders are impressed by their preoccupation with hospitality, face, integrity and sense of honour when leading subordinates. They must be aware that Arab managers are ‘high context’, their attitudes and statements are implicit, not explicit. Newcomers must learn to read between the lines. UAE leaders respect tradition and resist sudden change. They allow time for decisions to be made (by consensus).
Timing and diplomacy take precedence over speed and dilute a sense of urgency. Avoiding conflict and confrontation is paramount; managers rarely disappoint their inferiors with a simple ‘no.’ Believing that “truth sometimes destroys harmony,” leaders’ pronouncements are often delicately indirect or even ambiguous. Other multi-actives, such as Italians and French people, may be familiar with such indirectness.
Linear-actives, such as Americans and Australians, however, may come across as brutally candid in comparison with UAE leaders. Reactives, such as Koreans and Japanese, appreciate occasional ambiguities, though their pronouncements are often less transparent than Arab ones.
In view of the ambitious development projects in the Gulf – many of them being undertaken by multinational joint ventures – it is imperative that all types of leaders familiarize themselves with the differing leadership habits of their partners, and strive to assure a reasonable degree of harmony and unity, enhancing prospects of successful operations.
Richard D. Lewis is Chairman of Richard Lewis Communications and one of Britain’s foremost linguists. He founded the Berlitz schools in East Asia, Portugal and Finland and in Japan he was tutor to Empress Michiko and other members of the Japanese Imperial family.
Mr. Lewis has also been awarded a knighthood in Finland, in view of his 40 years’ experience helping Finnish business internationalise, as well as assisting Finland prepare for EU Presidency.
Cross Cultural Feature