ABSTRACT
We provide an analysis of culture and leadership in Germany based on the GLOBE study and relevant data from other sources. The first part describes the German societal culture by considering the German population, economy, political system, history, the reunification in 1990, and the GLOBE questionnaire survey (conducted in the second half of the 1990s) about societal cultural practices and values based on a total of N = 471 German middle managers in three different industries (food, finance, and telecommunications). The second section concentrates on leadership perceptions in Germany. It begins with a description of leadership practice and research in Germany. Then, leadership prototypes (i.e., culturally endorsed perceptions of outstanding leadership) are described, again on the basis of the German GLOBE questionnaire survey. In addition, results from content analyses of print media, semistructured interviews, focus group discussions, job-postings analyses, and biographical analysis of popular leaders in Germany are used to complete the picture. In the final section, commonalties and differences among East and West German societal culture and perceptions of excellent
leadership are summarized and discussed. The chapter ends with an integrative account of culture and leadership in Germany, limitations of our studies, practical implications and suggestions for future research.
