ABSTRACT
Leadership is often credited for the success or failure of international business operations. Recently, certain effective leadership styles such as the Western and Japanese have transcended the international boundaries. The primary reason that leaders behave as they do is their philosophy regarding the most effective way to direct their subordinates. The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of organizational problems is widely distributed throughout the population. The cheap labor force of today will be the consumers of tomorrow. European and Japanese companies generally maintain a longer-term perspective than US companies; they invest more in personnel and leadership development and are less likely to relocate. Authoritarian leadership is the use of work-centered behavior designed to ensure task accomplishment. Paternalistic leadership uses work-centered behavior coupled with a protective employee-centered concern. In recent years, much research has been directed at leadership approaches in the Western world, including Europe and North America.
