Administrative Leadership and Situational Antecedents in the Romanian Public Administration

Authors

  • Tudor Țiclău Babes-Bolyai University School of Political, Administratiove and Communication Sciences Str. Traian Moșoiu, nr. 71 400132, Cluj-Napoca
  • Cristina Hințea Babes-Bolyai University School of Political, Administratiove and Communication Sciences Str. Traian Moșoiu, nr. 71 400132, Cluj-Napoca

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4335/14.1.133-156(2016)

Keywords:

administrative leadership, public administration, cultural factors, administrative antecedents, Romania

Abstract

Leadership is a complex phenomenon that is hard to study and understand by looking solely at leaders (be it traits, behavior or competencies). Previous researches (House et. al., 2004) indicate significant variance in leadership depending on situational and cultural factors. In this research we explore the antecedent conditions that lead to unique administrative leadership styles observed in the Romanian public administration, by making a distinction between cultural, political and administrative antecedents. The study population consists of civil servants occupying a managerial position. Initial results indicate that cultural values are similar to the ECC cluster from the GLOBE study, a preference for NWS (Neo Weberian State) type of organization, low trust between politicians and civil servants and predominantly transformational leadership behaviours. Low response rate (approx. 7%) led to a rather small sample (N=188), which negatively influences the possibility of generalizing the findings.

Author Biography

  • Associate Professor

References

<p align="justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Cambria">Andrei, T., Profiroiu, M. & Oancea, B. (2012) Analysis of Mobility Issue and Politicization of the Civil Service in Public Administration in Romania, Transylvanian Review of Administrative Science, No. 35E/2012, pp. 5-21.
Ashridge Center for Public Leadership (2008) Key challenges facing public sector leaders: themes from the Ashridge Public Leadership Centre essay competition, The Ashridge Journal, Autumn 2008, pp. 1-6.
Bakacsi G., Takacs S., Karacsonyi A. & Imrek V. (2002) Eastern European cluster: tradition and transition, Journal of world Business, 37(1), pp. 69-80.
Bass B. M. (1985) Leadership and performance beyond expectations (New York, NY: Free Press).
Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (2004) Manual for the multifactor leadership questionnaire (form 5X) (Redwood City, CA: Mind Garden).
Boc, E. (2011) The reform of the state in Romania (2009-2011), Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 34E, pp. 5-21.
Filip, A. (2015) Analiza stilului de leadership în administrația publică din România, Revista Transilvană de Științe Administrative, 1(36), pp. 35-50.
Hințea, C. (2008) Public Management Reforms: Romania, In: Bouckaert, G., Nemec, J., Nakrosis, V., Hajnal, G. & Tonnisson, K. (eds) Public Management Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe (Bratislava: Nispacee Press), pp. 271-286.
Hinţea, C. (2006) Country Management Profile: Romania, NISPAcee 14th Annual Conference 11-13 May 2006, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Working Group on Public Sector Quality, availabe at http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/nispacee
/unpan025555.pdf (April 19, 2015).
Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture's consequences: International differences in work- related values (Beverly Hills, Sage Publications).
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W. & Gupta, V. (2004) Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies (Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications).
Ioniță A-L. (2007) The EU’s impact on reform in Romania, In: Coombes D. & Vass L. (eds.) Post-Communist Public Administration: Restoring Professionalism and Accountability (Bratislava: NISPAcee Press), pp. 217-239.
Judge, T. A. & Piccolo, R. F. (2004) Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic test of their relative validity, Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), pp. 755-768.
Liao, H. & Chuang, A. C. (2007) Transforming service employees and climate: a multilevel, multisource examination of transformational leadership in building long-term service relationships, Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(4), pp. 1006-1019.
Lowe, K. B., Kroeck, K. G. & Sivasubramaniam, N. (1996) Effectiveness of correlates of transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic review of MLQ literature, Leadership Quarterly, 7(3), pp. 385-425.
MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M. & Rich, G. A. (2001) Transformational and transactional leadership and salesperson performance, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 29(2), pp. 115-134.
Mihai, A., (2005) Romanian Central Public Administration and the challenge of Europeanisation, Working Paper FG 2 (Berlin: SWP Berlin).
Mora C. & Țiclău T. (2012) Public Administration Reform in Romania from a Leadership and Managerial Perspective, Revista de cercetare și intervenție socială, 37, pp. 196-206.
Mora, C. & Țilcău, T. (2008) Managerial approach to public administration”, Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 24E/2008, pp. 87-97.
Morales, A., Breul, J. D. & Kamensky, J. M. (2008) Ten Challenges Facing Public Managers (Washington D.C.: IBM Center for the Business of Government), available at: http://www.businessofgovernment.org/report/ten-challenges-facing-publicmanagers (July 22, 2015).
Northouse, P. G. (2004) Leadership: Theory and practice (3rd ed.) (London: Sage).
Pollitt, C. & Bouckaert, G. (2011) Public management reform: A comparative analysis - New Public Management, Governance, and the Neo-Weberian State (Oxford: University Press).
PwC (2013) Future of Government. (PwC’s Public Sector Research Centre), available at: [http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/psrc/publications/assets/pwc_future_of_government_pdf.pdf (July 20, 2015).
Simic, I. (1998) Transformational leadership - the key to successful management of transformational organizational changes, Facta Universitas, 1(6), pp. 49-55.
Stănescu, D.F. & și Roșca, A.C. (2010) Transformational Leadership in the Public Sector –not a Bedtime Story, Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations, 12(2), pp. 95-107.
Svara J. H. (2001) The Myth of the Dichotomy: Complementarity of Politics and Administration in the Past and Future of Public Administration, Public Administration Review, 61(2), pp. 176-183.
Ticlau T., Balica D. & Mora, C. (2013) Transformational leadership in Romania’s local public administration, Paper presented at the 2013 NISPAcee conference (Bratislava: NISPAcee).
Triandis, H. C. (1995) Individualism and collectivis (Boulder: Westview Press).
Verheijen, T. (1998) Public management in Central and Eastern Europe: the nature of the problem, In: Verheijen, T. & Coombes, D. (eds) Innovations in Public Management: Perspectives from East and West Europe (Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing).
Wilson, W. (1887) The Study of Administration, Science Quarterly, 2(2), pp. 197-222.</span></p>

Published

2015-10-16

Issue

Section

Article