managerial roles

The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister JMD
22,8

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0262-1711.htm Managerial work roles in Asia
An empirical study of Mintzberg’s role formulation in four Asian countries

694
Received July 2002
Revised December 2002
Accepted December 2002

Cecil A.L. Pearson
Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, Australia, and

Samir R. Chatterjee
Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
Keywords Management roles, Economic conditions, National cultures, Asian studies
Abstract In an increasingly competitive global environment, impacted by a myriad of social, economic and technological forces, managerial roles have, over the past two decades, undergone dramatic transformation. Indeed, managers around the world are struggling to redefine their roles and responsibilities against a backdrop of the classic ten roles of managers espoused by Mintzberg in the 1970s, which were based on research in the US context. Yet these traditional roles are still widely taught in universities and training programs, and particularly all over Asia with the spread of Western business education literature. The relevance of the Mintzberg formulation in the Asian context was the aim of this four country study. The study reports the importance and degree of use of the ten Mintzberg managerial roles in the contemporary Asian context. The findings suggest although the roles overlap considerably, they are acted out in a very different manner. Implications for the findings in an international market arena are discussed.

Journal of Management Development
Vol. 22 No. 8, 2003 pp. 694-707 q MCB UP Limited
0262-1711
DOI 10.1108/02621710310487864

Introduction
The importance of managerial roles continues to attract a great deal of interest.
Since the earliest written evidence (provided by the Chinese

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