Looking for an ideal boss - employees' vision in different cultural contexts

The objective of this research (in a cross-cultural prospective) is to explore the perceptions of employees in great detail concerning what they recognize to be the ideal leader. The sample consists of a group of 600 employees, working in 42 European companies in various sectors (industry, distribution, energy, finance, service and food). The survey instrument is an on-line questionnaire (126 items) on Leadership-style Grid feedback 360° (Blake and Mouton - Managerial Grid Model). The main focus is on employee’s ideal leadership style, with comparisons in three different cultural contexts (Italy, Germany and Czech Republic). By using the non-parametrical method, Kruskal Wallis, we noticed significant differences in all analyzed profiles. Post hoc analysis (pglobal = 0.01/3=0.003; pglobal = 0.05/3 = 0.017; Bonferroni’s correction) highlights that Italian employees distinguish themselves from Germans and Czechs on 9.1 style (mr(I) = 68.32, mr(D) = 44.23, mr(CZ) = 41.50) and from Czechs in Opportunistic style (OPP; mr(I) = 58.40, mr(CZ) = 45.93) and 1.1 style (mr(I) = 58.63, mr(CZ) = 44.53), Germans from Czechs in 1.9 style (mr(D) = 56.87, mr(CZ) = 37.37) and 5.5 style (mr(D) = 40.06, mr(CZ) = 58.34) and Germans differentiate from Italians in 9.9 style (mr(I) = 36.97,mr(D) = 61.81). In addition, Germans differentiate from Czechs and Italians in the Paternalistic style (PAT; mr(I) = 57.67, mr(D) = 31.81, mr(CZ) = 63.04). Lastly, Italian employees describe their ideal leader to present a marked orientation to results with an inclination to the opportunistic style, whereas German employees describe their ideal leader to be able to balance result-orientation with relation-orientation and, in general, be less paternalistic than the Italian and Czech ideals.