Humanistic Leadership Practices

Humanistic leadership refers to “focusing on creating human and organisational economic value in harmony”. Of the many management cases in leadership research literature, the transformation of Bob Chapman, Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, into a humanistic leader is one worth further exploration not only because of his personal evolution as a leader, but in understanding the role of faith, family, and organisational culture to which his leadership is deeply rooted. One particularly interesting aspect about Bob Chapman is his commitment to the Christian faith from which his foundational understanding of humanistic leadership practices emerged. Bob attributes his sudden inspiration to adopt HM characteristics, not to a single individual or event, but rather to a series of “revelations from God”. Along with the personal experiences shared from Bob in his book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring For Your People Like Family, in addition to other online materials, the aim of this case study will be to investigate literature on religion and how people are inspired to become better leaders because of religious teachings. Specifically, within this paper, we will explore how Christianity influences leaders within firms. This case study provides a qualitative analysis of faith, family, firm, and leadership (Sect. 2) to understand how religion inspires leaders to apply Christian teachings in their organisations. The following section explores how faith-infused humanistic leadership can be expanded to issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) (Sect. 3), followed by the Conclusion (Sect. 4).

With the number of leadership failures growing, there has been renewed interest in the promise of humanistic leadership (Colbert et al. 2018; Lawrence and Pirson 2015; Pirson and Bachani 2018; Pirson and Lawrence 2010). The pernicious consequences of the dominant business model representing “homo economicus” are becoming more apparent: increasing inequality, dehumanizing work, downsizing, and environmentally destructive practices. Humanistic leadership proposes a paradigm that is based on the protection of dignity and the promotion of well-being rather than wealth acquisition (Pirson 2017). Yet the existing literature regarding how humanistic leadership figures in management practice remains limited. Not only is there a need for theoretical work, but there is also a pressing need to identify current examples of humanistic leadership. In our earlier work (Keim and Shadnam 2020), we explored humanistic leadership among the Old Order Amish in Ohio, arguing that the organization of this conservative religious group holds critical clues for how we can humanize secular business organizations. More critically, given the unprecedented degree of change faced by organizations, we need to consider humanistic leadership within the context of change. In this chapter, we take up this challenge by looking at the Amish leadership as it relates to change.

This chapter extends (Chou and Cheng, Cross Cultural & Strategic Management 27:567–587, 2020) work by further exploring how Confucian humanistic leaders influence their followers and stakeholders, as well as examining potential boundary conditions. Mr. C, the founder of S company, is a representative case of such a humanistic, Confucianism-inspired leader in Taiwan. As a Confucian humanistic leader, Mr. C serves as a behavioural role model, attracting followers to identify with and imitate his humanistic behaviours through direct or vicarious experiences (i.e., social learning). A Confucian humanistic leader authentically cares about the well-being of all stakeholders and treats followers with respect and fairness, which activates the “norms of reciprocity” (i.e., social exchange). The chapter introduces a social influence process model based on social learning theory, social exchange theory, and trickle effects to explain the underlying mechanisms of Confucian humanistic leadership. Incorporating trickle effects (trickle-down, trickle-out, and trickle-around effects) helps explain the “indirect” social influence that occurs via this cycle. Considering moderators that may influence trickle effects, the adapted elaboration likelihood model suggests that individuals who are highly involved or hold relevant prior beliefs are more likely to engage in elaboration, thereby utilizing central route processing. The trickle effects of humanistic leadership would thus be attenuated because humanistic leadership triggers elaborative cognitive processes such as social learning and social exchange. Accordingly, this chapter provides a comprehensive understanding of how a Confucian humanistic leader facilitates his/her flow of humanist virtues by trickle effects, along with social learning and social exchange perspectives, and incorporating a discussion of whether individuals are motivated and able to process information in an elaborative way to further explain trickle boundaries.

The increasing view that “traditional, hierarchical views of leadership are less and less useful given the complexities of our modern world” (Lichtenstein et al., Emergence: Complexity and Organization 8:2–12, 2006) and the heightened level of complexity in Africa necessitate an understanding of leadership that is humanistic, the process by which an individual in a leadership role influences others to achieve desire goals through human-centred principles of trust, ethicality, compassion, and engagement. Humanistic leadership has been part of Africa since the pre-modern era (i.e., ancient Egypt) through the Maat philosophy. Maat is a philosophy of the people of ancient Kemet or black Egypt. It “is a fundamental, pervasive, and enduring element in ancient Egyptian civilization and an inclusive and defining cultural category” (Karenga, Maât. The moral ideal in ancient Egypt: A study in classical African ethics, Routledge, 2004). Such leadership is particularly significant in this era of the Africa Union Agenda 2063, which views one of the critical success factors for the achievement of the agenda as “leadership and political commitment with transformational and visionary qualities at all levels and in all fields.” This view is also encapsulated in the World Economic Forum which indicates that “Africa doesn’t need charity, it needs good leadership.” In addition, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, advocates effective leadership in Africa, established an award for good national leaders and a proprietary index that gauges the quality of governance and leadership in African countries (Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Governance progress in Africa stalling, reports Mo Ibrahim, 2015). This award has not been won in eight of the twelve years because no leader has been found worthy of the award. The chapter integrates historical, anthropological, and philosophical accounts of leadership in Africa to situate humanistic leadership in modern Africa. The framework is limited to the period before the colonial eras of Africa (i.e., the Kemetic era). Following a brief review of extant leadership in Africa, I discuss the Maatian view of humanistic leadership. Leveraging that historical perspective, I discuss exemplars of humanistic leaders in modern Africa. Three such leaders are Nelson Mandela (Glad and Blanton, Presidential Studies Quarterly 27:565–590, 1997; Pietersen, Leader to Leader 2015:60–66, 2015), Desmond Tutu (Blankstein et al., Excellence through equity: Five principles of courageous leadership to guide achievement for every student. ASCD, 2016), James Mwangi of Equity Bank of Kenya (Chironga et al., Leadership lessons from Africa’s trailblazers. McKinsey Quarterly, 1–10, 2019). While Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu epitomize the Ubuntu principles of humanism, James Nwangi exemplifies the Maatian humanistic principles. Both the traditional or ancient view of humanistic leadership which is illustrated with modern leaders affords an opportunity for scholars conducting research on humanistic leadership in Africa to ground their studies in Indigenous philosophical and humanistic principles. Humanistic leadership is proposed as a function of decisions and actions of African traditional orientations that derive from Maat philosophy. This perspective unearths the source of modern understanding of humanistic leadership and reorients the field of leadership development and prevention of bad leadership as they relate to management of organizations in Africa.

So-called “Hidden Champions”—little-known German companies that occupy global leadership positions in specific B2B markets—have received significant attention for their business acumen and ability to retain specialized workforces in predominantly rural areas. In this chapter we explore the extent to which humanistic leadership, focused on employees’ freedom and well-being, might be considered a core ingredient in this recipe. We begin by analysing the German business context in which the Hidden Champions phenomenon arose. Is the success of Hidden Champions driven primarily by the institutional and sociological context of the country or by the leadership styles of individual managers? Citing relevant German case study examples, we engage critically with discourse on “humanistic leadership”, discuss possible tensions between humanism and profitability, and reflect on the extent to which managers can and should convey normative ideas (i.e. preach).

Humanistic leadership has become an important approach in management literature. Although the conceptual grounding of the “humanism” manifesto goes back to many centuries, building a humanistic leadership theory in social sciences is a relatively new endeavour. Development of humanistic leadership theory has become the focus of academic researchers, especially from the lens of culturally diverse context. This chapter extends one of these attempts aiming to understand humanistic leadership practices and behaviours in the United Arab Emirates (Anadol and Behery 2020) and aims to reveal how the cultural structure of the country, its traditions, customs and the point of views of the rulers of the country affect the humanistic leadership approach in the context. An exploratory research method is followed and it is found that the UAE governments’ presence in economical and societal affairs is very strong and leaders’ humanistic leadership approach is generally influenced by three main cultural factors, Bedouin/Arab traditions, Islamic values and the National Agenda of the UAE. Some of the main themes covered in this chapter are respect, dignity protection, tolerance, fairness, generosity, humility, responsibility and leadership development. It is interesting to see the communalities on how the country’s leaders and the prominent leaders’ humanistic approaches coincide and are coherent with the UAE’s cultural roots. This chapter will provide an overview of these examples and try to link those to humanistic leadership theory by explaining how humanistic leadership themes are implemented in the UAE context.

Studies on humanistic approaches have been reviewed as ethical problems at several major US firms came to light in the early 2000s and global issues such as the wealth gap and climate change became apparent. It is crucial to improve research on humanistic leadership that considers both social and economic values to replace conventional leadership theories that emphasize financial success and are now being criticized even by Western scholars and practitioners. This study aims to provide a process model of humanistic leadership that outlines its behavioural attributes in the Japanese context. First, we examine the statements of two Japanese humanistic leaders in terms of definitions of organization and leadership, and discover that their leadership style revolved around three key objectives: societal prosperity, employee happiness, and profitability. Humanistic leadership with “an altruistic mindset” that achieves these three objectives is an ideal leadership model in today’s business world. We also discover that, unlike the existing leadership styles, Japanese humanistic leaders do not identify each stakeholder for which a leader or company is responsible; instead, they pay attention to the benefits to all individuals involved. Second, we examine the perspectives of Eichi Shibusawa (practitioner) and Baigan Ishida (philosopher) to determine how these two individuals created critical Japanese merchant values, which influenced both business leaders. We conclude by presenting propositions on humanistic leadership practices that are based on the aforementioned findings, providing key implications for practitioners seeking to implement this leadership style and paving way for future research on the subject.

The development of soft skills is highly relevant for a humanistic manager, for an inspirational leadership. However, MBAs around the world have not incorporated them as much as needed, which, in part, explain the global management crisis. Hence, in this chapter three top executives of two awarded companies were interviewed in order to know what skills they used to outperformed traditional management and obtain beyond excellent results. Once stated their soft skills they mastered, we compared them to a novel global initiative that is working in advancing the inner development—IDGs—in management and society. The results would give the reader elements to reflect and improve their management styles.

The Tata group, one of the biggest global business enterprises founded in 1868 in pre-independent India, stays committed to the founder Jamsetji Tata’s (1839–1904) belief and conviction that the ‘community is not just another stakeholder in business but the very purpose of its existence.’ The giant strides that the Tata group has made in building its business revenue, profits, and brand in the 150-plus years of its growth is next only to its continued commitment to organized philanthropy and humanitarian goals. The latter maps closely with UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development announced in 2015 with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Tata group’s achievements in the paradoxical goals of sustainability and profitability can be theoretically reconciled by looking at Tata’s uniquely humanistic approach to leading and governing the enterprise. We specifically take note of three values in the Tata group: (1) wealth and profits are not a goal but an outcome, (2) virtuous circle of giving many times over, and (3) the ceaseless momentum of the founder’s vision. Tata group further institutionalized its sustainability values with the creation of the Tata Sustainability Group (TSG) in 2014. We discuss the key activities of TSG. Finally, we use the example of Tata Steel to highlight how in a high-stakes mining industry, indigenization initiatives are critical to industrialization for ensuring sustainability.

This chapter introduces how the humanistic leader Mao Zhongqun, founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fotile Group, creates an organizational culture of high engagement by cultivating employees’ behaviours. Fotile produces kitchen appliances and has almost 20,000 employees. The company promotes a humanistic culture by encouraging employees to practice self-reflection on the “Five Ones” practices to achieve the Fotile culture. This chapter introduces the practices and explains how they help guide employees’ behaviours. We also explore how they have made the company a role model for thousands of other companies in China to learn from Fotile. The results have been very positive. Our work adds to previous literature by showing that a strong company culture is a determinant of employee engagement. It also promotes healthy performance and social development of the enterprise. This research explores how humanistic leaders can increase employee engagement through the company culture. This chapter provides insights for business leaders who are interested in enhancing employee engagement and promoting a positive company culture by cultivating humanitarian behaviours.

Many business companies have responded to UNSDG Goals since they were announced in 2016. However, most of the studies talked in principle or theory. Few have presented specific practices to fulfil the goals. Given the fact that business organizations are the backbones of the society, the chapter introduces the specific practices a Chinese company developed to build itself into a happy enterprise, as an example to show how an individual company can help directly contribute to the fulfilment of the 17 SDG Goals. Good-Ark Electronics Corp. Ltd. set up its mission to benefit mankind in 2009. It was to fulfil its mission; the company developed the eight modules and later realized that they could be directly related to the 17 SDGs. The chapter also explains the critical role the company’s family-like company culture played in designing humanistic practices, as well as the specific ways the eight modules are implemented. We hope the chapter will offer inspiration for sustainability research as well as insights for business leaders who are interested in contributing to the fulfilment of the UNSDG goals.