ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the leadership orientation of Afghan and Thai respondents by exploring their task and relationship orientations to glean best practices for application in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan. While there are many published studies on the Thai work culture and leadership practices, research about Afghan citizens is limited. Using the Style Questionnaire, we compared the leadership orientations of 400 respondents from each nation based on their citizenship on the task and relationship-orientation continuum. To gain some insights, we reflect and explore the Afghan orientation of getting along and compare it with the cultural practices of people in Thailand, where politicians have managed their political affairs more peacefully with their neighbors. Both Afghanistan and Thailand’s cultures are high-context and collective; therefore, people are presumed to be more relationship-oriented, and this study found statistically significant support for this presumption. While respondents from both countries do have a stronger focus on their relationships, in comparison, data shows that their task orientation is significantly lower. Analysis, recommendations for inclusion training, dealing with societal / workplace mobbing, and the study’s limitations are presented toward the end of the paper. The findings are useful for managers, political leaders, and expatriates working in these two South and East Asian countries.
KEYWORDS
Afghan leadership orientation, Thai cultural orientations, relationship- orientation, task-orientation, inclusion, societal mobbing; training