..Current Environment in Taiwan

Taiwan has a number of major diversity and interdependency factors. In the forefront is the fact that Taiwan is still in an unfinished civil war with China[8]. There is the fear of death and destruction that an outbreak of violence with China can bring. In addition, a significant segment of the economy is dependent on commerce with China with a large ex-patriot population working in China. And a majority of the population identifies with China culturally while a lesser segment claims a separate ethnicity, which is real enough in their own minds but is nevertheless a mirage created by a 50-year Japanese occupation.[9]

With China ever present in its collective mind, the populace is divided into the pro-independence Pan-Green alliance and the anti-independence Pan-Blue coalition of pro-status quo and pro-reunification stances. The ruling DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) and its Pan-Green allies lost the majority in the critical local elections to the Pan-Blue parties and the DPP went through a major internal restructuring. The political landscape is made ever more confusing while presenting large openings for ruthless opportunists to exploit, because a poorly written constitution does not clearly divide the powers between the governing branches.[14]

There is also concern about the economy slowing down, growing unemployment concerns, and a less than robust GDP growth rate that averaged, according to The Economist, 3.1% in 2001-2005 and that had even dipped to -2.18% in 2001. A number of corruption scandals related to President Chen's family and aides that may implicate Chen himself still have resulted in a large demonstration by an estimated 1-to-3% of the population.

Since September 9th … protesters, clad in red as a sign of anger, have camped in the city centre. On September 15th hundreds of thousands joined them in heavy rain for what the organisers described as a “siege” march from the presidential palace to the main railway station. … Mr Chen's popularity has plummeted in recent months amid allegations of corruption involving senior aides, a son-in-law and the president's wife. In August the president himself was questioned by prosecutors over the use of false invoices to claim money from a fund available to him for pursuing clandestine diplomacy. [10]

And while we do not have the Organizational Achieving Style for Taiwan, because Taiwan is not an organization, we may infer Taiwan's connective leadership context from an organizational study by Hofstede[5]. The plot shown above was prepared from Hofstede’s Figures 5, 6, and 7. The Hofstede study ranks Taiwan slightly above average on a Power Distance Index (on par with Japan and France) and also slightly above average on the Uncertainty Avoidance Index (on par with France and Switzerland). The same article lists Taiwan at near bottom on the Individualism Index (polar opposite to USA and UK) and slightly below average on the Masculinity Index (on par with France).

Taiwan’s slightly larger Power Distance Index, and mildly stronger Uncertainty Avoidance Index, and moderately feminine Masculine Index indicate a large degree of diversity in most aspects of organizational behavior. Thus, Taiwan’s political environment is fertile ground for Stage 2 leaders to divide and conquer.

On the other hand, Taiwan’s very low Individualism Index, termed “collectivist” by Hofstede, is a reflection of the Confucian ethic that extends the concept of family through the government all the way to the head of state. In Taiwan, the president takes on the role of the father figure. As we shall see in the subsequent sections, both Chen and Shih may have based their strategies on a strong Confucian ethic based behavioral tendency.

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  • Introduction
  • Table of Contents
  • Methodology
  • Elements of Effective Leadership
  • Strategies for Individuals
  • Muslim Women Leadership Status in the Connective Era>
  • Connective Leadership in the Global Environment
  • Conclusion