Journal of Organizational Change Management

Leadership in Romania
Ingrid Aioanei
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Leadership in
Leadership in Romania Romania
Ingrid Aioanei
Pontifical Salesian University, Rome, Italy

Abstract 705
Purpose – What is leadership, how do Romanians relate to their organization’s leaders, which are the
most common leadership behaviors and which leadership style is best for Romania? This paper
attempts to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected on actual Romanian leadership and
preferences in leadership’s styles. The questions were grouped according to the two major
continuums: autocratic style versus democracy style and task orientation versus relationship
orientation.
Findings – Regarding the autocratic style-democratic style dimension, Romanian leadership leans
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towards the autocratic style and research results show that leaders in Romania are 55 percent
authoritarian and 45 percent democratic. Romanian leaders are inclined towards less involvement of
subordinates and frequently retain the final decision. They make use of coercion. The autocratic
dimension is slightly higher in state-owned enterprises, due to the strong centralization and to the
remains of communism. The research also indicates that men are more task-orientated (71.8 percent)
than women (64 percent). Since, Romanian organizational leaders are task oriented (67 percent) and
authoritarian (55 percent), the conclusion drawn is that Romanian leaders fit in the “Military Man”
pattern. This conclusion was expected because Romanians exhibited a strong dictatorial leadership
during communism. However, Romanian leaders of the future will move from the Military Man type to
the Academician type, which is still goal-centered, but has a more democratic leadership approach.
Results also showed that Romanians would like to have leaders more democratic-oriented (95 percent)
than authoritarian (5 percent). This is an important shift.
Originality/value – This paper develops a better understanding of Romanian leadership, a subject
that has been largely ignored. The paper offers important knowledge and ideas on that which is
considered to be organizational leadership in Romania, explaining its roots as well as its behavioral
fruits and the contextual environment in which it takes place. Researchers who study organizations
may also find the paper a rich source for future inquiry and a confirmation or challenge to their own
opinions on leadership in Romania.
Keywords Leadership, Democracy, Romania
Paper type Research paper

Research now indicates that the leadership is a highly interconnected systemic process.
The idea that leadership concepts can exist in a vacuum unconnected to other
networked entities and forces is unworkable.
Leadership is a complex areas of human behavior about which much has been
written. It is no wonder that there are a number of competing theories of
leadership. For the reader, normal questions can rise: “Why do we need another
study on leadership?” and “If the general settings of leadership are still argued,
how relevant is a particular study of Romanian leadership?” An answer to the first
question is the more we study the more we have the chance to find a reality which
reflects our own leadership context and that fits better with our current situation. Journal of Organizational Change
Another answer is that Romanian leadership is a rich source. This study will help Management
Vol. 19 No. 6, 2006
us combine research findings over Romanian leadership style with theories over pp. 705-712
Romanian history, culture, political and social environment that explain their q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0953-4814
leadership preferences. DOI 10.1108/09534810610708350
 JOCM While worldwide changes are taking place, Romania in its intentions to align to
19,6 successful economies, has to face different challenges. Romania has to realize that
effective leaders are critical for a successful economy. The intentions for this study are
a better understanding of leadership issues, the key for Romania’s future development.
The purpose of this study is to discover the best leadership behaviors in Romania,
and to build a Romanian leadership model. No model or system of leadership style
706 can anticipate the circumstances, and situations in which the leader must influence the
actions of others. Therefore, this study is limited because we cannot predict the future,
nor can we find a general statement for all possible situations. Any attempt at
capturing the totality of societal and organizational behavior and leadership practices
in a country like Romania with a sample of 100 respondents has obvious limitations.
Diversity in Romania can be explained through the different kind of occupations
that Romanian people had to bear during their history: Russian influence especially in
the eastern part of the country, German influences in Bucovina due to the
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Austro-Hungarian occupation, Ottoman occupation with influences that can be seen

in the southern part of the country and Hungarian influences in the western part.
Other limitations arise out of embedded ness and pervasiveness of culture.

Defining leadership
A review of the leadership literature quickly reveals a myriad of definitions.
The awareness of the complexity relationship, leader-follower-situation is critical. The
leader is a person who occupies a position of responsibility in coordinating the
activities of the group members in their task of attaining a common goal. Leaders must
mobilize their constituents to do something, and induce their willingness to do it.
Leaders are those who give credibility to their words by their actions. Leadership is not
only about leaders but also about followers. Followers are the mechanism through
which common goals are achieved. An adequate analysis of leadership also involves
situations; conditions under which leader behaviors are effective.

Factors of influencing Romanian leadership

The Romanians share an illustrious 1900 year-old history, over which time they have
developed a strong cultural identity and a distinct set of common values. This culture
is a powerful point of reference for the way many Romanians view themselves.
Romanian history was not smooth; it was under different cultural influences and under
a permanent political and economical pressure from outside as well as from inside the
country. Part of the Romanian history it is characterized by Ottoman occupation,
Russian Empire influence, Austro-Hungarian Empire pressure and Latin zone
recognition. All these influences create a local psychology having as main
characteristics complex and causal understanding, capacity of improvising and
finding passenger solutions, creativity and family care.
Romanians see their history as a continuous process, disrupted but never entirely
interrupted by foreign occupation. They value past experience highly and look
backwards for inspiration before taking future action. They cherish certainty, family
and religious values. Romanians have always shown themselves as religious people,
their attitude towards life is characterized by the idea that God has established their
life path and they cannot do anything better besides God’s design for them. They
easily fall in this pessimistic attitude in which one’s failure is motivated by the saying
 “It was God’s will”. Fatalism’s view is surrounding Romanians when they don’t Leadership in
succeed in their purposes, when their plans fail or even when they loose a soccer game. Romania
It can also be observed that in the period after 1989 there are some people, and their
number is increasing, which are holding a viewpoint closer to the master-of-destiny
one.
In order to have a clearer image over today’s Romanian leadership it is important to
acknowledge the influences of political, economical, and cultural factors over the 707
leadership process. Romania’s greatest historical curse is that it is settled in a land of
inevitable domination and permanent interference of contradictory internationally
political streams.
Like many Eastern European countries, Romania has made a huge effort to
introduce an entirely new socioeconomic system based on private enterprise.
Unfortunately, this transformation begins from an extraordinary network of
monopolized industries under state control. Protected from significant competition
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by their monopoly position and guaranteed government financial support, many of

those state-owned companies were inefficient.
The economic system under communist regime was the command economy where
the production of goods and services were all planned by the government for the good
of society. While the objectives of the command economy were to mobilize economic
resources for the public good, just the opposite occurred.
A major exercise in restructuring and liberalization of economy was undertaken
from 1989 onwards. Romania developed a market economy where production was
determined by the interaction of supply and demand. Confusion in the legal system has
deep roots, as Rădulescu-Motru was writing at the beginning of the nineteen century:
In Romanian’s mentality things can’t be redressed without a law. Every one of us has as
supreme ambition the desire of making a law. No one knows how to manage his own activity,
but still, everyone wants to make a law in order to direct everybody’s activity.
Petre Ţuţea, a Romanian philosopher and specialist in economic problems stressed the
importance of individual freedom and initiative, pointing out the potential that lies in
all people. As people began to experience freedom the autocratic leadership style began
to lose power. Still, the authoritarian style was well preserved in some systems and
especially in state-owned enterprises. The concept of culture, which has become an
essential factor in understanding different economic and business environments,
impacts leadership behavior.

Traditionalism versus modernism

The strength of traditionalism in Romania is well known. Traditionalism emphasizes
the family, class, revealed truths and reverence for the past. Usually, family-related
matters are more important than work matters. Traditions are well preserved and
considered a reason of pride. On the other hand, modernism stresses merit, rationality
and progress. Even if Romania is marching towards a more developed economy
traditionalism is still strong.

Idealism versus pragmatism

Everyone knows the saying “the Romanian was born a poet.” Romanians have always
had a very prosperous, active imagination and a vivid creativity, which allowed a rich
 JOCM poetic development. Still this imagination was shadowed and tempered by a practical
19,6 spirit, which often became pragmatic and less poetic.

Collectivism versus individualism

Romanians are highly collectivist oriented and some say that this feature is a remainder
from the communist period. C. Rădulescu-Motru, a well-known Romanian Philosopher
708 and Psychologist who lived in the nineteenth century said about Romanians:
. . .the profession which draws Romanians attention mostly is the one that doesn’t separate
him from the crowd. He likes the feeling of being in the middle of the crowd, of speaking and
being helped by the crowd.

Power distance
Romania has a moderate-to-large power distance dimension. Romanians are accepting
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the disparities in wealth and authority between high and low status members of a
group or organization. Romanians tend to accept centralized power and depend heavily
on superiors for structure and direction. Different laws and rules for superiors and
subordinates are accepted, more, it is expected that leaders use the privileges inherent
in their position to give orders.

Uncertainty avoidance
Romania exhibits a low tolerance for uncertainty and a preference for certain
situations. They are also less comfortable with risk taking and nonconformist
behavior. In Romanian organizations there is a high need for written rules and
regulations. Therefore, authoritative decision-making behavior is preferable by most
subordinates. Improving the quality of life for employees in Romanian organizations
implies offering more security, and more task structure on the job.

Masculinity
Romania is now a moderate-to-high masculine country with important feminine
influences. The Romanian woman is going through an emancipation process in order to
achieve a social position closer to the men. A popular show “Three-times a Woman”
presented by Mihaela Tatu is fully illustrating the idea of the Romanian woman who has to
be, at the same time, the perfect wife, mother and career woman. Even with this ongoing
woman’s emancipation, Romania has still a relatively high masculinity dimension.

Stereotypical leaders
An element useful in setting a complete image over the Romanian leadership styles
would be the study of stereotypical leaders. In order to do this, we will a leadership
model with four styles based on a matrix containing two crucial dimensions: autocratic
versus democratic and task orientation versus relationship orientation (Figure 1).
We can identify a stereotypical leader for each quadrant and we will call them:
military man, politician, academician and clergyman.

Military man
A military man is a task-oriented autocrat. He is a man of command, always stressing
task accomplishment. In achieving his purposes, he exercises a tight control over all
 Leadership in
A
RELATIONSHIP ORIENTATION
D
Romania
U E
T POLITICIAN CLERGYMAN M
O O
C C
R MILITARY MAN ACADEMICIAN R 709
A A
T T
I TASK ORIENTATION I
C C

S
S T
T Y
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Y L
L E
E
Figure 1.

processes in the organization, defines and sets goals, controls goal fulfillment and gives
rewards and punishments. He acts as the spokesman of the group and does not allow
others to have initiative. He is concerned only about results; always asking
subordinates to work harder, increase production. Military man always schedules the
work to be done; telling others what their tasks are, and emphasizes their first
responsibility is to complete their work.

Politician
The politician is a relations-oriented autocrat. He is always seeking power and esteem.
He wants to be known, praised and obeyed. He does not trust people. The politician is
interested in having as many followers as possible and this is a strong enough reason
to show himself as caring for people and relationships. His subordinates fear to
contradict him. This type of leader would never let his subordinates be more clever or
competent than he is because then he would consider them as a threat. Organizational
goals are taken into consideration as long as they coincide with personal objectives.

Academician
The academician is a task-oriented democrat. His priority is to achieve organizational
goals, striving for consensus. He identifies the task, studies it and after being well
acquainted with it starts negotiating with employees about the best ways of
accomplishing the tasks. This type of leader is very aware that in order to achieve
optimal results, it is essential to obtain employees’ commitment and involvement.

Clergyman
The clergyman is a relations-oriented democrat. He allows subordinates complete
freedom in their work. His priority is to assure a pleasant climate in the organization,
good relations between employees and a good subordinate-leader relationship.
He stresses the importance of teamwork in achieving the goals. In his decision-making,
he strives for consensus. He cares about the people around him. Employees find him
reliable and often ask him for help.
 JOCM Research methods and results
19,6 Data were collected on actual Romanian leadership and preferences in leadership’s
styles. A sample of 100 persons with Romanian citizenship were asked to fill in a
questionnaire. In 28 questions, respondents were asked how they felt about their boss
and how they view their actual leader-follower situation. These same questions were
answered regarding preferred best leadership practices. The sample includes people
710 from 22 to 58 years old, 50 percent above the age of 30 and 50 percent below than
30 years old. Respondents were 61 percent females and 39 percent males. All were
employed in Romanian firms: 26 percent in a public institution, 53 percent in private
firms and 21 percent in state-owned companies. Most respondents were enrolled in a
Master degree program at Al.I. Cuza University, Iaşi Romania.
The questionnaires were evaluated using the program statistical package for social
sciences (SPSS). The questions were grouped according to the two major continuums:
autocratic style versus democracy style and task orientation versus relationship
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orientation.
Regarding the autocratic style democratic style dimension, Romanian leadership
leans towards the autocratic style and research results show that leaders in Romania
are 55 percent authoritarian and 45 percent democratic. Romanian leaders are inclined
towards a less involvement of subordinates and frequently retain the final decision.
They make use of coercion. The autocratic dimension is slightly higher in state-owned
enterprises, due to the strong centralization and to the communism’s remains.
For the last element of our research regarding task orientation versus relationship
orientation, research results indicate that Romanian leaders are more task oriented
(67 percent) than relationship oriented (33 percent). This is not a surprise given the fact
that during communism, the importance of achieving the planned production was
stressed. Romanian leaders are more concerned about getting the job done rather than
about the needs of their subordinates. This attitude encourages behaviors like “we
pretend to be working and they are pretending to pay us.”
The research indicates that men more task orientated (71.8 percent) than women
(64 percent). What the conclusions can be drawn from the research? Where can we
place the Romanian organizational leaders? Since, they are task oriented (67 percent)
and authoritarian (55 percent), the conclusion we draw is that Romanian leaders fit in
the Military Man pattern. This conclusion was expected because Romanians exhibited
a strong dictatorial leadership during the communism.
However, times are changing and people apparently starting to see the virtues of
democracy; this “fresh breath.” This idea is consistent with the research findings that
showed that Romanian leadership has shifted between authority (55 percent) and
democracy (45 percent). From this point of view, as democracy behaviors settles,
Romanian leaders of the future will move from the Military Man type to the Academician
type which is still goal centered, but has a more democratic leadership approach.
The second phase of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the
Romanian leadership preferences. Regarding the autocratic democratic continuum,
results revealed that Romanians would like to have leaders more democratic oriented
(95 percent) than authoritarian (5 percent). This is an important shift.
Regarding the task orientation versus relationship orientation continuum, the results
indicated that Romanians would prefer a leadership style with 60 percent task orientation
and 40 percent relationship orientation. However, paradoxically Romanians also want to
 be told what to do and want to be closely supervised. How are these autocratic tendencies Leadership in
compatible with freedom they are requested through a democrat styles? Romania
Those aspects show that Romanians either do not fully understand the difference
between an autocratic leadership style and a democratic one, or they are not ready for
the desired participative leadership. It seems that while they agree with some concepts
involved in a democratic leadership style, they are neglecting others. The dimension of
task versus relationship orientation is difficult to analyze if we are trying to say which 711
of the two is best because, as with some other dimensions, the assumption that seems
to be most productive is that both orientations are equally important. In a stable
environment, it is safe to be completely task orientated. Still the relationship
orientation does not have to be neglected. In a complex, turbulent environment in
which technological and other forms of independence are high, the leader has to value
relationships and the level of trust and communication that will make joint problem
solving and solution implementation possible.
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Our research indicated a moderate-to-strong task orientation (60 percent) and a

large preference for a democratic style (95 percent). Therefore, concluding that
Romanian’s prefer an Academician style.
What we must remember is not to expect every individual to behave in a manner
consistent with those generalizations. Although there is value in making predictions
about human behavior based in the patterns we see in different cultures, there is also
the risk of doing great harm by stereotyping. Leaders often adapt their behavior to suit
their situations.

Conclusions
This paper develops a better understanding of Romanian leadership, a subject that has
been largely ignored. The paper offers important knowledge and ideas on that which is
considered to be organizational leadership in Romania, explaining its roots as well
as its behavioral fruits and the contextual environment in which it takes place.
Researchers who study organizations may also find the paper a rich source for future
inquiry and a confirmation or challenge to their own opinions on leadership in
Romania. After defining leadership and its related concepts, after becoming familiar
with its Romanian features given by Romania’s history, culture, values, political,
economic and social context, after further exploration through scientific research, we
are able to understand that Romanian leadership and Romanians themselves are very
complex and profound.
Nicolae Iorga said:
There is an authority which can be recognized through fear and another one to which people
are looking with love and which is stronger than the other one.
These words are revealing Romanians’ attitude towards authority. Traditionally,
leadership behavior has only been considered efficient in Romania only if it was based
on direction and authority. Romania’s history is full of examples of powerful,
successful leaders like this. Thus, Romanian companies have traditionally searched for
leaders who were strong and also addressed Romanians’ national cultural values.
Throughout their history, Romanians have been used to dealing with authority in
every situation from the family related matters to the battlefield, and now they are
carrying the same behaviors in the newborn democratic Romania.
 JOCM As we have seen in the research results, Romanians would like a more democratic
leadership style in organizations. But are they able to use the work freedom, which
19,6 goes along with democracy in organization’s best interest? Have Romanians achieved
the conscience of the work well done and in time? Are they ready to manage their own
resources and bring out the best possible results without being told and scheduled on
their activities?
712 It is obvious that progress cannot be achieved without a persevering, continuous
and well-organized work. Unfortunately, as we know in Romania the minimum effort
law and the expedient law works. People are working not as hard as they should. We
are probably still too “contemplative” too “poetic” too “mioritic dreamers”. Romanians
will have to value hard work, cherish individual initiative; will have to learn how to use
their freedom in order to seek self-development. Romanians have to learn is how to
think for themselves without waiting to be told what to do and without expecting
others to take decisions for them. The path to a real democratic leadership style is still
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long and impossible to achieve if these changes do not become reality.

One may find these lines too pessimistic. But it is not true. To present Romania’s
reality, with its qualities and faults, to admit its weak points, its problems and
transition difficulties, its dark sides like corruption, favoritism, means only to admit a
reality. And the first step for a country’s progress is to admit who it is and where it is.
This paper acknowledges Romania’s reality under the existing leadership perspective.
In this way, the first step has been made. What about the rest? It lies in our desire to
build a new Romanian Reality, a better one. It lies in Romanians’ peoples willingness to
change, to do something better, to built a greater future. It lies in our new generations
of leaders able to provide a proper organizational framework for a stable economy.
It lies in our hearts.

Further reading
Drăghicescu, D. (1907), “Din psihologia poporului român” (“From Romanian people’s
psychology”), Librăria Leon Alcalay, Bucureşti.
Iorga, N. (1972), “Cugetări” (“Deep thoughts”), Ed. Albatros, Iaşi.
Johnson, D.W. and Johnson, F.P. (1994), Joining Together. Group Theory and Group Skills,
Paramount Communications Company, Sacramento, CA.
Marino, A. (1995), “Pentru Europa. Integrarea României. Aspecte ideologice şi culturale” (“For
Europe. Romania’ integration. Ideological and cultural aspects”), Polirom, Iaşi.
Rădulescu-Motru, C. (1990), “Sufletul neamului nostru. Calităţi bune şi defecte” (“Our nation’s
soul. Good qualities and faults”), Ed. Anima, Bucureşti.
Roberts, W. (1987), Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, Warner Books, New York, NY.
Ţuţea, P. (1992), “Între Dumnezeu şi neamul meu” (“Between God and my people”), Ed. Arta
Grafică, Bucureşti.

Corresponding author
Ingrid Aioanei can be contacted at: ingrid2607@yahoo.com

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