Task and Relationship Orientations of Ugandans and Americans.docVIP

Task and Relationship Orientations of Ugandans and Americans [a] Ph.D.， Professor of Management and Public Administration at Nova Southeastern University. His areas of research are organizational leadership and development with a focus on Uganda. He holds a Ph.D. （1976） from the University of California， Los Angeles. Nova Southeastern University， Department of Management， 3301 College Avenue， Fort Lauderdale， FL 33024， USA. [b] DBA， Professor of Management and Human Resources at Nova Southeastern University. His areas of research are performance assessment， education， and diversity management. Nova Southeastern University， Department of Management， 3301 College Avenue， Fort Lauderdale， FL 33024， USA. *Corresponding author. Address： Nova Southeastern University， Department of Management， 3301 College Avenue， Fort Lauderdale， FL 33024， USA. Received 25 October 2012； accepted 28 December 2012 Abstract Uganda is emerging as a significant political and economic force on the African continent， but this landlocked nation remains largely a mystery within the international community. The study seeks to build a better understanding of Uganda by comparing the task and relationship orientations of Ugandans and Americans. The Style Questionnaire was used to gather responses from 139 Ugandan and 484 American workers. The findings show that Ugandan workers are not only more relationship oriented than Americans， but their task orientation scores are also higher. The findings also show that Ugandan women are more task oriented than Ugandan men. Awareness of these differences will help international managers assigned to Uganda as well as Ugandan managers adjust their behavior to provide more effective organizational leadership. Key words： Uganda； Task orientation； Relationship orientation； gender； African culture INTRODUCTION In the competitive world of international business， understanding cultural similarities and differences can be an important factor to management success （Matond