Paternalistic Leadership: Leading Like a Good Father

The idea of a ‘Good Father’ is particularly relevant in a society with a paternalistic culture, where people tend to respect those who are older, wealthier, more knowledgeable, or occupy a higher position in the social hierarchy. This is what we call a paternalistic culture. A cross-cultural study has shown that employees in Mexico tend to demonstrate stronger paternalistic values than employees in the United States because Mexican cultural values emphasise strong family relationships and respect for hierarchy. Mexico therefore has a more paternalistic culture than the United States.

Paternalistic Leadership and Power Distance

Paternalistic leadership is particularly suitable for societies with high power distance. Power distance refers to the extent to which people in a society accept or reject social inequality related to age, wealth, intelligence, social group, status, or other forms of hierarchy within an organisation. Power distance is considered high when people tend to accept that those who are more intelligent, wealthier, older, or belong to a particular social status may receive greater social benefits than they do. By contrast, low power distance exists when people are less willing to accept such social inequality. Rich and poor people are expected to receive the same treatment. Older and younger people are expected to be treated equally. People expect social benefits to be distributed more equally. According to Hofstede, Indonesia has a relatively high power-distance score of 78 out of 100, Mexico scores even higher at 81, while the United States scores 40 out of 100. Indonesia’s cultural context therefore makes it easier for leaders to adopt a paternalistic leadership style.

Leading Like a Good Father

Leading like a good father requires a leader with a strongly authoritative personality—someone who acts as a father figure, upholds moral values, and treats the people they lead as members of a family. A paternalistic leader expects trust, obedience, and loyalty from the people they lead. Paternalistic leadership views the organisation as a family, where the working lives and personal lives of those they lead are not treated as separate.

Paternalistic leadership has three main characteristics: autocratic, benevolent, and moral

The autocratic characteristic emphasises that paternalistic leaders make decisions authoritatively, allowing them to respond very quickly to various opportunities and problems within the organisation. The benevolent characteristic emphasises that paternalistic leaders set an example through the way they live, making themselves role models for the people they lead. The moral characteristic reflects the leader’s commitment to upholding moral values in both personal and organisational life. These values guide and bind the way people interact and work within the organisation. So, how about you? Does this leadership style suit you?

Chinese businesspeople often use paternalistic leadership when developing their organisations. People who work in the organisation, whether family members or professional employees, may be treated as part of one extended family. For example, a paternalistic leader may be willing to support employees by paying for their children’s education and healthcare, or by giving employees’ children the opportunity to work in the organisation in the future. Do you do something similar in your organisation?

Various conflicts within an organisation can often be resolved simply through the presence of a leader who acts as a good father. People are likely to accept the paternalistic leader’s decisions regarding organisational conflicts because they trust that the leader will make the best decision for everyone involved. This is one of the strengths of paternalistic leadership. A combination of professionalism and a sense of family shapes the organisation’s business practices. In everyday interactions, people may even use family-oriented forms of address such as ‘bro’, ‘sis’, ‘uncle’, and ‘auntie’ instead of the more formal ‘Mr’ and ‘Ms’.

A paternalistic leader is likely to possess charisma, which helps make the leadership process more effective. This charisma develops because the leader is authoritarian yet kind, morally grounded, and sets an example through the way they live. Paternalistic leadership places considerable emphasis on the personal qualities of the leader. Would you agree?