Cross-culture management: An empirical examination on task and relationship orientations of Japanese and Omani working adults

Globalisation has increased the demand for an international group of leaders who can lead multinational corporations across cultures successfully. Understanding the leadership orientations of the international workforces becomes a necessity for these companies. This paper distinctively examines the task and relationship orientations of working adults in Japan and Oman. Through the analysis of 419 responses including 231 respondents from Japan and 188 respondents from Oman, it appears that Omani working adults are more task-oriented than Japanese working adults. Gender is not a factor in either the task or the relationship orientations of all respondents. However, there is a significant interaction in the relationship scores based on gender between the two cultures: Omani male respondents are more relationship-oriented than their Japanese counterparts while Japanese female respondents are more relationship-oriented than their Omani counterparts. In this paper, managerial implications, recommendations for future research and limitations are discussed.