Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.6. Hypotheses
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2.6. Hypotheses
Based on the research questions and the discussion of the variables in this study, there are some hypotheses proposed in this study:
1. To carry on the poverty alleviation policy, do leaders display the effective leader‟s behaviors proposed? How these behaviors realized/manifested in the leadership process?
Assumption:
Leaders do display the effective leader’s behaviors to carry on the poverty alleviation policy. In terms of integrity behaviors, leaders manifested their integrity into impersonality, honesty and consistency. In terms of leader’s skill behaviors, the leaders manifested their skills into administrative skill and communication skill. The administrative skills include managing people, managing resources and technical competence. Meanwhile, communication skills include listening, oral communication, writing and nonverbal communication. Finally, in terms of leader’s influence behaviors, leaders manifested this into exchange tactics and coalition tactics.
2. Did or did not situational factors affect leaders to behave towards their objectives?
How situation factors did affect leader‟s behaviors?
Hypothesis 2:
Since the observed leaders are those who have good performance during their ruling, we assume that leaders did not affected by moderating variables.
3. Is there correlation between the effective leader‟s behaviors and the local government performance? How the effective leader‟s behaviors affect local government performance?
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43 Hypothesis 3:
When the p value > 0.05 we cannot reject the null hypothesis
H0 = there is no correlation between the leader’s behaviors and the local government performance
On the other,
When p value < 0.05 we can reject the null hypothesis
Ha = there is correlation between the leader’s behaviors and the local government performance.
Since the observed leaders are those whose region had good government performance, we assume that leaders’ behaviors affect performance positively.
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The Contextual Background
3.1. Indonesian Leadership
In chapter II we have briefly discussed about the cultural characteristic of the regions observed. In this chapter, we will discuss the characteristics in general. Since the aim of the current study is to identify the effective leadership behaviors in Indonesian local government, the following discussion presents the characteristics of Indonesian leader in different cases.
We found only few studies have discussed explicitly the Indonesian leaders‟ political behaviors. Nevertheless, we consider they are relevant for the current study discussion.
3.1.1. Indonesian community characteristics as contingency factor of local government performance
Indonesia consists of hundreds of distinct native ethnic and linguistic groups.
Its territory is clustered into 6 areas: Sumatera, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Papua. The dominant ethnic group in Indonesia is the Javanese (Java Indonesia.org 2011). Not only the Javanese is dominant in culture, but politically Indonesia has been influenced by the Javanese culture. To be Javanese means to be a person who is civilized and who knows his manners and his place (Geertz 1989, Koentjaraningrat 1985). The individual serves as a harmonious part of the family or group. Life in society should be characterized by rukun (harmonious unity), which Mulder (1983) has described:
Rukun is soothing over of differences, cooperation, mutual acceptance, quietness of heart, and harmonious existence. The whole of society should be characterized by the spirit of rukun, but whereas its behavioral expression in relation to the supernatural and to superiors is respectful, polite, obedient, and distant, its expression in the community and among
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one's peers should be akrab (intimate) as in a family, cozy, and kangen (full of the feeling of belonging) (Mulder 1983).
To achieve rukun, persons should be primarily group members; their individuality should be expressed through the group. All overt expressions of conflict should be avoided. Unlike Western culture, which regards individualism and group belonging as mutually exclusive, most Javanese consider the two intimately related (Mulder 1983). Mutual assistance and sharing of burdens (gotong royong), within both the family and the community, should reflect the concept of rukun (Mulder 1983;
Koentjaraningrat 1985). The preceding discussion indicates that there are two different cultures exist here, the collectivism which is represented by the Javanese culture and the individualist which represents the Western culture. Hofstede (1991) defines individualism and collectivism as follows:
Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive ingroups, which throughout people‟s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
In the context of leadership, according to Triandis (1993), the image of the ideal leader is likely to be different in collectivist and individualist culture. The ideal collectivist leader is paternalistic, taking good care of the ingroup. Such a leader would support, solve personal problems, and generally show maintenance and consideration behaviors towards their follower. Meanwhile, the ideal leader for individualist is the one who allows them to do their own thing, but is supportive when they need help. It is one who will respect and admire their distinctiveness, who
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47 accepts their search for pleasure and achievement, and helps them with interpersonal competition. In Indonesia, to be effective leaders should perform the ideal leader characteristics of collectivist culture. That is, not only leader be a manager, but they also a protector, a mentor, a father and must be responsible for their follower and their extended family (Widyahartono 2007, Gani 2004). To have the authority or power as a leader in Indonesian society, there are three sources of authority or power identified:
factionalism (Barth 1993), favors and moral influences of ethical qualities (Antlov and Cederroth 1994).
Derives from the Seminar of Perkembangan Sosial-Budaya dalam Pembangunan Nasional (the Development of Socio-culture in the National Capacity Building) in 1970, Koentjaraningrat discussed in his book “Kebudayaan, Mentalitas dan Pembangunan” (1974) about the stereotype of Indonesian mentality. He mentioned that 84 percent of Indonesian people are rural society with peasant mentality and 16 percent are urban society with an employee (noble) mentality. The peasant mentality is characterized by the following values and beliefs that 1) they value working only for the purpose to find something to eat for the day; 2) they believe that people should live harmoniously with the nature, therefore human should not take the natural resources more than they need to; 3) they highly value the concept of sama-rata-sama-rasa (equality and same effect) hence people should not be self-assertive and must stay equal. The point of these values is, the peasant culture embraces people to live in harmony, therefore they avoid competition.
On the other, the noble mentality is characterized by the following attitude that 1) they value working as the way to make them happy by earning cash to buy luxurious things; 2) they enjoy daydreaming and believe that people has their own fate therefore they let the soul to follow its destiny; 3) they have a mentality of
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superior oriented that they tend to wait for superior direction and avoid disagreement with the superior which also known as asal bapak senang (as long as the boss happy) motto. The point of these values is the noble‟s values prefer to play safe in order to fulfill their needs.
By comparing the two characteristics, it seemed that the peasants have positive value which is illustrated by the need for harmony with the nature. It suggests that we should not take the natural resources more than we need and maintain the environment in balance. They were right in fact, floods happened in Indonesia in the past couple years were partly caused by human greed that is the illegal logging. On the other hand, it is a positive value as well for the noble groups to work harder in order to pursue something that they want. Unfortunately, they worked hard only for having luxurious materials which it may lead to corruption if they cannot have enough money. Moreover, ingratiation (in negative meaning) practices which are illustrated by as long as the boss happy value may carry the patronage values into the organization. As a consequence, the values might fail the public service delivery as it was studied by Blunt et.al (2012). We concern the capability of regional leaders in identifying the characteristics of their community. It is concerned because the peasant and noble mental attitudes of Indonesian people might impede the nation building of Indonesia (Marzali 2005).
The preceding discussion shows that there are values characterize the Indonesian community. The noble and peasant mentality has positive and negative value if it is related to the development process. Effective leader in Indonesian society which represent the collectivist society should perform the ideal leader characteristics of collectivist culture. That is, not only leader be a manager, but they also a protector, a mentor, a father and must be responsible for their follower and their extended
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49 family. Additionally, to be effective, the Indonesian leader should also know the source of power to lead, that is by factionalism, favors and moral influence.
Regarding the local government performance, we have not found any study which examines the values discussed previously. We would argue that only Blunt et.al study might represent the study between the community values and the performance of healthcare and educational services.
Therefore, in this current study, we try to examine patronage practice and local culture of the selected regions. We believe that regions have different community characteristics. In other words, the regions might differ in their culture, hence their local government performance also differences.
3.1.2. Effective leadership in Indonesia
Irawanto‟s (2009) study of national culture and leadership practices in Indonesia found that the characteristics of effective leaders in Indonesia are different from Westerners in which Indonesians emphasis collective well-being and show a strong humane orientation within their society. Paternalistic leadership style is also identified in Indonesian organization culture. Employees expect their leader to not only be a manager, but they are also a protector, a mentor, a father and must be responsible for them and their extended family (Widyahartono 2007, Gani 2004). A leader is expected to behave wisely and honestly which in return this will repay with gratitude, obedience, respect and identification from their followers.
Moreover, leaders favor toward civilian supremacy can be an effective strategy to legitimate their authority when pressure was great from the political opposition and civil society forces (Kim, Liddle and Said 2006). This favor can be inferred as supporting behaviors of effective leadership practices. As in Indonesia‟s
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case, the choices made during the presidency of B.J Habibie were constrained and enabled by the characteristics of Suharto‟s New Order and by the circumstances under which Suharto fell, which included mass protests and substantial public pressure for reform. To pacify the crisis, one of the important actions taken by Habibie is to organize the presidential election within a year. Some new political parties were formed and newspaper licenses would no longer be revoked for political reasons.
Habibie‟s decision to transform Indonesia into a genuine democracy created a context in which the armed forces were constrained to follow suit. To pursue this, he worked closely with Armed Forces Commander General Wiranto to gradually discontinue the dual functionality doctrine of the armed forces from the electoral arena. Although Habibie‟s presidency cannot be maintained after Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati won the election, his preference on goals, strategies and tactics for achieving those goals during his presidency is assumed to be effective. In the crisis situation Habibie preferred to accommodate the civil demand and yield his interests in order to gain trust from the people. This strategy is effective when the conflicted issue is not too important for either the conflicted parties (Sunyoto and Burhanuddin 2011).
Furthermore, Sulaiman‟s (2008) study of Indonesia foreign policy during Sukarno‟s presidency showed two criteria for a successful leader. The first and most important factor is the leader‟s ability to harness and to solidify their political resources, enabling them to keep pushing the constraints and to increase their freedom of action. Sukarno was able to transform his popular appeal into political capital and also able to balance competing interests in Indonesia, even though theoretically he was constricted by his role as the figurehead president. He also managed to harness international issues from the Irian Barat question of the Cold War, transforming political constraints into his assets, and further solidifying his position as the
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51 unassailable leader of Indonesia. The second important factor is the leader‟s ability to check the power of the opposing side. Struggle for power among various political factions were occurred during Sukarno‟s presidency, however, those able technocrats involved within the struggle were unable to transform their potential power into political resources due to Sukarno strategy to isolate them through others party domination.
Other lessons can be learned from Sulaiman‟s study is first, the perception of threat matters and makes a huge impact in the decision-making process. Second, power matters and leaders are interested in gaining more power at the expense of political rivals. Third, sometimes leaders are chosen because they are the least offensive of all the options, while the more competent ones are shunted aside in order to prevent them from gaining more power. Fourth, not-so-great leaders can have an impact on the structure. Finally, effective leader such as Sukarno could have a great impact on both domestic and international politics. Even though Sukarno was quite incompetent as an administrator, he excelled in manipulating public support, balancing competing interest groups in Indonesia in order to get what he wanted.
Finally, the last effective leadership characteristics in Indonesia can be illustrated by the act of the former Solo city Mayor, Joko Widodo. Most people knew him for his humanize approach when dealing with street vendors. He conducted dialogues for almost six months until the street vendors are finally willing to remove.
Indeed, within the dialogues, things are negotiated between the Mayor and the vendors such as a route for the public transportation to pass the new location and improve the road conditions to be accessible. In the end, the street vendors finally
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agree to move to the new area without violence and even they celebrate the movement4.
The preceding discussion indicates that the most effective leaders in Indonesia are those who perform influence behaviors dominantly during the leadership process.
Accordingly, it shows ideal characteristics of the leader in a collectivist society. In the context of effective leadership behaviors, it seems that the influence behaviors are manifested or realized through supporting, recognizing and personal appeal.
3.2. Local Government in Indonesia
According to Bardhan & Mookherjee (2006), the design and nature of implementation of decentralization have varied in many ways: comprehensive or piecemeal, uniform or uneven throughout different regions of the country, and gradual evolution or big-bang reforms. To argue more, governing is about territorial in which its resources are extracted by the rulers and the willingness of the population is retained to remain within the state‟s scope. To achieve these ends, the modern state consists of an intricate network of organizations, including (1) the central government, (2) its field offices in cities, towns and villages, and (3) sub-national governments such as elected regional and local authorities (Hague and Harrop 2001).
For the unitary state, Hague & Harrop (2001) propose a three-broad ways for power to be dispersed from the center, the first and least significant is deconcentration. This is purely a matter of administrative organization; it refers to the location of central government employees away from the capital. The second is decentralization which is mean delegating policy execution to sub-national bodies, traditionally local authorities but also a range of other agencies. The third and most radical form of power dispersal is devolution. It occurs
4 Compiled from many sources
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53 when the center grants decision-making autonomy (including some legislative powers) to lower levels.
The 1945 Constitution after amendment stated that Indonesia is a unitary state based on the regional autonomy principle which its region is divided into three types of autonomous region: Propinsi (Province), Kabupaten (Regency) and Kota (City). The three ways of power dispersal in regional autonomy in Indonesia are decentralization, deconcentration and co-administrative (medebewind) (Rohdewohld 1995).
In the Indonesian context, the term of decentralization should not be understood from the administrative perspective only, instead it is also political (Hidayat 2007). From a political perspective, for instance, the term decentralization has been used to express the mechanism by which central government devolves its power to local governments through the existence of the local parliament. Meanwhile, from an administrative point of view, decentralization is defined as the delegation of administrative authority from central to local government to efficient the public service performance. The matters transferred under the decentralization principle become the full responsibility of the regional governments, including authority for policy formulation, planning, implementation, as well as funding. Decentralization discussed here is not necessary about executing the central government function only, but it has reached the decision-making autonomy for the sub-national level.
Moreover, Deconcentration shall refer to central government authorities which are delegated to the Governor (provincial level) as central government representatives at the lower levels, or to other vertical institutions. Vertical institutions here are referred to the apparatus of ministries and/or non-ministerial government agencies managing the Governmental Functions that are not transferred to certain regions as a result of De-concentration. Hence, the policy making in this principle still remains at the central level.
Finally, Co-administrative task shall refer to assignments given by the central government to
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the regional government to implement parts of governmental functions under the authority of the central government. Or, the provincial government gives assignments to district/city government to implement parts of governmental functions under the authority of the provincial government.
In the literature and in common usage, terms are not always used precisely. Some use the decentralization term to refer to a shift away of authority from the center whether managerial/administrative, political, spatial or fiscal, while some use the term to refer to a shift away of functions. As consequences, this different idea had caused misunderstanding between the central government and the local government in Indonesia in the beginning of decentralization implementation (Bappenas and UNDP, 2008). Some local governments in Indonesia thought that decentralization or regional autonomy is a way to be free from the central government control. One of the reasons that this different interpretation of decentralization occurred was due to presidential turned over from Habibie to Abdurrahman Wahid which had caused the preliminary process of the socialization of „the right‟ regional autonomy mechanism was interrupted.5 In effect, influenced by different experiences and past historical events, people at central and regional level perceive decentralization differently.
Goldsmith in Maksum (2008) mentioned that there are two main paradigms of the local
Goldsmith in Maksum (2008) mentioned that there are two main paradigms of the local