Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate a new trend of training mainland Chinese students in Western-style business education in Singapore. The paper examines the influence of the inferred learning effectiveness and cultural dislocation variables when measured across ten commonly used instructional techniques. Design/methodology/approach -The use of consensual qualitative research allowed the data to be qualitatively analysed. The random selection of 20 participants represents mainland Chinese students, from the northern, southern, eastern and western regions. The study reports the level of knowledge acquisition, the relationship between comfort and knowledge acquired and the differences between the active and passive instructional techniques on students' learning effectiveness. Findings -Rote-learning styles of instructional techniques may not be the Chinese students' only preferred choice in terms of acquisition of knowledge and how they learn most effectively.Research limitations/implications -The present exploratory study provides a starting-point for further research into understanding how to teach Western-based business education to mainland Chinese students in Singapore. Practical implications -The findings will give institutions conducting Western-based education programs in Singapore an advantage in providing effective learning pedagogies, and will assist in increasing their quality, which will enable them to nurture well-qualified business professionals. Social implications -The quality of the educational standard and its compatibility with the Asian client base are further enhanced both in terms of contents' intensity and educational services provided to students. Originality/value -The paper offers practical help from the perspective of the curriculum design and development of an effective business educational framework to sustain profitability by offering tailor-made, superior quality course programs.

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Purpose This paper aims to conceptualize and discuss empathic organizational culture and leadership along with organizational implications. Design/methodology/approach The authors reviewed literature to conceptualize empathic organizational culture and leadership. They referred to Hofstede’s organizational culture concept and studies on empathy to explore how leader–follower relationships are influenced by a leader’s empathic disposition. Findings Organizational leadership is instrumental in shaping employee performance. While work design, culture, peer support and resource accessibility are discernible, leadership style, control and others are covert. Leaders’ empathic attitudes and dispositions can positively influence organizational functions for improved performance. This review suggests that organizational culture should support growth, proper functioning and effective coordination between employees for improved organizational effectiveness. Research limitations/implications The authors conducted searches in leadership and management journals to help conceptualize leaders’ empathic disposition. Future researchers may explore other bodies of literature and the cultural demographic differences in exhibiting empathic leadership and its effectiveness. Researchers can explore how empathic culture relates to job motivation, satisfaction and commitment. The authors suggest that future research may explore how employees’ and supervisors’ behaviors and interactions can create an empathic organizational culture. Practical implications The authors identify the characteristics in an empathic leader to articulate the role of empathy in leadership. Alignment between person, group norms and organizational values is more important than the existence of culture. Originality/value Empathy is studied by researchers from various disciplines. Similarly, employee well-being has received attention from organizational researchers from many fields. However, researchers have given inadequate attention to conceptualizing an empathic organizational culture and its interrelationship with leadership. The authors offer a more positive perspective to the leader-member exchange (LMX) research by describing how leaders can sustain positive relationships with employees rather than the purely transactional exchanges that characterize LMX.

Purpose -This exploratory research project investigated how mainland Chinese business students studying overseas conceptualize and describe the learning effectiveness of ten different instructional techniques commonly encountered in their business courses. A large numbers of mainland Chinese students enroll in business courses in private international institutions in Singapore -dislocated from their home cultures -but needing to adapt to Western learning curricula and ultimately to acquire proficiency in Western business practices. Certain instructional techniques are likely to bridge the cultural gap better than others. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -Twenty consenting students selected from 400 þ geographically diverse Chinese students participating in a larger study provided face-to-face interview information on how different instructional techniques stimulated different aspects of content acquisition, learner group dynamics, decision-making, learning efficiency, comfort, flexibility, familiarity, and applicability. Findings -Interviewees' free-form descriptions of "learning effectiveness" included phrases such as "quality of learning", "control over my learning", "scope of knowledge", "efficiency of learning", "gaining/acquiring knowledge", "understanding theories", "flexibility in time and place", "applicability of new information", "attractive learning environment", "[absence of] ambiguity and uncertainty", "security and ease of mind", etc. Their 340 descriptors were classified into 30 qualitative indicator categories, four of them common to many instructional techniques and ten more specific to individual techniques. Originality/value -Although Chinese mainland students generally prefer rote-learning styles of instructional techniques due to their prolonged exposure to it, rote-style techniques may not always be the preferred choices for learning effectiveness and adaptation to new culture norms and practices. This paper reports qualitative "consultations" with learners in new cultures and argues for holistic and engaged approaches to learning effectiveness for students dislocated from their home cultures while providing a starting-point for further research in mainland Chinese students' Western-based business education in Singapore and elsewhere.

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