business assignment

Key findings about Global Leadership

· GLOBE Project, the research in over 60 countries with 150 academic researchers involved, concludes that global leadership models vary across the countries

· Global leadership is quite different from the domestic leadership because there are differences in attitudes, values, and beliefs of managers in the country of origin.

· In other words, leaders operating in different countries will be facing drastically different challenges and requirements.

Global Leadership Attributes

Negative Leader Attributes Loner Irritable Ruthless Asocial Non-explicit Dictatorial Non-cooperative Egocentric

CULTURALLY CONTINGENT LEADER ATTRIBUTES (situational): Enthusiastic Self-sacrificial, Risk taking, Sincere, Ambitious, Sensitive, Self-effacing ,Compassionate, Unique, Willful

Globalization = Increased Complexity

Three dimensions of complexity: Multiplicity Interdependence Ambiguity

· Multiplicity involves increases in: Number of organizations and governments that intend to influence the operations of the firm’s initiatives.

· Global competition in the firm’s industry

· Number and scope of potential global customers.

· Multiple cultures, languages, & time zones required for the firm to engage in global business operations.

· Interventionist governmental regulations and initiatives.

· Global NGOs as potential stakeholders in the firm’s operations.

Interdependence

The necessary mutual dependence and interconnectedness between the firm and its various stakeholders (suppliers, customers, regulators, etc.) caused by globalization.

Interdependence makes management control over desired outcomes more complicated and less predictable

Ambiguity

· A condition in which situations, intentions, corporate actions and individual behaviors can be interpreted differently by various managers.

· Ambiguity causes multiple meanings, incorrect attributions and erroneous interpretations on the part of managers.

· The problem is not obtaining more information but rather understanding and interpreting data correctly.

· Ambiguity increases as multiplicity and interdependence increase.

Global vs. Traditional Leadership

· It differs in degree in terms of issues related to:

· connectedness

· boundary spanning

· complexity

· ethical challenges

· dealing with tensions and paradoxes

· pattern recognition

· building learning environments

· building teams and community

leading large-scale change efforts

· It differs in kind due to:

· The nature of the outcomes the global context potentially can produce in people who must live and work in it.

· Living and working in a global context can trigger transformational processes in managers due to leading constantly under conditions of multiplicity, interdependence, and ambiguity.

Global Leadership: Definition

· Global leadership is the processes and actions through which an individual influences a range of internal and external constituents from multiple national cultures and jurisdictions in a context characterized by significant levels of task and relationship complexity.

Chapter 2

Human nature and leadership

· Theory X (Directive and controlling leadership).

· People dislike work.

· People need to be directed and controlled.

· People want security, not responsibility.

· Theory Y (Supportive leadership).

· People like work.

· People are self-motivated.

· People accept and seek responsibility.

· Styles of Leadership.

· Authoritarian (Example: Larry Ellison, Oracle).

· Characteristics: directive, controlling, task-oriented, subjective evaluation.

· Outcomes: efficient, productive, but also dependence, submissiveness, and loss of individuality.

· Democratic (Example: Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo).

· Characteristics: supportive, two-way communication, informative, guiding.

· Outcomes: satisfaction, cohesion, commitment, group-mindedness, motivation, creativity, participation; somewhat less efficient and more time consuming.

· Laissez-Faire (Example: Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway).

· Characteristics: hands-off, based on trust, delegate authority, autonomy

· Outcomes: grants autonomy to experts to function productively, retention, empowerment; may result in a lack of clear guidance and accountability.

Tasks and Relationships

· Task-oriented style.

· Goal-oriented, achievement-oriented, doing things.

· Initiating structure, production orientation.

· Doing something to achieve group goals.

· Relationship-oriented style.

· Person-oriented, connection-directed, being with people.

· Consideration behavior, employee orientation, concerned for people.

· Treating followers with dignity, building relationships and helping people get along, and making the work setting a pleasant place to be.

· Good leaders are both.

Traditional Theories of Leadership

· “Great Man” theories

· Life of an accomplished leader examined for clues leading to his/her success

· Main focus is on the leader to the exclusion of other variables

· Often emphasize a certain experience or an admirable trait

Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory

· Focuses on the relationship between the leader and each one of the followers

· These relationships significantly influence leadership outcomes

· Leaders adopt different behaviors with individual subordinates

· In-group members vs. out-group members

· In-group members go above and beyond, and the leader does more for them in exchange

· Out-group don’t have such mutually beneficial relationship with the leader and generally only do what is required

Trait Approach

· Prevalent in 1920s & 1930s

· Attempted to show that leaders possess certain characteristics that non-leaders do not

· No consistent relationships between traits & leader effectiveness were found

“Power” Approach

· Examines types of power wielded by leaders

· Reward power

· Coercive power

· Legitimate power

· Referent power

· Expert power

Contingency Approach

· Proposed to take into account the role of the situation in the exercise of leadership

· Set forth various conditions that can intervene in leadership attempts and influence success and failure, such as task structure

· Examples: Managing a fast-food restaurant vs Managing a venture capital fund; Established leader vs New leader

Chapter 3

Culture defined

· The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another (Hofstede)

· The learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols, and traditions that are common to a group of people (Northouse)

· A set of patterns for social collectivities that differentiates among them in meaningful ways (House, Wright & Aditya)

Essential Parameters of Culture

· Culture refers to sharing of important interpretations of entities, activities, and events

· Cultural norms and cultural forces are manifested linguistically, behaviorally, and symbolically

· Common member experiences are inherent in the notion of culture

· Cultural variables have influence largely because members of collectivities identify with an agreed-upon specific set of values and common social identities

· Common experiences and agreed-upon norms have powerful socialization effects on the members of cultures

· Cultural interpretations, symbols, artifacts, and effects are transmitted across generations

· The social influence of cultural forces

· Members of specific cultures are presumed to abide by a set of norms that reflect these commonalities

Ethnocentrism

· Ethnocentrism: the tendency for individuals to place their own culture at the center of their observations of others and the world

· - May be problematic for a global leader

Intercultural Communication Competence

· “the ability to effectively and appropriately execute communication behaviors that negotiate each other’s cultural identity or identities in a culturally diverse environment” (Chen & Starosta 1999: 28).

· Establish interpersonal relationships

· Communicate effectively

· Manage psychological stress

· Adjust to different cultures

· Deal with different society systems

· Understand others

Intercultural Competence Caveats

· “Learning from experience requires more than being in the vicinity of events when they occur; it requires the ability to construe those events and reconstrue them in transformative ways” (Bennett & Salonen, 2007:1)

· Foreign language fluency ≠ intercultural competence

· Cultural knowledge ≠ intercultural competence

· Living in a foreign country does not guarantee intercultural competence

The Five Dimensions of Culture

· Power Distance

· Refers to the extent that the members of a society expect and accept that power is distributed unequally

· Examples: Russia (high), USA (low)

· Individualism

· Ties between individuals are loose

· Individual achievement and freedom highly valued

· Examples: UK (high), China (low)

Masculinity

· Gender role differentiation

· Value of competition, achievement and success. Leadership style (assertive, decisive vs consensus-seeking, less visible/aggressive). Examples: Japan (high), Sweden (low)

Uncertainty avoidance

· High uncertainty avoidance countries: place a premium on job security, career patters, and retirement benefits; resist change (Greece)

· Low uncertainty avoidance countries: willing to take risk with less resistance to change (Singapore)

Long-term orientation

· High long-term orientation: emphasize long-term goals and savings for future betterment (South Korea)

· Low long-term orientation: focus on short-term goals and quick results (Australia).

GLOBE Study

· Purpose: Increase understanding of cross-cultural interactions and the impact of culture on leadership effectiveness

· Quantitative methodology

· Responses of 17,000 managers; 950 organizations; 62 cultures

· 9 cultural dimensions – 7 derived from Hofstede

· Questions: (1) Values (what something should be); (2) Practices (what actually is practiced)

GLOBE Dimensions

Uncertainty Avoidance: Extent to which a society, organization, or group relies on established norms, rituals, and procedures to avoid uncertainty

· Uncertainty accepting societies have been found to be more innovative

· Mangers from high UA countries tend to be more controlling, less delegating, and less approachable

· High UA value career stability, formal rules, & the development of expertise

· Low UA value career mobility and general skills rather than specialized skills

· Low UA managers expect resourcefulness & improvisation

· High UA managers expect reliability & punctuality

Power Distance: Degree to which members of group expect & agree that power is shared unequally

· Participative leadership is significantly predicted by the degree of power distance

· Institutional Collectivism: Degree to which a society encourages institutional or societal collective action

· In-Group Collectivism: Degree to which people express pride, loyalty, & cohesiveness in their organizations or families

· Gender Egalitarianism: Degree to which an organization or society minimizes gender role differences and promotes gender equality

· Assertiveness: Degree to which people in a culture are determined, assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in their social relationships

· Future Orientation: Extent to which people engage in future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification

· Performance Orientation: Extent to which and organization or society encourages and rewards group members for improved performance and excellence

· Humane Orientation: Degree to which a culture encourages and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others

GLOBE key findings

· - National culture does not predict leadership behavior, but it does influence leadership expectations. “Roman leaders lead in a manner expected in Rome.”

· - Leaders are more likely to be perceived as effective if their behavior fits their country’s leadership expectations. “Roman leaders best do as the Romans do.”

· - There are universal, consistent leadership actions that lead to effectiveness and success.

· - Both the cultural fit and degree of leadership behavior determine effectiveness.

Chapter 4

· context – the underlying background upon which social interaction takes place

· low-context culture – a culture in which communication is usually taken at face value without much reliance on unspoken context

· Examples: American, British, Canadian, German, Scandinavian

· high-context culture – a culture in which communication relies a lot on the underlying unspoken context, which is as important as the words used

· Examples: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Middle Eastern

Affective vs Neutral cultures

· One of the keys to successful global leadership is knowing what style and behavior works best in a given culture and adapting appropriately

· In affective cultures, such as the United States, leaders tend to exhibit their emotions

· In neutral cultures, such as Japan and China, leaders do not tend to show their emotions

For example, overtly showing your emotions may be viewed as a lack of personal control and inconsistent with a leader’s high status in neutral cultures

Global Leadership Competencies

Not all competencies are equally essential, but some of them surface repeatedly as important:

· Cognitive complexity

· Behavioral flexibility

· Intercultural competence

· Learning ability

· Integrity

Skills important for future global leaders (Goldsmith et al., 2003)

1. Thinking globally

2. Appreciating cultural diversity

3. Technological savvy

4. Building partnerships and alliances

5. Sharing leadership