Culturally Responsive Global Leadership Development

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DOI: 10.1177/1038411108099289 2009; 47; 41 Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources

Mansour Javidan and Ali Dastmalchian Managerial implications of the GLOBE project: A study of 62 societies

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Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)

Managerial implications of the GLOBE project: A study of 62 societies

Mansour Javidan Thunderbird School of Global Management, Glendale, Arizona, USA

Ali Dastmalchian University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

This paper provides an overview of the GLOBE project, a comprehensive study of leadership and culture in 62 societies and discusses the practical implications of the study for managers and leaders. The GLOBE study identifies nine cultural and six leadership dimensions and was designed to examine a number of theoretical propositions and research questions. This paper, while emphasizing aspects of the study from the Asia Pacific region, highlights six major managerial implications of the GLOBE project ranging from more static information on the cultural attributes and leadership dimensions of specific countries or groups of countries (clusters) to more dynamic implications such as relationships between culture and leadership, and relationships between culture and societal phenomena. The paper concludes by emphasizing the significance of the GLOBE study’s practical implications for global managers (including HR practitioners) in today’s global business world.

Jane Smith is the Australian-born Global New Product Development General Manager of a French cosmetics company in charge of the Asia Pacific region. Working from her regional office in Singapore, this is what her typical day looks like. At 7:30 am she has a video conference meeting with country managers for updates on their activities. There are some

41

Correspondence to: Professor Ali Dastmalchian, Dean, Faculty of Business, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada; e-mail: [email protected]

Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources. Published by SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC; www.sagepublications.com) on behalf of the Australian Human Resources Institute. Copyright © 2009 Australian Human Resources Institute. Volume 47(1): 41–58. [1038-4111] DOI: 10.1177/1038411108099289.

A day in the life of a global manager

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significant staffing issues locally and in some of the regions which she needs to understand. This is particularly so for southern China, Vietnam and South Korea where the sales targets have not been met for a while. At 9 am she has to meet with representatives from the local government in Singapore regarding the extension of the business permits. As a foreign- owned company operating in Singapore, the company has had some challenges regarding the nature of the business permit to comply with the new legal requirements in Singapore. Her next activity for the day is to attend a meeting of the regional sales

executives where she is expected to make a presentation on the future plans of the company. She is then to meet and greet briefly with the representatives from some of the most important clients in the region to emphasize the new round of negotiations that will start next week with regards to the regional contracts. She is nervous about this and is wondering which aspects to emphasize with each key regional customer representative. A growing percentage of the longstanding customers have changed their buying habits and moved to competition lately. Shortly after noon she is having lunch with the VP of the British bank

that provides funding for the expansion of their operations in China. The key purpose is to clear a misunderstanding regarding credit issues of the parent company in France. Immediately after lunch she has to rush to their main office building, where most of the local staff are located, to engage in a conversation with the six senior managers making their annual request for resource and infrastructure funding for facilities, benefits and equipment for 250 employees under their supervision. Their 250 people are spread among four countries in the Asia Pacific region. At 3 pm she is meeting with two top suppliers that produce most of the boxing and packaging materials for their products – one from Hong Kong and the other from Malaysia. Maintaining good and steady relationships with these partners is crucial to the stability of supply of their products in the region. Her next meeting at 5 pm is a phone meeting with her boss in France to discuss the quarterly productivity reports for her region. One of her issues is that the accounting system used in the French headquarters is not compatible with the one they are using in some of the countries in the region, and she has not been able to make any headway on this matter. The next item on her agenda is a 30-minute performance review meeting with her personal assistant, who is from Japan and has worked most her life in North America. Jane’s personal assistant has had some difficulties adjusting to life in Singapore. At 7 pm Jane is having dinner with the lawyer from the firm that is helping them with a lawsuit that was recently filed against them charging them with the breach of their contract in Bangkok.

Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)42

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The story while disguised portrays the real life of a global manager. Global managers are required to deal with a variety of issues, challenges and stakeholders who represent diverse cultural and political and institutional systems. Figure 1 shows the web of roles that a global manager such as Jane Smith performs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the practical implica- tions and lessons from a large 62-nation study of culture and leadership – known as project GLOBE – and how GLOBE project’s findings can help global managers such as Jane Smith. In the world that is becoming increasingly global, thus creating the necessity for different cultures to be much greater

Global manager

• Motivate global workforce

• Manage global careers

Lead

• Manage other global partners

Create M&A

• Maintenance • Manage global

performance

Build global organization

and resources

• International JV, global partners, and alliances

Manage relations• Manage local

and HQ • Transfer knowledge

Balance

• Environments • Competitors

Monitor

• Buyers • Sellers • Creditors

Negotiate

Figure 1 What do global managers do?

43Managerial implications of the GLOBE project

Leadership and the necessity of global outlook

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Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)44

contact than ever before, the need for better understanding of other cultures and ways of doing business is clearly driving business education and challenges leadership and human resource development in business and industry. In this article, we first provide an overview of the need for a better global outlook for leaders and managers followed by an introduction to project GLOBE and its purposes and processes. In the second major section of the paper, we outline some of the key practical implications for managers, leaders and organizations.

The need for a global outlook for leaders

We live in a world that is increasingly interconnected. The world’s export of goods and services in the last decade has doubled and by the end of this decade trade between nations is expected to exceed total transactions within nations (Javidan and House 2001). Foreign sales of multinational corporations have exceeded $7 trillion and are growing 20–30% faster than their sales of exports (House et al. 1999). Despite this, 85 percent of the American Fortune 500 companies have reported a shortfall of global managers with the necessary skills (Gregerson, Morrison, and Black 1998). There are many more signifi- cant indicators that such a huge transformation towards a more connected and global world is happening.

The GLOBE program

To understand the cultures of other countries and to be open-minded in their dealings with people from other cultures, leaders need to be able to have the ability and perspective to make comparisons between their own cultures and those of others. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness) project is a multi-phase, multi-method project examining the interrelationships between societal culture, organizational culture, leadership, and societal achievements. After an extensive review of existing knowledge, the GLOBE project conceptualized and developed measures of nine dimensions of culture and six dimensions of leadership. These dimensions of culture and leadership that help distinguish one country from another and help better understand the meaning of leadership in these different cultures have significant managerial implications.

The GLOBE project has been referred to as the most ambitious project in global leadership (Morrison 2000). The worldwide team of about 170 social scientists and management scholars from 62 societies representing all major regions of the world were engaged in this long-term programmatic series of cross-cultural leadership studies (see the appendix for the list of countries). The data represent overviews of over 17 000 managers from these 62 countries. The participating managers were from telecommunications, food and banking industries. The meta-goal of GLOBE is to develop empirically based theories to describe, understand, and predict the impact of specific cultural variables on

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45Managerial implications of the GLOBE project

leadership effectiveness and organizational processes, and economic and human achievements in societies. As one outcome, we assessed the 62 cultures in terms of scores on the nine cultural dimensions. We then studied the effects of these cultural dimensions on leadership and organizational practices in each culture.

Cultural dimensions

Project GLOBE defines culture as ‘shared motives, values, beliefs, identities, and interpretations or meanings of significant events that result from common experiences of members of collectives and are transmitted across age genera- tions’ (Javidan and House 2001, 293) . Culture is measured through common- ality of values and practices. Values are expressed, for example, in response to questionnaire items in the form of judgments of ‘what should be’. Practices are measured by indicators assessing ‘what is’, or ‘what are’, common behav- iours, institutional practices, and prescriptions. Figure 2 shows an example of the way in which items measuring the ‘as is’ and ‘should be’” aspects of culture were framed and measured.

The following is the description of the nine GLOBE dimensions of societal culture. More detailed information is available on GLOBE’s public website at www.thunderbird.edu/wwwfiles/ms/globe/ (also see House et al. 2004; Javidan et al. 2006).

1 Performance orientation refers to the extent to which an organization or society encourages and rewards group members for performance improve- ment and excellence. In countries where they scored high on this cultural practice, such as Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand, organizations are likely to emphasize training and development. In countries where the score on this dimension is low, such as Russia, Argentina and Greece, family connections and background are more emphasized.

2 Assertiveness orientation is the degree to which individuals in organizations or societies are assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in social relationships.

Society as is The economic system in this society is designed to maximize: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Individual Collective interests Interests

Society should be I believe that the economic system in this society should be designed to maximize: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Individual Collective interests Interests

Figure 2 Examples of societal culture questions for measuring ‘as is’ (cultural practice) and ‘should be’ (cultural value)

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In countries scoring high on this cultural practice, such as Austria, Spain and Greece, people have more of a ‘can-do’ attitude and tend to be more competitive in business. In countries where this cultural practice was low, such as New Zealand, Sweden and Japan, there is likely to be more sympathy for the weak, more emphasis on harmony and loyalty.

3 Future orientation is the degree to which individuals in organizations or societies engage in future-oriented behaviours such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification. In high future-oriented cultures such as Singapore, Switzerland or Canada, there is a tendency to have a longer time horizon for decision-making and more systematic planning processes. In less future-oriented cultures such as Russia, Argentina or Poland, there tends to be less systematic planning and more preference for opportunistic behaviours and actions.

4 Humane orientation is the degree to which individuals in organizations or societies encourage and reward individuals for being fair, altruistic, friendly, generous, caring, and kind to others. In countries high on this cultural practice, such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, human relations, support for others and sympathy for others (specially the vulner- able) are highly valued. People value belongingness and caring for the well-being of others. Paternalistic and patronage associations and rela- tionships are common and children are expected to be obedient. In cultures scoring low on Humane orientation, such as Germany, Spain or Singapore, more emphasis is placed on power, material possessions, self- enhancement and independence. People prefer to solve their own problems and children are more likely to be independent.

5 Collectivism I: Institutional collectivism reflects the degree to which organ- izational and societal institutional practices encourage and reward collec- tive distribution of resources and collective action. Organizations in collective countries like Singapore, South Korea and Japan emphasize group harmony and co-operation and reward the group and not the indi- vidual. In societies that are more individualistic, such as Greece, Hungary and Argentina, autonomy, self-interest and individual freedom are valued and organizations tend to reward individual performance.

6 Collectivism II: In-group collectivism reflects the degree to which individ- uals express pride, loyalty and cohesiveness in their organizations or families. Countries scoring high on this cultural practice, such as Iran, India and China, are societies where being a member of a family and a close group of friends (an in-group) is very important to people. Satisfying the expectations of the ‘in-group’ is critical to people. In contrast, in societies where cultural practice of In-group collectivism is low, such as Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand, family members and friends do not expect any type of special treatment and people do not feel obliged to ignore rules to take care of their close friends and family members.

46 Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)

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Managerial implications of the GLOBE project 47

7 Gender egalitarianism is the extent to which an organization or a society minimizes gender role differences and gender discrimination. Countries high on this dimension, such as Hungary, Denmark and Sweden, view women’s status as being higher and their involvement in decision-making stronger compared to more male-dominated societies. The latter group, which includes (according to the GLOBE study) countries such as South Korea, China and Egypt, has higher status for men and has relatively fewer women in positions of authority.

8 Power distance is defined as the degree to which members of an organ- ization or society expect and agree that power should be unequally shared. Societies that are high on Power distance, such as Russia, Thailand and Spain, distinguish between those with power and status and those without, and expect obedience towards superiors. Societies low on Power distance, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, expect less differentia- tion between those in power and those without.

9 Uncertainty avoidance is defined as the extent to which members of an organization or society strive to avoid uncertainty by reliance on social norms, rituals, and bureaucratic practices to alleviate the unpredictability of future events. Societies with high scores on Uncertainty avoidance, such as Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, value orderliness and consistency, structured lifestyles and rules and laws to govern situations. Societies scoring low on this dimension on the other hand, such as Russia, Hungary and Bolivia, have a strong tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty, live less structured lives and are less concerned about following rules.

These cultural definitions are also represented in table 1 where they are accom- panied by examples of questionnaire items for each.

Leadership dimensions

Another major question addressed by GLOBE concerns the extent to which specific leader attributes and behaviours are universally endorsed as contributing to effective leadership, and the extent to which attributes and behaviours are linked to cultural characteristics. In generating leadership items, our focus was on developing a comprehensive list of leader attributes and behaviours rather than on developing a priori leadership scales. The initial pool of leadership items was based on leader behaviours and attributes described in several extant leadership theories. The theories are described in House and Aditya (1997). These leadership items consisted of behavioural and attribute descriptors. Examples of these items are presented in table 2. Items were rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale that ranged from a low of ‘This behaviour or characteristic greatly inhibits a person from being an outstanding leader’ to a high of ‘This behaviour or characteristic contributes greatly to a person being an outstanding leader’. The requisite assumptions and beliefs that people have

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Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)48

about what contributes to or impedes outstanding leadership are referred to as implicit leadership theory (ILT). GLOBE extended ILT by incorporating societal culture into the analysis, arguing that such belief systems are shared among individuals in common cultures. This is referred to by GLOBE researchers as ‘culturally endorsed implicit leadership theory’ (CLT) (see House et al. 1999; Javidan et al. 2006).

GLOBE project’s leadership questionnaire consisted of 112 behaviour and attribute descriptors such as the one in table 2, rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale. GLOBE empirically reduced this large number of items to 21 primary and then 6 global leadership dimensions. These 6 leadership dimensions differ- entiate desirable leadership qualities by taking into account the cultural profiles (CLT profile). These dimensions are culturally generalizable for meas- urement purposes, in the sense that respondents from all cultures were able to

Table 1 Culture construct definitions and sample questionnaire items

Culture construct definitions Specific questionnaire item

Performance orientation: The degree to which a Students are encouraged (should collective encourages and rewards group members be encouraged) to strive for for performance improvement and excellence. continuously improved performance.

Assertiveness orientation: The degree to People are (should be) generally which individuals are assertive,confrontational dominant in their relationships with and aggressive in their relationships with others. each other.

Future orientation: The extent to which individuals More people live (should live) for engage in future-oriented behaviours such as delaying the present rather than for the future. gratification, planning, and investing in the future. (Scored inversely)

Humane orientation: The degree to which a collective People are generally (should be encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, generally) very tolerant of mistakes. altruistic, generous, caring and kind to others.

Collectivism I (Institutional collectivism): The degree to Leaders encourage (should which organizational and societal institutional practices encourage) group loyalty even if encourage and reward collective distribution of individual goals suffer. resources and collective action.

Collectivism II (In-group collectivism): The degree to Employees feel (should feel) great which individuals express pride, loyalty, and loyalty toward this organization. cohesiveness in their organizations or families.

Gender egalitarianism: The degree to which a Boys are encouraged (should be collective minimizes gender inequality. encouraged) more than girls to attain

a higher education. (Scored inversely)

Power distance: The degree to which members of a Followers are (should be) expected to collective expect power to be distributed equally. obey their leaders without question.

Uncertainty avoidance: The extent to which a society, Most people lead (should lead) highly organization, or group relies on social norms, rules, and structured lives with few unexpected procedures to alleviate unpredictability of future events. events.

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Managerial implications of the GLOBE project 49

complete the questionnaire items that comprise these dimensions. Thus, these dimensions of reported leadership attributes and behaviours are dimensions of the culturally endorsed theories of leadership (CLT) of the country studied. Details of the process of arriving at the cultural profiles are described in House et al. (1999) and House et al. (2004). Table 3 summarizes the GLOBE leader- ship culture dimensions.

GLOBE’s analysis of leadership also showed that while different societies have different views aboutmany aspects of leadership and its effectiveness, they also are in agreement on other aspects of leadership. GLOBE found that there are 22 attrib- utes that are universally deemed to be desirable. Being motivational, dynamic, honest and decisive are examples of desirable leadership attributes in all GLOBE countries. GLOBE also identified eight leadership attributes that are universally undesirable. Leadership attributes of being a loner, egocentric, irritable and ruthless are examples of the universally undesirable attributes of leaders.

GLOBE’s nine cultural dimensions and six leadership scales have provided us with remarkably comprehensive perspectives and views on different countries’ cultural practices, values and outstanding leadership. Indeed this is the type of information and perspective that global managers need to be able to better under- stand and deal with cultural differences. There aremany lessons to be drawn from GLOBE project, and there is no limit to the scope or direction of such lessons for practice and managerial implications. In the remainder of this paper we will

How can GLOBE help global managers?

Table 2 Sample leadership (CLT) questionnaire items

Definition of leadership Ability to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute to the success of their organization

Sample CLT items Sensitive: Aware of slight changes in moods of others Motivator: Mobilizes, activates followers Evasive: Refrains from making negative comments to maintain good relationships and save face Diplomatic: Skilled at interpersonal relations, tactful Self-interested: Pursues own best interests

Response alternatives Impedes or facilitates unusually effective leadership 1 Substantially impedes 2 Moderately impedes 3 Slightly impedes 4 Neither impedes nor facilitates 5 Slightly facilitates 6 Moderately facilitates 7 Substantially facilitates

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highlight some of the obvious lessons with the hope that it encourages global managers and scholars alike to continue using GLOBE and other studies in an attempt to improve our managerial and organizational abilities to deal with our flat and global world of management, business and organizations.

GLOBE provides two types of information on cultures and leadership styles in different parts of the world: static and dynamic. A brief explanation of each type is provided below.

Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)50

Table 3 GLOBE leadership dimensions, scales and items

Dimensions Scales Questionnaire items (definitions omitted)

Charismatic/value based Visionary Visionary, foresight, anticipatory, prepared, intellectually stimulating,

future oriented, plans ahead, inspirational

Inspirational Enthusiastic, positive, encouraging, morale booster, motive arouser,

confidence builder, dynamic, motivational

Self-sacrificial Risk taker, self-sacrificial, convincing

Integrity Honest, sincere, just, trustworthy

Decisive Wilful, decisive, logical, intuitive

Performance oriented Improvement, excellence and performance oriented

Team oriented Team collaborative Group oriented, collaborative, loyal, consultative, mediator, fraternal

Team integrator Clear, integrator, subdued, informed, communicative, co-ordinator,

team builder

Diplomatic Diplomatic, worldly, win/win problem solver, effective bargainer

Malevolent (reversed) Irritable, vindictive, egoistic, non-co-operative, cynical, hostile,

dishonest, non-dependable, intelligent

Administrative Orderly, administratively skilled, organized, good administrator

Self-protective Self-centered Self-interested, non-participative, loner, asocial

Status consciousness Status conscious, class conscious

Conflict inducer Intra-group competitor, secretive, normative

Face saver Indirect, avoids negatives, evasive

Procedural Ritualistic, formal, habitual, cautious, procedural

Participative Autocratic (reversed) Autocratic, dictatorial, bossy, elitist, ruler, domineering

Participative Non-individual, egalitarian, non-micro manager, delegator

Humane orientation Humane orientation Generous, compassionate

Modesty Modest, self-effacing, patient

Autonomous Individualistic, independent, autonomous, unique

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GLOBE static information

As explained earlier, we provided data on cultures in 62 societies. We measured societal cultures through nine cultural dimensions that were described earlier. The GLOBE database provides four categories of static information.

Country and cluster culture information

We have generated a large database on each country’s culture by showing its score on each of the nine cultural dimensions. The combination of the nine dimensions provides a cultural profile for a country or a cultural cluster. For example, table 4 shows the cultural profiles of Singapore and Australia. It shows that Singapore is a unique culture. Compared to the other GLOBE countries, it scores at the top in terms of seven dimensions. It also scores medium-high on Power distance and low on Humane orientation. No other country scores so high on so many cultural dimensions.

Knowing Singapore’s cultural profile can help the global manager better perform her job in that country. For example, knowing that Singaporean employees are highly future- oriented, the manager is better able to motivate them by emphasizing future-oriented actions and decisions. She can explain how their actions can contribute to the company’s strategic plans and priori- ties. Also, knowing that Singapore is highly collectivistic, the next time the global manager is meeting with the regulators from the Singapore government, she can focus on how the actions and decisions by her company will contribute to the goals and priorities of the Singapore government and the whole society.

• Singapore is the highest ranked country in the GLOBE study on Future orientation and Performance orientation, and among the highest on Institutional collectivism. Singapore was ranked among the lowest countries on Humane orientation.

• China ranked among the highest countries on gender differentiation and In-group collectivism.

51Managerial implications of the GLOBE project

Table 4 According to GLOBE, compared to other countries...

Singapore is.... Australia is....

H Performance orientation H Performance orientation H Assertiveness H Assertiveness H Future orientation MH Future orientation H Uncertainty avoidance MH Uncertainty avoidance H Institutional collectivism MH Institutional collectivism H Gender egalitarianism M Gender egalitarianism H In-group collectivism L In-group collectivism MH Power distance MH Power distance L Humane orientation MH Humane orientation

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• South Korea ranked as the most gender differentiated country and the 2nd

highest country on Institutional collectivism. • India ranked as the 2nd most gender differentiated country and the 2nd

highest on In-group collectivism, while ranked in the middle on Future orientation.

• Japan ranked as the 2nd lowest country on Assertiveness orientation and among the highest on Institutional collectivism. It is in the middle range on Performance orientation and In-group collectivism.

• New Zealand ranked among the highest countries on Performance orien- tation and lowest on In-group collectivism. It ranked in the middle on Humane orientation.

• Russia ranked among the lowest countries on Performance orientation, Uncertainty avoidance and Future orientation, and is among the highest ranked on Power distance.

Comparison of two or more countries’ cultural profiles

Using GLOBE data, a global manager can compare and contrast different cultural profiles. For example, in the introductory case in this article, the manager is from Australia. Table 4 shows a comparison of the Australian and Singaporean cultures. The table shows that both countries score high on Performance orientation and Assertiveness orientation. They both score medium high on Power distance. They are also somewhat similar in terms of three other dimensions, Future orientation, Uncertainty avoidance, and Institutional collectivism. Singapore scores high and Australia scores medium high on these three dimensions. The two countries are relatively different on the remaining three dimensions.

A key implication of this comparison is that the strong similarities between Australia and Singapore make it easier for an Australian manager to success- fully operate in Singapore. She can leverage the similarities to effectively communicate and collaborate with her Singaporean clients, colleagues, or partners. But her knowledge of the differences is also very important. For example, knowing that Singapore is much more in-group oriented helps the manager understand how important it is to build personal relationships with her Singapore stakeholders, be it her employees, her peers, government officials, clients, or supply chain partners.

In a GLOBE regional study of societies in the Middle East (Dastmalchian and Kabasakal 2001; Kabasakal and Dastmalchian 2001) a comprehensive comparison was made of the cultural attributes of Iran, Turkey, Kuwait and Qatar. The researchers pointed out that while these four countries are all low on Future orientation, each country demonstrated considerable variation on at least one cultural dimension. For example, Iran while very high on In-group collectivism, is a very individualistic culture (low on Societal collectivism) with uniquely high scores on Assertiveness orientation (Dastmalchian, Javidan, and Alam 2001; Javidan and Dastmalchian 2003). Compared with the other three

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countries, Iran is very high on Performance orientation, Kuwait is high on Uncertainly avoidance, Turkey is very low on Humane orientation and Qatar is high on Gender egalitarianism. Other sources have examined the cultural attributes of specific countries such as Germany (Broadbeck, Frese, and Javidan 2002), Iran (Javidan and Dastmalchian 2003) and China (Javidan and Lynton 2005). These sources and the information provided serve to prepare managers to deal with others from another culture in a more informed manner.

Information on the profile of outstanding leadership in a country or cluster

GLOBE surveyed middle managers in the 62 societies to understand the profile of outstanding leadership in every country in the sample. As referred to earlier, the participating managers were asked to report the extent to which each of 112 leadership attributes can impede or facilitate outstanding leadership in their society. We identified 21 primary leadership factors based on the global database of over 17 000 managers. Table 5 shows the leadership profile in Singapore. It shows that attributes like vision, integrity. Performance orienta- tion, and inspiration are highly desirable leadership attributes in this country. It also shows that leaders who are malevolent, self-centered, non-participative, and autocratic are deemed ineffective.

A global manager’s knowledge of this information can be helpful in how she leads her Singaporean workforce. Her success as a leader in Singapore is very much dependent on her ability to create a process that ensures participa- tion by employees in crafting an exciting, challenging, and inspirational vision that is credible to the team. It also depends on her ability to avoid any type of behaviour that is deemed self-centered or autocratic. Similar attribution and analyses can be found for other counties in the GLOBE project (e.g. Broadbeck et al. 2002; Dastmalchian and Kabasakal 2001; Javidan and Dastmalchian 2003).

Comparison of two or more countries’ profiles of outstanding leadership

A global manager needs to know how to adjust his/her behaviour in dealing with those from other cultures and societies. GLOBE findings are helpful in that they can provide a comparison of the leadership profiles in two or more countries. For example, table 5 shows a comparison of the leadership profiles in Australia and Singapore. It shows a very high level of similarity between what is expected from leaders in both countries. That makes the job of the Australian manager much easier in Singapore. She can pretty much act the way she would with an Australian group. Having this information gives her comfort and confidence in her ability to succeed as a leader in Singapore.

GLOBE dynamic information

The second category of findings produced by GLOBE is dynamic in nature in the sense that they focus on two relationships among several variables: the

53Managerial implications of the GLOBE project

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relationship between culture and leadership, and the relationship between culture and societal phenomena.

Culture and leadership

Our study of over 17 000 managers has produced an empirical picture of the relationship between culture and leadership. While there is much discussion on this relationship, this is the first rigorous and empirical treatment of this subject. We have shown that specific cultural values can predict specific leadership profiles. For example, as shown in figure 3, societies that have high Performance orientation values tend to desire leaders who are charismatic, team oriented, and participative. They frown on leaders who are self-protective.

This type of information can help a global manager better predict the style of leadership that will or will not work in a particular culture. Such an under- standing goes beyond knowledge of a specific country. It is more generalizable and more helpful in any society.

Culture and societal phenomena

Global managers live and work in many parts of the world. They live in diverse societies that have developed a wide range of political, institutional,

Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)54

Table 5 Leadership profiles in Singapore and Australia

Primary leadership factors Singapore

Australia

Visionary 6.173 6.2402 Integrity 6.1514 6.3602 Performance orientation 6.1147 6.3517 Inspirational 6.0895 6.4025 Team integrator 5.9398 6.098 Decisive 5.8459 6.0218 Administratively competent 5.7122 5.4079 Diplomatic 5.58 5.5593 Team oriented 5.413 5.5219 Self-sacrificial 5.3853 5.1366 Modesty 5.3524 5.0889 Humane 5.1032 5.1206 Autonomous 3.8658 3.9455 Procedural 3.8119 3.5632 Status conscious 3.7834 3.8183 Conflict inducer 3.6421 3.2815 Face saver 3.195 2.6652 Autocratic 2.7272 2.278 Non-participative 2.6812 2.3057 Self-centered 2.0493 1.9123 Malevolent 1.8322 1.6254

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societal, and regulatory systems. To succeed in working with such levels of complexity, they need to understand not just how things are done differently, but also why. GLOBE provides useful information on how societal phenomena can be predicted by societal cultures. For example, we have shown that societies that are highly performance oriented tend to be more econom- ically prosperous and competitive, have governments that better follow the rule of law and are more organized and transparent. They also have happier and more satisfied citizenry who have more confidence in their public institutions. Knowing such relationships, a global manager is better able to understand, rather than judge, other societies, and is more effective in dealing with them.

The purpose of this paper was to provide an overview of the GLOBE project – a multi-level and comprehensive study of culture, leadership and organizational practices in 62 societies. This was done with the aim of highlighting the impli- cations for practicing managers and leaders. We started the paper by describing the challenges of a typical global manager – Jane Smith – and organized the presentation of the managerial implications of the GLOBE project to address her leadership needs and where she could find GLOBE results useful. We identify six areas in which managerial implications can be grouped. Four of these six, we argue, fall under a more static type of implications (i.e. country- specific or cluster-specific leadership and culture information). The other two can be regarded as dynamic managerial implications in that they relate to the relationships between leadership and societal culture, and between culture and

55Managerial implications of the GLOBE project

Summary and concluding comments

Performance orientation Cultural dimension

Leadership CLT dimensions

+

−

Performance oriented cultural values

• Improving performance

• Rewarding performance • Being innovative • Challenging

goals

Charismatic/VB (S,O) Team oriented (O) Participative (S,O) Humane oriented (S,O) Autonomous (O)

Self-protective (S)

O = Organization level; S = Societal level

Figure 3 Culture and leadership

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societal phenomena. In the case of the former, we have shown in the analyses of the GLOBE data that cultural attributes are capable of helping predict leader- ship behaviour. In the case of culture and societal phenomena, we have shown how the complex societal phenomena can be predicted by understanding their cultural dimensions using GLOBE’s findings.

Whether our focus is HR managers or other leader-managers, the under- lying message from this paper, and indeed from the GLOBE project, is about the necessity of developing a global outlook for leader-managers. This is based on the assumption that all leader-managers need to develop a global perspec- tive or a global mind-set (Beechler and Javidan 2007). They need to mobilize global resources in order to pursue the ambitions of their global organizations and, increasingly, global stakeholders. We believe that GLOBE project findings have far-reaching implications for managers and organizations, be it in lead- ership development, managing under uncertain conditions, cultural sensitivity, or HR practices in the areas of recruitment, selection of high performing indi- viduals, performance management, compensation, organizational design and global communication. Project GLOBE’s implications provide insights into all these areas with the aim of developing global leader-managers. One of the insights from the GLOBE project has been that in order to develop global managers, having experience and the perspective of one country is not suffi- cient (Javidan, Stahl and House 2004). In a world that is increasingly flat (Friedman 2005) and culturally connected, the GLOBE project’s implications will be invaluable in developing managers and leaders who have a global mind- set and who are better prepared to understand and deal with the leadership requirements of an uncertain and increasingly global world.

Mansour Javidan is dean of Research and Garvin Distinguished Professor at Thunderbird Global School

of Management, Arizona, USA. He is a principal investigator, president and chairman of the board of

directors of GLOBE project and a co-author of the GLOBE’s first book published in 2004. Dr Javidan’s

current research interests are global leadership and change, and global mind-set. He is the co-editor

(with Richard Steers and Michael Hitt) of Advances in international management, vol. 19: The global

mindset. He is a senior editor for Global Leadership for the Journal of World Business, and has been on

the editorial board of Academy of Management Executive. Dr Javidan’s publications have appeared in a

wide range of journals and books.

Ali Dastmalchian is professor of organizational analysis and dean of the Faculty of Business, University of

Victoria, Canada. His current research interests are on cross-national leadership and organizational practices

(with a particular interest in Asia Pacific and the Middle East), organizational change (in the health sector),

teamworking, and organizational and HRM climate. His most recent book (co-authored with Paul Blyton,

Betsy Blunsdon and Ken Reed) is entitledWork–life integration: International perspectives on managing

multiple roles. His publications have appeared in various international journals.

Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 2009 47(1)56

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57Managerial implications of the GLOBE project

References

Beechler, S., and M. Javidan. 2007. Leading with a global mindset. In Advances in international management: The global mindset, eds M. Javidan, M. Hitt, and R.M. Steers, vol. 19: 131–69. Oxford: Elsevier.

Broadbeck, F., M. Frese, and M. Javidan. 2002. Leadership made in Germany: Low on compassion, high on performance. Academy of Management Executive 16(1): 16–29.

Dastmalchian, A., M. Javidan, and K. Alam. 2001. Effective leadership and culture in Iran: An empirical study. Special Issue Applied Psychology: An International Review 50(4): 532–58.

Dastmalchian, A., and H. Kabasakal, guest eds. 2001. Leadership and culture in the Middle East: Norms, practices and effective leadership attributes in Iran, Kuwait, Turkey and Qatar. Applied Psychology: An International Review 50 (4) (Oct.): 479–595.

Friedman, T.L. 2005. The world is flat: A brief history of the 20th century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Gregersen, H.B., A.J. Morrison, and J.S. Black. 1998. Developing leaders for the global frontier. Sloan Management Review 39(1) (Fall): 21–32.

House, R.J., and R.N. Aditya. 1997. The social scientific study of leadership: Quo vadis? Journal of Management 23(3): 409–73.

House, R.J., P.J. Hanges, S.A. Ruiz-Quintanilla, P.W. Dorfman, M. Javidan, M. Dickson, et al. 1999. Cultural influences on leadership and organizations: Project Globe. In Advances in global leadership, eds W.F. Mobley, M.J. Gessner, and V. Arnold, vol. 1: 171–233. Stamford, CT: JAI Press.

House, R.J., P.J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P.W. Dorfman, V. Gupta, and GLOBE Associates. 2004. Leadership, culture and organizations: The Globe study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Javidan, M., and A. Dastmalchian. 2003. Culture and leadership in Iran: The land of individual achievers, strong family ties, and powerful elite. Academy of Management Executive 17(4): 127–42.

Appendix GLOBE participating countries

Albania Argentina Australia Austria Bolivia Brazil Canada China Colombia Costa Rica Czech Republic Denmark Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England Finland France Georgia Germany (former FRG) Germany (former GDR)

Greece Guatemala Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Kuwait Malaysia Mexico Morocco Namibia Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Philippines

Poland Portugal Qatar Russia Singapore Slovenia South Africa (Caucasian sample) South Africa (indigenous sample) South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland (French (speaking) Switzerland (German speaking) Taiwan Thailand Turkey United States Venezuela Zambia

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Javidan, M., P.W. Dorfman, M. Sully de Luque, and R.J. House. 2006. In the eye of the beholder: Cross cultural lessons in leadership from Project GLOBE. Academy of Management Perspective 20(1): 67–91.

Javidan, M., and R.J. House. 2001. Cultural acumen for the global manager: Lessons from project GLOBE. Organization Dynamics 29(4): 289–305.

Javidan, M., and N. Lynton. 2005. The changing face of the Chinese executive. Harvard Business Review 83(1) (Dec.): 28, 30.

Javidan, M., G. Stahl, and R.J. House. 2004. Leadership in a global organization: A cross-cultural perspective. INSEAD–Wharton alliance on globalization: Strategies for building successful global business, 78–103. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kabasakal, H., and A. Dastmalchian. 2001. Introduction to: Leadership and culture in the Middle Eastern countries: Norms, practices and effective leadership attributes in Iran, Kuwait, Turkey and Qatar. Applied Psychology: An International Review 50(4) (Special issue): 479–95.

Morrison, A.J. 2000. Developing a global leadership model. Human Resource Management Journal 39(2&3): 117–31.

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