Global Leadership
akashaseeja
MGMT5006GLWk2.pptxMGMT5006 Global Leadership Week 2: Leading in the Global Business Context
Students can pick up a Unit Outline and a number card on the way into class
1
Overview
Looking back to Week 1
What is global leadership?
Characteristics of leadership in the global context
Challenges of global leadership
How do we become effective global leaders?
Successful global leaders – qualities and characteristics
2
Looking back to Week 1 The Global Business Context
Last week we considered:
“what does the world in which I have to function
as a leader look like?”
Some key characteristics / influences:
Globalisation Increasing technological connection
Complexity Trade across multiple borders
Hyper-turbulent Rapid change / a state of flux
Emerging markets Distance and difference
Questions for discussion (open)
Questions for discussion are:
1. What does the world in which I have to function as a leader look like?
3
Linking to Week 2 Leading in the global business context
We recognised a growing need for global leaders:
“We need executives who can handle this global complexity and we need them fast” (Mendenhall 2018, p22)
This week, we explore the implications of this complex global environment on leaders and leadership, asking:
What is global leadership?
What are the characteristics of leadership in the global context?
What is an effective global leader?
What is Global Leadership?
Henson (2016) defines a global leader as:
“One who influences and inspires a group of people to pursue organizational objectives while fostering individual and collective growth in a multi-cultural context characterized by significant levels of ambiguity, uncertainty, complexity and distance” (Henson 2016, p.6)
den Dekker (2016) states:
“Global leadership refers to a process of influencing the thinking, attitudes and behaviour of people with different cultural backgrounds from around the world”
(den Dekker 2016, p. 30)
WARNING: Global leadership may trigger a transformational experience that results in new world views, mindsets and perspectives (Mendenhall 2018)
What is Global Leadership?
Underlying these definitions are some core themes:
Let’s explore these a little more…
What are these ideas and how might they impact leadership or the process of leading?
Multiple cultures
Distance
‘Collective’ or teams
Characteristics of Global Leadership
Physical distance
The separation of parts of the organisation: head office vs subsidiaries, design vs production / manufacture, the location of team members
The difference in cultural dimensions between two countries, or the home country and host country
Cultural distance
Other distances (Henson Ch5)
Perception of time (linked to culture)
Language: difference in verbal and written language ability
Interaction frequency: how often leader and followers engage
Demographic: difference in individual characteristics such as age, gender
Psychological distance
The extent that you feel that another person is similar to you or not
Leadership challenges relating to distance
Physical or geographic distance – challenges may include…
Lack of / limited physical presence -> reduced opportunities to demonstrate leadership
What do you think?
As a global leader, how would you manage challenges related to physical distance?
Team members dispersed across multiple locations
Requirement for frequent international business travel
Possible requirement to relocate to international location
Time zones and meeting coordination
Communication with team members -> issues with verbal vs non-verbal communication and cues
Virtual teams, project teams, global teams (more on this in Week 7)
Balancing global vs local perspectives and requirements
Local vs Global Demands
A key challenge for global leaders is the balance of local vs global demands
One way of managing this is through organisational structure
Organisations can choose to centralise or decentralise aspects of their business to enable the “balance between global centralisation and local responsiveness” (den Dekker 2016, p18)
Centralised organisations:
Dominance of global headquarters; local ‘subsidiaries’ are implementers or distributers
Decentralised organisations:
Local management has greater autonomy; local subsidiaries are contributors to the global strategy
Leadership challenges relating to distance
Cultural distance – challenges may include…
What do you think?
As a global leader, how would you manage challenges related to cultural distance?
Poor communication, misunderstanding, creating offence
Inability to motivate and inspire team, and achieve business objectives
Defining effective leadership?
Culture-clash
High cultural distance requiring “sensitivity to the attitudes, symbols, customs, and other expressions of culture” (den Dekker 2016, p27)
Perceptions of good leaders and effective leadership varies by culture
Lack of understanding of cultural differences
Cultural values
Culture can be defined as “the way of life of people, their social interaction, and their construction of meaning through practices or symbolic representation” (den Dekker 2016 p.25)
Culture is linked to the values and beliefs held by a group of people, that may be connected by the country or part of society that they live in or belong to.
In business, national culture or culture of groups within a nation can impact how business is done, what is seen as acceptable or effective, and expectations of behaviour.
Various measures or models cultural dimensions may be useful
Hofstede’s model of national culture
Erin Meyer’s work on The Culture Map
Hofstede’s model of national culture
A model that presents relative cultural values of different nations
Allows comparison of countries
Allows comparison with your own personal preferences
6 dimensions:
To explore this model further - https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/
Power-distance (PDI)
Individualism vs Collectivism (IDV)
Masculinity vs Femininity (MAS)
Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI
Long Term vs Short Term Orientation (LTO)
Indulgence vs Restraint (IND)
Erin Meyer (INSEAD) – The Culture Map
| Communicating | Are they low-context (simple, verbose and clear), or high-context (rich deep meaning in interactions)? |
| Evaluating | When giving negative feedback does one give it directly, or prefer being indirect and discreet? |
| Leading | Are people in groups egalitarian, or do they prefer hierarchy? |
| Deciding | Are decisions made in consensus, or made top-down? |
| Trusting | Do people base trust on how well they know each other, or how well they do work together? |
| Disagreeing | Are disagreements tackled directly, or do people prefer to avoid confrontations |
| Scheduling | Do they perceive time as absolute linear points, or consider it a flexible range? |
| Persuading | Do they like to hear specific cases and examples, or prefer holistic detailed explanations? |
Enables mapping of culture across 8 dimensions. To explore this model further: www.erinmeyer.com
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What do you think?
How might culture impact your experience as a leader in the global context?
Can you identify some challenges?
Can you identify some opportunities?
Effective Global Leadership
Effective leadership can be considered from 4 perspectives (den Dekker, 2016):
Expectations of superiors
Leadership effectiveness linked to achieving business objectives
Expectations of followers
Expectations of a leader depend on followers’ cultural values
Expectations of peers
Leadership effectiveness linked to aligning and influencing internal and external stakeholders
Gatekeepers for promotion and future prospects
Global mindsets and cross-cultural leadership behaviours -> trust -> upward career progression
Leadership effectiveness related to follower satisfaction
Impacted by leadership style
Personal feelings – the self
Leadership effectiveness linked to feelings of career satisfaction
Significant link between global mindset and career satisfaction
Effective Global Leadership
Leadership is culturally contingent:
culture influences whether someone is perceived as a leader (by followers)
culture influences a leader’s behavior
A successful leader is able to:
adapt to differences in cultural situations and interactions
Inspire culturally different followers, with different “leadership expectations”
16
Qualities of successful / effective global leaders
Ethnocentric versus ethnorelative
Global leaders are more likely to move towards an ethnorelative perspective in which a leader accepts, adapts and eventually integrates different cultural perspectives into their world view
Global leadership competencies (more on this in Week 3)
Global mindset (more on this in Week 4)
Appropriate leadership approach – such as transformational leadership (more on this in Weeks 6 and 11)
Transformational Leadership – in brief
A cornerstone for global leadership (den Dekker 2016)
4 behaviours that are ‘culturally endorsed’
‘Culturally endorsed’ means that the behaviours are effective across different cultures
| Idealised Influence Leaders act as ideal role models, followers have complete faith in them | Inspirational Motivation Leaders’ ability to inspire and motivate followers |
| Individualised Consideration A genuine concern of each employee’s needs, getting the best out of each individual | Intellectual Stimulation Ability to stimulate followers to become innovative and creative, challenging followers to higher levels of performance |
