PFL_J8

LDR 6301, Psychological Foundations of Leadership 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Summarize the major psychological foundations of leadership.

2. Assess influence tactics used by leaders.

3. Examine influences on leadership success.

4. Evaluate leadership models.

5. Differentiate leadership styles.

6. Examine characteristics leaders exhibit to achieve organizational objectives. 6.1 Analyze culturally diverse aspects of leadership that help achieve organizational success.

Required Unit Resources Chapter 14: International and Culturally Diverse Aspects of Leadership Unit Lesson

Introduction Welcome to Unit VIII! We are at the finish line of our journey to explore the psychological foundations of leadership. In this unit, we will explore the effect of culture and diversity on leadership efficacy. First, we will define culture and explore the importance of recognizing that unique differences in backgrounds, which are driven by geographic origin, can promote innovative ways of thinking to resolve organizational challenges. Second, we will investigate how diversity of culture in the recruitment and development of followers can support the leader in guiding the organization to attain the mission and vision. Further, we will summarize and assess how each of the psychological foundations of leadership relate to characteristics displayed by the leader.

Culture To begin, what is culture? Culture can be defined as the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group, per Merriam-Webster (2011). DuBrin (2019) posits that understanding culture requires an understanding of values intrinsic to the aforementioned groups. So, how does a leader discern what values are embraced by individuals of different backgrounds? It necessitates skill from the cognitive foundation of leadership, which is best represented as a sensitivity promoted by emotional intelligence to sense these unique differences. DuBrin (2019) examines a host of diverse cultural values from performance orientation in group collectivism as well as time orientation. For example, some countries place primary focus upon the success of the group. Japan, rather, places heavy emphasis upon individual achievement, as is also true in the United States. How does a leader embrace these differences and consequently leverage organizational advantages? Herein lies the key, which is the social foundation of leadership. Effective leaders demonstrate exceptional active listening and empathy, balanced with candor to drive unity. By demonstrating an understanding of the unique nature of distinct cultures, spoken recognition enables the leader to use the team dynamic to promote understanding. From here, the organizational foundation enters; the leader explains how unique orientations

UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE Culture and Diversity Considerations for Leadership

LDR 6301, Psychological Foundations of Leadership 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

will support the attainment of objectives critical to the entity. At this juncture, conflict can and will emerge, leading to a defined need for the leader to negotiate the difference. Then, the leader, having succeeded with deploying the noted foundations, emphasizes the critical importance of executing strategy by highlighting that cultural values, though different, are integrated in order to lead to success. Throughout our review of culture, it would be remiss to not recognize how sensitivity, supported by emotional and cultural intelligence, support the leader. Across each foundation, empathy and candor are absolute as the journey to explore inherent differences leads to unilateral understanding that differences lead to higher levels of innovation. We now turn our focus toward how a leader must understand, embrace, and support diversity that is represented by the embodiment of the cultural values just explored.

Cultural Diversity How can we define cultural diversity? An anecdotal sharing here will help to promote understanding. The following video provides a real-life application of cultural diversity in leadership. A transcript and closed captioning are available once you access the video.

Strength emerges from a leader’s willingness to embrace diversity. While cultural values lead us to believe we are all uniquely different, as human beings, we all are driven by similar factors of motivation.

Summary We have defined culture and hopefully developed a better understanding as to how values though differences are critical for the leader to recognize in building a focused group of followers. Throughout our discussion as related to culture, we examined how each of the psychological foundations of leadership—cognitive, social, organizational, and industrial—come into play. The foundations are driven by characteristics that are displayed by the leader to achieve organizational success.

References DuBrin, A. J. (2019). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780357382837 Merriam-Webster. (2011, May 8). Culture. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/culture