Leaders in a Global context need to understand the impact of culture

Cross-cultural communication

Anthony Beckham is an American serving as a Professor in school of management at a university of South Korea.  He describes some of the challenges of cross-cultural leadership in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4phrLWxXq7A

Beckham highlights the importance of the leader-follower relationship, and suggests that a cultural difference between a leader and followers can complicate the leader’s mission to motivate or influence followers, and to create shared values amongst followers.

In this situation, Beckham believes that a leader must be adaptive and flexible: a leader must learn how to communicate respect to followers and how to communicate ideas with followers in ways that make sense to them.  Beckham emphasizes several tips for communication:

• listening is key, that a leader must
• pick up on non-verbal cues as these are also important means of communication
• asking for clarifcation
• asking good questions

A leader should never appear to value one culture’s values or methods of communication more than another’s.  Beckham suggests that a leader should go beyond tolerance of a culture, instead, he says that a leader should learn to celebrate the beauty and uniqueness of each culture.

Transparent motivations

Carlos Ghosn was born in Brazil but now heads Nissan Motor Corp. in Japan.  He is a celebrity in Japan, and one of the most respected business leaders worldwide.  In the following video, he describes the strategies that he has used in leading in a foreign culture:

http://www.wsj.com/video/leading-in-a-foreign-culture/0C82DC02-5CB3-4332-98D9-1DA297E00247.html

His key message is the following:  be simple and be objective.  He says that a leader in this situation must be unambiguously clear of which direction to take, and that each decision should be explicitly explained so that it is understood not as the product of one’s own culture, but as the most rational choice.

Ghosn’s ideas are relevant not only to leaders working in foreign cultures but also to leaders working with diverse cultures right here at home.  In the article “Ethical School Leadership”, Stefkovich and Begley briefly discuss effective leadership strategies for school leaders working in a climate of diversity:

http://ema.sagepub.com/content/35/2/205.full.pdf+html?ijkey=siZ4tualR4Icg&keytype=ref&siteid=spema

“in our increasingly culturally diverse schools and communities where administrators increasingly sense the need to be accountable for their decisions. As a practical consequence school administrators naturally gravitate towards values grounded in rational consequences and consensus as guides to action and decision making whenever that is possible.”

Leaders should not be seen as making decisions based on their own biases.  Instead, leaders should holdto positions that can be rationally justified to followers.  Logic can cut across cultural boundaries.

Cultural Differences

A comprehensive survey of leaders worldwide was conducted using INSEAD’s Global Executive Leadership Inventory (GELI), which evaluates leaders on 12 dimensions of leadership. 1748 middle and upper level executives were surveyed.  The authors assumed that all leaders would score highly in all 12 categories, however, leaders from Asian countries (termed ‘the East’) scored higher in 4 of the dimensions relative to their Western counterparts:

• Designing and Aligning - how well managers implement company strategy
• Outside Orientation - promote responsiveness to customers, stakeholders, and vendors
• Emotional Intelligence - foster respect and understanding in the workforce
• Resilience to Stress - handle the pressures of the managerial lifestyle

The full study is available here:

http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=52985

Keeping in mind the leadership models that suggest that a leader must match the environment (Situational, Contingency), I’m drawn to a particular conclusion:  if leaders from the East possess these 4 characteristics in greater degree than their Western counterparts, then perhaps the working environment of the East demands these characteristics more than the West.  The results of this study indicate that Western leaders must be mindful to develop the above characteristics when working in a globalized environment.

Implications for Leadership Theory

Though few leadership theorists imagined the application of their theories in a cross-cultural settings, they all transfer easily into the globalized environment.

Trait theory - perhaps certain traits indicate that one will be a more successful leader in a foreign culture:  adaptability/flexibility, openness, communication skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills

Situational approach - whether in a familiar culture or foreign culture, a leader should adjust his/her leadership style to match the competence and commitment of the followers

Contingency model - in a foreign culture, relational skills may take on a more significant importance

Transformational model - many of the elements of the transformational model are cross-cultural: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration are all relevant in any culture

References

Agrawal, A. & Rook, C. (2013). Global Leaders in East and West: Do All Global Leaders Lead the Same Way?. Retrieved from http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=52985.

Ghosn, C. (2011) . Leading in a foreign culture. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/video/leading-in-a-foreign-culture/0C82DC02-5CB3-4332-98D9-1DA297E00247.html.

Stefkovich, J., & Begley, P. T. (2007). Ethical School Leadership Defining the Best Interests of Students. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 35(2), 205-224.  Retrieved from http://ema.sagepub.com/content/35/2/205.full.pdf+html?ijkey=siZ4tualR4Icg&keytype=ref&siteid=spema.