CROSS

CULTURAL
LEADERSHIP
Dr. Ramila
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Different conceptions of leadership
2. Leadership in an international context
3. Identify Cultural Challenges
4. Motivating and Leading
Cross Cultural Leadership 3

THE CONCEPT A number of American and European

theories about leadership
OF LEADER • Most assume that leadership has to do with
an individual intentionally exerting influence
on others to structure the relationships in an
organization
• Definitions differ as to do with how the
influence is exerted and the outcome of the
attempt to influence
• The manager is often seen as the
embodiment of stability within an
organization, the leader as one who ensures
the success of the organization
 Cross Cultural Leadership
COMPARING MANAGEMENT AND
•
LEADERSHIP
Table 8.1 Comparing management and leadership
• Source: Kotter (1990) Exhibit 1.1, p.6
Management
Creating an agenda Planning and budgeting –
establishing detailed steps and
timetables for achieving needed
results, and then allocating the
resources necessary to make that
happen.
Developing a human network for Organizing and staffing –
achieving the agenda establishing some structure for
accomplishing plan requirements,
staffing that structure with
individuals, delegating responsibility
and authority for carrying out the
plan, providing policies and
4
Leadership
Establishing direction – developing a
vision of the future, often the
distant future, and strategies for
producing the changes needed to
achieve that vision
Aligning people – communicating
the direction by words and deeds to
all those whose cooperation may be
needed so as to influence the
creation of teams and coalitions
that understand the vision and
strategies, and accept their validity,
 Cross Cultural Leadership
COMPARING MANAGEMENT AND
LEADERSHIP (CONTINUED)
Execution Controlling and problem –solving –
monitoring results vs. plan in some detail,
identifying deviations, and then planning
and organizing to solve these problems
Outcomes Produces a degree of predictability and
order, and has the potential of
consistently producing key results
expected by various stakeholders(e.g. for
customers, always being on time; for
stockholders, being on budget
Table 8.1 Comparing management and leadership
(Continued)Source: Kotter (1990) Exhibit 1.1, p.6
5
Motivating and inspiring – energizing
people to overcome major political,
bureaucratic, and resource barriers to
change by satisfying very basic, but often
unfulfilled human needs.
Produces change, often to a dramatic
degree, and has the potential of producing
extremely useful change (e.g. new
products that customers want, new
approaches to labor relations that help
make a firm more competitive.
Cross Cultural Leadership 6

THE LEADER AND CORPORATE

CULTURE (1)
The mechanisms used by a leader to implant and maintain corporate culture
(Schein)
• What the leader considers important and pays attention to, what must be
measured and controlled
• The way a leader react to difficult situations / crises
• The priorities set when allocating resources
• The examples set by a leader
• The criteria used to allocate rewards and status as well as to reinforce
desired behaviours
• The criteria used for recruitment, selection, promotion and dismissal
Cross Cultural Leadership 7

THE LEADER AND CORPORATE

CULTURE (2)
• The routines/habits established by a leader may be
difficult to break if there is need for change in response
to a dynamic environment
• The managers may not recognize the need for change
and blame the environment for the change in fortunes
• The leader must re-assert his position, instigate
changes to revitalize the company, or hand over the
reins to a successor
Cross Cultural Leadership 8

 SCIENTIFIC LEADERSHIP
• Standard methods for doing a job - the worker is not
required to think, only the leader
• Bureaucratic organizations the result: carefully
designed hierarchy of authority, with clearly defined
responsibilities
 Functions specialized, information and control
centralized
 Uniform application of standard rules and procedures
Cross Cultural Leadership 9

THE TRAIT APPROACH

• Some people have traits and skills for leadership
• According to Stogdill (1974) great leaders throughout history
have:
 high intelligence
 considerable verbal fluency
 overall knowledge
 considerable initiative involving energy, ambition and
persistence.
 height: tallness implies authority
Cross Cultural Leadership 10

THE HUMAN FACTOR

• Psychological and human factors identified relating to
social norms and non-economic rewards.
• Attempts made to marry the scientific and human
approaches by focusing on the role of the decision-
makers.
• To operate successfully, leaders need to find a
compromise between rational, goal-oriented behaviour
and non-rational behaviour among an organization’s
employees.
Cross Cultural Leadership 11

THEORIES X AND Y (MCGREGOR)

A leader needs
 to remain task-oriented to ensure effective performance of the
organization
 be relationship-oriented leader to ensure greater satisfaction
among subordinates
 Theory X manager is results-driven, has little interest in human
issues or the workers’ morale
 Theory Y manager wants employees to participate in decision-
making and problem-solving, use their creativity to solve
problems and further the organization’s success
Cross Cultural Leadership 12

THE CONTINGENCY THEORY

• Leadership effectiveness is the result of interaction between
the style of the leader and the characteristics of the working
environment This environment is characterized by 3 factors:
 Leader-member relationship: the degree of confidence, trust,
and respect
 Task-structure: the extent to which goals, procedure and
guidelines need to be spelled out to the workers
 Position power: the extent to which the leader or the group
holds the power
Cross Cultural Leadership 13

THE Z THEORY (OUCHI)

• Focuses on the attitudes and responsibilities of subordinates
• Reflects basic concept found in Japan that all employees share a
collective responsibility for their company’s fate
• Individuals are encouraged to develop their potential within the
company: are expected to function (with training) in different
positions
• The theory has had an enormous impact on views of
management in the US
Cross Cultural Leadership 14

THE NEW LEADERSHIP

• The transformational leader
 creates, communicates and embodies a vision which can influence
changes in the attitudes and assumptions of subordinates
 builds their commitment inspires trust, confidence and loyalty
• Bass (1985) compares this with the traditional, transactional leader
 has more of a ‘business-like’ relation with subordinates
 appeals to the self-interest of all parties
• Bass maintains that business needs both types of leadership: the
most effective leaders combine the two styles
Cross Cultural Leadership 15

THE LEADER’S ROLE IN A ‘LEARNING

ORGANIZATION’
• In ‘learning organizations’, according to Senge (1990)
 people expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire
 new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured
 collective aspiration is set free, people are continually learning to see
the whole together
• Leaders of learning organizations are essentially responsible for learning
in the organization:
 they design the learning processes
 create, foster and manage a shared vision
 help people to understand what brings about change
Cross Cultural Leadership 16

CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP

• Cultural contingency factors
• Leaders may not be able to exercise all the variables which Fiedler
describes because of cultural constraints
 They may be forced to alter their leadership behaviour to conform to
the cultural realities they face, e.g.
 in large power distance cultures an ideal leader may well be
expected to display great authority, to the benefit of those being led
 in some cultures which prefer rules and avoid ambiguities the leader
may well need to give strong direction
• A further contingency factor: the cultural profile of the leader who is
making decisions as to how best to lead
Cross Cultural Leadership 17

UNIVERSAL ATTRIBUTES AND

CULTURAL VARIABLES
• GLOBE pinpoints two dimensions of leadership considered very effective
in all societies studied:
 Team-oriented leading, with emphasis on building effective teams and
implementing a goal common to team members.
 The ‘communication of vision, values and confidence in followers’.
• Some variations between societies regarding:
 The perceived effectiveness of participative leadership.
 Autonomous leadership (degree of social distance from subordinates).
 Self-protective leadership (maintaining the leader’s safety and security).
 Table 8.2 Summary of the findings made by House et al.
Cross Cultural Leadership Source: House et al. (2004) Tables 21.2, 21.3 and 21.4 18

 UNIVERSAL ATTRIBUTES AND

CULTURAL VARIABLES
Cross Cultural Leadership 19

UNIVERSALITY OF
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
• Transformational leadership may be universal
• But the way transformational attributes are expressed
may differ between cultures
• E.g. ‘Integrity’ is one attribute universally considered to
be desirable – but how do people in different cultures
conceptualize, perceive and exhibit behaviour that
reflects integrity?
Cross Cultural Leadership 20

 GENDER
• Gender stereotypes may hamper developing an appropriate
effective style of leadership
• Overcoming these stereotypes, while focusing on the
characteristics appropriate to the position, is the key task of any
candidate for leadership, whether male or female
• Male and female leaders, it appears, display differing
behavioural tendencies whatever their country of origin
• Although leadership style may be based on gender, differences
in the leadership style employed are based more on culture
than on gender
Cross Cultural Leadership 21

CULTURAL CHALLENGES
Cross Cultural Leadership 22

CUTURAL CHALLENGES
Cross Cultural Leadership 23

CULTURAL INTEGRATION
CHALLENGES
• “Frequently, when a foreigner violates a key cultural value,
he or she is not even aware of the violation, and no one
brings the matter to his or her attention.
 ”once a visitor makes a major mistake it is frequently
impossible to rectify it
 it may well take several months to realize that polite
rejections really signify isolation and banishment
• “Even genuinely small cultural mistakes can have enormous
consequences.”
Cross Cultural Challenges 24

LANGUAGE
• “Knowing a country’s language, although clearly helpful,
is no guarantee of understanding its cultural mindset,
and some of the most difficult problems have been
created by individuals who have a high level of fluency
but a low level of cultural understanding.”
Cross Cultural Challenges 25

DO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES MATTER?

Motivating and Leading 26

DEFINITION OF MOTIVATION
A psychological process through which unsatisfied wants
or needs lead to drives that are aimed at goals or
incentives.
1) direction of behavior;
2) the intensity or how hard people work;
3) the persistence displayed in meeting goals.
Motivating and Leading 27

INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON
BEHAVIOUR
Motivating and Leading 28

CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH ON
MOTIVATION
• Motivation is very much a function of the context
of a person’s work and personal life. That context
is greatly influenced by cultural variables, which
affect the attitudes and behaviors of individuals
(and groups) on the job.
Motivating and Leading 29

ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
AFFECT MANAGEMENT
Motivating and Leading 30

CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH ON
MOTIVATION
Some generalized assumptions about motivation based on Hofstede’s
research:
 High uncertainty avoidance suggests the need for job security,
whereas people with low uncertainty avoidance would probably be
motivated by more risky opportunities for variety and fast-track
advancement
 High power distance suggests motivators in the relationship
between subordinates and their boss, whereas low power distance
implies that people would be more motivated by teamwork and
relations with their peers.
Motivation and Leading 31

 THE MEANING OF WORK (MOW)

RESEARCH
• Functions satisfied by work
 Work provides a needed income
 Is interesting and satisfying
 Provides contacts with others
 Facilitates a way to serve society
 Keeps one occupied
 Gives status and prestige
• The MOW team looked at the score for each function for
various countries
Motivation and Leading 32
Motivation and Leading 33

THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN JOB

MOTIVATION
Motivating and Leading 34

FACTORS
AFFECTING
LEADERSHIP
ABROAD
 Presentation title 35

FACTORS
AFFECTING
LEADERSHIP
ABROAD
Motivation and Leading 36

CULTURALLY-CONTINGENT BELIEFS REGARDING EFFECTIVE

LEADERSHIP STYLES
Motivation and Leading 37

CULTURALLY-CONTINGENT BELIEFS REGARDING EFFECTIVE

LEADERSHIP STYLES
 Motivating and Leading 38

 CULTURALLY-CONTINGENT BELIEFS
REGARDING EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
STYLES
• Sample comments made by managers from various countries:
• Americans appreciate two kinds of leaders. They seek empowerment from leaders who grant
autonomy and delegate authority to subordinates. They also respect the bold, forceful, confident,
and risk-taking leader, as personified by John Wayne.
• The Dutch place emphasis on egalitarianism and are skeptical about the value of leadership. Terms
like leader and manager carry a stigma. If a father is employed as a manager, Dutch children will
not admit it to their schoolmates.
• Arabs worship their leaders – as long as they are in power!
• Iranians seek power and strength in their leaders.
• Malaysians expect their leaders to behave in a manner that is humble, modest, and dignified.
• The French expect their leaders to be “cultivated” – highly educated in the arts and in mathematics.
R. House, et al
Motivating and Leading 39

COMPARING TRANSNATIONAL AND TRADITIONAL SKILLS

FOR INTERNATIONAL MANAGERS
Cross Cultural Leadership 40

 CONCLUSION
• There are consistent elements of leadership which are
recognized across cultures but whose form may vary
between cultures
• Some modern concepts of leadership generated in the
West appear to have their antecedents in the East
• Different cultures can generate similar perceptions of
leadership, even if the contexts within which leadership
is affected are very different
THANK YOU
Dr. Ramila
Ramila.devi@help.edu.my