A person's culture is what helps to shape what a person does and believes. This chapter of the book talks about that GLOBE Project which is the largest cross-cultural study of leadership and culture to date. All people, even within the same country, have a different meaning of what a leader is. Just because the definitions may all be different, does not mean we have different characteristics to define a good or effective leader.
Some cultures look at someone as being a weak leader for certain attributes while another group of people from a different cultural background see a strong leader. The chapter looks from an Asian cultural perspective and says displaying emotion is a lack of self-control and a sign of weakness. Where the same qualities in Latin and Mediterranean cultures are used to be an effective commmunicator and leader.
From examples like this, we need to be open to people that have a different background. The United States is very culturally diverse today. This means that we will all encounter in our professional careers someone that has a different culture than us. Because of this, we need to be open to others feelings. What we see as effective leadership will not be the case for everyone. This chapter helps us see that whether we are a leader or follower, we need to be alert as to who we are in contact with. By being sensitive to others cultural background, we are being effective leaders from any position of an organization or group.
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I agree that different sorts of stereotypes are awakened when people attribute leadership to different cultures. However, there are more ways to diagnosis leadership than good versus bad or effective versus ineffective. For example, an American expatriate leader is hired to run an overseas subsidiary in Japan. His American coworkers may have considered him to be a conscientious leader as he delivers each conversation with emotion, is demanding and is quite extroverted. However, his Japanese subordinates may consider him to be arrogant and aggressive. The man is not a bad leader, but he must learn to adapt to the culture of the country in order to gain the respect of his workers.
ReplyDeleteSimply knowing the guidelines and faux pas of each culture is not enough. You could give a child a book of all of the instructions to be a perfect driver, but if they have never been behind the steering wheel of a car, they will fail. It is this reason why it's important to put the knowledge of different cultural leadership to practice. In terms of situational leadership, it could be acceptable to practice in an appropriate environment (e.g. a situation which requires calmness and seriousness). By doing this, a leader can develop a sort of "on/off switch" as an adaptability mechanism which would beneficial to many different cultures.
I agree with all that has been said thus far. Even with my little work experience with different culture it is amazing to notice the different styles and different reactions that people will give from other cultural backgrounds. In high school I work at a tent company and had some Latin American people working on my crew andI noticed right away that they had a different view on leadership and even management.
ReplyDeleteAt first I had a hard time adjusting to be an effective leader for those of Latin AMerican decent and those of North American decent. If I would have had the pleasure of understanding that culture play a big role in the definition of leadership then I could have been a lot more effective leader. I now understand the importance of catoring to all cultural views is a key component to being a leader in today's day to day mutli-cultural tasks.