culture and leadership - aston university
TRANSCRIPT
Culture and Leadership
Dr Kani Narayanan
How the session will run
• The session is being recorded, so be aware that any contribution you make will
be recorded.
• If you have any questions please type them into chat, or unmute yourself and
ask the question when I stop and ask for questions.
• Please keep your microphone muted unless you are speaking.
• Please be polite and supportive to fellow attendees. You might disagree with
someone in a discussion, but please do so in a friendly way.
Learning outcomes
• What is Culture?
• Why is it important?
• Hofstede and Globe studies
What is Culture?
The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the
members of one group or category of people from others.
Leadership in a global context
The greatest competitive advantage global companies in the twenty-first
century can have is effective global leaders. Yet this competitive challenge
is not easy to meet. People tend to rise to leadership positions by proving
themselves able to lead in their home-country corporate culture and
meeting the generally accepted behaviours of that national culture.
However, global leaders must broaden their horizons-both strategically and
cross-culturally-and develop a more flexible model of leadership that can
be applied anywhere-one that is adaptable to locational situations around
the world.’ Deresky, 2003: 461.
Some of the Challenges of Cultural Differences
10-50% expatriate managers return from host country early
48.4% expatriate managers were not able to perform effectively.
Failed expatriate assignments cost US firms at least $1million per year
Many mergers/acquisitions and joint ventures fail, particularly cross-national
36.6% expatriate and family were not able to adapt to culture.
Insch & Daniels (2002); Firth et al., (2014)
Leader competencies
1. Understand business, political, and cultural environments.
2. Learn perspectives, tastes, trends, and technology.
3. Able to work simultaneously with people from many cultures.
4. Adapt to living and communicating
5. Relate to people
Adler & Bartholomew, 1992,p.53)
Leading in Cross-cultural contexts
Leaders in cross-cultural contexts have to make sure they don’t fall into:
1. Ethnocentrism – tendency for individuals to place their own group at the
center of their observations of others and the world
2. Prejudice – fixed attitude, belief, or emotion held by an individual about
another individual or group that is based on faulty or unsubstantiated data
Northouse (2018)
Theoretical perspecitves
1. Social Identity Theory (SIT) & Social Categorization Theory (SCT) – cultural
dissimilarity undermines social integration
2. Social Identity Theory of Leadership – leader prototypically
Hofstede (1980-2001)
Data Base
116.000 IBM employees
50 countries
1967-1973
Limitations
1. Data is old
2. Unrepresentative sample
3. Ungeneralizable
4. Data collected from 64 IBM locations
More valid framework for examining culture: GLOBE
Global Leadership & Organisational Behavior Effectiveness Project
• Background
• 170 multicultural researchers from 62 different countries
• Data Base
• Various methods: focus groups, pilot tests, analysis of cultural artefacts
• Survey data: Triangulated, translation/back translation and adjusted for
response bias
• 950 organisations in 3 industries: food processing, financial services,
telecommunications, 62 countries, ~ 17 000 middle managers
• 1996
House et al. (2004, 2002)
The GLOBE dimensions
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Power Distance
• Institutional Collectivism
• In-Group Collectivism
• Gender Egalitarianism
Assertiveness
Future Orientation
Performance Orientation
Humane Orientation
Country cluster according to GLOBE
Cultural dimensions by cluster-GLOBE
References
• Adler, N.J., & Bartholomew, S. (1992). Managing globally competent people. Academy of Management Executive, 6, pp.52-65.
• Deresky, H. (2003). International Management: Managing Across Borders and Cultures. Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
• Firth, B.M., Chen, G., Kirkman, B.L. and Kim, K., 2014. Newcomers abroad: Expatriate adaptation during early phasesof international assignments. Academy of Management Journal, 57(1), pp.280-300.
• Insch, G.S. and Daniels, J.D., 2002. Causes and consequences of declining early departures from foreign assignments.Business Horizons, 45(6), pp.39-39.
• Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Sage: Beverly Hills,CA.
• Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations acrossnations. Sage publications.
• House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, N. (Eds.). (2004). Culture, leadership, andorganizations: The GLOBE study of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
• House, R., Javidan, M., Hanges, P., & Dorfman, P. (2002). Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theoriesacross the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE. Journal of world business, 37(1), pp. 3-10.
• Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice (Chapter 16). Sage Publications: Calfornia, USA
What we will do on Thursday
• Start to look at the different leadership dimensions and link it to
different countries.
• Leader effectiveness model from GLOBE
• Universally desirable and undesirable leadership attributes
• Leadership development plan
My contact details
Dr Kanimozhi Narayanan
Lecturer in the Organisation behaviour
Work and Organisation Department