User:TamSteph/Cross-Cultural Leadership

Cross-cultural psychology attempts to understand how individuals of different cultures interact with each other (Abbe, Gulick, & Herman, 2007). Along these lines, cross-cultural leadership has developed as a way to understand leaders who work in the newly globalized market. Today’s international organizations require leaders who can adjust to different environments quickly and work with partners and employees of other cultures (House, Javidan, & Dorfman, 2001). It cannot be assumed that a manager who is successful in one country will be successful in another (Javidan, Dorfman, de Luque, & House, 2006; Brodbeck, Frese, Akerblom, Audia, Bakacsi, & Bendova, 2000).

The following sections discuss the various aspects of cross-cultural leadership including: related theories and research, definitions of the construct itself and characteristics that are exhibited from such leaders, and antecedents to and implications of being a cross-cultural leader.

Implicit Leadership Theory
The Implicit Leadership Theory (ILT) asserts that people’s underlying assumptions, stereotypes, beliefs and schemas influence the extent to which they view someone as a good leader. Since people across cultures tend to hold different implicit beliefs, schemas and stereotypes, it would seem only natural that their underlying beliefs in what makes a good leader differ across cultures (Javidan et al., 2006; Brodbeck et al., 2000).

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
One of the most prominent and influential studies to date regarding leadership in a globalized world is the Hofstede dimensions of culture. The study reveals similarities as well as differences across cultures and emphasizes the need to be open-minded to understand the differences in other cultures. Hofstede and Hofstede (2005) utilize five dimensions of culture to compare cultures to give leaders an understanding of how to adjust their leadership styles accordingly. These dimensions include Individualism/Collectivism, Feminine/Masculine, Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long Term/ Short Term orientation.

GLOBE
The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Project (GLOBE) study incorporated both the ILT and Hofstedes’ dimensions into one unique research study. The GLOBE study extended the ILT theory to include individuals of a common culture maintaining a relatively stable common belief about leaders, which varies from culture to culture. They labeled this the Culturally Endorsed Implicit Leadership Theory (CLT) (Javidan et al., 2006). The GLOBE study expanded Hofstedes’ dimensions to include Uncertainty Avoidance, Power Distance, Collectivism I: Societal Collectivism, Collectivism II: In-Group Collectivism, Gender Egalitarianism, Assertiveness, Future Orientation, Performance Orientation and Humane Orientation (House, Javidan, &Dorfman, 2001).

Organizational leadership and culture
In the leadership literature, there is a lack of consensus over how to define and refer to cross-cultural leadership. In the GLOBE study, researchers don’t specifically define cross-cultural leadership; rather they outline it in two components; organizational leadership and culture. The authors describe organizational leadership as “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members” (House et al., p. 494). The authors note that there is no universal definition for culture, but GLOBE’s definition includes “shared motives, values, beliefs, identities, and interpretations or meanings of significant events that result from common experiences of members of collectives and are transmitted across age generations” (House et al., p. 494-495).

International executive
Another term for a cross-cultural leader, as used by Spreitzer, McCall Jr., and Mahoney (1997), is international executive. They define an international executive as “an executive who is in a job with some international scope, whether in an expatriate assignment or in a job dealing with international issues more generally” (p. 7).

Global Leadership
Osland, Bird, Mendenhall, and Osland, (2006) define global leadership as “a process of influencing the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of a global community to work together synergistically toward a common vision and common goals” (p. 204). In 2002 these authors conducted another study which found six core dimensions of competencies of a global leader: cross-cultural relationship skills, traits and values, cognitive orientation, global business expertise, global organizing expertise and visioning.

As you can see, there is not one right way to define and refer to a cross-cultural leader. What is important to note is that these various terms and definitions have a similar underlying meaning. Whichever term you use, the underlying theme is that cross-cultural leadership involves the ability to influence and motivate people’s attitudes and behaviors in the global community to reach a common organizational goal.

Operationalizations
As the previous section demonstrates, researchers use many terms to refer to the construct of cross-cultural leadership. Although these terms may differ slightly, it is important to be able to operationalize, or define cross-cultural leadership in a way that allows its presence or absence to be measured. The following studies discuss the knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors that are exhibited by successful cross-cultural leaders.

In researching the international executive, Spreitzer et al. (1997) found that general intelligence, business knowledge, interpersonal skills, commitment, courage and ease in dealing with cross-cultural issues are traits that seem to resonate throughout the literature in illustrating a successful international executive. They indicated a lack of academic research predictors of “international executive” success, but agree that open personality, flexibility, drive and language skills all contribute to a successful international executive.

Rather than delineating a term for the leader, Rentsch, Mot, and Abbe (2009) describe a specific trait that is attributed to multicultural leadership known as multicultural perspective taking. This is detailed as the ability of such leaders to “take the perspective of another within the cultural context, to apply cultural lenses, and to adapt quickly when encountering individuals or groups from unfamiliar cultures” (p. 1).

Gelfand, Erez, and Aycan (2007) interpret the overall behaviors that a cross-cultural leader should embody as cross-cultural organizational behavior (OB). This is defined as “cross-cultural similarities and differences in processes and behaviors at work, and the dynamics of cross-cultural interfaces in multicultural domestic and international contexts” (p. 480).

Johnson, Lenartowicz, and Apud (2006) discuss such behavior using a similar construct referred to as cross-cultural competence (CC). CC in international business refers to “an individual’s effectiveness in drawing upon a set of knowledge, skills, and personal attributes in order to work successfully with people from different national cultural backgrounds at home or abroad” (p. 530). The focus here is not on acquiring knowledge, but rather on how the individual uses knowledge he/she already has acquired. International business can be tough and trying but it is the extent to which a leader can persevere and utilize the knowledge he/she has that makes him/her successful.

In a similar study conducted by Abbe, et al. (2007), this same concept of cross-cultural competence (here referred to as 3C), was found to enable leaders to interact in any culture, as opposed to language and regional knowledge, which only work in specific cultures. 3C, as researched by Abbe et al. (2007), is dynamic and subject to develop over time. The authors established three components of cross-cultural competence, which include knowledge and cognition, cultural awareness, cross-cultural schema and cognitive complexity. Abbe et al. (2007) found that a leader will be successful working in another culture if personal, work, and interpersonal domains are met.

As the previously discussed studies demonstrate, there are many characteristics and behaviors that lead someone to be an effective cross-cultural leader, be it general cognitive ability, interpersonal skills, cultural awareness, or multicultural perspective taking. What is important to note is that encompassing one of these traits independently does not guarantee you will be a successful cross-cultural leader. An effective cross-cultural leader must have a well-rounded skill set and understanding of the differences that exist among people from different backgrounds.

Antecedents
In today’s world, the business market extends beyond the local shops in front of your house, beyond your neighborhood, beyond your state, even beyond your country. With the emergence of technologies such as the Internet and text messaging, the global market is at everyone’s fingertips. More recently, international trade has grown due to “the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the creation of a single Europe, the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) …a single European currency…and the emergence of the US from an economic recession” (Johnson, et al. 2006, p. 525). The world now consists of jetsetters and Fortune 500 companies, military and government services, and developmental organizations that extend into multiple regions of the world.

The studies conducted to develop these cultural variables attempted to understand the cultural differences and predict an overall impact on leadership. In order to achieve this perspective on culture and notice the similarities and differences, one needs to first understand one’s own culture to relate and compare it to others (Gelfand et al., 2007; Javidan et al., 2006). The larger the gap between these cultures, the more difficult it will be for the leader to adapt (Yamazaki & Kayes, 2004).

According to Gelfand, et al. (2007) globalization is “the economic interdependence among countries that develops through cross-national flows of goods, services, capital, knowhow, and people” (p. 481). Osland, et al. (2006) claim that the term global refers to more than just geographic location but rather it encompasses cultural and intellectual reach which deals with business operations, people, and the development of a global frame of mind. With a greater understanding of globalization and global organizations, we can now move on to its effects on leadership within these organizations.

Implications for practice
Implications of this need for cross-cultural leaders can be seen in the human resource departments within these global organizations. There is a strong agreement across the literature that the selection process plays a key role in hiring the people who will be most effective cross-cultural leaders. The articles detail specific personality traits and individual differences that promote quality cross-cultural leadership for multicultural settings. They also all emphasize across the board the need to hire individuals who already have prior extensive international experience, beyond vacationing in a given country. (Abbe et al. 2007; Johnson et al., 2006; Kealey & Protheroe, 1996; Mintzberg & Gossling, 2002; Osland et. al 2006; Spreitzer et al. 1997; Yamazaki & Kayes, 2004)

Additionally, there have been many studies published regarding the effect of intercultural training on expatriate success. While some disagree and question the effectiveness of training, most authors indicate that there is some, if only minor, success factor in intercultural training. There is no disagreement about the need for intercultural sensitivities and communication skills; it is the process of attaining these skills that is in question (Spreitzer, McCall Jr., & Mahoney, 1997; Mintzberg & Gosling, 2002; Hechanova et al., 2003; Kealey and Protheroe, 1996).