Cross-cultural Leadership and Organizational Change

Discuss About The Build Cross Cultural Leadership Competence.

The aim of this paper is to provide an analytical review of the article cross-cultural management to global leadership: evolution and adaptation by Bird and Mendenhall. The second section of the paper is about the five-selected literature that is related to the themes of cross-cultural leadership and organizational change.

The essay titled from cross-cultural management to global leadership: evolution and adaptation by Bird and Mendenhall ( 2016) discusses that initially cross-cultural management studies were concerned with leadership and management. It has been found that scholars have approached the managerial behaviours both from the perspective of international settings or context, in addition to being concerned with the work performed by the international managers. There are certain activities that entail communicating the vision to the members in the team about the transformational change to be brought by the leader. Activities that transcended beyond the boundary were considered as local activities and it is juxtaposed with business enterprise that is concerned with accomplished through strategic business with much deliberation. With the dawn of globalization and the concomitant technological transformations in the landscape of business, communication and inflow of information have become more prominent. The current managers have become strategic in their thinking and approach. The motto of think global and act local has culminated to a global culture with local and indigenous values (Mobley, Wang and Li 2012). In a global scenario, international managers are expected to perform multiple tasks that include translating the corporate vision to reality in the form of implementation of the strategic business plan. Secondly, they are expected to develop an organizational culture and thereby, intensifying the diverse stakeholder relationships and manifest effort towards change. The key feature of the globalization is that mangers are increasingly emulating the leaders. Therefore, as the authors that the distinction between mangers and leaders is slowly diminishing and the roles and characteristics of the leaders and the mangers can infer it has almost overlapped. This is the thesis statement of the essay. For the authors, this phenomenon can be understood through studying the implementation of multiple perspectives. The authors have argued that the field of general leadership have immense potential in studying the about business leadership and enhancing one’s knowledge about the different aspects of managerial leadership. Some of the theories that have been used to understand business leadership is the shared leadership theory, complexity leadership theory, relational leadership theory, followership theory and collaborative frameworks to name a few. According to the authors, the scholars need to develop a full view of the situation through the incorporation of the study of global leadership and emphasize on the contextualization of the study to derive a nuanced understanding. Although the managers trained to become leaders through a standardized program, the patterns of manifestation of leadership are different. Therefore, there are different leadership styles and studies need to understand the range and complexity of each of these leadership styles. The authors exhort that there is an imperative to understand the nuances of each of the leadership styles and therefore, develop specialized training that are based on the competencies and demands of the situation.

Global Economy and Business

Okoro (2012)  in his study Cross-cultural etiquette and communication in Business’ argued that the concept of global economy has led to the proliferation in consumer awareness, define new standards along with the rules of operation and further it leads to the increase corporate and national interdependence. The author argues about different studies that range from discussion about the competence manifested by the corporate to have an edge above others in the marketplace. Studies have also shown that global mangers need to be trained in interpersonal relationship and develop competency in group communication. They are also expected to be acquainted with the skills pertaining to cross-cultural negotiation that would render them competitive advantage on a global level. The author argues that earlier the business objectives were not met due to the absence in understanding of the cross-cultural etiquette, therefore, corporations are increasingly identifying the worth of global managers in understanding the changing global scenario and propose strategies that are effective in nature. Okoro sets to provide a constructive evaluation and analyses the global etiquette and the techniques of cross-cultural communication in the backdrop of international assignments. He recommends strategic role for the organizations to achieve return on investments and succeed in the field of international competitiveness. This can be accomplished through cultural awareness, reciprocity and sensitivity. The views of Oroko are in agreement with that of Bird and Mendell. It is found that with the embarking of business enterprises on a journey of global competitiveness there is a greater need to manage the cultural differences, maintain inter-cultural communication and dive through cross-cultural negotiation. This will enable in effective decision-making during the management of international assignments. In the current context, international managers need to seek appropriate techniques to address these issues. Knowledge about cultural differences and intercultural communication will embolden the leader to resolve the communication gap that emerge during the professional interaction. Business does not exist in isolation and needs to be culturally contexualized. Therefore, the author argues that countries need to pay adequate attention in developing the adequate skills and learning about intercultural communication to enable the conduction of appropriate business.

Yildrim and Birinci (2016)  in their study of Impacts of organizational culture and leadership on business performance argue about the imperative of transformational leadership the importance of culture in being a successful leader. In the context of a high-tech telecommunications company in turkey, the authors discuss about the organizational transformation process and the challenges faced by a business leader in the performance of leadership. This company in company in Turkey have shown phenomenal success in terms of successfully preserving the culture of competency in the face of challenges from the organizational change and culture. The author demonstrate that unlike the popular view among the present scholars that cross-cultural communication and global leadership is imperative to achieve success in business, culture can pose constraint in the accomplishment of success and cause impediment in the accomplishment of business goals. This is especially manifested during the implementation of the necessary technological changes and in addressing concerns of new competency. Organizational culture is instrumental in the long-term performance and the effectiveness of an organization (Laschinger, Wong,  Cummings and Grau 2014). The authors have demonstrated an interlinkage between leadership style, culture and business performance. This study is particularly important as it demonstrates that transformational culture is an important aspect of organizational culture along with the characteristics of transformational leadership. To enable team members to respond effectively to this organizational change, leaders should forge the spirit of team orientation, problem solving, the desire of risk taking, creativity and experimentation. Therefore, as it is repeatedly emphasized by the author transformational leadership is more important as it empowers the organization to deliver their best performance. This paper contradicts the contentions of Bird and Mendenhall in a number of ways. Firstly, unlike Bird and Mendenhall who emphasizes on the importance of integrating the cultural values induced through globalization and developing cross-cultural leadership, the authors of this article have prioritized transformational leadership alone in ushering in a transformation in the organizational culture.

Developing Cross-cultural Leadership Competence

Moss Kanter and Ian Corn (2014)  argue about the resurgence in culture in the study of management culture and leadership. I t has been found that ideologies, organizational assumptions, behavioural styles and work practises have occupied the interest of current researchers. The paper was basically a pilot study and it showed that business have survived a protracted period of success and have managed integration with other companies. Most companies in the context of Turkey have found it hard to manage cultural differences. The author makes an interesting observation that companies that have internal issues in efficiently managing cultural diversity are the ones who refused to be a part of the study of the author’s research endeavour. Authors that the tendency of in-group biases have found the notion of cultural heterogeneity as problematic. The authors have proposed asset of solutions that could help organizations in overcoming the crisis of pluralism and inclusiveness in these companies. Some of these recommendations are creating a culture of mutual respect, creating channels of communication that provide the different members positioned in the hierarchy to articulate their problems and making everyone sensitized about the foreign colleagues is the need of the hour. Therefore, what becomes prominent in this paper is that cultural heterogeneity is absent in many of the companies in Turkey and so as the absence of cross-cultural leadership to address those problems.

Caligiuri and Tarique (2012) discuss that phenomenon of globalization that has led to the changing landscape of doing business. It has been that there is a paucity of research when it comes to understanding about the global leadership. This study encapsulates that the process of developing a global business leader and understanding the characteristics of the individual who reap benefit from this process. Earlier studies have solely focussed on the aspects of effectiveness of skills and knowledge and the influence of distal measures in the development of dynamic competencies. However, this study becomes path-breaking by emerging as the first one of its kind to discuss about Build Cross Cultural Leadership Competencethe influence of high-contact cross-cultural experiences in the nurturing of dynamic global leadership and competencies suitable for becoming a leader. The correlation between dynamic leadership and cross-cultural competencies demonstrate that the key to becoming a global leader is to respond to the changing scenario of globalization and understanding about the changes that need to made in the business models and business strategies. Here cross-cultural competencies refer to low level of ethnocentrism, the ability to manifest cultural flexibility and manage multiculturalism with efficiency and the ability to deal with ambiguities (Stahl and Brannen 2013). In other words cross-cultural leadership is the future of leading an organization as  this kind of leadership is oriented to pluralism, inclusiveness and cultural heterogeneity. The arguments of the author is in consonance with Bird and Mendenhall as both these papers emphasize on the importance of cross-cultural leadership to usher in transformation in the organizational culture.

Literature Review

According to Johnson, Lenartowicz and Apud (2006), encapsulates the causes for the failure in business at the global level. The authors argue that ethnocentrism at the organizational level and the lack of cross-cultural competencies at the individual level contributes to the decline in the competency of business. They contend that there has been a gap in business literature in addressing the importance of cross-cultural leadership and dynamics of a global leadership. Business forms have been largely inefficient in implementing the ethics and values pertaining to business that are important for leading a team. There has been a similar lacuna in the international business circuit. The major drawback of the current business models has been that there is more emphasizing on knowledge than practice. The authors mainly argue about the methodology that would be appropriate in understanding the dimensions of cross-cultural competencies.  For the author, it is important to develop a reliable as well as valid measure that would enable in grasping the nuances of the cross-cultural competencies. On testing this model, it will be possible to identify the assumptions associated with cultural distance and institutional ethnocentrism. The crux of this article is the exhortation for appropriate measure in creating a culturally heterogeneous environment.

Conclusion

Based on the critical reading of the arguments of Bird and Mendenhall and the concomitant literature review I strongly believe that cross-cultural leadership is definitely the future of leadership as it would make companies more befitting to deal with the changing socio-economic conditions. Globalization has led to the melting pot of cultures and therefore,  a leader needs to understand the complexity of each of the cultures, respect diversity and infuse the spirit of pluralism in the team. This would culminate to an effective organizational culture that promotes unity in diversity.

References  

Bird, A., 2013. Assessing global leadership competencies. In Global Leadership (pp. 78-94). Routledge.

Bird, A. and Mendenhall, M.E., 2016. From cross-cultural management to global leadership: Evolution and adaptation. Journal of World Business, 51(1), pp.115-126.

Caligiuri, P. and Tarique, I., 2012. Dynamic cross-cultural competencies and global leadership effectiveness. Journal of World Business, 47(4), pp.612-622.

Laschinger, H.K.S., Wong, C.A., Cummings, G.G. and Grau, A.L., 2014. Resonant leadership and workplace empowerment: The value of positive organizational cultures in reducing workplace incivility. Nursing Economics, 32(1), p.5.

Johnson, J.P., Lenartowicz, T. and Apud, S., 2006. Cross-cultural competence in international business: Toward a definition and a model. Journal of international business studies, 37(4), pp.525-543.

Mobley, W.H., Wang, Y. and Li, M. eds., 2012. Advances in global leadership. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Moss Kanter, R. and Ian Corn, R., 2014. Do cultural differences make a business difference? Contextual factors affecting cross-cultural relationship success. Journal of Management Development, 13(2), pp.5-23.

Okoro, E., 2012. Cross-cultural etiquette and communication in global business: Toward a strategic framework for managing corporate expansion. International journal of business and management, 7(16), p.130.

Stahl, G.K. and Brannen, M.Y., 2013. Building cross-cultural leadership competence: An interview with Carlos Ghosn. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), pp.494-502.

Y?ld?r?m, N. and Birinci, S., 2013. Impacts of organizational culture and leadership on business performance: A case study on acquisitions. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 75, pp.71-82.