Deck 14: Cross-Cultural Leadership and Diversity

Question 1

What are the major research questions in studies of cross-cultural leadership?

Answer 1

Some of the major research questions that were necessary to understand the cross cultural impact on leadership traits related to the leader's behavior, skills and traits. A few cross cultural studies tried to examine the differences between leadership behavior and leadership outcomes like employee satisfaction and performance. Another study was conducted to find that leadership was related to organizational commitment in countries like Mexico or Taiwan but not in the United States or Japan. A study was conducted to understand the impact of transformational leadership on a bank branch's performance that was higher due to power distance and values like collectivism. Another question that required answer was the identification of differences among countries with regards to the beliefs about effective leadership and management practices. The major interconnected subjects in leadership are cross cultural research in leadership, gender differences in leadership and management of diversity.

Question 2

Why is cross-cultural research on leadership important and worthwhile?

Answer 2

The cross-cultural research on leadership is important as globalization has increased the number of multinational corporations making it imperative for leaders to work with people from different cultures. This requires leaders to have an understanding of different cultures. Certain aspects of leadership theory may be valid across cultures and some may be applicable only to certain cultures. Researchers must consider a broader range of processes that could provide new insights on leadership to make the concept effective. Understanding cross cultural differences could cause researchers to pay more attention to situation variables that are not included in leadership theories like religion, language, or history.

Question 3

What are some difficulties in conducting cross-cultural research on leadership?

Answer 3

The cross cultural researchers face several challenges and difficulties like conceptual and methodological weakness, limitations in the research conducted and issues with data collection procedures. The conceptual frameworks in research involve different dimensions of cultural values that have unresolved disagreements. The comprehensive way of defining cultural dimensions is still not available.
In order to understand the impact of cultural and organizational values on the behavior of leader, it is important to measure certain aspects of this behavior to various leadership categories like participative, supportive or transformational. However, the results are likely to be biased due to cultural differences among the researchers. To avoid such bias, the research panel must comprise of researchers from different cultural backgrounds.
Also the samples used by researchers represented very few countries, instead of having samples from many countries. Since the cross cultural research involves large samples with huge differences, it is obvious that researchers have not been identifying and reporting these differences. Another problem with cross cultural research is that they rely on survey. When these survey questionnaire forms are translated in different languages, the bias in response also arises. Another limitation is that the biased survey research on leadership assumes that leader is an interpreter of culture and determined by culture. Due to the above mentioned limitations, the research in this field is hampered to a great extent.

Question 4

What cultural value dimensions have been identified, and how are they related to leadership?

Question 5

What leadership attributes are universally viewed as effective and desirable?

Question 6

What leadership attributes have the greatest cross-cultural variability?

Question 7

Why is a "glass ceiling" for women, and what can be done about the problem?

Question 8

What can leaders do to manage diversity in organizations?

Question 9

Madison, Jones, and Conklin
After graduating from a prestigious business school, Laura Kravitz accepted a job at Madison, Jones, and Conklin, a medium-sized firm that did accounting and consulting projects for corporate clients. After a series of successful assignments working as a member of a project team, Laura was promoted to a team manager position with broader responsibilities. Laura felt confident about her qualifications. The other team managers seemed to respect her, and clients were happy with the projects she managed. With this record of success, Laura hoped to eventually become a partner in the company. However, as the only woman manager in a maledominated company, she knew that there would be some obstacles to overcome.
Laura felt that some of the senior managers were very conservative and did not accept her as an equal. In the quarterly planning meetings, these managers were often inattentive when she spoke and seemed unreceptive to her suggestions for improvements. Several times she proposed an idea that was ignored, and the same idea was later suggested by someone else who received the credit for it.
Laura did not have a mentor in the company to tell people about her skills and help to advance her career. Moreover, she did not feel accepted into the informal network of relationships that provided opportunities to interact with senior managers. She did not like to play golf and was not a member of the exclusive golf club to which many of the male managers belonged. She was not invited to most of the social activities hosted by senior managers for friends and select members of the company.
Laura also felt that the assignment of projects was biased. The high-profile projects were always given to the male managers. When Laura asked her boss for more challenging projects, she was told that the older clients usually preferred to deal with men. Because she was not given the more profitable accounts, her performance numbers did not look as good as the numbers for some of the male managers. Two male managers who had joined the company around the same time she was hired were promoted ahead of her.
Frustrated by the apparent ?glass ceiling? at the company, Laura asked to meet with the president to talk about her career. The president was surprised to hear that Laura was unhappy about her advancement in the company. He assured her that she was a valuable employee and should be patient about a promotion. However, after another year with little improvement in how she was treated, Laura resigned from the company. With two friends from graduate school who also felt unappreciated, she formed a new company and served as the chief executive officer. In a relatively short time, this company became highly successful.
What forms of gender discrimination did Laura experience?

Question 10

Madison, Jones, and Conklin
After graduating from a prestigious business school, Laura Kravitz accepted a job at Madison, Jones, and Conklin, a medium-sized firm that did accounting and consulting projects for corporate clients. After a series of successful assignments working as a member of a project team, Laura was promoted to a team manager position with broader responsibilities. Laura felt confident about her qualifications. The other team managers seemed to respect her, and clients were happy with the projects she managed. With this record of success, Laura hoped to eventually become a partner in the company. However, as the only woman manager in a maledominated company, she knew that there would be some obstacles to overcome.
Laura felt that some of the senior managers were very conservative and did not accept her as an equal. In the quarterly planning meetings, these managers were often inattentive when she spoke and seemed unreceptive to her suggestions for improvements. Several times she proposed an idea that was ignored, and the same idea was later suggested by someone else who received the credit for it.
Laura did not have a mentor in the company to tell people about her skills and help to advance her career. Moreover, she did not feel accepted into the informal network of relationships that provided opportunities to interact with senior managers. She did not like to play golf and was not a member of the exclusive golf club to which many of the male managers belonged. She was not invited to most of the social activities hosted by senior managers for friends and select members of the company.
Laura also felt that the assignment of projects was biased. The high-profile projects were always given to the male managers. When Laura asked her boss for more challenging projects, she was told that the older clients usually preferred to deal with men. Because she was not given the more profitable accounts, her performance numbers did not look as good as the numbers for some of the male managers. Two male managers who had joined the company around the same time she was hired were promoted ahead of her.
Frustrated by the apparent ?glass ceiling? at the company, Laura asked to meet with the president to talk about her career. The president was surprised to hear that Laura was unhappy about her advancement in the company. He assured her that she was a valuable employee and should be patient about a promotion. However, after another year with little improvement in how she was treated, Laura resigned from the company. With two friends from graduate school who also felt unappreciated, she formed a new company and served as the chief executive officer. In a relatively short time, this company became highly successful.
What could Laura have done to overcome the obstacles she encountered?

Question 11

Madison, Jones, and Conklin
After graduating from a prestigious business school, Laura Kravitz accepted a job at Madison, Jones, and Conklin, a medium-sized firm that did accounting and consulting projects for corporate clients. After a series of successful assignments working as a member of a project team, Laura was promoted to a team manager position with broader responsibilities. Laura felt confident about her qualifications. The other team managers seemed to respect her, and clients were happy with the projects she managed. With this record of success, Laura hoped to eventually become a partner in the company. However, as the only woman manager in a maledominated company, she knew that there would be some obstacles to overcome.
Laura felt that some of the senior managers were very conservative and did not accept her as an equal. In the quarterly planning meetings, these managers were often inattentive when she spoke and seemed unreceptive to her suggestions for improvements. Several times she proposed an idea that was ignored, and the same idea was later suggested by someone else who received the credit for it.
Laura did not have a mentor in the company to tell people about her skills and help to advance her career. Moreover, she did not feel accepted into the informal network of relationships that provided opportunities to interact with senior managers. She did not like to play golf and was not a member of the exclusive golf club to which many of the male managers belonged. She was not invited to most of the social activities hosted by senior managers for friends and select members of the company.
Laura also felt that the assignment of projects was biased. The high-profile projects were always given to the male managers. When Laura asked her boss for more challenging projects, she was told that the older clients usually preferred to deal with men. Because she was not given the more profitable accounts, her performance numbers did not look as good as the numbers for some of the male managers. Two male managers who had joined the company around the same time she was hired were promoted ahead of her.
Frustrated by the apparent ?glass ceiling? at the company, Laura asked to meet with the president to talk about her career. The president was surprised to hear that Laura was unhappy about her advancement in the company. He assured her that she was a valuable employee and should be patient about a promotion. However, after another year with little improvement in how she was treated, Laura resigned from the company. With two friends from graduate school who also felt unappreciated, she formed a new company and served as the chief executive officer. In a relatively short time, this company became highly successful.
What could the president have done to create equal opportunity in this company?