Impact National Culture on Leadership Traits and Behaviors - Essay Example

Impact National Culture on Leadership Traits and Behaviors Question 1 Every national culture has significant differences in distinctive leadership traits and behaviours. According to Cullen and Parboteeah (2014), it is important to advance the understanding of national cultural differences in distinctive leadership traits and behaviours. Additionally, it is imperative to figure out how national culture influences the selection of leader strategies and subordinates’ outlook. Leaders can either have positive or negative leadership traits and social behaviour that can influence the organizational success. Cullen and Parboteeah (2014) state that “the assumption is that good social relationships lead to successful organizations” (p. 61). The following are the leadership traits and behaviors that may negatively impact organizational effectiveness in multinational companies: dictatorial, non cooperative, non explicit, irritable, egocentric, cruel/ruthless and loner. A dictatorial leader imposes strict commands and orders without leaving any space for dialogue or understanding (Hofstede, 2011). A non-cooperative leader is one who does not show elements of teamwork or support in the company activities. A non-explicit leader is not open, but prefers carrying out his or her roles confidentially (Hofstede, 2011). He or she prefers when everything is kept back from the rest of the members, especially subordinates. Irritable leaders are short-tampered and are associated with recurrent instances of disputes and unreasonable ways of thinking. According to Hofstede (2011), egocentric leaders are careless of the feelings of others and are associated with self-centered and insensitive decisions, which leave other people socially hurt and distressed. Cruel/ruthless leaders are unpleasant and unkind management groups who lead others mercilessly and at times brutally. A loner is a leader who prefers being secluded from the rest of the members. Additionally, loners mostly fail to associate with others (Hofstede, 2011). Question 2 Yes, I believe that multinational managers must understand the subordinate expectations in order to lead effectively. Subordinate expectations are “expectations regarding what leaders “should” do and what they may or may not do” (Cullen & Parboteeah (2014, p. 663). Therefore, understanding subordinate expectations help in delivering exactly what is required in a multinational company. For a country with high power distance, I would recommend an autocratic leadership. High power distance countries are associated with dominant individualism and human rights. According to Coelho (2011), countries with high power distance put emphasis on the individual’s position, authority or material goods. In particular, individual cultures have high power distance, for example, Latin and Asian countries, such as, Russia, Romania and Malaysia are associated with high power distance cultures. In this regard, high power distance countries need an autocratic leadership style, which is also referred to authoritarian leadership style. Cullen and Parboteeah (2014), state that an autocratic leadership is where “leaders make all major decisions themselves” (p. 670). It entails a leader who manages every activity including making decisions, while giving the subordinates minimal participation. Autocratic leaders make decisions on the basis of personal opinions and hardly ever acknowledge other people’s contributions. Given that employees in the high power distance countries put emphasis on people’s positions and eminence, the autocratic leadership will be significant in achieving organizational success. For example, employees from Asia will not wish to differ with the manager. They simply work best under strict supervision and take orders seriously, which leads to achieving successful organizational results. Question 3 Yes, I believe that transformational leaders are similar regardless of cultural background. Studies show that there is a common connection between transformational leaders across all cultural backgrounds. According to Loon, Lim, Lee and Tam (2012), there are a number of collective cultures and traditions that foster the development of transformation leaders than would be the instance in the individualism cultures. Loon et al. (2012) also state that the fundamental actions and traits associated with transformational leaders, for example, inspirational, motivational, understanding and kind leaders are also evident in many leaders from other parts of the world. It is apparent that traditional and cultural backgrounds help in creating strong networks with transformational leaders across the world. Loon et al. (2012) indicate that these cultural backgrounds help in creating leadership effectiveness. Transformational leadership entails situations where leaders make decisions that push for the growth of the number of supporter’s understanding what is correct and valuable (Loon et al., 2012). This includes inspiring the employees to work harder than usual and fostering them to put the interests of the organization first. By obeying and respecting the views of the transformational leaders, the subordinates end up advancing their capabilities. This is, in addition to, remaining accountable and applying strong individual decisions. Therefore, transformational leadership is bound to help individuals achieve organizational success. Cullen and Parboteeah (2014) believe that transformational leaders “succeed because subordinates respond to them with high levels of performance, devotion and willingness to sacrifice” (p. 666). Question 4 A counterproductive, leadership behaviour entails actions that go against the main objectives of an organization. It is apparent that organizations have set cultural objectives that have to be adhered to by every leader. According to Pellegrini, Scandura and Jayaraman (2010), the significant culturally inappropriate leadership behavior that might be counterproductive to an organization include the following: Unproductive work performance, work non-attendance and negligent mistakes. A number of these counterproductive behaviours negatively impact organizational effectiveness in multinational companies. According to Cullen and Parboteeah (2014), culturally inappropriate leadership behavior can be counterproductive, especially when allowed to continue for a long period of time. Unproductive work performance can be attributed to a number of counterproductive cultural actions, such as, failure to meet the general goals of the company. Additionally, it can entail failure to generate positive results and failure to make feasible decisions (Pellegrini et al., 2010). Work non-attendance is one of the major culturally inappropriate leadership behaviors that may ruin the entire organizational operations. When a leader fails to be present at work or important functions, he or she ruins the entire working process, including the subordinates’ expectations (Pellegrini et al., 2010). Ultimately, many leaders are associated with negligent mistakes which entail, failure to read instructions carefully or failure to scrutinize reports properly, such as, tax returns (Pellegrini et al., 2010). This can lead to immeasurable errors, such as, accounting errors that can destroy an organization’s performance. References Coelho, D. A. (2011). A study on the relation between manufacturing strategy, company size, country culture and product and process innovation in Europe. International Journal of Business and Globalisation 7(2), 152-165. Cullen, J.B., & Parboteeah, K.P. (2014). Multinational management: A strategic approach. (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South- Western. Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). http://dx.doi.org10.9707/2307-0919.1014 Loon, M., Lim, Y. M., Lee, T. H., & Tam, C. L. (2012). Transformational leadership and job- related learning. Management Research Review, 35(3/4), 192-205. doi:10.1108/01409171211210118 Pellegrini, E. K., Scandura, T. A., & Jayaraman, V. (2010). Cross-cultural generalizability of paternalistic leadership: An expansion of leader-member exchange theory. Group & Organization Management, 35(4), 391-420. Read More