In today’s globalized world, it’s not an uncommon situation. You arrive early to work eager to wrap up a big project you’ve been leading for months. Your boss greets you as you arrive to the office and calls you to a meeting of high importance. You soon find your head spinning and heart pounding as leadership informs you that they will be counting on you to lead a new venture overseas. You’re excited for the opportunity, but are you prepared for what you’re about to engage in? You’re a respected leader in your current role, but do you have what it takes to lead people of a different culture? How will you communicate? Oh no, you’ll have to learn a new language… Those would be most people’s first thoughts when taking on a new role in a different
…show more content…
A massive study is being conducted by Robert J House of the Wharton School. Since 1993, He and his team of researchers have been following and studying the interrelationships among societal culture, organizational culture and practices within organizational leadership. In those studies they have found that “definitions and perceptions of leadership vary considerably from culture to culture… What is seen as a strength in one culture may be a considerable impediment in another culture”.
(Knowledge@Wharton, 1999, para 1-3) It’s these cultural differences that determine what a leader is defined as. GLOBE, the team assembled to gather information about global leaders, has determined a list of common qualities important to outstanding leadership. They include, “foresight, a willingness to encourage colleagues and staff, communicativeness, trustworthiness, a dynamic presence, a positive attitude, and being seen as a confidence builder. Certain charismatic attributes are perceived to be culturally contingent. These include enthusiasm, risk-taking, ambition, humility, sincerity, sensitivity, and compassion.” (Knowledge@Wharton, 1999, para 10)
Now that we know some of the attributes associated with an outstanding global leader, …show more content…
If the student dug deep enough to understand what it at the heart of the group he would soon find himself comfortable and confident and at the helm of a strong group built for success.
So where do you start? According to Aad Boot in his article about - Leading Cross-Cultural
Teams, “It all starts with creating mutual awareness of the cultural differences that hinder us. Successful leaders are not afraid to start a discussion on the cultural differences they perceive and the effect it has on behavior and performance. They even want this discussion to take place. They understand it is vital to create an open discussion if they want to stimulate mutual trust and commitment.” (Boot, 2010) He goes on to say “Successful leaders want to go beyond ‘just knowing’ the differences. They want to understand where these differences are coming from, learn from it, and they want their teams to understand and learn from it as well. They know these discussions are never about being ‘right’ or
‘wrong’, but always about ‘perceptions’ and the ‘value based assumptions’ that are behind
A massive study is being conducted by Robert J House of the Wharton School. Since 1993, He and his team of researchers have been following and studying the interrelationships among societal culture, organizational culture and practices within organizational leadership. In those studies they have found that “definitions and perceptions of leadership vary considerably from culture to culture… What is seen as a strength in one culture may be a considerable impediment in another culture”.
(Knowledge@Wharton, 1999, para 1-3) It’s these cultural differences that determine what a leader is defined as. GLOBE, the team assembled to gather information about global leaders, has determined a list of common qualities important to outstanding leadership. They include, “foresight, a willingness to encourage colleagues and staff, communicativeness, trustworthiness, a dynamic presence, a positive attitude, and being seen as a confidence builder. Certain charismatic attributes are perceived to be culturally contingent. These include enthusiasm, risk-taking, ambition, humility, sincerity, sensitivity, and compassion.” (Knowledge@Wharton, 1999, para 10)
Now that we know some of the attributes associated with an outstanding global leader, …show more content…
If the student dug deep enough to understand what it at the heart of the group he would soon find himself comfortable and confident and at the helm of a strong group built for success.
So where do you start? According to Aad Boot in his article about - Leading Cross-Cultural
Teams, “It all starts with creating mutual awareness of the cultural differences that hinder us. Successful leaders are not afraid to start a discussion on the cultural differences they perceive and the effect it has on behavior and performance. They even want this discussion to take place. They understand it is vital to create an open discussion if they want to stimulate mutual trust and commitment.” (Boot, 2010) He goes on to say “Successful leaders want to go beyond ‘just knowing’ the differences. They want to understand where these differences are coming from, learn from it, and they want their teams to understand and learn from it as well. They know these discussions are never about being ‘right’ or
‘wrong’, but always about ‘perceptions’ and the ‘value based assumptions’ that are behind