Power Distance Leader Essay

In multinational companies, business leadership has numerous challenges. There has been a prevailing imperative towards the development of partnerships and strategic alliances. This has been because of the need for companies to lower production costs, carry out distribution in a foreign country, or succeed in the face of varied regulatory environments. The result has been the need for business leaders to frequently interact with and manage as well as be managed by culturally diverse populations.

The authors of the white paper conducted a series of interviews designed to solicit the knowledge and opinions of 18 CEO’s and C-suite executives of Fortune 500 companies to put together a list of characteristics and prerequisites that are vital to the successful trajectory of an effective business leader. Among a series of such requirements, global exposure through global assignments was a repeating mantra. Hand in hand with this was cultural sensitivity. One of the quotes cited in the white paper declared, “You have to have a very open, inclusive, global perspective – the ability to connect the dots, to really assimilate different

Leadership style is the driving force behind an organizations effectiveness and overall success. Leaders control the heart of an organization; they control the direction, values, and employee’s level of commitment to the organization. Consistency and reliability are key traits that followers look for in a leader. Team members need to understand and know that the actions of their leaders will be within the expected realm of who they are and how they have presented themselves. A leader’s inconsistency could be viewed by followers as unreliable, unpredictable, and hard to follow. So how does a leader navigate an organizations multi-faceted culture while cultivating success and effectiveness?

Mangers and leaders can be successful in any environment with the right mindset and determination. A global environment represents a concept that includes a broad range of factors a business can use to gain success in all markets. This can influence a business geographic location, politics, technology, culture, and the economic status of the global environment. Managers with the ability to influence individuals, groups, organizations and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional intellectual and psychological characteristics (Lester, & Parnell, 2006). A perceived leader as transformational, a person who can stimulate others intellectually is a necessity within a global environment (Ayman, Kreicker, & Masztal,

Leadership is perceived and defined in many ways, but in the end, every concept of leadership is brought back on the focus of people. Followers’ reaction towards a leader decides the effectiveness of his or her specific style of governance. Because of the importance of the subordinate, leaders must treat everyone they manage with dignity and respect. To achieve this feat, the leader must understand the meaning of culture and other aspects which stem from it and social perceptions and biases which lead to schema and ultimately unjust stereotypes. In the leadership textbook Preparing to Lead: Introduction to Leadership and Development written by LCDR Litchford, USN and LT Bryant, USN, it defines culture as “the totality of learned socially transmitted

The Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness). The GLOBE research followed in Hofstede 's footsteps yet also searched for additional dimensions (Cater, Lang & Szabo, 2013, p. 446) as depicted and defined on Table II. In light of the GLOBE findings, earlier conceptualisations of culture have been reconsidered with respect to the impact of culture on leadership (Dickson et al., 2012 as cited in Cater et al., 2013, p. 447). GLOBE researchers introduced twnety one first-orderr “primary leadership dimensions” which were then condensed in six second-order “global leadership dimenions” that are charismatic/value-based, team-oreinted, participative, human-oreinted, autonomous, or self-protective (Cater et al., 2013, p. 450).

The challenge of globalization is that companies have to adapt or die. Adaptability will be the ultimate characteristic which differentiates successful from unsuccessful companies (McCallum, 2001). Therefore, the need for understanding different communication practices and cultural values has become quite significant (Artiz and Walker, 2014). An important consequence of the globalization processes is that leaders in all realms of society are experiencing major changes in their roles and responsibilities (Dean, 2005). These forces are driving an increased demand for global leaders who have acquired new competencies that would enable them to react, respond and lead successfully (Marquardt & Berger, 2000).

Organization wants to achieve the objectives of sustained growth and increased profitability, organization must constant innovation its product or service, also need to carry out some plans to expand its business to enable an organization to have a better development. Organization expands its business cannot be confined to the domestic market must also move abroad, which effectively allows an organization closer to the global market and broadening the scope of business and profitability. However, business expansion is not as easy in this global environment, globalization has not only changed the enterprise competitive landscape also influence the way leaders conduct business (Caligiuri, 2006). Furthermore, with globalization, global leadership in terms of cultural knowledge needed to become more acute and require more advanced level of cognitive ability on the complexity of managing the demand of multiple cultures while completing managerial tasks (Caligiuri, 2006, Grosse, 2011). Therefore, the development of global management skills is very important for the global organizations and managers. Only effective in developing global management skills can help the organization reduce the risk of international business

2. Individualism vs. collectivism (IDV): The extent to which a society is based on the needs of the individual as opposed to the needs of the group.

Leadership in a globalizing world. The global economy has changed the way the corporations do business today. The melting of trade barriers among nations and their increasing inter connectedness, accelerated by technology has brought a profound impact on global business. The expanding global environment has extended the reach and goals of the companies with greater access to wider markets. Managers are looking to globalize operations, developing new markets for their products for better strategic business outcomes. Consumers also have better access to a greater variety of goods and services; and the competition to reach to the new markets with the right product is getting stronger among businesses. Globalization gives businesses better access to a global workforce, enables them to tap into international raw materials and financial resources. As the world economy is fast becoming a single interdependent system, businesses have competitors, customers, employees from anywhere in the world.

The advent of social networking and other media has transformed the way citizens interact and how businesses market, promote, and distribute their products globally. The same can be said for mass collaboration efforts occurring through digital, online technology for the development of new and innovative systems, products, and ideas. Both social networking and mass collaboration bring new power and influence to individuals across borders and transform the nature of their relationships with global organizations. As in the past, these developments underscore and reinforce the importance of understanding different cultures, national systems, and corporate management practices around the world. Students and managers now recognize that all business is global and that the world is now interconnected not only geographically but also electronically and psychologically; it is hard to imagine any business or nonbusiness organization that is not directly affected by globalization. Yet, as cultural, political, and economic differences persist, savvy international managers must be able to develop a global mindset in order to effectively adjust, adapt, and navigate the changing landscape they face on a day-to-day basis. In this new eighth edition of International Management, we have taken care to retain the

House from New Mexico State University creating a model called the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) project. Hofstede went on by defining cultural distance as “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 2001). By breaking down this definition, Hofstede is categorising ethnicities, religions, occupations, genders, and even organisations and saying that their beliefs and values are influenced by those factors. With the changes happening in the world, each researcher’s model can be questioned due to cross-culture. So having to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of each model would give a better understanding of what model can be used to better to one’s company. However, each model stands alone yet has some similarities that would be discussed furthermore in this essay.

According to the works of Chaney & Martin (2011) and Harris & Moran (2000), they agree that international management skills are in need for the increasing scope of international trades and investments. A large number of multinational companies have expanded their businesses through both developed and developing countries. Some of the business invest directly and others are partnership arrangements and strategic alliances with domestic operations. Their studies show that independent entrepreneurs and small businesses have started investing and competing in the world marketplace. Thus, to acquire corporations’ objectives, there is exceedingly a necessity for the development of strategic framework for cross-cultural management and communication in the current competitive global market. Chaney & Martin (2011) also noted that, cultural awareness and cultural differences are strongly important to the multinational corporations’ success. A good understanding of the culture where business is implemented can make international managers productive and effective.

The world offers significant business opportunities for every company, however, opportunities are accompanied by significant challenges for managers. Managing global operations across diverse cultures and markets represents a big challenge and opportunity for companies. To compete in the global market and be successful, companies must learn the strategies, policies, norms and technology necessary to conduct international business. The opportunities for global expansion are numerous, and attaining success is a matter of developing the right strategy to win local markets and its consumers.

The constant growth of globalization raises the need for cultural understanding between countries and the companies within them. With the world being more connected than ever, employers are faced with increasing their repertoire of communication skills, an intelligent workforce, foreign environments, cultural influences, and other factors to compete in a high-paced environment. Yet, some businesses do not fully comprehend all the factors that play a part in being a successful international company. For example, a simple name could be disastrous in another country, such as Bing in Chinese translates into “disease”. However, executives need to become aware of other cultural aspects. These include communication, behavior, appearance, and politics. Globalization is occurring rather rapidly due to innovations and the development of technology. No longer do people have to travel across the globe to have a business meeting. With a connection to the internet, businesses can have a Skype call to figure out solutions to fix complex problems and strategize for future growth.