The situated individual. This concept states your followers build a perception of who they are, what they are doing, and where they are, based upon their identity and purpose (Eisenberg & Goodall, 2014). The situated individuals connected through daily experiences, realities, and mutually shared meanings. (Eisenberg & Goodall, 2014). Using this concept, encourage followers to form relationships outside of their group that foster organizational learning and growth.
Motivational Language Theory (MLT). As a leader, you can have a positive effect on followers by using clear and motivational language in speeches, storytelling and leader-to-follower communications (Mayfield, 2008). Using MLT, you can reduce uncertainty through clarification by setting goals; creating and sharing a vision; and by consistently using words that express empathy, compassion and respect for employees (Mayfield, 2008). Regardless of the environment, leader-follower communication principles are universal.
Multicultural Environments and Cross Cultural Communication Leaders who are well versed in the foregoing leader-follower communication concepts will also be successful in global and in cross-cultural environments (Rentfrow, 2007). For example, when leaders: (1) model willingness to engage others; (2) are sensitive to differences/diversity; (3) promote the establishment relationships beyond their immediate environment; and (4) eliminate organizational barriers, these principles are universal and
Some of the qualities that leaders need to be successful in a cultural difference environment are technology savvy, building partnership and alliance. Leaders need to know how to build accountability into their systems with regard to their managers taking responsibility for creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. A successful leader should know how identify when cultural difference is needed. When client is diverse, it means that diversity is needed in our workforce so that we can learn and know more about the clients so we can make employees more effectives addressing client’s needs. Building partnership and alliance with other companies to look for prospect hires, leaders should have the character to know people and identify their culture differences, values, belief to create mutual independence.
A leader must listen to its followers and vice versa. Both Gardner and Wooden in their books provide examples that both ineffective and effective communication can affect a group or organization—for better or worse. However, through positive open communication that is produced from the group can lead to positive and effective improvement (Wooden, 2005, p.198-201; Gardner,1990, p.86) for the work environment and respectability between leader and follower.
Leaders are the central figures in a team, and they are attributed to the largest share of blame or praise depending on the performance. New leaders in an organization are faced with many challenges on how to start making an impact and successfully lead the subordinates on the set mission. According to Kangas (2013), the key element for a new leader is to establish interpersonal links and relationships that are necessary for learning about the organization. The success of the leader and the organization as a team depends on the quality of interpersonal relationships that develop to help the leader in implementing their mission. Additionally, the influence of leaders over their followers is largely founded on the interpersonal relationship as members of a team (Kangas, 2013). Another major source of challenge for leaders in organizations is the implementation of changes that affect the existing relationships and roles in major operations. BBBSA demonstrates the challenges that can arise for new leaders in organizations in implementing changes and the effectiveness of the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory in addressing leadership issues.
Kreitner, R. (2009). International Management and Cross-Cultural competence. (11th ed.). Management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage
I would agree that leaders must communicate inclusively in a multicultural world. Communication “and culture interrelate” (Bucher, 2015, p.126). Communication is the process that we “transfer information, ideas, attitudes, and feelings to each other” (Bucher, 2015, p.1626). If we aren’t able to communicate inclusively in a diverse setting or multicultural world, we are not going to be able to communicate effectively.
Rothman stands by the importance of effective leadership in accord with Schmitz, (2012) in “understanding cultural value dimensions in businesses” is significant for an organization. Since Dr. Rothman feels that globalization and new technology have fast, advanced in the last few years, it is also important, like Malonis statement in his article that “companies establishing a global presence devise strategies related to language cultural awareness and sensitivity.” (p. 347). Dr. Rothman understands that the process that an effective leader follows using the skills needed to build up an organization adequately is a combined effort of individuals working together. Recently he made a statement saying, “Ours is an institution that welcomes people from all countries and backgrounds.” It is important that the as a leader that the semantic ethic of any individual that other under their domain treat others that are different from themselves with respect alleviating intercultural conflicts. Knowledge and awareness of cultural values can enable leaders and managers to effectively manage and work through intercultural conflict and interactions (Schmitz,
As simple and as complex as it could be Richards (2017) cited that organization whose leader is able to convey good communication honestly and openly can actually make a big difference, thus, it is needed that leaders can undergo trainings and coaching to equipped themselves with skills that foster effective communication. It will be in this sense that leaders may be able to develop or improvise means to keep the communication between both parties free flowing.
When working in a global environment, the leader may be from a different culture which perhaps values caring for others, quality of live and social solidarity higher than achievement, status and success; understanding the cultural conditioning of the leaders will impact how the follower creates a trusting relationship (Rød, 2012). When a follower is offended by leaders comments or actions, stepping back to understand the leaders intent can ease miscommunication and hard feelings (Rød, 2012). The follower must have a clear understanding of self, and strong emotional intelligence to navigate through challenging communications while concurrently building trust in the
Inclusive leadership is the practice of leadership that carefully includes the contributions of all stakeholders in the community or organization. The way a leadership mind is structured depend on how he structures his organization. An individual mindset might over shadow their ability to effectively overturn certain decision or behaviors. A leader’s values and characteristics strengthen the organization cultural diversity. Modern leaders use different styles and skills to shape human intuition. Their instinct reflect their ability to understand other’s cognitive ability. As a consultant in a global multicultural company, it will be very challenging to effectively lead an organization without implementing a strategic plan that promote respect, trust, loyal, and integrity. Prewitt, Weil, & McClure (2011) note, “Leadership involves creating a vision of the organizational future, devising a strategy for achieving that vision, and communicating that vision to all members of the organization” (p. 13). Depending on the structure of the organization, the leader’s mindset can and will change to adopt to the cultural diversity of the organization. Leadership, unlike management, is not dependent on position, title or privilege; instead it is an observable, understandable, and learnable set of skills that can be mastered by anyone that is willing to take the time and put forth the effort to learn them (Yukl, 1998). While implementing different strategies to improve the organizational
Leadership is an important attribute in individuals such as managers, academic experts, and researchers. The topic of leadership continues to gain popularity and importance in almost all sectors. The way leaders in managerial positions communicate determines their effectiveness and success in achieving high levels of performance and success in their organizations. There are numerous books that provide an insight into effective leadership and communication. One of such books is by Atwater and Waldman (2012). This paper provides a summary, contextual analysis and critique of the book.
It is essential for business leaders to have excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills, as leaders are often a symbol of a company’s integrity and this affects not only how customers perceive the company, but also impacts the thoughts and actions of lower positioned employees. For example, a leader that speaks using improper grammar, or writes correspondence with spelling errors throughout it, could project a negative image that can be harmful to a company. Customers might conclude that the leader is incompetent and they might decide that they do not wish to purchase goods from a company that hires inept leaders. Furthermore, employees might become less apt to respect an authority that appears to be uneducated, as well as employees might feel that if the leader disregards using proper communication than it is not necessary for them to use it either. Business leaders need to know when to listen, when to talk, and how to share ideas effectively. Clear and concise communication states exactly how, who, what, and when and serves to guide, direct, protect, persuade, and to inform. Communication is essential for decreasing miscommunications and for increasing productivity, motivation, and efficiency. When someone uses effective communication, he or she is more apt to have favorable results and his or her requests will become granted more often. Furthermore, communication builds goodwill. Having excellent communication skills is
Conrad Hilton recognized the importance of individuals in the realization of success. He took a personal interest in all of his followers by paying attention to their concerns and mentoring them (Alef 2009). He encouraged two-way communications between him and his followers to allow the people to express their views. He tolerated differences among the employees and delegated most of the work to others. This leadership style is important as it takes into consideration individual views of every person and makes the employees feel valued (Eeden et al. 2008). Globalization has led to the establishment of multinational companies that draw their employees from different backgrounds. There is need for leaders to understand their followers and tolerate their differences for the success of the entire team.
“The term motivation is derived from the Latin verb movere, which means to move. In other words, motivational theories attempt to answer questions about what gets individuals moving (energization) and toward what activities or tasks.” Pintrich and Schunk (2002, as cited by Pintrich, 2003). Despite its complexity and its multi-faceted nature, language learners’ motivation can be easily identified by teachers. In other words, if we ask teachers to select their highly motivated students, they can easily do so through observing students’ behaviors. For instance, how much time and effort students invest on doing class activities and their assignments; how much attention they pay to their teachers and classmates; how willingly they use the target language in class. These different types of behaviors are usually collectively referred to as motivation. Those students who manifest these various motivational behaviors are considered to be highly motivated students. Thu, the field of L2 motivation research is focused on identifying and examining a range of different motivational variables that get L2 learners to show these types of behaviors.
In times of rapid globalisation and economic development growth, the environment of business has become more and more complicated as a huge number of firms want to globally expand their businesses. Subsequently, the managerial implications of cross-cultural management is the challenge of this development. As Abbe (2007) states, cross-cultural leadership has developed as a way to understand leaders who work in the global markets. Culture is the “software of mind” that can influence people’s patterns of thinking and behaving.
Communication is an essential component in any relationship, including how it affects organizational behaviors. Too much, or lack thereof, can determine if the message was properly sent, understood, and received. According to Popovic and Hocenski (2009), leaders need to be able to communicate to their subordinates in language they can understand regardless of their level within the organization (Popovic & Hocenski, 2009, pp. 15-16). Because communication is a vital part of organizational structure, leaders need to have a thorough understanding of communication. “To determine which verbal communication behaviors are commonly used, one needs to first establish the relationship between