BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
LEADERSHIP
Some researchers have started to ask questions about this change process by studying, for instance, the evolution of leadership ideals in countries that have experienced rapid economic or political changes. Personally, I have started to study how leadership preferences shift when individuals experience major environmental changes after a migration, asking how long migrants and their descendants can hold on to their leadership ideals of origin, even after arriving at a new location. Moreover, an extension of the original GLOBE project is now being conducted, identifying and measuring any changes to the cultural norms in different countries over the past 30 years. All these results are, and will be, important in helping us understand if and how we should revise our map of cross-cultural leadership differences in the years to come. Putting varying attitudes in context Over millennia, humans have produced a staggering amount of cultural diversity. People living in different societies tend to have different values, norms and habits. We cook foods differently. We have different dietary restrictions or taboos concerning premarital sex. We have a host of different preferences, behaviours and institutions. To this extent, leadership is no exception. Across cultures, individuals often expect different behaviours and attributes from their leaders. In turn, a better understanding of these differences is key for managers, politicians and policymakers that lead multicultural teams or work in unfamiliar cultural milieus . But understanding cultural differences in leadership also has more basic, fundamental implications, helping us to better understand
who we are, where we come from and where our societies might be going in the future. Mindfulness is key. Navigating the international business landscape means cooperating with colleagues, hiring new staff and working under the direction of
bosses and managers whose attitudes might be based on value systems that are seemingly alien to you. When engaging with these people, it is crucial to understand the deeply ingrained nature of many of their values. Employees and organisations do not live lives that are divorced from history. Each person stands at the head of traditions snaking back through centuries.
“The forces of globalisation and information technology are strong, yet they might not be strong enough to cause a ‘homogenisation’ of leadership ideals”
25 25
Sirio Lonati is an assistant professor in the People and Organisations Department at NEOMA Business School, France. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Lausanne and is an associate editor and method advisor at The Leadership Quarterly
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online