Slide 8.

Chapter 1
Culture and Leadership

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• Evolving ideas about leadership, particularly the influence of Asian

concepts on Western ideas.
• The idea that some attributes of leadership are shared across all
cultures, even though these are perceived differently in different
cultures.

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A number of American and European theories about leadership:

 Most assume that leadership has to do with an individual intentionally
exerting influence on others to structure the relationships in an organization
 Definitions differ as to do with how the influence is exerted and the
outcome of the attempt to influence
 The manager is often seen as the embodiment of stability within an
organization, the leader as one who ensures the success of the organization

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1) Scientific Leadership
 Standard methods for doing a job – the worker is not required to
think, only the leader
 Bureaucratic organizations the result: carefully designed hierarchy
of authority, with clearly defined responsibilities
 Functions specialized, information and control centralized
 Uniform application of standard rules and procedures

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2) The trait approach

Some people have traits and skills for leadership
 According to Stogdill (1974) great leaders throughout history have:
 high intelligence
 considerable verbal fluency
 overall knowledge
 considerable initiative involving energy, ambition and persistence
 height: tallness implies authority
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Cont’d

3) Human Relations
 Psychological and human factors identified relating to social norms
and non-economic rewards
 Attempts made to marry the scientific and human approaches by
focusing on the role of the decision-makers
 To operate successfully, leaders need to find a compromise between
rational, goal-oriented behaviour and non-rational behaviour among
an organization’s employees

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1) Theories X and Y (McGregor)

A leader needs:
 to remain task-oriented to ensure effective performance
of the organization
 to be relationship-oriented to ensure greater satisfaction among subordinates
 Theory X manager is results-driven, has little interest in human issues or the
workers’ morale
 Theory Y manager wants employees to participate in decision-making and problem-
solving, use their creativity to solve problems and further the organization’s success

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2) The contingency theory

 Leadership effectiveness is the result of interaction between the style
of the leader and the characteristics of the working environment. This
environment is characterized by three factors:
 Leader–member relationship: the degree of confidence, trust and respect
 Task-structure: the extent to which goals, procedure and guidelines need to be
spelled out to the workers
 Position power: the extent to which the leader or the group holds the power

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Cont’d

3) The Z theory (Ouchi)

focuses on the attitudes and responsibilities of subordinates
 Reflects basic concept found in Japan that all employees share a collective
responsibility for their company’s fate
 Individuals are encouraged to develop their potential within the
company: are expected to function (with training) in different positions
 The theory has had an enormous impact on views of management in
the US

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 The transformational leader

 creates, communicates and embodies a vision which can influence
changes in the attitudes and assumptions of subordinates
 builds their commitment inspires trust, confidence and loyalty

 “The ability to get people to want to change and to lead change.”

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 Bass (1985) compares this with the (traditional) transactional leader

 has more of a ‘business-like’ relation with subordinates
 appeals to the self-interest of all parties

 Based on the concept of exchange between leader and group members

 Leader provides resources and rewards in exchange for motivation,
productivity, effective goal, or task accomplishments

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 Bass and Avolio (2002) maintain that business needs both types of
leadership: the most effective leaders combine the two styles
 More inclusive models of leadership have come to the fore, influenced
by leadership in Eastern cultures
 E.g. Minzberg’s ‘Quiet Management’ (quieter, less dramatic leadership at all
levels). This reflects ideas of Lao Tzu, 6th century Chinese philosopher (‘A leader
is best when people barely know he exists’).

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• In ‘learning organizations’, according to Senge (1990)

– people expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire
– new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured
– collective aspiration is set free, people are continually learning to see the
whole together
• Leaders of learning organizations are essentially responsible for
learning in the organization:
– they design the learning processes
– create, foster and manage a shared vision
– help people to understand what brings about change

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 The extent to which aspects of culture can influence

‘Western’ ideas of leadership
 The question of whether there are attributes of leadership
common to all cultures

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Cultural contingency factors

 Fiedler argues that effective leadership is the result of
interaction between the style of the leader and the
characteristics of the environment. However, the variables he
describes may not be feasible because of cultural constraints
 Leaders may be forced to alter their leadership behaviour to
conform to the cultural realities they face

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Cont’d

Cultural contingency factors

Cultural realities – examples:
 Power: in large power distance cultures an ideal leader may well be
expected to display great authority, to the benefit of those being
led.
 Uncertainty: in some cultures that prefer rules and avoid
ambiguities the leader may well need to give strong direction.
 Cultural profile of the leader who is making decisions as to how
best to lead.
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 The question of universal attributes of leadership is one

concern of the GLOBE research project. So far it has
identified six global leadership dimensions.
 These dimensions summarize the characteristics perceived
culturally to either further or impede effective leadership.

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 Attempt to develop an empirically based theory to describe,

understand, and predict the impact of specific cultural variables
on leadership and organizational processes and the effectiveness of
these processes

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Table 1.2 Global leadership dimensions

Source: Brodbeck et al. (2008): 1038 (adapted) Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
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 GLOBE pinpoints two dimensions of leadership considered

very effective in all societies studied:
 Team-oriented leadership: the emphasis is on building
effective teams and implementing a goal common to team
members.
 Charismatic/value-based leadership: the emphasis is on the
communication of vision, values and having confidence in the
‘followers’.
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Cont’d

 Brodbeck et al. (2008) propose a number of cultural dimensions

which can predict these two types of leadership:
 Team-oriented leadership:
PERFORMANCE ORIENTATION
 Charismatic/value-based leadership:
IN-GROUP COLLECTIVISM
HUMANE ORIENTATION
UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE
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 Other leadership dimensions are far from being universal. Key

differences based on differing cultural practices and values:
 Participative leadership found in all cultures studied, but different types or
‘species’
 Humane oriented leadership: impact varies from positive to neutral
 Autonomous leadership: findings show the greatest variation of the six
dimensions
 Self-protective leadership: much variation, but not as extreme as autonomous
leadership

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 Transformational leadership may be universal

 But the way transformational attributes are expressed may
differ between cultures
 For example, ‘Integrity’ is one attribute universally
considered to be desirable – but how do people in
different cultures conceptualize, perceive and exhibit
behaviour that reflects integrity?
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Are some universal attributes of leadership more prevalent among male or female leaders?
 Gender stereotypes may hamper developing an appropriate effective style of
leadership.
 Overcoming these stereotypes, while focusing on the characteristics appropriate to
the position, is the key task of any candidate for leadership, whether male or female.
 Male and female leaders, it appears, display differing behavioural tendencies whatever
their country of origin.
 Although leadership style may be based on gender, differences in the leadership style
employed are based more on culture than on gender.

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 There are consistent elements of leadership that are

recognized across cultures but whose form may vary
between cultures.
 Some modern concepts of leadership generated in the West
appear to have their antecedents in the East.
 Different cultures can generate similar perceptions of
leadership, even if the contexts within which leadership is
affected are very different.
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