Posted: July 25th, 2024

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What are the key leadership traits you believe you have that will help you succeed in a multicultural organization?

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words in length. No references or citations are necessary.

MGT 6306, Intercultural Management 1

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

5. Explain global thinking in a multicultural business environment.
5.1 Evaluate leadership theories.
5.2 Reflect on leading a global or multicultural business environment.

Course/Unit

Learning Outcomes

5.1, 5.2

Chapter 9
Unit V Essay

Chapter 9: Leadership and Culture

Unit Lesson

Introduction

Leadership has been a tremendous responsibility throughout human history (Nahavandi, 2022). Effective and
efficient leaders promote the organization’s mission, vision, and core values. In contrast, ineffective
leadership could damage the brand name and reputation of an organization. It takes knowledge, expertise,
charisma, personality and so much more to lead an organization. Leadership styles apply communication,
interaction, assisting others, and motivating others to take action. The main purpose of leadership, therefore,
is to influence others to accomplish a clearly shared set of objectives. This unit focuses on leaders, and how
leaders communicate effectively and possess the power of influence, without which they will not be able to
motivate their followers to accept their vision. Leadership in its cultural context, leadership traits, and different
cultures’ ideas of leadership will be highlighted in this unit. You will quickly learn that leading people
effectively is a challenge and an opportunity. Other focuses in this unit will be on the early approaches to
leadership, traits, behaviors, and contingencies.

Leadership in a Cultural Context

We have established that leadership is about leading people, that is, getting along with people and thereby
gaining the commitment of the employees to embark on the vision and plan to move the organization forward.
The role of leaders is challenging in multicultural organizations. Leaders balance organizational culture to
ensure a unified workforce by appreciating the diverse cultures that comprise the organization.

Culture determines how an organization responds to changes around them, and, at the same time, leaders
through their behaviors and espoused values help shape the culture, and that should encourage employees
to feel like valued participants. Organizations are becoming more culturally diverse as is the need for leaders
with international experience in order to successfully lead the multicultural workforce. Experienced
multicultural leaders will help the organization maintain or improve its competitive advantage in the fast-paced
business arena, both domestically and internationally. Most organizations in developed countries are
populated with a multicultural workforce.

UNIT V STUDY GUIDE
Leadership
Theories

MGT 6306, Intercultural Management 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

Leadership is a Cultural Practice

Vilas-Boas et al. (2018) took a new perspective in their research that a strong belief that leadership should be
seen as a cultural practice. Instead of focusing on the leaders’ abilities and the traditional perspective on the
research of leadership, the view on leadership as cultural practice focuses on the modus operandi of
leadership, with a closer interaction with the practitioners. With cultural practice comes in-depth appreciation
and understanding of the multicultural environment and avenues on how to welcome and accommodate all
cultures in the workplace. For any group or association (whether personal or professional) to advance and
achieve its strategic goals and objectives there must be a leader in place that will lead the vision and keep
followers motivated and excited about the common goal.

Leadership Trait Theories

Leadership trait theories attempt to explain the distinctive characteristics that account for leadership
effectiveness. The question of whether leaders are born or made will continue to be at the center of
discussion when it comes to who possesses the right leadership traits. Karaszewski and Drewniak (2021)
state that leadership is a combination of specific character traits and talents that allow a manager to induce
others to act as expected. Such traits that would be successful ensure employee commitment to the
organization’s goals. There are many ways to define the components of effective leadership traits. Northouse
(2003) presented the following leadership actions:

• Leadership is a process.
• Impact is necessary for leadership to exist.
• Leadership occurs only in a group context.
• Leadership is conditioned by the achievement of goals.

When we talk about actual leadership traits, those attributes that we want to see in any effective leader, we
are looking to see a leader that is confident, a great communicator, and, of course, emotionally stable. Yukl
and Gardner (2020) further explained the leadership traits derived from Stogdill’s 1974 research include being
the following things:

• adaptable to situations,
• alert to a social environment,
• ambitious and achievement-oriented,
• assertive,
• cooperative,
• decisive,
• dependable,
• dominant (power motivation),
• energetic (high activity level),
• persistent,
• self-confident,
• tolerant of stress, and
• willing to assume responsibility.

The skills that leaders have result in the level of leadership qualities that they exhibit. Lussier and Achua
(2016) discuss the relevance of leadership theory. The authors presented three levels of analysis of
leadership theory, which are individual, group, and organizational. At the individual level, also called the
dyadic process, the focus is on leaders’ relationships with individual followers. At the group level of analysis,
also called the group process, the focus is on how a leader contributes to group effectiveness. Lastly, at the
organizational level of analysis, the organizational process, the focus is purely on the organization. Today’s
leadership approach has seen a paradigm shift from autocratic to more participative (Lussier & Achua, 2016).
With autocratic style, employees were told what to do, how to do it, and how to think. Learning about
leadership theories has practical value because they can be used to better understand and predict the
success of leadership.

MGT 6306, Intercultural Management 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

Behavioral Leadership

The behavioral leadership theory refers to styles used by effective leaders with emphasis on how leaders
performed their duties and the behaviors expected of leaders. To be effective in their roles, it was important
for leaders to exhibit task and relationship behaviors. Task behaviors includes setting goals, setting timeliness
and deadlines, clarifying expectations, and assigning tasks. Relationship behaviors include showing empathy
and understanding, being friendly, encouraging participation, and nurturing followers.

Even though we talk about behavior, we can also see that the way we behave is connected to our personality
traits. A leader that has a highly agreeable personality trait will exhibit behaviors such as trustworthiness and
honesty in their daily duties.

Contingency Leadership

The contingency leadership theory addresses appropriate leadership style, which is contingent, based on the
situation. This could result in the application of a mixture of traits and behaviors required for a particular
situation. The notable framework used to address the contingency leadership style, is that of Fred E. Fiedler
in which he believed that it should reflect personality and behavior. Rather than leaders changing styles, they
should change the context as it applies to a particular job and situation.

Servant Leadership

Another model of leadership that is worth discussing is the servant leadership behavior, founded by Robert K.
Greenleaf in 1970. Greenleaf proposed that the primary responsibility of leaders is service to followers and
the essence of ethical leadership (Yukl, 2010). Servant leaders benefit followers, teams, and organizations by
putting followers’ interests first, developing followers, and integrating followers’ contributions into a
cooperative group and organization effort. A servant leader is also ready to work with subordinates and
provide any required and relevant support, being it emotional support or otherwise. Such leadership is
effective (Stollberger et al., 2019) and benefits the organization’s performance (Huang et al., 2016).

Diverse Workforce

Diversity comes in many forms―race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic level, education, age, and sexual
orientation. Since globalization, diversity is increasing in the workplace and there is a potential for benefits
and costs. Benefits include broadened ideas, experiences that contribute to creativity and different ways of
thinking, challenging the status quo, and an increased amount of talent. Diversity may also contribute to an
increase in distrust and conflict, reduced satisfaction, and higher turnover (Yukl, 2010). The 21st century
global workforce requires leaders to understand the importance of diversity and how to effectively manage a
diverse workforce.

Conclusion

As organizations continue to expand globally, the need for leaders with international experience to lead a
multicultural workforce has continued to increase. It is evident that leaders of today need to improve on their
skills and competencies in managing a diverse workforce. Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness (GLOBE) has continued to advance research in cross-cultural leadership and national culture.
According to its research, culture impacts but does not predict leadership behaviors through people’s
expectations, which is termed the culturally endorsed leadership theories (CLT) (Nahavandi, 2022). The
findings focused on how well the leaders understand the diverse cultures and how to apply their
competencies in leveraging that to the benefit of the organization. Although they can differ by country, the six
CLT traits considered to be most effective are the following:

• charismatic and value-based,
• team-oriented,
• participative,

MGT 6306, Intercultural Management 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

• human-oriented,
• autonomous, and
• self-protective (Dorfman, et al., 2012, as cited in Nahavandi, 2022, p. 432).

References

Huang, J., Li, W., Qiu, C., Yim, F. H., & Wan, J. (2016, May 9). The impact of CEO servant leadership on firm

performance in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 28(5), 945–968. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-08-2014-0388

Karaszewski, R., & Drewniak, R. (2021, November). The leading traits of the modern corporate leader:

Comparing survey results from 2008 and 2018. Energies, 14(7926). https://doi.org/
10.3390/en14237926

Lan, Y., Xia, Y., & Yang, L. (2021). Effects of servant leadership on the leader’s innovative behavior. Social

Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 49(10), e10782.

Lussier, R. N. & Achua, C. F. (2016). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development (6th ed.). Cengage.

Nahavandi, A. (2022). The cultural mindset: Managing people across cultures. SAGE.

Northouse, P.G. (2003). Leadership: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). SAGE.

Stollberger, J., Las Heras, M., Rofcanin, Y., & Bosch, M. J. (2019, June). Serving followers and family? A

trickledown model of how servant leadership shapes employee work performance. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 112, 158–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2019.02.003

Vilas-Boas, O. T., Davel, E. P. B., & Bispo, M. de S. (2018). Leadership as cultural practice. Revista de

Administração Mackenzie, 19(1). doi 10.1590/1678-6971/eRAMG180076

Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed.). Pearson.

Yukl, G. A., & Gardner, W. L. (2020). Leadership in organizations (9th ed.). Pearson.

In order to access the following resources, click the links below.

The following video focuses on the role of leaders in developing workplace culture and developing employee
morale.

Films Media Group. (Producer). (2009). Leadership in workplace culture and morale (Segment 2 of 4).

[Video]. In Enhancing Morale. Films on Demand. https://fod-infobase-
com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=94117&loid=399804&tScript=0

The transcript for this video can be found by clicking the “Transcript” tab to the right of the video in the Films
on Demand database.

This article focuses the benefits of appreciating and managing a diverse workforce.

Syed, A., Abdul, K., Zaki, R., & Mubeen, H. (2019). Managing workforce diversity in multicultural

organizations: Some observations. Pakistan Journal of European Studies, 35(1), 79.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A589808772/PPDS?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark-
PPDS&xid=59f2d416

https://fod-infobase-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=94117&loid=399804&tScript=0

https://fod-infobase-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=94117&loid=399804&tScript=0

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A589808772/PPDS?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark-PPDS&xid=59f2d416

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A589808772/PPDS?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark-PPDS&xid=59f2d416

MGT 6306, Intercultural Management 5

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit
them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information.

Complete the “Self-Assessment 9.2: Leadership Ideals” in Chapter 9. Note the questions under
“Interpretation” and write your responses in a personal journal.

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit V

Learning Activity

Required Unit Resources

Unit Lesson

Introduction

Leadership in a Cultural Context

Leadership is a Cultural Practice

Leadership Trait Theories

Behavioral Leadership

Contingency Leadership

Servant Leadership

Diverse Workforce

Conclusion

References

Suggested Unit Resources

Learning Activities (Nongraded)