Term Paper on "Role and Future of Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior"

Term Paper 17 pages (4777 words) Sources: 12

[EXCERPT] . . . .

GLOBE Research Project:

An Endeavor in the Improving Development of Global Leadership Attributes

The research and discussion conducted hereafter revolve largely on the description of the operational details, functions and research emergent from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Project (GLOBE). The discussion is contextualized by a concise examination of the impact of globalization on trends in business leadership. This transitions into a discussion on the inherent impact which the increased cultural diversity brought on by globalization has had on business practices and, more specifically, how the convergence of cultures is complicating leadership theory. Here, we encounter some consideration of the relationship between the development of a concept of global leadership and the degree to which this concept may contribute to effective stewardship under cross-cultural terms.

Subsequently, the discussion assesses GLOBE itself, offering a brief history of the project's origins, including identification of Robert J. House as its founder, of 1993 as its founding year and of the intent to help define leadership perspectives in a culturally diverse business landscape as its motive for existence. Hereafter, the research helps to demonstrate some of the GLOBE project's core functionality by offering a concise report on some of the results encountered by its research. This helps to divide respondent Culture Clusters according to the variance of Cultural Dimensions emphasized within each.

Additionally, this underscores some recommendations made in a subsequent section on how GLOBE's initiatives and findings can be used to influence policy orientation at the global trade agency, national government and internal corporate governance levels of leadership.

The research also offers, in the section entitled GLOBE's Contributions, a detailed explanation of the way that the Culture Clusters and Cultural Dimensions used by GLOBE are defined. This offers a more intensive understanding of how measures of leadership effectiveness interact with cultural features to help define both universal and culturally-contingent conceptions of leadership.

Subsequently, the discussion provides elaboration on the role with GLOBE must play in consulting with trade agencies, governments and firms in order to help distribute findings that might improve global leadership function. Thereafter, a section called GLOBE's Future lays out the need for GLOBE to assist firms in the development of effective global leadership development programs. There is identified here a direct connection between the establishment of such programs and the level of performance achieved by such firms in cross-cultural contexts.

This contributes to the resolution of the present research, which finds that GLOBE's research output may be extremely valuable in helping countries and firms draw up strategies not just for the improvement of business practices and leadership orientation but also for the reconciliation of specific business practice shortcomings from a global perspective such as gender inequality or the presence of labor abuses and environmental degradation. Ultimately, the discussion will present the final case that the improvement of culturally relative leadership and the simultaneous identification of universal non-culturally relative leadership values will help to create a set of practices that can improve orientation for leaders in all manner of cross-cultural business contexts.

Introduction:

As the process of globalization erodes trades barriers, heightens multinational corporate activity and creates ever more culturally diverse organizations, it is incumbent upon businesses to adapt. How this adaptation takes place, however, is highly contingent upon dimensions of national culture, meaning that each nation involved in the process of economic globalization will face its own distinct opportunities, challenges, strengths and weaknesses as it makes room for and optimizes the presence of multinational and multicultural businesses. In many instances, the success with which a nation integrates multiculturalism into its corporate identities is tantamount to the economic success that a nation is likely to experience as the scope of globalization continues to widen. There is, thus, a particular value to an endeavor that seeks to provide with metrics and consequently seeks to measure the progress of individual nations in managing the cultural implications of globalization in the context of organizational behavior. For the purposes of the research conducted hereafter, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Project (GLOBE) will serve as such an endeavor.

The research conducted hereafter will examine the role played by the GLOBE project in measuring cross-cultural leadership as it exists in 62 distinct nations. This will include consideration of the importance of this role to business practices in each context, the value of this role where the furthering of investigation in the area of social sciences are concerned and the implications of this role where such correlated matters as international labor rights, human rights and environmental standards are concerned. Consequently, the study here will give some consideration to the impact that the GLOBE project may have on the future of cross-cultural leadership and of organizational behavior in multinational, multicultural contexts.

Leadership and Organization:

What is Global Leadership?

The process of globalization is not just changing the way that nations interact or the way that firm's prospect growth. It is also having a dramatic transformative impact on the way that leadership must be oriented both within nations and within firms. This is a central premise in defining the concept of 'global leadership.' A notion which scarcely existed in the context of business just a few decades ago, it has proven increasingly important as a way of ensuring that business practices align with the cultural needs of the countries that host them. With the list of potential hosts expanding substantially with the ratification of every international free trade agreement, the need to achieve a clear understanding of the concept of global leadership has become ever greater. According to the text by Goldsmith et al. (2003), catalyzing changes are now occurring which are diminishing the relevance of many historical leadership theories, and particularly those which make no account for the implications of cross-cultural interaction. According to Goldsmith et al., "traditional business patterns are changing as globalism spreads. . . Convergence within industries, marked by the mergers of the 1980s and 1990s, has been compounded by convergence between industries. Alliances, partnerships, and strategic outsourcing create new global models, never experienced before, which give access to the full range of skills, resources, and market offerings that success now demands. Executive leadership models of the past provide little guidance for creating models of the future. . . . In a complex global business environment, no specific, single model will fit the broad range of situations that leaders will encounter." (Goldsmith, p. 1)

The explanation provided here above by Goldsmith may offer the single most instructive feature by which to define global leadership. The fact that no singular approach to leadership is sufficient to account for the cultural needs of whole global community has significant implications for how we define and pursue the concept of global leadership. Most important, we note that without acknowledgement of the cultural diversity that so often dictates the expectations of leadership, the appellation of 'global' will not apply. This provides the appropriate segue into a discussion on the way that culture functions to determine leadership effectiveness in a globalizing business environment.

The Interrelation of Culture and Leadership Effectiveness:

In the very simplest terms, House et al. (2002) help to introduce the idea of culture into the present discussion. The article by House et al. does so by making the observation the geographical differences have contributed to a wide variance of concurrently evolving but wholly distinct cultural histories. House et al. also denote that within the context of the present day business world, these distinct cultural histories are undergoing a dramatic coalescence unlike anything previously experienced by humankind. According to the text by House et al., "throughout mankind's history, geography, ethnicity, and political boundaries have helped create distinctions and differences among different peoples. Over time, societies have evolved into groups of people with distinguishable characteristics that set them apart from other human communities. It is only in the latter part of the 20th century that advances in technology and improvements in telecommunication and transportation have enabled societies to quickly and easily learn about and from others." (House et al., p. 3)

This has, of course, also placed a number of challenges before us as we attempt to navigate multicultural endeavors while still conditioned by many of the geographical factors that have distinguished us along cultural features such as ethnicity, gender dynamics, family dynamics and power dynamics. The text by ITAP International (2011) points out that as we attempt to navigate these cultural difference, we come face-to-face with a wide spectrum of behavioral expectations. Within the context of organizational dynamics, these behavioral expectations will especially influence the ways in which leadership structures are formed and sustained. The result is a highly complex set of layered perceptions of leadership that differ as a function of culture. The intersection of cultures precipitated by advances in technology and shifts in the practices of global trade denote that leadership must increasingly make account for the demands of cross-cultural stewardship or risk performance failures. So denotes ITAP International, which indicates that "in order to develop leaders who can effectively lead global… READ MORE

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