The book has a number of important concepts such as
the trait approach to leadership, skills approach, style approach, situational
approach, contingency theory, path-goal theory, leader-member exchange,
transformational leadership, team leadership, psychodynamic approach, women and
leadership, culture and leadership, and leadership ethics. Each concept
benefits the readers in terms of various leadership definitions and
perspectives.
The book has a solid chapter on culture and
leadership. Culture can often be defined as beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols
and traditions that are common to a group of people. When group members share
these aspects they will define themselves differently than other cultures.
Subcultures often include race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age.
When organizations are diverse they have different cultures and subcultures
included. In other words, a singular viewpoint does not dominate the group.
Ethnocentricism is the consistent placement of one’s
own group (i.e. ethnic, racial…) as a superior outlook on life. The book
indicates that nearly all human beings have a level of ethnocentricism and it
is difficult for the majority of people to shake intellectually. The limitations
of this are that without seeing other perspectives and values we are limited in
how we view and see the world. Solutions can be one sided and based in a
singular vantage point making them less effective.
Prejudice is when individuals use faulty judgment
and unsubstantiated beliefs to judge another people. However, it is not
prejudice if concepts are based off of fact and evidence (i.e. evidence based
leadership). Yet if one focuses too specifically on some facts and ignore others
than their motivation would be based in prejudice. Honest and open discussions where parties
desire to learn from each other are not prejudice as long as learning and new
understandings occur.
Different cultures focus on different styles of
leadership and often promote them. For
example, Germanic cultures are more assertive while performance orientation is
focused more in Anglo, Confucian Asia, and Germanic Europe. It is these general
perspectives that make their way throughout the societal structure and perceived
leadership performance. It would be difficult for a leader to rise that was
from a completely different culture due to their widely varying beliefs.
The more aware one is of the varying cultures and
leadership structures the more globally effective the leadership style. There
are 22 positive leadership traits that apply to all cultures universally. The
values include trustworthy, foresight, positive, confidence, intelligent,
win-win problem solver, administrative, excellence, just, plans, dynamic,
motivational, decisive, communicative, coordinator, honest, encouraging, motive
arouser, dependable, effective in bargaining, informed, and a team builder. It
is these values that should be supported and developed in organizations that
desire to compete on a global scale.
People who display undesirable leadership traits
such as loner, irritable, ruthless, asocial, non-explicit, dictatorial, non-cooperative
and egocentric should be avoided and not encouraged to take power positions. When
they do, one can expect considerable chaos, in and out-group dynamics, and
abuse of power to be the result. If you are going to choose your leader make
sure you choose them wisely and based within their inner and outer traits.
The section starts with a strong quote that sums up
global integration and the need for global leadership, “Since WWII, globalization has been advancing throughout the world.
Globalization is the increased interdependence (economic, social, technical,
and political) between nations. People are becoming more interconnected. There
is more international trade, cultural exchange, and the use of worldwide
telecommunication systems. In the last 10 years, our schools, organizations,
and communities have become far more global than in the past. Increased
globalization has created many challenges, including the need to design
effective multinational organizations, to identify and select appropriate
leaders for these entities, and to manage organizations with culturally diverse
employees. Globalization has created a need to understand how cultural
differences affect leadership performance (pg. 301). “
Northouse, P. (2007). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA; Sage
Publications.
