How Different Cultures Perceive Effective Leadership
Cultural
differences matter in leadership and the most effective leaders embrace them.
In
a globalised work environment, having a multinational team is becoming the
norm. Whether a leader is “Eastern” or “Western” will influence how they
interact with their employees. These differences can be stark and sometimes
frustrating. Shyness might be considered rude in some cultures. Aggression
might seem overwhelming to others even though it’s par for the course where
they come from.
Leading
a global team, however, is about embracing differences and pulling the right
levers at the right times to get the best out of a team. These differences can
be put down to cultural origins, according to Caroline Rook, former INSEAD Dutch Alumni Fellow.
She says that there are some notable and consistent
differences in how high-performing Eastern and Western Managers behave
professionally that have implications for leadership effectiveness.
In her working paper, “Global Leaders East and West – Do All Global Leaders Lead
in the Same Way?”
(co-authored with Anupam Agrawal of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, an INSEAD PhD holder) Rook suggests that Eastern and Western
management styles could be likened to pieces of music that use basically the
same notes, but sometimes in different patterns and to varying effects.
Cross-Cultural Nuances
In
an interview with INSEAD Knowledge, Rook said she didn’t expect to find such
clear-cut differences between East and West, considering her data came from the
Global Executive Leadership Inventory (GELI). Developed by INSEAD Distinguished
Professor of Leadership Development Manfred Kets de Vries in 2005, the
GELI uses 360-degree feedback to help executives evaluate their performance
based on 12 “dimensions of leadership”, which range in focus from purely
professional functions to work/life balancing.
Rook’s
study analyzed GELI data for 1,748 middle and top-level executives representing
128 nationalities, including input from more than 13,000 “observers” of the
executives.
“Because
[the GELI measures] global leadership behaviours, at first we were quite
surprised that we did find differences,” Rook said. “If you have to act in a
global environment and want to be successful, you would have to show all of
these behaviours… Even with all the nuances between different cultures, we
would have thought any leader could adapt themselves to this global
environment.”
But
after controlling for other potentially influential factors (among them age,
industry, and gender), Rook found that Eastern and Western managers diverged
significantly in four of the 12 dimensions: Designing & Aligning, Outside
Orientation, Emotional Intelligence, and Resilience to Stress.
Respectively,
these dimensions are designed to measure how well managers implement company
strategy; promote responsiveness to customers, stakeholders, and vendors;
foster respect and understanding in the workforce; and handle the pressures of
the managerial lifestyle.
In
all four dimensions, Eastern managers were perceived to have taken more of the
actions that the GELI associates with successful leadership than their Western
counterparts.
Nothing More Than Feelings
But
Rook stressed that the situation is too complicated to support an East-is-best
thesis: “The inventory measures to what extent those behaviours are shown by
the leader. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the leader cannot be better at
those things.”
For
example, the Eastern contingent’s higher Emotional Intelligence rating doesn’t
necessarily mean Westerners are less sensitive, according to Rook. “It’s not
just about to what extent you show emotions, it’s also about to what extent you
are aware of your own emotions, and how you regulate and manage them… Different
cultures have different expectations of what is appropriate. You could have a
high emotional intelligence because you recognise that in a business setting,
even though you may feel very frustrated or angry, it’s actually not
appropriate to show those kinds of emotions. You’re aware that you’re feeling
those emotions, and you can regulate the display,” Rook said.
More
context-conscious cultures with highly specific do’s and don’ts, such as some
East Asian cultures, may be more conducive to unambiguous demonstrations of
leadership. “Those are the expectations that are quite prevalent in the East,
and that’s why leaders from the East display those behaviours more,” Rook
explained.
Leadership Around the World
In
addition, Rook said that when her study drilled down to the regional level,
“you had some aspects where Western leaders might do better.” For example,
Nordic Europeans ranked particularly high in the “Global Mindset” dimension of
the GELI, which measures how well leaders promote togetherness among a
culturally diverse workforce. Eastern Europeans netted higher-than-average
scores for GELI dimensions related to encouraging employee empowerment and
tenacity.
Among
Eastern regions, Southeast Asia scored better than average for “visioning”,
i.e. efforts towards articulating a “compelling global strategy” that unites
all company stakeholders.
Taken
as a whole, these rankings may provide a rough sketch of the leadership values
that each culture considers most important, according to Rook. Middle Eastern
managers, for example, ranked lower than average for work/life balance but
higher for resilience to stress.
Advice for Globetrotting Leaders
Since
expectations of leaders change from country to country, how should expat
managers adjust? Rook advocates a holistic approach: “Culture is just one
aspect. Take different individuals into account. Where do they come from as an
individual? What are their experiences in the workplace? How could that
influence their expectations of you as a leader?”
In
any case, the realities of a globalised workplace mean it’s unwise for leaders
to get too settled in their cultural comfort zone. “What do you do if you have
a multicultural team? In many organisations, that is the reality,” Rook said.
“You have people from all across the world in your team and again they have
their cultural expectations of leadership.”
“Even
though the behaviours are global, as a leader you should approach the
individuals that you’re dealing with in an individual manner and pay some
attention to their cultures. Deal with your expectations of yourself, but also
what their expectations are of you.”
Caroline Rook is a Lecturer in Human Resources Management with
focus on Leadership at
Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/how-different-cultures-perceive-effective-leadership-2996?nopaging=1#GOU5Q6P2pijYgQFU.99
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