Ethical Leadership as a Cross-Cultural Leadership Style Laurie A. Yates, DMgt (ABD), MBA Eastern Oregon University March 30, 2011.

Ethical Leadership as a Cross-Cultural Leadership Style

Laurie A. Yates, DMgt (ABD), MBAEastern Oregon UniversityMarch 30, 2011

What is Leadership?

No universal definition

Many different definitions

Leadership is complex and thus hard to define

A Working Definition

“Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change” (Lussier & Achua, 2010, p. 6).

Globalization: The Collapse Of Time &

Distance

Globalization refers to a phenomenon in which people and organizations become more interconnected and freer to traverse previously established borders and national barriers (Thomas, 2002).

The global economy refers to the increasing tendency of the economies of the world to interact with one another as one market instead of many national markets (Hill, 2002).

National Cultural Differences

A nation’s values and norms determine attitudes and behaviors acceptable or appropriate

People are socialized into national values as they grow up

Significant differences between national cultures exist and make a difference in how leaders and employees behave in organizations

The Importance Of Understanding

Cultural Differences Geert Hofstede (1993) identified five dimensions along

which national cultures vary1. individualism/collectivism describes how loosely or tightly people are socially bonded2. power distance refers to how much people accept inequality in power3. uncertainty avoidance describes how strongly people desire uncertainty4. masculinity/femininity refers to how much people embrace stereotypical male or female traits5. short/long term orientation

Framework of Value Dimensions for Understanding Cultural Differences

Individualism

Collectivism

High Uncertainty Avoidance

High Power Distance

Long-term Orientation

Short-term Orientation

Low Power Distance

Low Uncertainty Avoidance

Masculinity

Femininity

Source: Based on G. Hofstede, “Cultural Constraints in Management Theories,” Academy of Management Executive (1993), pp. 81–94.

The GLOBE ProjectGlobal leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness

Culture: “shared motives, values, beliefs, identities, and interpretations or meanings of significant events that result from common experiences of members of collectives and are transmitted across age generations” (House, Hanges, Ruiz-Quintanilla, Dorfman, Javidan,Dickson, et. al,1999, p. 19)

Universally desirable and culturally contingent leadership attributes

Ethics and Ethical Leadership

A search for ethical leadership in today’s climate.

Ethics is a wide-ranging topic and a term that invokes different meanings for different people.

Ethics can broadly be defined as a “set of principles used to decide what is right or wrong” (Thomas, 2002, p. 107)

Ethical Leadership

Leader Characteristics and Traits

Leader’s Motivation

Leader’s Influence Strategies

Ethical Leadership

Ethical leadership is “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making” (Brown, Trevino, & Harrison, 2005, p. 120).

Ethical LeadershipCharacter or traits of individual leader

Integrity and honestyFairnessCompetenceHumility

Leader influenceHigh need for power, moderate need for achievement, low need for affiliationUse of power for the benefit of others, not self advancementAltruistic

Leader’s influence strategiesEncourage ethical behavior among followers (role model, communication, accountability, part of org. culture, reinforcement of ethical conduct).Use transactional leadership style as well as transformational (to further enforce ethical outcomes)Link between EL and organizational outcomes

Ethical Leadership as a Cross-Cultural Leadership Style

Research Question #1: Is ethical leadership a viable cross-cultural leadership style?

Research Question #2: Do the transformational and transactional dimensions of ethical leadership parallel universally desirable and culturally contingent leadership attributes respectively?

Method

Study ParticipantsSix participants, three female, three male, with citizenship in U.S., Canada, and India

MBA graduates with minimum of five years international management experience.

Industries: supply chain management, information technology, energy solutions, and manufacturing..

Companies: French, German, American

Country experiences: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.

Findings

Significance of individual leadership style

Familiar problems, more complex environment

“Even Palo Alto is a different culture.”

EL: Traits, motivation, influence strategies

Research questions

Conclusions

Instead of applying theory to practice, use practical experience to help fine-tune leadership theory

A call for additional research on ethical leadership in a global setting

Is there a place for ethical leadership in cross-cultural business and management?

Thank You

Questions?

Research QuestionsA few questions about your educational background and work experience.

What was the most difficult cultural issue that you faced as a leader/manager? How did you resolve it? Would you change anything if you found yourself in the same situation again?

What leadership traits were considered highly desirable in _______ (country/countries)? Do you consider them to be different than one would find in the U.S.?

Did you alter your leadership style to adapt to other country cultures? If so, how?

Are there leadership traits that you consider to be universal, effective across cultures?

Were employees/clients in ______ (country/countries) motivated by the same incentives that might be found in the U.S.?

In dealing with other cultures, what had the strongest influence on your leadership style: organizational culture, your personal leadership style, or country culture?

In ________ (country) culture, would leaders be held in higher esteem if they were driven by personal achievement or a need to care for others and contribute to “the common good”?

What advice would you give someone newly assigned to a leader/manager position in ____ (country) to help him/her succeed?

ReferencesAvolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Weber, T. J. (2009). Leadership: Current

theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 421-449.

Bass, B. M., & Steidlmeier, P. (1999). Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior. Leadership Quarterly, 10(2).

Brown, M. E., & Trevino, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.

Brown, M. E., Trevino, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2004). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117-134.

Ciulla, J. B. (1995). Leadership ethics: Mapping the territory. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(1), 5-28.

Hill, C. W. L. (2002). International business: Competing in the global marketplace (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Hofstede, G. (1993). Cultural constraints in management theories. The Academy of Management Executive, 7(1), 81-94.

Hooker, J. (2003). Working across cultures. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

House, R., Javidan, M., & Dorfman, P. (2001). Project GLOBE: An introduction. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 50(4), 489-505.

ReferencesHouse, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., Dorfman, P. W., Javidan, J.,

Dickson, M., et al. (1999). Cultural influences on leadership and organizations. Advances in Global Leadership, (1), 177-233. Retrieved from www.thunderbird.edu/wwwfiles/ms/globe/Links/process.pdf

Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., Luque, M. S. d., & House, R. J. (2006). In the eye of the beholder: Cross cultural lessons in leadership from Project GLOBE. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20, 67-90.

Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., DeLuque, M. S., & House, R. J. (2006). In the eye of the beholder: Cross cultural lessons in leadership from Project GLOBE. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20, 67-90.

Javidan, M., & House, R. J. (2001). Cultural acumen for the global manager: Lessons from project GLOBE. Organizational Dynamics, 29, 289-305.

Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2010). Leadership: Theory, application, skill development (4th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

McClelland, D. C., & Boyatzis, R. E. (1982). Leadership motivation pattern and long term success in management. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 737-743.

Northouse, P. G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Resick, C. J., Hanges, P. J., Dickson, M. W., & Mitchelson, J. K. (2006). A cross-cultural examination of the endorsement of ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 63(4), 345-359.

ReferencesSchein, E. H. (1984). Coming to a new awareness of

organizational culture. Sloan Management Review, 25(2), 3-16.

Schein, E. H. (1986). What you need to know about organization culture. Training & Development Journal, 40(1), 30-33.

Thomas, D. C. (2002). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Thomas, T., Schermerhorn, Jr., J., & Dienhart, J. W. (2004). Strategic leadership of ethical behavior in business. Academy of Management Executive, 18, 56-66.

Trevino, L. K., Brown, M., & Hartman, L. P. (2003). A qualitative investigation of perceived executive ethical leadership: Perceptions from inside and outside the executive suite. Human Relations, 56, 5.

Trevino, L. K., Hartman, L. P., & Brown, M. (2000). Moral person and moral manager: How executives develop a reputation for ethical leadership. California Management Review, 42, 128-142.

Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.