Relevance of Leadership Theories
Abstract
It’s not only Western enterprises that expand globally, enterprises from emerging countries are doing the same more and more organizations are expanding from a local to a global market space. Especially India is establishing itself as economic center and is rapidly becoming the new global economic superpowers.
An understanding of local culture and how it affect Western leadership practices and behavior is key in order to become a successful leader, as Western enterprises continues to establish themselves into these emerging markets. In the very same way as enterprises from emerging markets need to understand the local culture when they establish themselves in Western countries.
The aim of this report is to investigate what cultural factors/dimension that affect leadership in the context of multi countries as well as to investigate behavioral styles and practices leaders operating in India and see how Western leadership theories are relevant to these set up.
Introduction
In today’s world we have emerged from the industrial age, into the information age where knowledge is our most valuable assets. The rapid technological development that have enabled this information age is also affecting the pace at which change is happening in the world. The pace of change is rapidly increasing and in order for organizations to be successful they need to keep up with this pace (Schwarz & Brock, 1998).
In a recent business leader review with more than 400 senior executives around the world, forty-one percentages believed that new players from emerging markets will be the main development that will have impact on the business over the coming five years (Accenture, 2010). Their conclusion is understandable, as there have been a big change in the economic power ranking during the last 20 years. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries economy has emerged and their economical power will continue to increase pushing down the economic super powers
It’s not only Western enterprises that expand globally, enterprises from emerging countries are doing the same more and more organizations are expanding from a local to a global market space. Especially India is establishing itself as economic center and is rapidly becoming the new global economic superpowers.
An understanding of local culture and how it affect Western leadership practices and behavior is key in order to become a successful leader, as Western enterprises continues to establish themselves into these emerging markets. In the very same way as enterprises from emerging markets need to understand the local culture when they establish themselves in Western countries.
The aim of this report is to investigate what cultural factors/dimension that affect leadership in the context of multi countries as well as to investigate behavioral styles and practices leaders operating in India and see how Western leadership theories are relevant to these set up.
Introduction
In today’s world we have emerged from the industrial age, into the information age where knowledge is our most valuable assets. The rapid technological development that have enabled this information age is also affecting the pace at which change is happening in the world. The pace of change is rapidly increasing and in order for organizations to be successful they need to keep up with this pace (Schwarz & Brock, 1998).
In a recent business leader review with more than 400 senior executives around the world, forty-one percentages believed that new players from emerging markets will be the main development that will have impact on the business over the coming five years (Accenture, 2010). Their conclusion is understandable, as there have been a big change in the economic power ranking during the last 20 years. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries economy has emerged and their economical power will continue to increase pushing down the economic super powers
References: Accenture (2010). From global connection to global orchestration. Retrieved in 5 May, 2012 from http://www.accenture.com/NR/rdonlyres/1E7FB8B7-93A0-4B5D B4AED54876097313/0/Accenture_From_Global_Connection_to_Global_Orchestration.pdf Cecil, Robert D Chaney, L. and Martin, J. (2004). Intercultural business communication (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Dunn, Rose T. (2007). Haimann 's Healthcare Management, Eighth Edition, Health Administration Press. Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s Consequences. London: Sage. Kliem, Ralph L. (2004). Leading High Performance Projects, J. Ross Publishing. Miner, John B. (2005). Organizational Behavior 1: Essential Theories of Motivation and Leadership, M. E. Sharpe, Inc. Sachitanand, R., Lath, S., Misra, S., & Sheth, T. (2006, December 31). Hunting Jobs, Call of the Sea, Help, Tarun! Business Today, p.180. Sashkin, Marshall. and Molly G. (2003). Leadership that Matters: The Critical Factors for Making a Difference in People 's Lives and Organizations ' Success. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Schwarz, Gavin. & Brock, David. (1998). Waving hello or good-bye? Organizational change in the information age, The International Journal of Organizational Analysis. Vol. 6 No. 1 (January), pp. 65-90. Singh, J. P. (1990). Managerial culture and work-related values in India, Organization Studies, 11(1), 75-101. Sivadas, E., Bruvold, N. & Nelson, M. (2008). A reduced version of the horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism scale: A four- country assessment. Journal of Business Research, 61(3), 201-210. Storti, C. (2007). Speaking of India: Bridging the communication gap when working with Indians. Boston, MA: Intercultural Press. Teoh, H., Serang, D. & Lim, C. (1999). Individualism-collectivism cultural differences affecting perceptions of unethical practices: Some evidence from Australian and Indonesian accounting students, Teaching Business Ethics, 3(2), 137-153. Triandis, H. & Gelfand, M. (1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 118–128. Triandis, H. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. (p.2.) Boulder, CO: Westview Press. [ 2 ]. Parallels can be drawn that Australia and the US are both HI cultures. This conclusion can be drawn based upon classifications by Hofstede (1984), Triandis (1995) and Sivadas, Bruvold & Nelson (2008) who found that the US is an HI culture.