Motivated by a need today for increased interaction of different cultures, this study aims to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges of business education and human resource development to build leadership and cultural savvy in today's and tomorrow's managers. In this paper, Javidan and Dastmalchian introduce the GLOBE project, an in-depth study of leadership and culture spanning 62 societies, and its implications for managers and leaders in general.
To study how specific cultural variables impact leadership effectiveness, nine cultural (performance orientation, assertiveness orientation, future orientation, humane orientation, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, gender egalitarianism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) and six leadership (Charismatic/Value based, team oriented, self-protective, participative, humane orientation and autonomous) dimensions were created using the 62 different cultures in the GLOBE project. These dimensions helped to create clearer cultural distinctions between countries, and show how these cultural constructs affected leadership and organisational practices in each culture. Another goal of GLOBE was to study universally accepted leadership attributes and behaviours, and the degree to which these are associated to cultural traits.
While there were both differing and shared viewpoints on what constitutes effective leadership, one key finding of the GLOBE study was the identification of 22 universally desirable leadership attributes, such as being dynamic, decisive and honest and also 8 that are universally undesirable, such as being egocentric and irritable. GLOBE's extensive study allowed for the creation of a cultural profile for each country, called a cultural cluster, which has pertinent implications. For example, understanding the orientation within a particular culture, a leader is better able to motivate them by emphasizing actions and decisions of the same orientation.
GLOBE generated two types of information pertaining to leadership styles and culture in different countries, static and dynamic. Static information, allows global managers to make comparisons between different cultural profiles, drawing on similarities and differences to tailor their conduct, performance and leadership style. Dynamic information is information that can assist a manager to apply a particular leadership style that will work best in a specific culture.
GLOBE also highlights that societal phenomena influences to a large extent how effective a leader will perform in that society, due to differences in societal, institutional, regulatory and political systems. By explaining why things are done differently in different societies, GLOBE helps managers to appreciate these differences, instead of judge them, and to find an effective way to make the best of these differences.
Javidan and Dastmalchian conclude by demonstrating the practical implications of the GLOBE project for global managers and human resource management. GLOBE stresses the need for a global-mindset, one that is able to adapt to and thrive in different cultures, and the insufficiency of just being familiar with the cultural uniqueness of one country. Better preparation is key in light of the increasingly connected global world. This will enable businesses to reach out to global stakeholders and be effective leaders and managers, despite diverse cultural differences.
