Leadership and Culture Flashcards
Factors influencing the success of the assignment:
Organization and position
- qualified local employees
- clear and conflict-free role
- decision-making autonomy and influence
- clear competence guidelines
- host country knowldege in head office
- opportunities to maintain contacts or visit
- company culture and cohesion in host country
Factors influencing the success of the assignment: Posting design
- Transparent and uniform assignment guidelines
- Careful selection of personnel
- Culture-related preparation (with partner)
- Continuous support
- Long-term return planning
- On-site assistance, „start-up package“
- Financial attractiveness
Factors influencing the success of the assignment:
Host Country Environment
- Cultural distance from the home country
- Difficulties of the local language
- Legal and bureaucratic barriers
- Quality of life and leisure
- Supportive network of foreigners
What is culture?:
Iceberg model
visible part: HOW
- behaviour and customs
invisible parts to people from other cultures: WHY
- attitudes and beliefs
- basic values and assumptions
Ethnocentrism
Tendency to believe that one’s own cultural views and methods are best
and should be used as the standard
opposite: ethnorealtive
Intercultural Learning
From Ethnocentric to ethnorelative
- Denial
- Defence
- Downplay
- Accept
- Adapt
- Integrate
Aspects of conflict
Positive:
If solution is successful, strengthening of the group’s consciousness and identity -> positive development of project
Negative:
In case of escalation: dysfunctional effects on cooperation, decrease of trust up to mistrus
-> negative development of project
Tuckman phase model
- Forming
- orientation phase
- courtesy - Storming
- confrontation
- task and role conflict - Norming
- search for solution
- open exchange and discussion - Performing
- Constructive work style
- identification as a team - Mourning
- Project end
- pride about completed task
Performance impact in team building process
- Forming: Working Group
down to:
2. Storming: Pseudo team
up to:
3. Norming: Potential team
higher to:
4. Performing: Real time
over time to even higher to:
high-performance team
Possible actions of the project manager in the intercultural team building process
- Kick-off event
- information about new culture
- organization of intercultural training
- common goals
- …
Leadership styles accoring to GLOBE
- charismatic
- team oriented
- participatory
- human
- autonomous
- self-protective
Authoritharian to cooperative leadership style
Full decision-making scope of supervisor decreasing until full decision-making scope of the group
More supervisor:
1. Authotharian
2. Patriarchal
3. Advisory
Middle:
4. Consultative
More group:
5. Participative
6. Delegative
7. Democratic
Leadership
Task-based management + employee-related management
Task-based management
Control of the various individual activities in a project with regard to the
overall project objective
Empolyee-related management
Action that builds social system in which leader and led work together on a task
- importance of employee-related leadership tasks increases in virtual
teams (often found in international project) - possible to distribute individual management tasks within the team
Success factors for intercultural cooperation
- good project organization
-> task and responsibilities
-> processes - willingness to accept constructive critisicm
- positive basic attitute
- cultural awareness
- solid language skills
- mixture of hard and soft skills
Project execution in intercultural teams
- documentation
- quality management
- risk management
- information management
- scheduling
- contact maintenance
Development of intercultural project team
- Exchange of
information
- Avoidance of
stereotyping
- Exchange of
MEASURES:
* Kick-off event
* Information about new
culture
* Intercultural training
* Enabling exchange
- Awareness of
culture-specific
strengths
- Commonly
negotiated norms
- Awareness of
MEASURES_
* Allocation of tasks
according to strengths
* Advancing the solution
finding process
* Common goals
- Use of synergy
effects
- Identification with
the team
- Innovative problem
solving
- Use of synergy
Cultural challenges in international project management
- Stereotyping
- Time management
- Relationship management
- Leadership style
- Deadlines meaning
- …
Cultural dimensions according to Hofstede
- Individualism
- Maskulinity
- Uncertainty avoidance
- Power distance
- Long-term orientation
- enjoyment / restraint
-> high/low index (from 0-100)
Culture types according to Lewis
- linear-active
- multi-active
- reactive
-> spectrum between types
Linear-active
- fact-, task-oriented
- structured way of working
- direct statements
Multi-active
- dialogue and relationship
oriented - emotional, impulsive
- flexible
Reactive
- Respectful and listening
- Factual and relationship
oriented - Avoiding open confrontation
Cultural level according to Schein: Iceberg
TOP
visible, but need of interpretation:
Symbol system
- language, rituals, clothes, manners
partly visible, partly unconsciously:
Norms and standards
- maxim, “ideologies”, code of conduct, prohibitions
DOWN/COMPLETLY COVERED BY WATER
Underlying assumptions
- reference to the environment, truth, essence of human/human actions/human relations
Cultural level according to Osgood
- descriptive concept (percepta)
- explicative concept
(concepta)
Osgood: descriptive content
- Results of behaviour -> material culture -> fashion, architecture, art, etc.
- Behaviour -> social culture -> customs, mores, rituals, etc.
Osgood: explicative content
Cause of behaviour -> mental culture -> values, norms, attitudes
