First Entry
Effect of Culture on Leadership
The article is about the effect of culture has on leadership. Culture may have a great impact on leadership styles and behavior. A hypothesis that appears to support this claim is that certain leadership behaviors are particularly unique to certain cultures. Another argument is that there are certain specific structures or behaviors that a leader should perform so as to be effective, and this does not have any cultural dimension.
These two arguments could be proved by using a Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire as well as a Value Survey Module. Cultural biases may have a significant effect on the leadership of an organization (for example, in the case of a bank). Gender biasness may prevent a female manager from performing her duties effectively.
Personality in Leadership
There are certain leadership personalities that any leader is expected to posses so as to deliver effectively. A leader should for instance have courage. Courage is the first virtue upon which a leader should depend. All the other leadership qualities depend on it as well.
As such, lack of courage would only lead to failure of the management because people hold back and settle for less than their capability. As a bank manager for instance, one may have to take some decisions that might not please all the staff members yet this could be only key to success in the matter is at hand.
Any leader ought to have strength and effectiveness. In leadership, strength has a significant effect on the effectiveness of any group. Group focused leadership usually produces group identification hence producing efficiency among the staff. An effective leader needs to inspire the members and pay attention to the specific needs of the group members.
Any good and effective leader needs to have the positive trait of integrity. Personal integrity in a leader is a sign of honesty, reliability and trustworthiness. This trait is very vital in any leadership style. When a manager of such an institution as a bank portrays integrity for instance, this helps in shaping that institution.
As a result, the manager in question earns the respect of the employees, customers, and other stakeholders of the bank. Given the fact that integrity is an internal trait, it can only be proved by the actions and decisions taken. A leadership that has its basis on integrity makes the employees to feel secure because trust is built between the employees and the leadership, and the organization at large.
An effective leader also need to exhibit intelligence as another trait of leadership. Individuals with high intelligent quotients (IQs) tend to be more skilled in management as they enable the other members of the organization to feel at ease while working and they are in a position to balance between their personal lives and work.
They tend to be straightforward and help in building rapport between the group members, hence ensuring effective interdependence among the group members. In addition, such an individual is fully aware of his/her strengths and weakness and does not act on impulse.
An effective leader needs to have conviction. This is the ability to make a decision confidently, communicate it, and stick to it as well. Before making decisions, such a leader needs to seek input upfront. In addition, it is important for the leader to promote positive, critical and constructive assessment of the available options in open forums. Moreover, the leader also need to make a clear option and justifies the decision.
The leader needs to be clear-sighted. The leader should be able to measure the impact that the decisions made have over time. The leader needs to be realistic and not flamboyant. The decisions made should be achievable and not based on imaginations.
Second Entry
Theoretical Perspectives
The Theory of female advantage and diversity dilemmas stipulates that there is prejudice towards the female leaders. This leads to the continued discrimination against those women in top positions.
There is therefore need to work towards eliminating such perceptions that are culturally- based and could go a long way to denying those women that have the capability to lead the chances of excising their leadership skills to the fullest. Such women could be having ideas that are transformational.
This is attributed to the fact that transactional leadership styles do not differ based on gender. In most cultures, it is always believed that men are the best leaders and women have to act like men so as to be considered as good leaders.
According to Vecchio (2002) however, in his view of leadership and gender differences, he contends that the male leadership advantage is being replaced by the female advantage assumption which is symmetrical. The masculine male style which is task oriented is being replaced by the feminine style which is people oriented.
Gender is usually socially-oriented and the behaviours of the leaders cannot be predicted by the masculine or feminine style dimensions. Each leader usually displays those behaviours that are associated with the respective gender characteristics.
According to Cox (2001), gender inequalities only form part of the wider inequality and diversity issues. Diversity poses practical and theoretical dilemmas. Whenever diversity is characterised in a narrow way, the consequence is usually discrimination which may be based on race, gender, or ethnicity.
The theories of diversity usually deal with the consequences of diversity which include ethnographic studies, social identity theory, race or gender studies, as well as organizational demography.
Such discriminations may make a leader of an organization not to be given an opportunity to exercise his/her leadership to the fullest. In reality, diversity should be celebrated as it enhances innovation. Dividing stereotypes should be done away with for any leadership to be effective.
Margaret Thatcher can for instance be perceived as a female leader who was in a position to lead her country to greater heights during her time as helm in leadership. She was the first female prime minister in the United Kingdom.
She worked towards the restoration of Britain’s economic prosperity and she even led her country to win against Argentina in a military dispute concerning the sovereignty of Falkland Islands in 1982. She portrayed leadership qualities, for instance, she was charismatic, believed in self and courageous as she did not hesitate to take that leadership position just because of her gender.
The Oriental Glass Ceiling
All in all, just like any other leader irrespective of her gender, she had her own weaknesses. For instance, she used the non-consensual leadership style which generated ideal conditions for her overthrow. Cultural factors in many societies usually lead to the exclusion of women from leadership roles.
These cultures are mainly defended by traditional groupings. They judge a leader according to the masculinity. Women therefore have to be very strong and work diligently so as to succeed due to such cultural traditions that are discriminative.
Organizational diversity is gradually being accepted in the leadership positions at different levels. The different entry barriers for those groups that are restricted are being relaxed particularly by the elite so as to provide equal opportunities for different groups without discrimination. This however is not absolute as progress is still restricted in higher leadership levels in different institutional sectors.
Stereotypical thinking usually ignores the cues of social worthiness. For instance, the fact that female executives usually rate higher on transformational leadership is ignored. Diversity is a potential for superior performances, although leaders have to understand and also deal with the differences. Diversity could be perceived as an opportunity or a problem.
The Third Entry
Practical Implication
All these have practical implications for Australia as a country both to the leaders and the employees as well. It would be a revolutionary stem if at all the discriminative entries to any leadership positions were to be done away with, and everyone e given an opportunity for leadership positions based on his/her leadership qualities, and the ability to deliver and not on the basis of other cultural, racial, ethnical or racial discriminations.
Females could for instance be considered for executive positions and other related posts given the fact that they are not just task oriented but people oriented as well. One may for instance base his leadership on task accomplishment and service delivery and yet fail to take into account the worker’s satisfaction. This could only lead to a sad and unsatisfied lot of workers who instead of enjoying their work might in fact be enduring it.
The masculinity mindset of many Australians has led to the election and nomination of leaders to management positions just because of their gender. Some of the people elected in such positions may not be able to deliver as they do not have the required skills and qualities necessary for effective delivery in the respective positions.
On the other hand, some of those who can deliver have been left out due to the fact that they are female yet they have all the personalities that a leader ought to have. Some of the legislation has also fueled such chauvinistic beliefs of ideas that are irrelevant in the current century.
Efforts are however being made to by the government and other organizations to try and stump out gender- based discrimination in leadership as well as other positions. Efforts have been made by the federal government for instance through the establishment of a taskforce that is concerned with the management and leadership skills, with a view to making recommendations for the improvement of managers’ skills.
The taskforce addresses gender issues in the management as well. Gender stereotyping has traditionally been seen as a strategy in leadership. The topic is considered critical in the development of management and leadership skills. It is only through addressing such gender issues that greater organizational effectiveness shall be realized.
It has been found out by the taskforce that there is reluctance as well as lack of preparedness by the academic and the industrial management in dealing with gender issues. The subject is sensitive and it has not been easy when it comes to dealing with gender issues in the management of different managements of different organizations in Australia including the banks.
This has made it difficult for women to proceed with their career as managers. According to the Karpin’s report for instance, it has been observed that women play a minor managerial roles in the Australian economy (Kaprin 1995)..
However, this trend appears to have changed in recent days. The taskforce has been relevant as it has researched and established that there are minor differences when it comes to the performance of female managers in comparison with their male counterparts.
These differences are concerned with the matters of confidence, dominance, and the sense of security. According to the findings, gender is not very crucial in leadership. In the case of women, it is the issue of opportunity and not necessarily performance when it comes to the comparison between their roles and those of their male counterparts in the management situation.
These findings are vital in policy debates. The government is making an effort towards ensuring diversity at the workplace. Acts have also been enacted, for example, the 1999 Public Service Act which requires that the heads of agencies establish diversity programs at the workplace so as to eliminate gender based employment disadvantages.
This has proved successful as women are now effectively fulfilling their management roles in the public service. The representation however varies significantly at agency level as men still form a higher percentage of the employees at the management level. For instance, men form 80.1% of the employees at the Bureau of Meteorology, 63.5% in the defense while still at the Medicare they are 80.3%.
However women are still not very much represented at the senior levels (Vecchio 2002). Such gender based discriminations only form part of the influences that a culture has on leadership. As much as women are taking up these roles, this has not been easy for most of them, with a number of women witnessing harassment or bullying while at the workplace.
The issue of cultural influences on leadership could also happen in another form. For example, there are certain cultures which for instance stipulate that a leader must be elderly. Such culture will therefore not be at peace with the issue of youth empowerment, or they may not readily accept a young person as their leader.
Reference List
Cox, T., 2001. Creating the multicultural organization: a strategy for capturing the power of diversity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Karpin, D., 1995. Enterprising Nation: Renewing Australia’s Managers to meet the Challenges of the Asia-Pacific Century. (Report on the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills). Canberra, ACT: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Vecchio, R. P., 2002. Leadership and gender advantage. The Leadership Quarterly, Vol.13, No. 6, pp. 643-671