The Field of Global Leadership - Essay Example

? Leadership Introduction Leadership is of important organizational success in the global economy since it has a direct impacton the success or the failure of the global economy. The field of global leadership has emerged recently due to increase in the number of internationally operating firms in the corners of the globe. Most leaders have not been trained, educated, and prepared to deal with the complexity of the global challenges that face man in the 21st century. Global leadership is the capability to operate effectively in the global environment while being respectful to the people’s cultural diversity in all the undertakings. Overview of leadership context Leaders of today are important people in the decision-making process in order for an organization to function the fastest speed possible and compete effectively with its peers (Morrison, 2000). The quality of a leader can make or break an organization hence people should be very careful when searching for leaders in their organization (Carpenter, 2007). Kelly (2013) argues that top performing leaders are very creative and innovative and can be 13 times more likely to outperform their competitors in a fair competition. This is because they are very innovative and are more likely to devise ways and produce quality goods and services than their counterparts hence achieve satisfying financial indicators. Organizations that portray poor leadership quality always lag behind from their competitors leading to losses and lack of development. According to Eriksen (2009), leadership quality does not just affect the bottom line; it affects the employee retention and engagement thus resulting to more competitiveness of a business. He further adds that organizations with higher quality leadership are likely to retain employees than their competition due to high understanding and respect they accord their workers. This is profitable for the business since there is a link between engagement and the retention of employees in the overall performance of the business. Passionate leadership are those who full energy to their works thus proactively makes value hence act with a sense of leadership required to move the organization forward (Masculli, 2011). A passionate leader is a very important person to the organization since they can easily inspire good work and performance from his followers. Quality of leadership and passion in leadership goes hand in hand and thus cannot be easily avoided separated in the context of a business (Story, 2004). Given the gravity and role that leaders play in these highly competitive environments, the leaders who can fully meet the needs of the organization are hard to find. The Human Resource professionals are the one who has expressed highest concern for the quality of leadership in their organizations they has a direct impact in their operations (Leslie et al, 2002). The majority of the HR professionals interviewed showed lack of confidence with their leaders with a mere 25% showing confidence and trust in the ability of their leaders. This means that majority of the organizations are missing a great opportunity in having a potent kind of leadership they require to propel them forward. Organizations experience various types of leadership in different capacities and the higher the level of leadership the more expectation required from him in terms of accountability and development qualities. On the global scope and in respect to HR professionals, leadership quality is rated highest in North America and lowest in Europe and Asia (Leslie et al, 2002). The recession of 2008/9 exposed most organizations and the quality of leadership they had due to the nature of their reactions in combating the effects of the global credit crunch as many of them were guilty of losing focus on talents. The fear of losing talents is making most of the organizations to fear losing employees for the future development of the organizations (Carter and Greer, 2013). Quality of leadership is improved by ensuring the effectiveness of the talent management systems and leadership succession to avoid any vacuum that may exist if one leader exits (Jackson, Meyer and Wang, 2012). Leaders cannot be effective in an environment in which employees lack the freedom to make decisions or to innovate hence they should also be accorded a good working environment. An effective management culture enables and empowers others to capitalize on their talents thus improving the productivity of an organization. Aim of the report The main aim of this report is to evaluate the relevance of leadership in domestic and global scene The objectives of the report To fully understand the meaning of leadership To differentiate the difference between domestic leadership and global leadership To determine the effect on culture on domestic and global leadership styles To compare and contrast domestic and global leadership Defining Leadership The researchers have specifically defined leadership in certain dimensions according to their best understanding of what it entails (Eriksen, 2009; Masculli, 2011). Research has sought to identify the scope of global leadership skills and separate it with domestic leadership since the two share different experiences in their encounters. The term global leadership still lack specific, rigorous, and widely accepted definitions by contrast resulting to a plethora of definitions (Chin and Gu, 2001). The definitions are so wide that it makes it hard to distinguish and unify them to come up with one coherent definition. With the view of understanding the concept of leadership, its necessary to review the various definitions availed by different authors in their bid to define leadership. Without clear and commonly accepted definitions, there is a risk that understanding the concept of global leadership will be hard and the research will remain fragmented hence lose their ability to develop a common ground for knowledge transfer (Morrison, 2000). Some authors acknowledge that anyone who holds a global position is a global leader while other explains that a global leader is an element of change in an organization. The contrast between role and function is the main line of difference between scholars as they try to define the concept of leadership. Chin and Gu (2001) explains that global leadership does not just entail extending a domestic leadership attributes and activities to a wider concept but is instead conceptualized as a process that reflects how individual engages his roles. They further add that the roles of a global leader includes sense making the nature and quality of relationships the leader holds with people around him and the mechanisms through which a leader exerts influence in is duties. This definition has approval from Jackson, Meyer, and Wang (2012) who concur with this line of argument. Sussman (2004) argues that leadership is the ability to influence others to pursue a common goal within a specified time. However, Carpenter (2007) argues that leadership is the ability to evaluate and forecast a long-term plan or policy and influence the flowers towards achievement of the said strategy. Roninson and Harvey in their study (2008) describe leaders as people who are able to empower others in a combination of strategy and character. Raja and Palanychamy (2011) also describe leadership as the process of giving purpose, to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve a purpose. They add that leadership involves inspiring others to do a vision within the parameters you have set to the extent it becomes a shared effort. It is thus the ability to influence others through your character, humility, and example. The mediating effect of local and international cultures on leadership styles Cultures play an important role in in shaping the behaviour of and attitudes of leaders in different ways (Lok and Crawford, 2004; Thomas, 2008). Leadership process involves social interaction thus affecting the styles of interaction of the leader. The culture dimensions in which the behaviour occurs hence leadership styles are partially culturally determined influence leadership styles. Leaders have their own personality, which they draw upon the larger social and political environment rules in their respective workplace (Robinson and Harvey, 2008). It is therefore apparent that leadership drives culture and culture drives leadership so that they both drive the performance of individuals (Thoms, 2008). Both leaders whether global leader or domestic leaders are subjected to cultural norms that they must be able to adapt to in order to exert their influence successfully. Leadership styles Charismatic leadership This is the ability to influence others through the power of personality by inspiring and motivating people in different ways (Raja and Palaniachamy, 2011). A good example if a charismatic leaders is Oprah Winfrey who is known over the world for her inspiring stories and the great influence she has all over the world Such a style can be used to spur others to action by raising morale of his followers hence expand the organizations position in the market. Innovative leadership These leaders are able to set themselves targets through impossible challenges and realize their dreams. A good example of innovative leader is Richard Branson who founded the virgin group at the age of 16 years and has now enlarged to more than 16 companies in various sectors in global scene. Such leaders usually grasp the entire situation and goes beyond the usual course of action in order to achieve their dreams. Innovative leaders can see what is not working and brings new thinking by creating a working climate for others to apply their innovative ideas. Laissez-Faire These leaders know what is happening but not openly involved in it but trust others to keep their word. They monitor performance and give advice and recommendations where necessary. This leadership style is commonly used when results from a highly cohesive team is needed and the team is working on a multiple locations. Pace Setter Leadership These leaders set high performance standards for self and the group hence able to epitomize the behavior sought from others. A good example of such a leader is Jeff Bezos. He founded Amazon and set the pace from the boom in e-commerce by making a transactional boundary that every other online dealer copied. Thus, he was able to set the pace that can be emulated by other people in the industry to realize many profits. Autocratic leadership This type of leader has extreme form of power over the staff and people around him hence provide them with less opportunity to make suggestions and have their input. The benefits of autocratic leadership are that it is incredibly efficient since decisions are made quickly and work gets done efficiently. This type of leadership is disadvantages to the staff since they are highly discouraged to perform their duties responsibly. This type of leadership is best if applied in crises since decisions have to be made quickly. Bureaucratic Leadership These are leaders who work by the book and follow rules strictly and rigorously to ensure that people follow procedures carefully to avoid negative consequences that may arise because of their actions. This type of leadership is appropriate in working in dangerous environment with heavy machinery or poisonous chemicals that are harmful to human health. Characteristics of global leaders In order to cope with globalized challenges, a global leader requires a person of high intellectual understanding of the global environmental context (Chin and Gu, 2001). A global leader should be in a position to comprehend just how complex it is to do business around the world with minimal challenges to increase his chances of success. The global leader should have the capacity to develop a simultaneously a global and local perspective of the realities of doing business around the world (Carter and Gree, 2013). The global leader should be able to overcome the dominant thinking at headquarters of his or her business and learn to favour non-dominant thinking. There is a leadership capacity involved in having the respect and the capacity to pull the best out of each area of corporation. A global leader should have a good level of self-awareness and self-assurance when it comes to values and sense of purpose while at the same time flexible in learning and empowering others. Managerial Effectiveness in Global Context (Source: Leslie et al, 2002). Differences between global domestic leaders and global leaders Unlike domestic leaders, global leaders work with colleagues from other countries across the globe in pursuit of their aims and objectives (Chin and Gu, 2013). Thus, they are more exposed than domestic counterparts in their interactions with global leaders from various counties. Domestic leaders mainly deal with domestic customers and clients since they are confined to one locality of origin (Sussman, 2004). Global leaders interact with international customers due to globalized nature of their business as domestic leaders interact with domestic clients. Unlike domestic leaders, global leaders interact with many people from other continents hence are exposed to different languages and cultures. They thus have a good grasp of a second language in order to cope well with others people in other areas when they are enhancing their business interests. Most of the domestic leaders are only proficient in their local languages since they rarely communicate with other people in other places. Global leaders manage and motivate geographically dispersed and diverse employees and teams while domestic leaders motivate local leaders. Domestic leaders develop business plans based on local basis as they are mostly exposed to local environment. Global leaders on the other hand develop their business strategies with respect to a budget on worldwide basis since they deal with worldwide clients (Thoms, 2008). In most instances, global leaders approve a bigger budget since most of their projects are very expensive hence requires high costs of implementation. Domestic leaders on the other hand approve a relatively low budget since most of their operations do not involve a lot of traveling with high implementation costs. Unlike domestic leaders, global leaders manage foreign suppliers and vendors in most of their business transactions. Global leaders are exposed to different environments hence are exposed to more risk as compared to domestic leaders in the course of their operations. Few of the local domestic organizations were subjected to global economic crisis like the global firms (Jackson, Meyer and Wang, 2012). Managing global businesses thus requires experienced and exposed leadership as they deal with big realities in their diverse exposure. Global businesses are exposed to various competitors, some of which are global while others are domestic hence they have a lot of pressure creating their business deals and strategies to avoid losing out to competition. Global leaders are subjected to various administrative laws and regulation that have a direct impact on the nature and manner in which they perform their operations. This is because they deal with various countries with different legal and judicial systems and thus have to learn such laws carefully and follow the rules to avoid losses that may result from judicial suit. On the other hand, domestic leaders are mainly exposed to domestic rules and regulations, which they can easily manage with a lot of ease in the course of their businesses. The global leaders are also exposed to divergent trading blocs as they move from one region to another, making their operations more complicated than that of domestic businesses. Most domestic businesses enjoy similar colonial times since they are not their networks are not spread far and wide. Global leaders move beyond colonial boundaries to venture into distant lands in pursuit to their economic agenda. Global leaders deal with different currency and thus must be equipped with the knowledge of currency exchange as they transverse from one region to the next. Domestic leaders in most cases are subjected to one currency since most of their operations are confined to one place or country (Masculi, 2011). Most of the customers are subjected to consumptions based on their religious beliefs hence are selective on their consumption habits. Muslims, Christians, Hindus and other religions tend to have different spending and consumption habits hence a global leader is expected to have a good grasp of these in order to maximize their firms’ profitability. Spending habits and consumption patterns also vary from different ethnicities and races hence a global leader is expected to have a full understanding of their various cultures of these people in his attempt to maximize their profits. Global leaders think of extending their influence everywhere in different localities hence they need to think and travel in far physical distances. Domestic leaders on the other hand are mostly confined to same geographic areas hence they do not think and travel far in the course of their businesses. Since they do not travel everywhere, they need not to worry of the land borders, time zones and climatic changes in pursuit of their goals. Global leader must be very concerned on the time zones, as they need to travel in the course of their leadership strategies. Global leaders are also concerned of the land borders as they imply that there is a change in laws, customers, and traditions that must be taken into consideration as they plan their strategies. The time zones and climates also vary from place to place and they influence the nature of operations in those places, hence the global leaders must fully understand the time zones as they transact businesses (Thoms, 2008). The economic factors are of great importance to global leaders as they have a direct impact on the profitability of the company. Global leaders must fully understand the income levels of different places in different environments so that they can have a strategy of exerting an influence in places where they can reap good returns. The economic factors in different environments enable the global leader to predict the profits and the cost of doing business, which is different from place to place. Domestic leaders need not to worry much on the income levels of other places since their businesses are confined to one locality and they majorly deal with the local people. The infrastructure development, information, and communication are a major facilitator for business processes. Global leaders must take into consideration the level of infrastructure to make the right choices with regard to their aims and objective. Conclusion Leadership is a very important component of human existence since they have a direct impact on the failure or success of the people led. 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