11.5 Leadership in a Modern and Diverse Society

As mentioned in previous chapters, the need for effective leadership in a modern and diverse society is imperative in this 21st century, globalized environment. Within this framework, the concept of cultural and global diversity within the framework of organizations means that leaders must be cognizant of the ever-changing diverse landscape.

Within cultural and global diversity, there is cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is a competency that allows individuals from their own cultures to function effectively in other cultural environments[25]. Essentially, cultural intelligence is the ability to be aware of other cultures and their impact on your own culture, while at the same time being self-aware (Maslow) about your own culture and the impact it has on other cultures. Here are some stages faced when adapting into a new culture:

• confusion
• small victories
• the honeymoon
• the irritation and anger
• reality

With these steps, confusion is a given, since life up to this point has been one view, and gaining small victories can be understanding basic language and maybe forging a few relationships. At this point, there is a feeling of having been accepted by the culture.  Then, there is the realization that this is only the tip of the iceberg, as learning a language and forging relationships does not develop an understanding of the social, political and economic factors of a culture. This leads to frustration, and eventually, to a reality of knowing a culture and the pros and cons associated with it. Understanding cultural intelligence in this way develops an understanding the impact of you in that culture, and self-reflecting on your own culture inside of a new culture.

This leads to the question of whether management and leadership theories are universal. Geert Hofstede would say that there is no universal theory to management, and that management theories closely relate to a particular culture[26]. Even from the leadership and management theories presented in previous chapters, the came from a North-American perspective, and seem to follow the American economic model from the early 20th century, and American principles of economy and business. When understanding how different cultures interact with leadership ideals, use the cultural insights research from Project GLOBE. House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupta.  They developed the GLOBE study of 62 countries and how each culture reacts to leadership traits, organizational values and relationships along cross-cultural lines[27].