The Importance Of Cross-Cultural Leadership

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Leadership in The Cross-Cultural Workplace The book titled Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions, by Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber (2009) provides insight on spiritual leadership as an alternate method to motivate people while questioning how spirituality really ties to leadership. There are several authors that support Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber’s (2009) assertion that this is a field of study worth pursuing in a different approach to achieving higher performance and commitment while still feeling a personal sense of satisfaction within the organization. Yet, there are several contradicting concepts and definitions of spiritual leadership as it applies to the workplace where it is believed that the workplace is being treated …show more content…

It is important therefore that leaders adopt a multi-cultural perspective rather than a country specific to include working with multiple cultures simultaneously (Ersoy, 2014). What leaders need to learn to shape a functional cross-cultural workforce is fundamental human nature. Chuang (2013) list several fundamental skills for the successful global leader of which the top three are developing self-awareness, recognize cultural stereotypes, increase self-assurance, and develop cross-cultural communication skills. Compromises and integrated solutions are a product of effective cross-cultural communication that allows members from various cultures to arrive at acceptable solutions (Ersoy, …show more content…

Women traditionally are stereotyped as emotional and insecure that need protecting even though their different work styles have a preferable contribution to leadership (Chuang, 2013). Men are traditionally stereotyped as the aggressive tough leader and tend to be preferred for leadership positions (Chuang, 2013). Patrick (2011) provides strategies to overcome workplace diversity where the most important is to recognize that it exists. Additionally, leaders must self-reflect and admit to their own biases while dismissing myths and showing respect to fundamental differences (Patrick, 2011). Chuang (2013) mirrors this as understanding gender stereotypes will help the cross-cultural leader in creating positive relationships while avoiding biased