Cross-Cultural Leadership and Training

1. Cross-Cultural Leadership and Training Devin Pauly

2. Outline • Objectives • Introduction • Importance of CCT • Hofstede’s Dimensions • GLOBE • Purpose of CCT • Three-Step Model • CCT Delivery Strategies • CCT Support • Best Practices • Conclusion

3. Cross-Cultural Leadership and Training (CCT) • Cross-Culture: Interacting with and/or comparing two or more cultures, and understanding their values, beliefs, and norms. • The workforce is becoming more diverse. • In addition, national and international competition is increasing.

4. Importance of CCT • CCT has boomed in the last 10 years. • Executive failure rates can range from 30%-50%. • Failures can cost upwards of $500,000 (Trinadas, 1994). • 69% of surveyed organizations offered cultural training, up 10% in one year and 50% in twenty years. • Only 20% of expatriates rate training as good.

5. Cross-Cultural Study • Haire, Ghiselli, & Porter (1966) • 3,641 managers; 14 countries • 28% of questionnaire variance was a result of country differences • Found universal characteristics among managers

6. G. Hofstede’s Dimensions • Power Distance • Uncertainty Avoidance • Long-term-Short-term Orientation • Individualism-Collectivism • Masculinity-Femininity

7. The United States

8. Global Leadership & Organizational Behavior Effectiveness • Robert House (1991) • Quantitative methodology • Responses of 17,000 managers; 950 organizations; 62 cultures • 9 cultural dimensions – 7 derived from Hofstede • For each of the nine dimensions, items were developed at both the societal and organizational level • 2 measures were used for all 9 dimensions: • Items phrased in terms of the society or organization as they are • Items phrased to evaluate what practices should be enacted in the society or organization

9. 9 Dimensions of GLOBE • Uncertainty Avoidance: Extent to which a society, organization, or group relies on established norms, rituals, and procedures to avoid uncertainty • Power Distance: Degree to which members of group expect & agree that power should be shared unequally • Institutional Collectivism: Degree to which organization or society encourages institutional or societal collective action

10. GLOBE Dimensions • In-Group Collectivism: Degree to which people express pride, loyalty, & cohesiveness in their organizations or families • Gender Egalitarianism: Degree to which an organization or society minimizes gender role differences and promotes gender equality • Assertiveness: Degree to which people in a culture are determined, assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in their social relationships

11. GLOBE Dimensions • Future Orientation: Extent to which people engage in future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification • Performance Orientation: Extent to which and organization or society encourages and rewards group members for improved performance and excellence • Humane Orientation: Degree to which a culture encourages and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others

12. Clusters of Culture

13. Global Leadership Behaviors • Charismatic/value-based leadership • Team-oriented leadership • Participative leadership • Human oriented leadership • Autonomous leadership • Self-protective leadership

14. Universal Leadership Attrubutes

15. Universal Leadership Attrubutes

16. GLOBE Conclusions • Strengths • Criticisms • Applications

17. Limitations • Magnitude of the effect of cultural influences unknown • The influence of cultural forces on local conceptions of leadership, the social status of leaders, and the amount of influence granted to leaders • Processes by which cultural entities affect member psychological states and behavior not clear • Convenience sampling • Valid information in interviews, self-report measures, etc.

18. Purpose of CCT • CCT focuses on attitudinal changes rather than the acquisition of information. • Successful CCT requires the development of three important skills: • Self-maintenance skills • Interpersonal skills • Cognitive skills

19. CCT Delivery Strategies • CCT can be divided into seven categories: • Didactic • Attribution • Culture Awareness • Experiential • Cognitive-Behavior Modification • Interaction • Language

20. CCT Support • CCT has a positive relationship with adjustability (Selmer, 2001). • Cross-cultural adjustability has a positive relationship with performance and a negative relationship with early return rates (Caligiuri et al., 2001). • Black and Mendenhall (1990) performed a meta-analysis on intercultural training. • A positive relationship existed between all of the CCT studies that measured cognitive perception and cognitive skill development. • In addition, a meta-analys conducted by Morris and Robie (2001) showed that cross-cultural training is effective in enhancing expatriates’ performance.

21. Best Practices of CCT • Design: • Adjust the length and content of training based upon the unique features of the assignment. • Should the CCT be culture-general or culture-specific. • CCT should be offered to accompanying family members. • HR should play a large role in planning and implementation of CCT intervention. • Scenario and skill based training should be used.

22. Continued • Delivery: • Use multiple delivery strategies. • Tailor delivery strategy to training goals. • Provide online real-time support materials. • Keep international staff members up to date with periodic meetings at organization headquarters. • Provide expatriate with personalized coaches. • Offer CCT before departure, immediately after arrival, or both.

23. Continued • Evaluation: • Evaluate the program each time it is implemented. • Establish success criteria. • Evaluate whether learning from CCT is transferred to the job. • Use numerous criteria to evaluate performance. • Conduct surveys to assess training and overall assignment satisfaction. • Assess whether CCT yields positive outcomes.

24. Conclusion • What questions do you have?