"How and why
do different cultures view leadership differently?"
This blog will feature questions (ranging from leadership and diversity to culture-specific communication, global team-building, and the nuances of business and social protocol in different countries and cultures) raised by working, adult students in higher education. You are invited to share your insights and perspectives based on your own personal work experiences. See "Welcome . . . more about this blog" for additional information about the blog's history and purpose.
Now THIS is what I call an open-ended question! Nice! My guess here is that different cultures view leadership differently based on their history, which is why performing due diligence is so critically important.
ReplyDeleteDifferent cultures have different values and priorities, which lead to different perspectives. My feeling is culture is a very Past-oriented, instead of Future-oriented entity. Because each culture has experienced things differently, we tend to appreciate and behave in accordance with those events. For example, my sister has had good friends in her past betray her, so to her trust is of the utmost significance in a relationship. To me, I have been sorely disrespected by people close to me, so I feel respect is a non-negotiable in my relationships. I know that is a very rudimentary parallel, but I hope that helps to identify my point.
ReplyDeleteI believe different cultures view Leadership differently because of their pasts. Writing from a woman's point of view, US Americans focus on having and keeping White Males in Leadership roles. Our culture has led us to categorize this situation as having a "glass-ceiling" and as a matter of fact, we discussed it briefly with the last Ted's Talk. I agree with our culture being past-oriented, like many others, it is believed to maintain what has worked in the past. In the past, emotional and domestic decisions would be steered toward the female and logical and business decisions would be steered toward the male. I believe we view Leadership differently based on the subject matter, too.
ReplyDeleteI think much of it comes from that culture's customs, norms, traditions and values. Some cultures value hierarchy and traditions (like Japan), other countries value free-thinking and independence (like the United States). Leadership (from some cultures) can also be based purely on gender roles. I believe it's also important to remember that just because a culture's values may be different from our own doesn't make them inherently wrong.
ReplyDelete(391-16SP08) People in different cultures view leadership differently because of traditions. For example, people in India are much more collective when they work as a team as opposed to Americans. Americans thrive on blazing their own path and introducing new processes. Whereas Indians would bring other people into the circle and try to come up with a collective solution.
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