Globalisation and the Cross-Cultural Role of the Leader

Although we live in a globalised world, there are still challenges in defining a global organisation. Think of the global organisation as snowflakes; no two looks exactly alike. The most promising opportunities and the biggest challenges we face today are inexorably global. Our economy, environment, resources, education, and health systems all connect to, rely on, and affect the economies, environments, resources, and health systems in other countries. Therefore, we live and operate globally, and globalisation brings a web of people, systems, and processes. Embedded in this interconnectedness are global leaders who appreciate the significance of culture, with the willingness to learn, be adaptive, and by educators.

For the leader to operate effectively in the global space, soft skills are essential, ranging from context, critical thinking, and effective communication. Especially in an environment where the world is becoming more dependent on technology in various forms, soft skills tend to be pushed into the background. Therefore, how do leaders transcend cultures, become effective across cultural settings, interact with culturally diverse individuals, leaders, and organisations, and create value in the global space?

Northouse opined that the concept of globalisation had created the need for leaders to become competent in cross-cultural awareness and practice. It is the foundation of the social order that people live in and the roles they abide by. Hofstede and Minkov added that culture is the unwritten rules of the social game passed on to newcomers by its members, nesting itself in their minds and influenced far more by their experiences rather than by their genes.

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Today’s global world requires that leaders understand other cultures and act with awareness and appreciation of differences. Leaders need to understand their own culture and its effect on people of different cultures. Global leaders adopt various cross-cultural tools congruent with the people’s needs using the human process, techno-structural, human resource management, and strategic change. They must also understand how values help them to sustain cordial relationships with their people. Leaders must rise beyond immoral and unethical acts by focusing on learning about people’s cultural depth. Good ethics enhances the trust that enables people and businesses to adopt a leader’s new ideas and visions. Therefore, leaders must understand the forces shaping today’s global work, including values, norms, and new beliefs, coupled with innovation and changing demographics.

A global orientation must be in a leader’s perspective. Cabrera and Unruh believe that a global mindset is a must-have, and it is the core foundation of successful leadership. However, it is not an innate trait. Hofstede aptly described them as the software of the mind. It is about cultural awareness that comes through exposure, knowledge, and expertise in a non-native environment. People who possess a global mindset can interpret, analyse, and decode situations from various perspectives to identify the best route to successful collaboration in a multicultural environment. So, leaders who have a global mindset are more likely to succeed in working with people from diverse cultures. Developing a global mindset requires the following:

Psychological capital: is regarded as personal attributes such as having a passion for adversity, the quest for adventure, self-assurance, and curiosity about other cultures. Hence, travel in cross-cultural experiences is strengthened through practice.

Social capital: This is about whom you know and how well you know them. It is the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit. It involves having intercultural empathy, interpersonal impact, and diplomacy;

Intellectual capital: refers to the knowledge and understanding of the environment in which global interactions take place.

There are significant benefits for global business when their leaders have developed a global mindset. Leaders with a global mindset are experts who are effective in influencing people from different socio-cultural systems. They know about cultural, political, and economic systems in other countries and understand how global industries work. Leadership requires a mindset that is free from personal prejudices and cultural biases. Therefore, possessing a global mindset can reduce the chances of missing essential cues or even behaving outright offensively.

Embracing intercultural competence, which is the ability to function effectively in another culture, is crucial. The following tools, which are soft skills, enhance leader’s cross-cultural awareness and practice, especially when they want to function well across borders (Lundby and Jolton, 2010):

Emotional intelligence: This comprises skills like self-awareness, impulse, control, and empathy. This is the ability to be perceptive and self-regulatory.

Social intelligence: This represents skill sets that are focused on getting along smoothly with others around us, and they consist of social interest, social self-efficacy, empathy skills, and social performance skills.

Adaptability: This is when a leader adapts easily in a multicultural setting through flexibility, dealing with uncertain work situations, learning new tasks, solving problems creatively.

Perspective-taking: This consists of cognitive flexibility or problem-solving skills that entail the ability to embrace and understand the perspective of another person.

Cultural intelligence: This is a multifaceted competency tool that involves cultural knowledge, the practice of mindfulness, and a repertoire of behavioural skills.

The five-factor model of personality, which helps the leader understand diverse cultures, is an example of cross-cultural tools that leaders must adopt.

Sobande is a Lawyer and Leadership Consultant. He is a Doctoral Candidate at Regent University, Virginia Beach, USA, for a PhD in Strategic Leadership. He can be contacted by Email: [email protected]