Download Leadership and Diversity

Leadership and Diversity
Chapter 10
“Leadership has a harder job to do than just
choose sides. It must bring sides
together.”
Jesse Jackson
Rogers and Steinfatt
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Culture – the total way of life of a people,
composed of their learned and shared
behavior patterns, values, norms, and
material objects.
Culture
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Communication patterns
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Verbal and nonverbal
Formal organizations
Artifacts
Collective wisdom
Environment
Classifying Culture
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Cultures change over time
Scholars disagree about how to categorize some
nations
Not every member of a culture group will
respond the same way
Political and cultural boundaries are not always
identical
Westerners have developed most of the cultural
categories and may have overlooked values that
are important to non-Westerner societies
High Context-Low Context
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Covert and implicit
Messages internalized
Much nonverbal coding
Reactions reserved
Distinct ingroups and
outgroups
Strong interpersonal
bonds
Commitment high
Time open and flexible
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Overt and explicit
Messages plainly coded
Details verbalized
Reactions on the surface
Flexible ingroups and
outgroups
Fragile interpersonal
bonds
Commitment low
Time highly organized
Hofstede’s Five Value Dimensions
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Power distance
Individualism-collectivism
Masculinity-femininity
Uncertainty avoidance
Long-term/short-term orientation
Power Distance
Low power distance
 Uncomfortable with
differences in wealth,
status, power and
privilege
 Promote equal rights
 Emphasize
interdependence
High power distance
 Inequality natural
 Superiors are special
and deserve special
privileges
 Obligated to take care
of subordinates
Individualism-Collectivism
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Emphasizes needs and goals of
individual
Respond to material rewards
Decisions made by individuals
Leader provides autonomy and
opportunities for growth
Expect to be told of poor
performance
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Emphasizes group identity
Prefer team rewards
Expect mutual loyalty between
organizational leaders and
followers
New ideas come from the
group
Manage group behavior
through group norms and
social values
Leaders nurture followers
Prefer indirect criticism
Masculinity-Femininity
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Men are assertive,
competitive,
ambitious and
dominant
Members more
motivated by material
success
“Live to work”
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Women are
encouraged to serve
Are better at
interpersonal
relationships
Put greater emphasis
on intuition
“Work to live”
Uncertainty Avoidance
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High
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View uncertainty as a
threat
Less tolerant
Believe in written rules
Seek security
Give more weight to age
and seniority when
selecting leaders
Managers seem
unapproachable
Are more loyal
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Low
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Accept uncertainty as a fact
of life
Experience less stress
Take more risks
Less concerned about rules
More likely to trust their
own judgment
Emphasize interpersonal
relationships
Long-Term/Short-Term Orientation
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Encourage norms and
behaviors that lead to
future rewards
Sacrifice immediate
gratification for long term
benefits
Feelings of shame come
from violation of social
contracts and
commitments
Status relationships
clearly defined
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Respect tradition
Expect quick results
Put much less importance
on persistence
Spend freely and have
lower savings rates
Under greater pressure to
demonstrate immediate
progress
Cultural Synergy
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Refers to the production of an end product that
is greater than the sum of its parts
Leaders draw on the diversity of a group to get
a better solution/product
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Synergistic problem solving
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Identify the dilemma
Try to determine why members act as they do
Try to determine how each culture’s differences contribute
Implementation of a solution that has considered all cultures
involved
Benefits of Diversity
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Cost savings
Resource acquisition and utilization
Keeping and gaining market share
Better decision making
Greater innovation
Obstacles to Diversity
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Individual level
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Group level
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Prejudice
Discrimination
stereotyping
Ethnocentrism
Institutional level
The Center for Creative Leadership
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GOLD – Guidelines on Leadership Diversity
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The GOLD Project
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Accountability
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Development
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Internal advocacy groups
Administrative practices
Diversity training programs
Development programs
Recruitment
Creating an Enabling Organizational
Context
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Become personally involved in diversity
issues
Build partnerships to ensure long-term
success of diversity efforts
Understand that diversity initiatives will
both maintain and change corporate
culture
Ensuring Opportunity
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Monitor the distribution of and pathways
to opportunity
Spotlight the threshold between uppermiddle management and executive level
positions
Ensuring the Development Takes
Place
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Facilitate the formation of developmental
relationships
Directly address attitudes that create low
expectations for minority performance
Thomas and Gabarro’s Lessons for
Aspiring Minority Leaders
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Choose work and an organization that suit your
personality
Choose high quality experiences over fast
advancement
Build a network of developmental relationships
The organization matters
Take charge of your own career
Race matters, but it alone does not determine
your fate
Make sure it is worth the price
The Gender Leadership Gap
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Very few women in top management or
government positions
Difference in male and female leadership?
Creating the Gap
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Women need mentors
Gender stereotyping
Gender expectations communicated from
the moment we are born
Leadership a male domain
Women enter service professions because
of their nurturing role
Narrowing the Gap
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Aggressive recruitment
Greater accountability for developing
females leaders
Formation of advocacy groups
Mentorship
Executive development programs
Differences in Communication
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Men
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Apologies-reluctant to do
More critical – get straight
to the point
View saying thank you puts
them in a subordinate
position
Are socialized to express
their preferences through
open challenge and
criticism
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Women
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Apologies-to express
understanding
Soften criticism by
interjecting positive
comments
Express gratitude and will
say thank you as a way to
end the conversation
Discouraged from ritual
fighting
Differences in Communication
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Men
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Associate giving
compliments with low
status and are less
likely to respond in
kind
Perceive complaints
and problems as
something to be fixed
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Women
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Are more willing to risk
lessening their position
of control by
recognizing other’s
strengths and
complimenting them
Rapport is
strengthened by
sharing problems and
feelings
Differences in Communication
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Men
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Humor is teasing and
hostile
Encouraged to tell
their accomplishments
Are more likely to
behave in an
authoritarian manner
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Women
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Humor is selfdeprecating
Discouraged from
publicly telling their
accomplishments
Try to create feelings
of equality
Common Dysfunctional
Communication Patterns
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Excluding women from the decision-making
process
Dismissing their contributions by interrupting,
talking over, or ignoring ideas expressed
Retaliation based on male fear of female
competence
Patronizing responses such as treating female
participation as unimportant or as an afterthought