What Leadership Is Proper in a Situation Where Globalization Affects a Business - Coursework Example

Globalization Student Name: Instructor: 23rd May, 2017 Leadership is important in any setup so much so that the lack of it is wont to create a possible situation of continuous failure. While it is important that there is leadership in an office or business setup, it is important to assess the efficacy of leadership pegged on different ideologies. A number of theories on leadership have been given prominence, together with different cultures that help to explain the choice or type of leadership that different business managers are known for. While this is so, globalization has so far created a situation where types of leaderships may thrive while others fail miserably. It is imperative that types of leadership be used in different situations for the success of a venture. Globalization presents diverse challenges that make it difficult for a business to flourish if a number of considerations are not made. For instance, the mere fact that a business needs to expand to a different jurisdiction means that the leadership will have to enhance their leadership skills to include cultural competence that strives to be considerate of the cultures of the people living in the areas where the company shall be spreading its tentacles to in the form of branches. It is only appropriate when, say, McDonald’s opens a branch in Iran, it strives to encourage the management team to follow a leadership style and culture that accommodates some of the cultures of the indigenous people. The World over, there is a trend that is fast becoming a norm for businesses that would like to gain new market segments. If anything, the growing number of middle-class folk all over the world, and especially in developing nations is creating a demand for goods and services from companies in foreign companies. To cover this market, companies with strategies to expand into these jurisdictions with a growing customer base have to open operations through the various available channels like mergers and take overs in what is obviously globalization. However, when they do take over, there has to be some form of leadership that will be capable of running the business appropriately. This paper will assess the issues surrounding the kind of leadership that is proper in a situation where globalization affects a business. First off, leadership that is bureaucratic identifies as one that does not encourage delegation of duties. Therefore, does not seem to be flexible enough as to allow for employees to enjoy some form of freedom to make a few decisions when situations arise. Even more concerning if the fact that in different jurisdictions, employees may need to conjure certain decisions to save situations and place the company in a favourable position. For instance, when a customer records a complaint from a customer in a foreign jurisdiction without understanding the difference in culture that may warrant certain reactions, they are bound to fail due to an error in judgement. Hersey and Blanchart (1993) affirm that indeed, the behaviour of staff as influenced by their leaders greatly impacts on how they can solve such situations to the satisfaction of those who feel they are caught up in the situations – Usually, customers. There is a general tendency for companies to mostly acquire a certain number of foreign workers, but then leave out natives when recruiting leaders at the management level. Effectively, it would be common to find a multinational with a management team that lacks in members who are from diverse backgrounds. This means that certain situations that require a proper understanding of local cultures to solve may bring about issues. In doing so, a company is likely to lose customers should it not have a proper leadership mechanism that identifies a situation and solves it according to the proper and acceptable channels that recognize and respect the cultures of natives. Rego (2011) associate bureaucratic leadership with a great extent of virtue, but not enough to warrant proper channelling of energies in such a way that departments work in synergy towards achieving results once a problem is recognised and a solution is needed very fast. A properly guided leadership in a strategy that involves global expansion, according to the demands of globalization, should include a leadership that is post-bureaucratic. This will enable a company to offer a very conclusive solution to challenges that arise, soon as they arise, in a manner that allows the company to keep its good name while delivering products without much as a hitch. Heckscher et al (1994) give an assessment of post-bureaucratic leaders as more prone to offering their followers a chance to bring solutions to the table without due influence from the top management, as opposed to bureaucratic leaders who will insist on there being a defined way of reaching solutions. There are countries with certain strict policies for foreign direct investment so that for every new entity that wants to establish a business within the jurisdiction, there has to be some form of social responsibility that involves employing natives at all levels so that there has to be representation at the management level. It follows that with such a policy, foreign companies have to employ a number of locals at the management level so that there is perfect representation. While this may appear like a tall order for some companies, it offers a lot of leverage in terms of handling issues that arise from culture and leadership types (Zakaria et al, p. 20, 2004). Be that as it may, the availability of local employees at the management level creates a better team that can solve situations with a fairly good consideration put towards recognizing the need for a good view to observe the cultures of locals when solving problems. There is a general misconception in terms of assessing the capacity of a bureaucratic leader’s capacity to solve situation. Generally speaking, a bureaucratic leader only follows the laid-down procedures for going about when accomplishing tasks associated with their job description. It is not at all times that this is considered as bad. Sometimes, this may be a saving grace, especially when considered in terms of achieving the goals of a business or company as envisioned in the vision and mission statement. Clegg et. al. (2012) declare that not always is bureaucratic leadership a bad thing in its entirety. Herman et al. (2007) posits that a leadership that is able to assess the capability of its followers and be able to implement changes while offering incentives to those who perform better, is best-positioned to gain since workers will be motivated to achieve even better. This is basically a way of training workers while offering them chances to go out of their way to ensure that they can solve more complex situations that may require a problem-solving capacity that deals with issues as they arise, and not necessarily having to consult with a higher-level leadership to enable them to carry out certain actions that are deemed as efforts towards offering solutions to problems. This grows the workforce in a certain way that matches cultural competence. In conclusion, leadership styles differ with regards to culture and company policy. While some organizations offer employees a chance to develop themselves through delegation of duties, others restrict the decision-making, especially that involving some low-level issues, to top management in such a manner that operations may be grounded just because employees have to wait for communication from a top-level leader so that they can carry out steps meant to solve a crisis. Hyman (2016) associates a great corporate culture with the ability to keep within company policy while trying as much as possible to offer guidance on policy regulations offered by the government in the global arena in which the company is located. More often than not, some companies may develop policies that are in fact harmful since they do not offer timely solutions to simple crises. Naturally, a delay of solutions is wont to create an even worse situation if problems are not solved early enough. Effectively, it is important that companies adapt to foreign policies and employ just enough locals at management levels so that solutions to issues arising from cultural incompetence are solved within a reasonable time, curbing the need to be reactive in a situation that could have been straightened out in good time. Finally, a multinational on a global arena should be keen on having more post-bureaucratic leaders. This, for all the good reasons, offers a company a chance at solving issues in good time. Bass (1990) is optimistic that companies working in the global arena do not necessarily have to format all of its policies to fit into the narrative as envisioned in the policies of countries it operates in, but can only work towards shaping those that may cause conflicts. It is not uncommon to find a company that may not have aligned its policies to fit those of the jurisdictions where it operates. This usually creates crises that may not be necessary. Usually, post-bureaucratic leaders would allow for a solution to be found within frameworks that are acceptable to both the company and the policies offered by the jurisdiction, but bureaucratic leaders may have to cause more complex situations since they have to follows certain set rules. Bibliography Bass, B.M., 1990. From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision. Organizational dynamics, 18(3), pp.19-31. Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. & Pitsis, T. 2012, Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice, 3rd edn, Sage, London Herman, S., 2007. Leadership training in a “not-leadership” society. Journal of Management Education, 31(2), pp.151-155. Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K.H., 1993. Management of organizational behavior: Utilizing human resources. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Heckscher, C., Heckscher, C. & Donnellon, A., 1994. Defining the post-bureaucratic type. Hyland, A. 2016, “Why corporate culture matters and how to change it”, Australian Financial Review, 15 April, Available at http://www.afr.com/leadership/workplace/why-good-culture-will-boost-company-profits-20160413-go5q88 [Accessed on 28 April 2016] Rego, A., Clegg, S. & Cunha, M. 2011, 'The positive power of character strengths and virtues for global leaders', in K.S. Cameron & G. Spreitzer (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Zakaria, N., Amelinckx, A. & Wilemon, D. 2004, 'Working together apart? Building a knowledge‐sharing culture for global virtual teams', Creativity and Innovation Management, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 15-29. Read More