Globe Study: Leader Effectiveness and Culture

Leader Effectiveness and Culture: The GLOBE Study

The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program (GLOBE) is a multi-phase, cross-cultural project that was carried out by investigators around the world to investigate inter-relationships between organizational culture, societal culture and organizational leadership (House et al. 2002). Robert, J. House saw the need for cross cultural leadership theory as well as research and conceived the action point of a global research undertaking in 1991. The program formally began in 1993 with a team of 160 scholars who studied societal and organizational structure, and the attributes of effective leadership in 62 countries (Ahlstrom and Bruton, 2010). The researchers measured culture at different levels of industry organization and society and presented results in the form of qualitative and quantitative data sourced from responses of 17,000 managers from a number of entities (951 organizations to be specific), from the 62 societies. This text compares societal cultures and the cultural dimensions of the United States and India, and finds out the extent to which culture moderates relationships between organizational processes and organizational effectiveness.

The nine dimensions of culture

One of the major issues that were addressed by the GLOBE research was the dimensions that would measure societal and organizational cultures. Researchers came up with nine cultural dimensions that captured diversities and semblances in values and beliefs amongst different societies. These are: Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, humane orientation, collectivism 1 (institutional), collectivism II (in group), assertiveness, gender egalitarianism, future orientation, and performance orientation (House et al., 2004). Globe also established specific leader behaviors and how they are linked to cultural features.

Table 1 displays the value dimensions which are divided into values and practices. Value data are from answers to the "what should be" questions and practice data answers the question "what is" since it is widely acknowledged that cultural ideals are often different from cultural practices (New Mexico State University, 2014).

Table 1: The U.S. And China GLOBE cultural dimensions

Dimension

The United States

China

Value

Practice

Value

Practice

Power distance

2.85

4.88

2.67

5.47

Uncertainty avoidance

4.00

4.15

4.73

4.15

Humane orientation

5.53

4.17

5.28

4.57

Collectivism I

4.17

4.20

4.71

4.38

Collectivism II

5.77

4.25

5.32

5.92

Assertiveness

4.32

4.55

4.76

3.73

Gender egalitarianism

5.06

3.34

4.51

2.90

Future orientation

5.31

4.15

5.6

4.19

Performance orientation

6.14

4.49

6.05

4.25

Source: New Mexico State University, 2014

Table 2 below compares the cultures of the U.S. And China on the GLOBE cultural dimensions in detail.

Table 2: Differences between the U.S. And China cultures

Dimension

The United States

China

Value

Practice

Value

Practice

Power distance

The U. S believes in separation by power, authority and prestige

The actual segregation of people as per ranks, power and prestige is lower than China

Powers are not distributed equally. A few people control the population

The actual number is higher than the ideal and greater than that of the U.S.

Uncertainty avoidance

The society believes in orderliness, consistency and structure

The degree to which the society actually relies on rules and procedures is high

The people of China believe social norms and rules alleviate unpredictability of events in the future.

Reliance on norms, rules and procedures does not greatly translate to orderliness and consistency in day-to-day life.

Humane orientation

The society believes that people should be fair, generous and caring towards each other

The degree to which the people are caring and altruistic is lower than that of China.

The Chinese culture invigorates persons to be equitable, generous and kind to others.

A large percentage of the population is, however, less caring and generous.

Collectivism I

Organizations and institutions believe in collective resource distribution as well as collective action

The actual number of organizations who practice harmony and cooperation is high.

The society highly encourages institutions to integrate individuals into broader entities with harmony and cooperation

A lot of institutions do not encourage cooperation, although the number is higher than that of the United States

Collectivism II

The American culture believes people should be proud of and loyal to their families, organizations and employers

The degree to which the society embraces and is loyal to their families is relatively lower

China also believes pride and loyalty to families, organizations and employers is very important.

The actual number that do show this pride and cohesiveness is very high and surpasses that of the U.S.

Assertiveness

The society believes in confrontation and aggression.

The degree of assertion, confrontation and assertiveness is higher than that of China.

The society does not believe people should be assertive, confrontational and aggressive.

Assertiveness is lower than that in the U.S. And confrontation is highly frowned upon.

Gender egalitarianism

Respondents did not put gender equality on high regard

Strict Executive, federal and judicial laws on gender equality make it better than China although the level is lower than expected.

The society does not believe gender equality is important as much as the United States

Gender equality is indeed supported although to a lesser degree.

Future orientation

The people believe in future oriented behavior

America is more willing to defer immediate gratification for future benefits than China.

The society strongly believes in future oriented behavior

A smaller percentage of the population, however, actually delays gratification for benefits in future.

Performance orientation

The American people strongly believe in encouragement and reward for good performance

The actual degree of encouragement and reward is however low

This society also puts encouragement and reward in high regard.

Few people are, in reality, encouraged and rewarded for performance improvement and excellence.

Source: New Mexico State University, 2014

An analysis of the American and Chinese cultures

Social structure

China has a formal and hierarchical social structure, which is proven by the power distance dimension. The people are separated according to power, authority and prestige. The American structure, however, is more informal and equality is highly regarded. People across different social classes interact freely although they are more assertive and aggressive. The Chinese express more pride and loyalty to family members, organizations and employees. According to Alon (2004), the two main philosophies of the Chinese Culture are "Tao," which is the order of tranquility harmony and equilibrium; and Confucianism, which consists of five elements: loyalty harmony, reciprocity, conscientiousness and cooperation. Direct conflict and confrontation is also highly frowned upon in China