Leadership styles in multicultural groups and authentic leadership development

Group Leadership

Aritz, J. & Walker, R.C. (2014). Leadership Styles in Multicultural Groups: Americans and East Asians Working Together. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(1), 72-92.

The study was conducted to offer a better understanding on the impact of leadership styles in multicultural groups that include American and East Asia cultures. The reason for conducting the research was the need to determine the extent cultural forces affect individual expectations on leaders and their behaviors. The researchers found that varying discursive leadership styles not only affects members participation and input but also influence feelings of inclusion and satisfaction within the team. The strengths of the study include demonstrating successful leadership styles and approaches to all cultures and showing the impact of cultural factors on leadership and organizational processes. Its weaknesses include narrow focus on American and East Asia cultures, ignoring important variables in organizational settings, and use of simulation. The implication for practice is the need to consider cultural influences and use appropriate styles and approaches to ensure effective leadership. Key words include intercultural business communication, leadership, multicultural groups, and organization.

Fusco, T., O'Riordan, S. & Palmer, S. (2015, September 2). Authentic Leaders are ... Conscious, Competent, Confident, and Congruent: A Grounded Theory of Group Coaching and Authentic Leadership Development. International Coaching Psychology Review, 10(2), 131-146.

This study focuses on exploring and combining group coaching and authentic leadership development, which are two important fields of coaching. The research was carried out because of the need to develop a leadership theory for the 21st Century since every era has its distinctive leadership theory. The researchers developed an evidenced based approach to ALD in which authentic leadership is based on four concepts i.e. consciousness, competence, confidence, and congruence. The strengths of the study include introduction of social theory into authentic leadership, new form of coaching, and creation of a leadership theory for this century. The weaknesses are its assumption that authentic leadership is a dignified objective, inappropriateness of small group coaching to everyone, and use of sampling and generalization. The implication for practice is that leadership should be based on competence, congruence, confidence, and consciousness. The key words include authentic leadership, grounded theory, coaching, competence, congruence, consciousness, and confidence.

Hood, M.B. (2015, June 11). Us vs. Them: Effects of Group Dynamics on Leadership. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 1-9.

The study highlights the impact of group dynamics on leadership and was carried out because of the emergence of interesting behaviors when examining a fact pattern from a fictitious criminal case and attempting to reach a decision. The researcher found that leaders must remain aware of the past and understand measures to prevent losing the society's equilibrium in order to avoid the mentality of us-versus-them. The strengths of this highlight include presentation of ways to approach leadership for inclusion of group members and the need to understand group actions when exercising leadership. The weakness of the study is its limitation on examining law enforcement settings alone. The implication for practice is that group processes and dynamics should be incorporated in leadership. The key words include group dynamics, leadership, and police settings.

Nahartyo, E. & Utami, I. (2014). Altering Rationality: The Impact of Group Support Systems and Style of Leadership. Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research, 12(2), 41-57.

The research focuses on the extenuating impact of group support system and leadership style on personal self-interest in a setting involving resource allocation. This study was carried out because of the lack of evidence in current literature regarding the behavior of individuals during resource allocation by organization. The researchers found that charismatic leadership styles enable individuals to act positively towards organizational goals over personal needs while transactional leadership styles generates selfish behaviors towards pursuing individual needs over organizational goals. The strengths of the study include contribution to behavioral management accounting literature and provision of insights on how leadership styles influence activities undertaken by employees. However, its weakness is the exclusive focus on computer-based individual decision making process while ignoring other settings for decision making. The implication for practice is that leaders should utilize appropriate styles that promote positive behaviors among their followers. The key words are group support system, rationality, and leadership styles.

Petrova, E. (2015). Leadership and Power in Large Social Groups. Revista Academiei Fortelor Terestre, 1(77), 82-86.

This research focuses on examining the role and influence of leadership and power in big social groups. The study was carried out because of the tendency by crowd to demonstrate blind obedience to leaders due to the feeling of infallibility brought by mutual support by large groups. The study found that leaders become the idol that is followed by others blindly because they capitalize on the need for the worship of power and transform themselves and their ideas into symbols. The strengths of the study include its exploration of leadership in social groups and explanation of leaders' use of power. However, the study is descriptive in nature and does not involve an experiment, which is a major weakness. The implication for practice is that groups should exert influence in the leadership process rather than follow blindly. Key words include large social groups, leadership, and power.

Platow, M.J., Haslam, S.A., Reichner, D., & Steffens, N.K. (2015, March). There is no Leadership if no-one Follows: Why Leadership is Necessarily a Group Process. International Coaching Psychology Review, 10(1), 20-37.

The study examines the importance of a group process in leadership through arguing that leaders are part of a group. This study was fueled by recent development of social identity and self-categorization theories regarding leadership. The researchers found that leadership is a psychological group process where followers effectively contribute to the making of a leader. The strengths of the study include presentation of how group-based social influence develops leaders, demonstration of the role of group members in leadership, and showing how leadership is about being and doing. The weakness is its basis on the assumption that leadership is not about people who occupy positions. The implication for practice is the need for leaders to consider themselves as part of the group in order to be effective. The key words include social identity, social influence, leadership, and psychological group membership.