Cross-cultural leadership and social media in international business operations

Cultures, Social Networking and SPL Model

Cultures

The modern business environment has contributed to increased international operations by companies in attempts to enhance global presence and gain competitive advantage. However, international companies experience various challenges with regards to hiring and retaining employees in foreign countries or new cultures. As an individual spearheading a study in an international company, one of the major issues to address is determining the advantage or disadvantage of hiring locals or natives vs. sending present company employees for short periods of time and necessary training for those operations.

For the international company, sending present company employees for short periods of time is more beneficial than hiring locals or natives. This is primarily because the knowledge and skills required in the job in the host country are either in short supply or not present in the locals or natives. Moreover, the existing employees have adequate knowledge of the firm and its operations, which is crucial for coordinating operations in the foreign country (Atchison, Belcher & Thomsen, 2000). However, these employees should be provided with training regarding the host country, cross-cultural communication, and how to manage expatriate assignments.

Power distance is the degree with which less powerful members of the firm anticipate and accept the distribution of power unequally while uncertainty avoidance is the extent in which a culture feels comfortable or uncomfortable in unstructured situations. Individualism is the extent of individuals' integration into groups while collectivism is the existence of societies where people are integrated into strong, cohesive groups, which are continually protected in exchange for absolute loyalty. Masculine refers to men's values from a country to another from assertive to competitive whereas feminine are women's values from modest to caring. Generally, men's values across societies largely differ are compared to women's values.

SPL Model

The Scholar, Practitioner, Leader (SPL) model combine scholarship and theory with practical knowledge and skills that are used in the working environment. Some of the major benefits of this model include exerting positive influence, capitalizing on lessons learned academically, socially and professionally, and discovery of personal blind spots. Generally, the Scholar, Practitioner, Leader (SPL) model has been crucial in my understanding of the leadership process, especially the application of leadership theories in real life situations and business processes.

As previously mentioned, one of the lessons from this course and the SPL model is the discovery of my blind spots. I have learned that blind spots can be the major reason project risks are either taken, ignored, avoided or undiscovered. They are also reasons managers have difficulties in business communications when acting as leaders who deal with foreign cultures or diverse organizational cultures. Successful leadership requires the identification of these blind spots and effectively dealing with them as well as demonstrating high quality of intention and attention to any situation. My ability to identify blind spots has been based on reflecting on Scharmer (2009) and leadership theories from the course. Cashman (2008) states that some leadership principles are enduring, deeply rooted into the fabric of life and society, and generate tangible, measurable cause-effect relationships.

This course has helped me understand that successful leadership requires identification of blind spots and dealing with them as well as successful application of leadership theories, concepts, and principles. Learning, doing, critically analyzing, and making personal leadership style changes based on some form of value proposition to self, others, organizations, and the world in general is my understanding of the purpose of learning and applying leadership theories.

References:

Atchison, T.J., Belcher, D.W. & Thomsen, D.J. (2000). International Remuneration. In Internet

based benefits & compensation administration (chap. 22). Retrieved from http://dlc.erieri.com/onlinetextbook/chpt22/text_main.htm

Cashman, K. (2008). Leadership from the inside out: becoming a leader for life (2nd ed.). San

Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Scharmer, C.O. (2009). Theory U: leading from the future as it emerges. San Francisco, CA:

Berrett-Koehler.