Cross-Cultural Leadership and Code-Switching: Bert Donaldson

Introduction: Leadership Failures in a Global Context

There are a number of mistakes that Bert Donaldson made in terms of properly demonstrating global leadership in the anecdote "The Case of the Floundering Expatriate." In all fairness to the executive, these mistakes were actually reinforced — if not directly created — by other members of his management team at Argos Diesel. The principal mistake that Donaldson, his supervisor Steve Waterhouse, and Argos International's CEO and chairman Bill Loun made was assuming that leading overseas European workers would be similar to leading American workers. This assumption proved to have extremely damaging ramifications, because it overlooked the salient cultural differences that exist between countries and continents and which directly affect employee productivity and worker morale.

Furthermore, these individuals exacerbated this initial mistake by continually dwelling on Donaldson's previous success. Both Donaldson and Waterhouse repeatedly reflect on his prior stateside achievements — which are of little use on the Continent. Loun, for his part, effectively ignores Waterhouse's concerns regarding Donaldson's ability in Europe by dismissing reports of his difficulties as "rubbish" (Adler et al., 1995). None of these leaders is effectively heeding the signs that Donaldson is culturally inept in his new environment.

The Role of Cultural Differences in Leadership Effectiveness

It is important to recognize that Donaldson's leadership style, so effective in the United States, is not equally effective in Europe because of fundamental differences in cultural perspective. Donaldson was characterized as a "charismatic" (Adler et al., 1995) leader in the U.S. — a hands-on, involved style that works best when workers share an affable rapport with their leader. However, cultural differences between North America and Europe result in Donaldson's upfront, interactive verbal approach being misinterpreted as "abrasive" (Adler et al., 1995) and unsettling to European employees, who more than likely prefer an understated style in which communication is reserved for situations involving genuine problems.

Implicit Leadership Theory and Donaldson's Blind Spot

If one were Bert's boss, the reason he is unable to adapt his leadership style to his team members would become clear for a couple of distinct reasons. First, he believes that his previous success in Detroit is a universal indicator of his prowess as a leader. Because of that success, Donaldson does not believe he needs to adapt his leadership style; rather, he believes that others should adapt their working tendencies to complement his own particular approach. This thinking is aligned with implicit leadership theory, which contends that:

…individuals hold a set of beliefs about the kinds of attributes, personality characteristics, skills, and behaviors that contribute to or impede outstanding leadership. These belief systems are assumed to affect the extent to which an individual accepts and responds to others as leaders (Javidan et al., 2006, p. 72).

Thus, it is this fundamental flaw in Donaldson's thinking — the assumption inherent in implicit leadership theory — that is preventing him from adapting his style to a more universal form of leadership inclusive of the norms of other cultures. The basis of the code-switching development plan that will be implemented to allow Donaldson to adapt to cultural differences at his new position revolves around culturally endorsed implicit leadership theory, which holds that "universally perceived leadership attributes…are contributors or inhibitors to outstanding leadership" (Javidan et al., 2006, p. 73). By attempting to set aside his previous success and broaden his horizons to include more universal input regarding what constitutes effective leadership, Donaldson will be able to utilize code-switching — defined as "the practice of moving between variations of languages in different contexts" (Coffey, n.d.), and which includes switching between different cultural norms — to improve his relationships and rate of success with his European colleagues.

Conclusion: Awareness, Training, and Adaptation

It is necessary for Donaldson to become aware of the fact that it is his ignorance of cultural differences that is alienating his workers. He needs to be trained in those differences — informally through Schweri, as well as through formal company training programs addressing European cultural norms.

References

Adler, G., Ready, D. A., Schneider, S., Johansson, B., Trompenaars, F., & Borboa, R. (1995). "The case of the floundering expatriate." Harvard Business School Publication Corp.

Bazerman, M. H. (2006). Judgment in managerial decision making (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley.

Coffey, H. (n.d.). "Code-switching." Learn NC.

Javidan, M., Dorfman, P., De Luque, M., & House, R. (2006). "In the eye of the beholder: Cross-cultural lessons in leadership from Project GLOBE." Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(1), 67–90.