Dimensions of Culture Questionnaire” has managed to reflect on my leadership philosophy that asserts leadership as a journey consisting of leaders and followers. Answering the questions, I realized that my philosophy should be more in the lines of helping people find the best in themselves, which can be achieved by reflecting more of my leadership and its implications for others. As a leader, I need always to understand my role in leading employees in a direction that enables shareholders to meet organizational goals and objectives. I was surprised by the issue of power distance where I managed to score a mean score of 3.01, which shows a lower power distance on cultural values. From the results, other cultures may influence my culture partly because democracy has replaced authoritarianism in the community. Moreover, democratization, internationalization, and media liberalization are some of the factors that have contributed to the change in society. Power is an essential part for leaders to be successful in leading their organization, but culture also is important in meeting the goals and objectives of the organization (Northouse, 2016).
The findings also illustrate that the changes in societal, political and economic environments cause a change in people’s cultural values. Individuals see the world through the cultural lenses, and our literary culture and cultural language are not inherited. For such a case, it is paramount for cultural theories to be updated and re-evaluated periodically. For example, the power distance dimension causes a change in leadership styles in a culture. Culture has influenced my personal leadership style in that, today I seek to change those I lead. Being a transformational leader, I intend to represent sustainable and self-replicating leadership by using knowledge, vision and expertise to change followers and make them deeply embedded in organizational goals (De Smet, Lavoie & Hioe, 2012). Therefore, the culture has brought about a positive turn in my leadership style because I now look at ensuring that followers meet organizational objectives in a way that enhances their vision and see change as a good thing. Corporate culture has influenced how leaders conduct work; use language; our behavior and style; solve challenges, conflicts, and problems; how we negotiate and about creating relationships.
In all cases, it is necessary for individuals to understand their cultural dimensions because it enables me to become an effective leader. The dimensions of culture are an important facet for Leaders because the knowledge they acquire is essential for the different features of business as it is viewed in different cultures. Therefore, helps managers in understanding and sailing successfully across international commercial markets. The challenge faced by managers’ concern global interdependence of markets and thus, it is necessary to understand the cultural dimensions of the organization to enable leaders to prevail across major human resource management aspects. Some of the areas in focus will look at recruiting, target setting, training, and appraisal all which are important for leaders to be effective (Pauline, 2012).).
In conclusion, cultural differences influence the going-concern of business that occurs in cross-cultural contexts. It is true that many problems arise in matters of communication, participation, and other related areas. However, business leaders and staff that fully understand their cultural dimensions help them analyze their problems from different perspectives, and implement necessary steps to address issues that arise in the organization. As such, learning and understanding these cultural dimensions becomes a useful tool for managers to be effective leaders in their organization. It is apparent that leaders will need such cultural aspects because it helps them evaluate and critically scrutinize their roles and responsibilities in the organization. Cultural dimensions show leaders what to expect and how they can counter-attack the problems that arise in future.
References
De Smet, A., Lavoie, J., & Hioe, E. S. (2012). Developing Better Change Leaders. Mckinsey Quarterly, (2), 98-104.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th Ed.). Thousand Oaks: CA: Sage Publications
Pauline, R. (2012). Transforming Leadership Styles and Knowledge Sharing In a Multicultural Context. Business, Management & Education, 10(1), 91-109.
