Advances in Global Leadership: Volume 4

Welcome to Volume 4 of Advances in Global Leadership. Our objectives in this volume remain the same as in Volumes 1–3 of this series (Mobley, Gessner, & Arnold, 1999; Mobley & McCall, 2001; Mobley & Dorfman, 2003). We seek to advance the definition, conceptualization, and understanding of global leadership processes and the development of international and global leaders. As we move into the first decade of the 21st century, with the continued acceleration of a globally interconnected economy, the speed of economic transformation in China, India, and Eastern Europe, and the rise in geopolitical, nationalistic, religious, and cultural tensions, the need for effective leadership in all sectors is amply evident.

Understanding global leadership is like connecting the dots of a leopard moving through the dense forest. (Morgan McCall)

The seven chapters in Part 1 focus on the foundations of global leadership. Together, these chapters explore a broad selection of the social and psychological processes underlying effective global leadership. These authors expand ideas currently in use, and they introduce new ideas for our consideration.

In this paper, we discuss a new information processing model of culture and leadership (Hanges, Lord, & Dickson, 2000). First, we review the older cognitive categorization approach that has been used to explain the relationships between culture, preferred leadership attributes and follower behavior. Then we present a new model based on the connectionist theory of information processing. This model focuses on the connections between concepts in a cognitive network, rather than discrete schemas. Finally, we use the new model to suggest strategies that managers might use to manage a diverse workforce.

In this paper, we explore the emotion work of leadership, which is defined as the need to manage one's own emotions and to influence the emotions of others. First, we review the recently renewed interest in emotions in the field of organizational behavior, as demonstrated in recent research that focuses on emotion in the workplace, emotional intelligence, and the emotional aspects of transformational leadership. Then we discuss the challenges that global leaders face when dealing with emotions and emotional displays in unfamiliar cultures. Finally, we suggest ways that increasing cultural intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003) might help global leaders meet these challenges.

Existing literature on organizational culture focuses on the strategic fit between a firm's culture values and its technology and task environment. This study, however, emphasizes the diffusion perspective of organizational culture, that organizations often imitate cultures of successful firms to reduce uncertainty, resulting in a homogeneous set of organizational culture values that are considered universally beneficial to organizational functioning. Culture values falling into this category include modern values that emphasize innovation, risk-taking, and change, as opposed to more traditional values that focus on stability and consistency. Using 1958 employees from 50 firms in Taiwan and Mainland China, we developed an organizational culture measure consisting of both modern and traditional organizational culture values. We showed that modern organizational culture values were considered beneficial even by employees with traditional personal values.

In this paper, I consider the ways that global mindset contributes to the success of global firms. First, I review the evolution of the concept and answer the question “What is global mindset?” Then I describe the ways that management development programs and international mobility contribute to the development of a global mindset among managers in a global firm. Finally, I discuss two organizational processes designed to support the global mindset and make it actionable – the global performance management system and HR processes that support a culture of diversity.

In this chapter, we draw on social capital and role theories to develop a theoretical model of global leader initiative and reputational effectiveness in spanning structural holes. We define global leaders as those assigned to work locations outside the borders of their home country. Global leaders (by virtue of their global work assignments) occupy structural holes that span geographical boundaries. By definition, this position provides them with special opportunities to use their social capital to span these structural holes. Our model aims to make two key contributions. First, we focus on firm and individual factors that influence the extent to which global leaders proactively use their social capital. Second, we address local, corporate, and personal factors that influence the relationship between spanning behavior and reputational effectiveness. We discuss research implications for testing our propositions and practical implications for applying the model to work organizations, with an emphasis on the benefits of more effectively leveraging the social capital of global leaders.

In this chapter, we show how our understanding of global leadership can be enriched by applying research on expert decision making. We review Klein's model of expert decision making and other research on expert cognition. Then we apply these findings to show how the decision-making processes of expert global leaders might differ from those of novice leaders. Finally, we suggest directions for future research.

In this paper, I describe nine universal leadership competencies that transcend cultural differences. First, I provide examples to show that globalization is not a new phenomenon and that many of the challenges leaders face are caused by the speed of change made possible by permeable boundaries rather than globalization per se. Then I describe the nine universal competences. These universal competences cover the major tasks of organizational leadership and apply around the world.

The seven papers in Part II all focus on the practice of global leadership. Compared to those in Part I, these chapters focus more on practical solutions to the problems that leaders face than the analysis of fundamental processes, although this distinction is one of the degree. All the authors in Part I explore the practical implications of their ideas, and those in Part II contribute to the development of fundamental concepts. Thus, it is the relative emphasis on foundations versus application that distinguishes Parts I and II.

In this chapter, I consider the dilemmas that global leaders face when working in a business environment where local laws and business practices differ from company standards. I describe some of the ethical dilemmas a manager might face when dealing with people inside and outside the company. Then I explain how integrity is essential in managing these dilemmas successfully.

In this paper, I describe two characteristics of successful global leaders: inquisitiveness and duality. First I show how being inquisitive helps global leaders learn quickly about unfamiliar environments. Inquisitive leaders create opportunities to learn and ask questions about what they see. Then I show how the dual focus of a global perspective helps leaders manage opportunities for global integration and requirements for local responsiveness.

While all global leaders aspire to build a winning global company – one that is competitive, profitable, and sustainable – the business strategies and organizational models they pursue vary substantially, depending on the external and internal business environments they face. In this article, we outline the journey of Acer's growth and transformation from the founding of the company in 1976 to the end of 2004. Throughout this period, the Acer Group had grown tremendously and been transformed radically to adapt to the changing competitive dynamics of the global PC industry. We describe the two major transformations in strategy and organization implemented by Acer's global leadership teams to maintain and enhance the global competitiveness of Acer Inc. in a turbulent industry where many players had disappeared in the last two decades.

Based on our reflections on Acer's journey, we also highlight five key roles that global leaders play in building the sustained competitiveness of their companies. We believe that leaders must (1) develop innovative business models to leverage global resources for profitable global growth; (2) be sensitive to external environmental trends and internal bottlenecks and act on them proactively; (3) communicate persuasively with key stakeholders to gain commitment to the change; (4) reverse the negative vicious cycle of low performance into a positive virtuous cycle of growth; (5) be positive and optimistic in the midst of adversity so that opportunities for turnaround and eventual growth can be found. In industries that are fast-changing and highly competitive, we believe that it is more imperative than ever for global leaders to demonstrate such leadership roles and capabilities in order to navigate their companies through the turbulent times.

In this paper, we consider the ways that global leaders can promote global learning in their companies. Global learning occurs when ideas cross organizational boundaries, so that managers in all parts of the company can learn from each other. Through global learning, effective business practices can be identified and spread across the company, insuring that good ideas are adopted, regardless of their origin. These ideas become “global best practices” when they define an idea that can be applied globally, with some local modification if required.

In the first section, we ask four questions to help you determine if your company is prepared for global learning. Answering “yes” means that your company has a global orientation, which provides the foundation for global learning. Second, we present a model of global learning. Third, we suggest ways that you can build the capacity for global learning in your own company.

In this chapter, we describe a model that we use to design and deliver leadership development programs around the world. This model, called the competing values model (Quinn, 1988; Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983; Cameron & Quinn, 1999), is a culturally neutral, non-normative framework that helps individual leaders understand the value of different leadership behaviors and when they might be applied. First we present the model. Then we describe two global leadership development programs using the CVM.

The present article takes a qualitative approach through interviews with Spanish managers to identify the challenges they face while leading small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in China. They share with us their experiences with the state bureaucracy, local employees and the market place. Based on these interviews, I developed a model of leadership named agile leadership. Developing the qualities of an agile leader is a critical success factor for the SME manager in China. This model is explained and some tips are given to develop the qualities of an agile leader.

In this chapter, we draw from the emerging positive organizational behavior movement to describe the role that hope can play in the effectiveness of Egyptian organizational leaders. After providing a brief review of the theory and research on hope, we suggest ways that hopeful Egyptian organizational leaders can be developed and “hopefully” thrive in these times.

While the term “competency” is widely used, and widely criticized, we use it here, in agreement with Spencer and Spencer (1993) as an underlying characteristic of an individual (motive, trait, self-concept, knowledge, skill) that is causally related to superior performance in a job or situation. As Fig. 1 shows, we believe there are both universal leadership competencies and context-specific competencies that contribute to effective global leadership. David Campbell's chapter in this volume argues for nine universal competencies of global leadership, all nine needing to be present for an organization to be sustainable and an international leader to be effective. This fits with other experts who believe in universal competences. Morgan McCall and George Hollenbeck (2002) could not resist the urge to identify seven common competencies among the international executives in their research. For another example, Goldsmith, Greenberg, Robertson, and Hu-Chan (2003) concluded that there are 14 core competencies for future global leadership.

William H. Mobley is professor of management and advisor on executive education at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. He also is an experienced executive and management consultant and coach working primarily with executives and leadership teams based in China and the Asia Pacific region. He is the president and managing director of the Shanghai-based Mobley Group Pacific (MGP). MGP focuses on: executive assessment for selection and development; executive coaching; organizational design, culture and effectiveness China business entry and development. He earned his BA degree in psychology and economics from Denison University in the U.S. and his Ph.D. degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. He also has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of the Americas in Pueblo Mexico and the University of Akron and is an honorary professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has served as a visiting professor at National Taiwan University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and as a visiting fellow at Cornell University. He is author of Employee Turnover: Causes Consequences and Control (Addison Wesley) and is executive editor of Advances in Global Leadership (JAI/Elsevier). He is a registered organizational psychologist and a fellow of APA, APS and the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology. Bill previously served as corporate manager of HR Research and Succession Planning for PPG Industries; as dean of the College of Business Administration and later president of Texas A&M University; as managing director of PDI Asia Pacific, and president of the Global Research Consortia Ltd. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of several companies and foundations in Hong Kong, China and the U.S. He is a U.S. representative on the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) (E-mail: Mwilliam@ceibs.edu).

Soon Ang (Ph.D., Minnesota) is the distinguished Goh Tjoei Kok chair professor in strategy, management, and organization at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has published in Academy of Management Journal, Information Systems Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Organization Science, Social Forces, and others. She has co-authored two books on cultural intelligence published by Stanford University Press. Her research focuses on cultural intelligence, global leadership development, foreign talent management, and outsourcing (E-mail: asang@ntu.edu.sg).