Transformative Organizations: A Global Perspective

Citation

Walz, J.T. (2007), "Transformative Organizations: A Global Perspective", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 96-97. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730710731600

There are books that one reads for the sheer enjoyment of it. They are light and deal with concepts that are relatively easy to comprehend and are commonplace. On the other hand, there are books that one reads to gain an understanding of things that one needs to know; not “how‐to” books, but books backed by rigorous research, seasoned critical thinking, and resulting in valid findings. These books are often packed with so much valuable information that one needs to develop a mental framework with which to organize one's thoughts to prevent going mad. Transformative Organizations: A Global Perspective, edited by Vipin Gupta, is of this second type. It is a compilation of research on organizations within their cultural contexts, by some outstanding scholars in this field, the likes of whom include Gupta, Nitin Jain, Kumkum Mukherjee, David Watkins, Thomas Steger, and many others.

What characterizes this book from others of its type is the very deliberate and methodical way in which Gupta has organized the works so that one can see a flow of thoughts and ideas working from foci of organizations in an Asian context, towards a global perspective on transformative organizations. Another unique aspect of this work is that it has been produced in conjunction with the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Program (GLOBE), led by Robert House, at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. GLOBE's principal goal is to understand how culture affects leadership. In order to accomplish this, research is being carried out globally using empirical, case‐based, conceptual/historical, and comparative analysis.

Gupta, coordinates the India aspect of the project through the GLOBE India Development Center in Delhi, India. The book begins with a call for entrepreneurial leadership focused on transformative organizations, with the capacity and capability for continuous learning and change. This change however, must be understood within the framework of cultural consciousness and be systematic and strategic in nature. This requires a different kind of leader for various cultural settings. If this sounds familiar, you are probably reminded of Fiedler's Contingency Leadership models. However, Gupta et al., take contingency and situational leadership onto the plane of empirical analysis, and set aside assumptions to allow cultural settings to speak to them, whereupon, they bring this knowledge back into the framework of models that shape a more clear understanding of what they have seen and heard.

The first nine chapters or Part I, deals with organizations in the Indian context, followed by chapters ten through 13 focusing on organizations in Korea, China, and Japan. Part II, looks at organizations in the Northern European, Anglo, and Latin cultures. Finally, everything is brought together in a global context. The subject matter includes among other topics; transformative organizational design, structure, and process and how it shapes the overall meaning of the firm's mission; the role that principal players have in restructuring; transforming public service organizations; knowledge management and the change process; innovative compensation practices; collaborative leadership; competitive strategies for emerging market firms; performance drivers; globalization of market‐driven State enterprises; competence development and entrepreneurial initiatives within the workforce; the role of strategic leadership in hyper‐competitive and distressed environments; the role of power; learning from acculturation of cross‐border acquisitions; continuous improvement and reengineering; functional flexibility; operations management; internationalizing the American franchise system; the positive psychology of transformative organizations; cultural symbols as change agents; and developing multinational ethical capability.

It is clear after having read this book, that my understanding of organizations from a global perspective has greatly increased. Transformative Organizations: A Global Perspective, provides an incredible lens with which to appreciate the ways that values, beliefs, strategies, and practices are implemented in various cultural settings and how these setting feedback influence to shape these very values, beliefs, strategies, and practices. This insight creates the catalyst for transformative organizations to prosper in the world of multinational networks and partnerships.

In closing, I applaud the work of Vipin Gupta et al., and GLOBE and its partners for taking on this daunting task of making sense of the myriad cultural distinctives and their impact upon how we lead and manage organizations in the world today. This, in my estimation, is one of the most critical issues that we face with regard to globalization, and this book goes a long way in helping understand how to respond to this in a manner that maintains the integrity of organizational vision and mission, is honoring to various people groups, and finally, beneficial to stakeholders.