Cultural expectations and leadership

Read an article about the different cultural expectations of a leader to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Gabriela worked for a multinational company as a successful project manager in Brazil and was transferred to manage a team in Sweden. She was excited about her new role but soon realised that managing her new team would be a challenge.

Despite their friendliness, Gabriela didn't feel respected as a leader. Her new staff would question her proposals openly in meetings, and when she gave them instructions on how to carry out a task, they would often go about it in their own way without checking with her. When she announced her decisions on the project, they would continue giving their opinions as if it was still up for discussion.

After weeks of frustration, Gabriela emailed her Swedish manager about the issues she was facing with her team. Her manager simply asked her if she felt her team was still performing, and what she thought would help her better collaborate with her team members. Gabriela found her manager vague and didn't feel as if he was managing the situation satisfactorily.

What Gabriela was experiencing was a cultural clash in expectations. She was used to a more hierarchical framework where the team leader and manager took control and gave specific instructions on how things were to be done. This more directive management style worked well for her and her team in Brazil but did not transfer well to her new team in Sweden, who were more used to a flatter hierarchy where decision making was more democratic. When Gabriela took the issue to her Swedish manager, rather than stepping in with directions about what to do, her manager took on the role of coach and focused on getting her to come up with her own solutions instead.

Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede uses the concept of 'power distance' to describe how power is distributed and how hierarchy is perceived in different cultures. In her previous work environment, Gabriela was used to a high power distance culture where power and authority are respected and everyone has their rightful place. In such a culture, leaders make the big decisions and are not often challenged. Her Swedish team, however, were used to working in a low power distance culture where subordinates often work together with their bosses to find solutions and make decisions. Here, leaders act as coaches or mentors who encourage independent thought and expect to be challenged.

When Gabriela became aware of the cultural differences between her and her team, she took the initiative to have an open conversation with them about their feelings about her leadership. Pleased to be asked for their thoughts, Gabriela's team openly expressed that they were not used to being told what to do. They enjoyed having more room for initiative and creative freedom. When she told her team exactly what she needed them to do, they felt that she didn't trust them to do their job well. They realised that Gabriela was taking it personally when they tried to challenge or make changes to her decisions, and were able to explain that it was how they'd always worked.

With a better understanding of the underlying reasons behind each other's behaviour, Gabriela and her team were able to adapt their way of working. Gabriela was then able to make adjustments to her management style so as to better fit the expectations of her team and more effectively motivate her team to achieve their goals.

Task 1

TrueOrFalse_MjMyMTY=.xml

Task 2

Grouping_MjMyMTc=.xml

Discussion

What do you think the role of a manager should be?

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Language level

B2 Upper intermediate

Topics

culture and customs

I find the low power distance a more productive approach in almost all cases (if not all). Therefore, the manager should act as a catalyst of the team work, while taking responsibility for the results.

The role of a manager in a company is the most important among all. I am for a low power distance culture. Because in this way team members would be able to demonstrate their own ideas, to show their creativity, initiativity and make decisions without doubts. In turn this will lead to a new wave of having solutions. The manager is the key figure in this condition. His main goal is to direct team members to the wright way and to encourage them when they need. They must be satisfied with the result, not with the progress leading to this result.

In the workplaces i used to be, hierarchy is respected and team members should follow the instructions of their leaders without any discussion or opposition. But i prefer the low power culture cause it permits to the leaders to be supported by their team members.

I agree with the next comments about this discussion. It should be flexible in different field, it's to say that there need different manager style in different work according to the concept of "power distance". for example, the manager should be a high power distance in the team which is working in secret communications. while it should be low power distance in some works that need more innovation and challegenment.

in my opinion, i believe that managers have to show different styles. this will be according to different situations like the organization size, the organization structure, and so on. each case needs a special kind of leadership. for example, in large organizations where there are many employees, a directive leader is needed, while in small organizations where there are less than 100 employees work a supportive and participative leader should be hired.

A manager's attitude towards his team should be flexible to get the work done.He must be cogent in decision making. On the other hand, the team members also have to accept and realise that their manager is their leader and they must respect the manager's position. Everbody should feel like a member of the same team. Any success comes from a effective teamwork. And the manager ,being in a better position is key man to take the initiative first for better output.He must be a good listener to any idea of his team members and he has a greate responsibility to filter good opinions from bad opinions.

I think it should be a low power distance culture , because involving subordinators on making decisions , increase the success rate , as they often work more closely with customers, so they know what buyers need and request .