Leadership and Culture

I’ve finished my second class of my MBA, and wow, I can’t believe I’m 20% done. Still a long way to go, but there’s something nice about each class being a nice even 10% of my way to my degree.

I took Leadership and Culture and really found it valuable - even though right now I work for a US-only bank, I’ve worked for a global company before (and could in the future!). It also gave me the vocabulary and concepts to reframe my thinking about things that aren’t inherently culture related. By studying leadership and culture, I realized I had (and still have) a very Western oriented worldview and approach to work. Though I have been exposed to other cultures since I come from Orange County, California - an area with a lot of ethnic diversity - my primary work and school experience has been in the United States with a short time studying abroad and having an internship in Chile. I have an awareness of other cultures, and an appreciation for diversity. However, now equipped with the knowledge from this class, I know that is insufficient to make me a culturally competent leader. Now, I have the understanding of how I operated before, how my work and leadership style compares to other cultures, and how I can grow as a leader by furthering my research and changing my approach when working with people different from myself.

My original definition of leadership that I shared at the beginning of the class centered around someone taking initiative to organize a group, and that it can be formal or informal. Now, I feel that leadership is still about organizing groups to complete shared goals, but more - it’s also about accountability and stewardship of the group. Before I saw it mostly as being responsible for coordinating completing work tasks beyond individual contributions. Productivity is still important in a workplace (have to keep the lights on somehow) but I now know that my perspective has been shaped because of my Western upbringing, which has an individualist culture, focused on individual success. Hofstede says, “When it comes to carrying out a task together, in the collectivist society, the relationship comes first, the task comes second. In the individualist society the task comes first and the relationship may come afterwards.”

Now, I see the value of some of the elements of collectivism, where leaders are more focused on maintaining harmony, and how by focusing on relationships and encouraging a group to work together, it can strengthen the group. I believe factoring in relationships can address some of the negative elements of American workplace culture such as competition among team members. As a leader, I would seek to build a culture of collaboration where the team members are “merging self-interest with the interests of others,” or at least cooperation where team members are “maintaining self-interests while also advancing joint interests.”

My original definition of culture was more of a list of the types of things that make up a culture rather than a definition of culture itself. Originally, I defined culture as “all of the social behavior, institutions, customs, beliefs, and norms of a specific group of people”. From this course, I’ve come to understand that culture is a framework for living. One definition that demonstrates what culture means as a whole is, “culture consists of the unwritten rules of the social game. It is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others” (Hofstede, Hofstede, Minkov, pg, 16. 2010). I also appreciate Pellegrino Riccardi’s definition, which is, “a system of behavior that helps us act in an accepted or familiar way.” Riccardi’s definition is applicable to the culture within an organization like a workplace or a school where the members of the group may come from different racial, national, or religious backgrounds and cultures. A person can inhabit multiple cultures due to their upbringing. By seeing culture as a framework for living rather than a list of attributes, this better encapsulates the varying lived experiences that people have.

Culture is an important part of who people are, and better understanding that can lead to more effective leadership. This can lead to improved dynamics for people within the workforce and in turn, better business outcomes. This is important for all potential leaders to understand, especially those who work in a global company or industry; yet, it is still imperative for people who work in societies with a range in cultural diversity, such as the United States. 

Additional Citations

Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind (3rd ed.). McGraw Hill.

Tuleja, E. (2022). Intercultural Communication for Global Business (2nd ed.) Routledge.