What people want in a leader will change from shop to shop, job to job, and even from one town or city to another. When managers and leaders start a new job, they often need to adjust to how they manage their team and relate to their customers: what was fine in one workplace can cause problems somewhere else.
Imagine shifting not just between shops or workplaces but between entirely different countries. When managers take products and services into new regions and new countries, they’ll need to work with team members, customers, and coworkers from the new culture.
A culture is what a group believes in, thinks about, and does together. Beliefs and values will be different from culture to culture and group to group, so the managers and leaders they want to follow will also be different. For example, some cultures respect leaders and managers who pursue their goals without waiting. Other cultures respect leaders who gather information and talk to many people before making a plan.
In 1991, a man named Robert J. House began the GLOBE Project. GLOBE means "Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness." The GLOBE Project worked with 17,000 managers from 950 companies in 60 countries. The project found nine qualities of good leadership that different countries and regions were looking for.
After talking to many managers from across the world, the GLOBE team found nine "dimensions of culture": ideas leaders have and actions they take that are important in different companies in different parts of the world. Some of these "dimensions" are things managers say they believe in, like, and respect. Others are things managers actually do. Some are both.
The first is performance orientation. That means managers focus on helping their teams learn, improve, and reach their goals. Managers across the world said they believed performance orientation was important, but they did not see it often.
The second is assertiveness. That means managers focus on going after their goals, confronting people who don't meet expectations, and communicating clearly with customers and employees. Worldwide, most managers said they did not like assertiveness, but in many areas outside Asia, they saw other managers being assertive.
The third dimension is future orientation. This means managers who plan, invest, and think long-term. Similar to performance orientation, managers in most of the world respect future orientation but do not see managers focusing on the future very often.
The fourth dimension is a humane orientation. A "humane orientation" means that managers encourage their employees to be fair, generous, caring, and kind to customers and each other. Most companies and managers like the idea of a human orientation but don't see it in action.
The fifth dimension is institutional collectivism. That means the company shares teamwork, distributes resources fairly, and takes action together. While managers in many areas of the world don't seem to care about institutional collectivism, The GLOBE Team discovered that companies and managers in Latin America really appreciate it. Across the world, managers say they notice this dimension of culture often, even if they don't strongly believe in it.
The sixth dimension is in-group collectivism. This is different from institutional collectivism. This means the manager and company are proud of and loyal to the groups, teams, and families they come from. Managers across the world think they should respect the families and communities their company, customers, and employees come from. The GLOBE Team found that managers and companies in Asia highly value group and family loyalty and often see it in practice.
The seventh dimension is gender egalitarianism. This means that managers and companies fight against gender unfairness—they believe that men and women should be treated fairly and equally. In the 1990s, The GLOBE Team found companies in the Middle East did not see gender equality as important. In Eastern Europe, however, companies valued gender fairness.
The eighth dimension is power distance. This means that the company and managers believe in respect for authority and think people in authority deserve special privileges. Throughout most of the world, managers and companies dislike power distance but admit it is common in their workplaces.
The last dimension is uncertainty avoidance. This means that companies and managers work to reduce unpredictability by having organized behavior, clear structures, and clear rules. Managers often support avoiding uncertainty when they think their culture does not do enough to ensure predictability. They oppose uncertainty avoidance when they feel their culture is too strict.
This article was originally developed as a narrated animation for a graduate course in International Marketing Management at The University of Delaware. It was adapted as a reading to simplify the concepts and explanations for an undergraduate audience. I wrote the original script, designed the animations, and adapted the reading.