Topic 5Leadership: Diversity and Culture

• For the first time in history 4 generations are working side-by-side in organizations spanning some 60 years.

Four Generations in the Workforce

• Traditionalists (born in 1945 or earlier)– Make up 8% of the workforce– Characteristics include:

• Hard-working, stable, loyal, detail-oriented, focused and possess emotional maturity.

– Prefer leadership styles reflecting fairness, consistency, directness and respectfulness.

• Baby-Boomers (born 1946-1964)– Make up 44% of the workforce– Characteristics include:

• Rebellious, non-conforming, dedicated, knowledgeable, team perspective and service-oriented.

– Prefer leadership styles that emphasize mission-defined democratic approaches where leaders treat them as equals with warm and caring focus.

• Generation X (born 1965-1980)• Aka—”latch-key kids”---or---Sesame Street generation

– Make up of 34% of the workforce– Characteristics include:

• Independent, resilient, adaptable, creative, diversified, global thinking, pragmatic, and challenge the status-quo.

– Prefer direct, competent and genuine leaders with informal, flexible, results-oriented and supportive learning opportunities.

• Generation Y/Millennials /Nexters (born 1980-2000)– Make up 14% of the workforce– Characteristics include:

• Optimistic, ability to multitask, tenacious, tech. savvy, driven, team oriented and socially responsible.

– Prefer positive, motivational, collaborative, achievement-oriented leaders that are able to coach.

• Millennials account for 80 million people in the U.S. alone.

• In 3-5 years, this so-called next generation will be the largest group in the workplace with 50 million of them being 18-and-older.

• Within 5-10 years, nearly 50% of upper level management positions will experience turnover and 1/3rd will reach retirement age in what is being deemed a “leadership succession crisis”.

• Millennials are entering college at a record rate.– National Household Education Program surveyed 7,910

sixth–twelfth graders in which 94% said “yes” they will attend college.

– However, nearly a quarter of students will drop out during freshman year.

• Millennials will have to compete with three other generations for jobs during a declining economic period where unemployment rates are as high as 14% for this group generally; around 8-9% for the national average---even higher in selected population segments.

Who, What and Why

• Millennials are known to be tech. savvy with the use of text and instant messaging, social websites, etc. However, educators have been confronted with more basic grammatical errors due to the lack of proper writing skills.

• Pew Research (2013) has shown:– 93% use cell phones to text– Almost all text daily– An average of 60 texts are received and/or sent in a day.– Millennials 18-24 tend to text more often than those age 24-29.– 95% use the Internet– 84% have a profile on a social networking website in comparison

to 66% of Gen Xers and 44% of Baby Boomers.

• Face-to-face communication skills have been negatively affected, and there is a greater need for on-the-job training after graduation.– U.S. companies are spending $740 billion annually for

training and education• Gallup Organization acknowledged the following

competencies to be most needed:– People skills (91%)– Critical thinking skills (81%)– Literacy and comprehension (69%)– Basic computer skills (66%)– Public speaking ability (60%)– Writing articulation (56%)

Work Force Trends

• The average age of the work force is increasing (largely due to anticipated delayed retirement of our aging workforce).

• White males now constitute less than 50% of the workforce.

• An increasing number of new entrants into the work force are women, people of color, and immigrants.

• By 2019,no single racial or ethnic group under 18 will be a majority.

Early 2020’s—5 Gen. in Workforce

• The previous 4 generations plus Generation Z, aka, the Net Generation or Digital Natives.

• Estimated % in the workforce as follows:Traditionalists----1%Baby Boomers---22%Generation X-----20%Millennials--------50 %Generation Z------7 %

U.S. Demographic Trends (by 2025)

• Average age will be close to 40• Percentage of whites will drop from 72% in 2000

to 62%• The Latino population(already the nation’s

largest minority group) will grow to 18.5% outnumbering African Americans.

• The “majority-minority” states of Hawaii, California, New Mexico, and Texas will continue to increase in minority group population.

U.S. Demographic Trends (cont’d)

• Non-English speaking households are increasing• By 2050, average citizen will be non-European;

one in five Americans will be an immigrant.• Hispanics will make up 29% of the U.S. population

by 2050• By 2050, 60% or somewhat less of the new labor

force will be white• By 2050, over half of the new labor force will be

female (probably much sooner)

Women and Leadership

Historical View

• Gender and Leadership– Popular press reported differences between women

and men-• Women inferior to men (1977)

– Women lacked skills & traits necessary for managerial/leadership success

– Researchers ignored issues related to gender & leadership until the 1970s

– Gender bias stemming from stereotyped expectations-”women take care and men take charge”

Gender and Leadership

• Sex-Based Discrimination• Explanations from Historical Perspective– A lack of opportunity to gain experience and visibility in

types of positions that would facilitate advancement.– Higher standards of performance for women than for

men– Exclusion of women from informal networks that aid

advancement– Lack of encouragement and opportunity for

development activities

Gender and Leadership

• Sex-Based Discrimination– Other explanations• Lack of opportunity for effective mentoring• Difficulties created by competing family demands• A lack of strong action by top management to ensure

equal opportunity• Intentional efforts by some men to retain control of the

most powerful positions for themselves---i.e., Decision-makers influenced by homosocial reproduction, a tendency for a group to reproduce itself in its own image (Ex. Male leaders choosing male successors)

Leadership and Gender

• The past two decades have seen significant increases in the number of women in business, law, and medicine– An increase in the number of women occupying

leadership positions– Interest in the effects of sex and gender in terms of

leader emergence, leadership style, uses of power, and effectiveness

– No longer the question of Can Women lead---rather, How do they lead.

Sex and Gender Role

• Recent evidence suggests that there have been shifts in societal acceptance of women as leaders.

• Changes also appear to be occurring in perceptions of the importance of stereotypically masculine and feminine characteristics.

Gender Role Effects

• Roles of the sexes have been blurred due to several trends:– The women’s movement of recent decades– The mass of women in the workforce– The increasing number of women managers– Societal shifts in gender-role perceptions

• A man or woman may possess either masculine or feminine characteristics, or both (androgynous individuals)– Gender role is a better predictor of leader emergence than

sex.

Gender and Leadership Effectiveness

• Meta-analysis comparing effectiveness of female & male leaders (Eagly et al., 1995-forward)– Overall men and women were equally effective

leaders– Gender differences• Women were less effective to the extent that leader

role was masculinized.

Gender and Leadership Effectiveness

Gender differences, cont.• Women were less effective than men in military

positions• Women were somewhat more effective than men in

education, government, and social service organizations

• Women were substantially more effective than men in middle management positions

• Women were less effective when they were supervised or rated by a high number of males

The Glass Ceiling Turned Labyrinth

Women• Currently outnumber men in higher education

(57% of bachelor degrees, 60% of master’s degrees, more than 50% of doctorates, nearly half of professional degrees) (Catalyst, 2015)

• Make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force – 47.2% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015)

• Still are underrepresented in upper echelons of corporations & political system

The Glass Ceiling Turned Labyrinth

Women• Occupy more than half of all management and

professional positions, and a quarter of all CEO positions (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015)

• BUT--Hold only 14.4% of highest titles in the Fortune 500

• Represent 4.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs • As of April, 2015---- the number is 23 of 500• Represent only 5.1 % of Fortune 1000 CEOs

Women on Fortune 500 Boards

• Hold only 15.7 % of Fortune 500 board seats• The percentage of women on U.S. corporate

boards has been “stuck” at about 17% for almost a decade (June, 2015).

• 5 % of Fortune 500 boards are all male; 28 % have only 1 female director.

The Glass Ceiling Turned Labyrinth

• Article from Time (July 30, 2012) with the appt. of Marissa Mayer as CEO noted:

• “ Female leaders are rare in technology; they represent a mere 9.1% of Silicon Valley Board members. Yet women have become the leading users of technology----they run over half of all searches, spend the majority of time on most major social media sites and use mobile devices far more than men do. They are also more likely to buy tablets, laptops and smart phones.”

Glass Ceiling

• Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi:

“The glass ceiling will go away when women help other women break through that ceiling.”

The Glass Ceiling Turned Labyrinth

• Women in Politics (as of Jan., 2015)– 104 of the 535 seats in the U.S. Congress=19.4%– 20%: Senate; 19%: House of Representatives– Women of color occupy just 31 seats (Center for

Women and Politics, 2014)– World average of women’s representation in national

legislatures or parliaments is 19.4%. The U.S. is ranked 70th out of 188 countries (Inter-Parliamentary Union, March 2009).

– High ranking U.S. women military officers =7.1% (U.S. Dept. of Defense)

• Factors contributing to leadership effectiveness & rise of female leaders– Women’s foray into entrepreneurship– Improved perceptions of women’s leadership

qualities– Adopting transformational leadership style– Becoming more assertive without losing their

femininity

Motives for Removing the Barriers

• Encompassing other nondominant groups such as ethnic, racial, and sexual minorities

• Fulfill promise of equal opportunity by allowing everyone to take on leadership roles.

• Promoting diverse women into leadership roles contributes to more ethical, innovative, and financially successful organizations.

Considerations

• Developing a more androgynous conception of leadership will enhance leadership effectiveness by giving people opportunity to engage in the best leadership practices.

• Research on gender and leadership is productive in both dispelling myths about the gender gap and shining a light on aspects of the gender barrier that are difficult to see and therefore are overlooked.

• Understanding many components will give us the tools necessary to combat inequality from may perspectives.

• Research should address larger, more significant considerations about gender and social systems.

Future Research

• Leadership researchers should put a greater emphasis on understanding the role of race and ethnicity (and other types of diversity) in leadership processes

• Researchers should examine the differences in the impact of race or ethnicity and gender on leadership

• Research into gender issues and leadership is predominantly in Western contexts and should be expanded into other global regions

• Research on why women are still starkly underrepresented in elite leadership roles should be conducted.

Race, Ethnicity, and Leadership

• Scarcity of research---major dearth in existing leadership literature

• Only 15 black executives have been Chairman or CEO of a Fortune 500 listed company----of those 15, there are currently 6 (1.2%)active as of January 2015.

• Dr. Clifton Wharton became the first black person to lead a Fortune 500 company when he was named CEO of TIAA-CREF in 1987.

• Franklin Raines followed as the second when he became CEO of Fannie Mae in 1999.

Con’t

• On July 1, 2009, Ursula Burns became the first black woman to head a Fortune 500 company when she was named Chair and CEO of Xerox.

• According to the editor of Black Enterprise Magazine, the number of black CEO’s should double the next 20 years based on current trends.

Con’t.

• At present, 10 Latino Fortune 500 CEO’s• 9 Asian Fortune 500 CEO’s• Other underrepresented groups…

Culture and Leadership

The Cross-cultural Context• The vast majority of the contemporary

scholarship directed toward leaders and the leadership process has been conducted in North America and Western Europe.

• Do leadership theory and research results generalize from one culture to the next?

Culture & Leadership Description• Culture & Leadership-focuses on a collection of

related ideas rather than a single unified theory• Globalization-– Increased after World War II and even more

significantly in the Information Age– Increased interdependence between nations

• Economic, social, technical, political

– Has created many challenges• Need to design multinational organizations• Identify and select leaders for these organizations• Manage organizations with culturally diverse employees

Culture & Leadership DescriptionFive cross-cultural competencies for Leaders (Adler

Bartholomew)1. Understand business, political, & cultural

environments worldwide2. Learn the perspectives, tastes, trends, & technologies

of many cultures3. Be able to work simultaneously with people from

many cultures4. Be able to adapt to living & communicating in other

cultures5. Need to learn to relate to people from other cultures

from a position of equality rather than superiority

Culture Defined• Culture: – learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols, &

traditions that are common to a group of people– Shared qualities of a group that make them unique– Is the way of life, customs, & scripts of a group of

people• Terms related to culture-– Multicultural-approach or system that takes more

than one culture to account– Diversity-existence of different cultures or

ethnicities within a group or organization

Ethnocentrism– The tendency for individuals to place their own

group (ethnic, racial, or cultural) at the center of their observations of the world

– Perception that one’s own culture is better or more natural than other cultures

– Is a universal tendency and each of us is ethnocentric to some degree

• Ethnocentrism can be a major obstacle to effective leadership– Prevents people from understanding or respecting

other cultures

Prejudice– A largely fixed attitude, belief, or emotion held by an

individual about another individual or group.• Based on faulty or unsubstantiated data

– Involves inflexible generalizations that are resistant to change or evidence.

– Is self-oriented rather than other-oriented– Leaders face the challenge of dealing with their own

prejudices and those of followers.• Can be toward the leader or leader’s culture• Can face followers who represent culturally different groups

and they may have their own prejudices toward each other

– A skilled leader needs to find ways to negotiate with followers from various cultural backgrounds.

Dimensions of Culture– Hall reported that a primary characteristic of

cultures is degree of focus-on the individual (individualistic) or on the group (collectivistic)

– Trompenaars classified an organization’s culture into 2 dimensions:• Egalitarian-hierarchical-degree to which cultures exhibit

shared power vs. hierarchical power• Person-task orientation-extent to which cultures

emphasize human interaction vs. focusing on tasks

– Hofstede (1980, 2001) benchmark research identified 5 major dimensions on which cultures differ

Dimensions of Culture– House et al.’s (2004) research on the relationship

between cultures and leadership resulted in the GLOBE research program• Initiated in 1991-this program involved more than 160

investigators• Used quantitative methods to study the responses of

17,000 managers in more than 950 organizations, 62 cultures• Developed a classification of cultural dimensions-

identified nine cultural dimensions

Nine Cultural DimensionsUncertainty Avoidance– Extent to which a society, organization, or group relies on

established social norms, rituals, and procedures to avoid uncertainty.

Power Distance– degree to which an organization or society encourages

institutional or societal collective action.

In-Group Collectivism– Degree to which people express pride, loyalty, and

cohesiveness in their organizations or families.

Gender Egalitarianism:– Degree to which an organization or society minimizes

gender role differences and promotes gender equality.

Nine Cultural Dimensions, Cont.Assertiveness:

– Degree to which people in a culture are determined, assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in their social relationships.

Future Orientation:– Extent to which people engage in future-oriented behaviors

such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification.

Performance Orientation:– Extent to which an organization or society encourages and

rewards group members for improved performance and excellence.

Humane Orientation:– Degree to which a culture encourages and rewards people for

being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others.

Characteristics of ClustersCharacteristics include:• Anglo-competitive and result-oriented• Confusion Asia- result-driven, encourage

group working together over individual goals• Eastern Europe- forceful, supportive of co-

workers, treat women with equality• Germanic Europe- value competition &

aggressiveness and are more result-oriented• Latin America- loyal & devoted to their

families and similar groups

Characteristics of Clusters, cont.• Latin Europe- value individual autonomy• Middle East- devoted & loyal to their own

people, women afforded less status• Nordic Europe- high priority on long-term

success, women treated with greater equality• Southern Asia- strong family & deep concern

for their communities• Sub-Sahara Africa- concerned & sensitive to

others, demonstrate strong family loyalty

Leadership Behavior & Culture Clusters• GLOBE research identified six global

leadership behaviors– Charismatic/value-based leadership reflects the

ability to inspire, to motivate, and to expect high performance from others based on strongly held core values.

– Team-oriented leadership emphasizes team building and a common purpose among team members.

– Participative leadership reflects the degree to which leaders involve others in making and implementing decisions.

Leadership Behavior & Culture Clusters• Six global leadership behaviors, cont.– Humane-oriented leadership emphasizes being

supportive, considerate, compassionate, and generous.

– Autonomous leadership refers to independent and individualistic leadership, which includes being autonomous and unique.

– Self-protective leadership reflects behaviors that ensure the safety and security of the leader and the group.

Table -- Universally Desirable Leadership Attributes

Positive Leader Attributes

Trustworthy Just Honest

Has foresight Plans ahead Encouraging

Positive Dynamic Motive arouser

Confidence builder Motivational Dependable

Intelligent Decisive Effective Bargainer

Win-win problem solver Communicative Informed

Administratively skilled Coordinative Team Builder

Excellence oriented

SOURCE: Adapted from House et al. (2004)

Table -- Universally Undesirable Leadership Attributes

Negative Leader Attributes

Loner Asocial Noncooperative

Irritable Nonexplicit Egocentric

Ruthless Dictatorial

Strengths• GLOBE study is a major study, and to date, the only study

to analyze how leadership is viewed by cultures in all parts of the world.

• Findings from GLOBE are valuable because they emerge from a well-developed quantitative research design.

• GLOBE studies provide a classification of cultural dimensions that is more expansive than the commonly used Hofstede classification system.

• GLOBE studies provide useful information about what is universally accepted as good and bad leadership.

• The study of culture and leadership underscores the complexity of the leadership process and how it is influenced by culture.

Criticisms• Research does not provide a clear set of assumptions

and propositions that can form a single theory about the way culture relates to leadership or influences the leadership process.

• Labels and definitions of cultural dimensions and leadership behaviors are somewhat vague, difficult at times to interpret or fully comprehend the findings about culture and leadership.

• This study focuses on what people perceive to be leadership and ignores a large body of research that frames leadership in terms of what leaders do (e.g., transformational leadership, path-goal theory, skills approach).

Criticisms Cont.• Researchers in the GLOBE study measured

leadership with subscales that represented a very broad range of behaviors and as a result compromised the precision and validity of the leadership measures.

• The GLOBE studies tend to isolate a set of attributes that are characteristic of effective leaders without considering the influence of the situational effects.