Leadership in Cross-Cultural Contexts

Abstract

Successful leaders like General Eisenhower in the Battle of Normandy and General Schwarzkopf in the Persian Gulf War are evidence that talented leaders are an integral component to mission accomplishment. Leadership has implications for successful endeavors at every level including employees, teams, and the unit as a whole. Although the desirable outcomes of effective leadership are often stressed and relatively straightforward, understanding how to become an effective leader is more complex. Eisenhower and Schwarzkopf were two different leaders operating in two novel situations. Research suggests that successful leadership involves a perfect storm of situational characteristics and individual leadership styles. Despite the invariance of the situation, leader styles and competencies are malleable and can be trained. Once the competencies of a successful leader are identified, situational characteristics such as cross-cultural settings can complicate effective leadership. This article will define leadership, identify effective leader competencies, and demonstrate the utility they have in cross-cultural settings (e.g., how they relate to cross-cultural competencies).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2011
Accession Number
AD1044648

Entities

People

  • Mary M. Sudduth

Organizations

  • Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accountability
  • Environment
  • Gulfs
  • Human Behavior
  • Human Resources
  • Integrals
  • International Organizations
  • Invariance
  • Language
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Michigan
  • Organizational Structure
  • Persian Gulf
  • Persian Gulf War
  • Uncertainty
  • Universities

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • Theoretical Analysis.