Evolution of Leadership Theory and Cross-Cultural Leadership

Cultural features of ‘Japan’

The major intent of this essay is to discuss the evolution of leadership theory and many different types of leadership theories will also be discussed. Various roles of leaders are also going to be discussed in the theory. The leaders as a controller, The leaders as a therapist, The Messiah leaders and Eco leaders is also going to be discussed in the report. International perspective of leadership is also going to be discussed in the report. The changing nature and role of leaders is also briefly discussed in the report.  Contemporary challenges of leadership are going to be discussed in the report. Apart from this, focus will also be provided over the dark side of leadership. The focus will be provided on discussing four discourses of leadership stated by ‘Western’.

Various aspects of cross-cultural leadership are going to be discussed in the essay. Focus will also be provided on the different approaches used for effective leadership.

At most of the workplaces of ‘Japan’, the whole team works for achieving short and long-term objectives of the organization. Japanese employees strictly believe in obeying the orders of their bosses without doing any single arguments (Atlas, 2022). However, in Japan, the high-level managers usually adopt autocratic leadership style, in this type of leadership style, usually the concern of employees do not matter a lot. It is true that rigidity is clearly noticeable in the working style of Japanese managers and leaders. They hardly like to get changes in their day to day working operations. Apart from this, Japanese managers do not believe in taking advice from their subordinates. Mostly one-sided decisions have been taken by the Japanese managers (Atlas, 2022).

In ‘Japan’, usually decision-making process is not only one sided but also it takes a significant time. The hierarchy level in the organization matters a lot and every employee is supposed to follow the hierarchy system of the organization (Guides, 2022). At the one hand, it can be said that the leadership styles and the working culture which is following in Japan is very strict and rigid which sometime do not liked by the employees but at the other hand, the strict working culture of the Japanese organization is results in higher level of production with almost no error. However, Japanese also believes in doing less arguments which ultimately results in enhancing the outcomes of the organization. There is always a decorum and high level of ethics are followed in the companies of Japan which ultimately proves beneficial for the short and long-term growth of the people of the organization (Conversation, 2022).

Four discourses of leadership

There is also a culture of working in a team in the Japan. In this country, independent workers are rarely available and the management of the organization also prefer the team work rather, than giving the projects to the employees at an independent level. Wearing formals and maintaining punctuality is essential for the employees. In Japan, people believe in maintaining positive and cordial relationship with their colleagues. They always avoid conflicts and used to speak polite words in the interaction (Guides, 2022).

Maintaining positive relationship with the colleagues is essential in Japan because most of the work is done in teams (Guides, 2022). ‘Japanese’ workers and the managers strongly believes in integrity. They believe that integrity and honesty is the integral part of the work. Managing and working in a team is a part of the working culture of the Japan that is why every leader need to understand the importance of effective communication while handling with the people of Japan (Guides, 2022). ‘Japanese’ believes in maintaining decorum at the workplace and doing work in longer working hours. They never run away from work and focus on working more than required. The above stated special features of the ‘Japanese’ people make them unique while doing work (I PANCASILA, 2020).

‘Western’ highlighted the four major discourses of leadership. In these discourses, author stated about the different types of leaders who works in the organization and manage their subordinates.

Controller, Therapist, Messiah and Eco-leadership are the four major discourses of leadership.

Controller leadership

Controller leadership focusses on managing and maximizing the efficiency and control on the working process of the company in order to enhance the input of the organization (Western, 2022). This leadership provide a deep focus on the output which is received by the work of the employees. This discourse of leadership is not very much liked by the employees of current generation because this approach does not provide focus on involving the advice of employees in the decision-making part of the company (Western, 2022). Maximizing the efficiency of the employees always results in improving the work of the employees of the organization (Western, 2022).

It is true that ultimately the outcomes or the outputs that are produced by the employees matters for the long -term growth for the organization. Apart from this, good quality of products is also helpful in establishing better image of the organization in the eyes of the public (Western, 2022). ‘Controller’ leaders believe in controlling the employees so that maximum level of output cam be received by the organization. In short, ‘Controller leadership’ is helpful in producing a certain amount of production which is important for achieving competitive advantage by the company (Western, 2022).

Therapist leadership

Therapist leaders focuses on maintaining effective human relations which are connected with motivation. In these discourses of leadership, most of the leaders believes that they need to develop and maintain effective relationship with the employees so that they can do work hard and committed towards the growth and development of the organization. ‘Therapist leaders’ always inspire their employees towards giving their best with the organization so that they can contribute in achieving short and long-term goals of the organization (Western, 2022).

It is known by everyone that motivating the employees is the most important task of the leaders because demotivation affects the performance of the employees in a very negative manner. Sometimes, demotivation also results in downgrading the performance of the employees which is also harmful for the business of the company. ‘Therapist leaders’ strictly believes in making the employees motivated towards their work so that they can perform good (Western, 2022).  This style of leadership is the most suitable for the current organization because nowadays, people are also believing in working with such type of leader who is able to maintain good and effective relationships (Western, 2022). It is also true that motivating the employees by distributing rewards and appraisals are also helpful in improving the performance and outcomes of the employees. In short, using this leadership style will be very beneficial for the leaders as well as for the organization (Western, 2022).

Messiah leadership

‘Messiah leaders’ provide a lot of focus on maintaining and improving the organizational culture. This type of leaders strictly believes that if the organization would like to get success in its long-term then it needs to provide focus on improving its culture so that employees can improve their performance without facing any major problem. ‘Messiah leaders’ believes that giving training the employees is less effective whereas if the positive and favorable working environment is developed then it will be easy for the employees to work with their maximum efficiency (Western, 2022).

Organizational culture is defined as setting rules and regulations of the company which helps in improving the work of the people of the organization (Western, 2022). When the employees believe in doing hard work, they will automatically provide better results. It is also true that this type of leaders believes in making the employees self-motivated so that they can do excel in each and every field (Western, 2022).

Eco-leadership

Eco-leadership is defined as emergence on key areas. The first area is social purpose, second is participative organizations and third is ecosystem mind-set (Western, 2022). Social purpose is defined as ethical purposes which aimed at creating shared values for improving the performance of the organization. External eco-leaders observe about the changes in the technical, environmental and social ecosystem (Western, 2022).

All the above four discourses of western elaborated about the different and unique features of the leadership styles which helps in understanding the importance of leadership in the cross-cultural environment (Western, 2022). Nowadays, most of the leaders have to work in another geographical areas which is need a lot of awareness and knowledge. At the one hand, globalization offers a lot of opportunities for the business organizations but at the other hand, it also creates obstacles and challenges while working with the people of different culture (Western, 2022).

These discourses of leadership also highlighted the social areas of the leaders (Western, 2022). According to this philosophy, the leaders should establish better relationship with the people of the society so that it can establish a better image of him which ultimately helps him in boosting the performance of the employees. Every organization is also supposed to follow the ethical implementations at the national and international level so that it can run its business operations without facing any difficulty (I PANCASILA, 2020).

Effective leadership is very important for handling the employees of different geographical locations. The ‘Western’ four discourses highlighted about the importance of the leadership in the present scenario (Western, 2022).

All the above approaches can be easily used in improving the performance of the employees along with improving the outcomes and outputs of the organization. Leadership plays a very important role in retaining the employees inside the organization so that the organization is able to achieve competitive advantage (Bremer, 2022).

Various approaches of leadership exist which helps in understanding the strategies and theories used by the leaders in order to work effectively for the betterment of the organization. For example: Now a days, most of the leaders are using transformational leadership style. In this type of leadership style, leaders promote the employees for adopting innovations so that they can work in more innovative and better way. It is also observed that if the leaders adopt effective leadership style, then he or she will be able to guide and motivate their subordinates more effectively and efficiently. It is also observed that if the leaders are not able to guide and motivate the employees, they will not be able to perform in an innovative way which results in downgrading the outputs of the employees of the organization (EA Landis, 2014).

‘Servant leadership style’ is also using by various leaders. In this style of leadership, leaders serve to their employees and always help them in doing their task more effectively (JA Odumeru, 2013). It is very clear that solving the doubts and problems of the employees are a major part of the day-to-day job tole of the leaders (Vasilescu, 2019). An effective leader is full of knowledge and experience and he or she always help their subordinates in order to face any challenges in their jobs. In many cases, employees struggle in continuing their job (Z Nawaz, 2016). In this type of scenario, leaders play a very important role. In most of the cases, leaders help their workers in order to overcome from the challenging situations in their jobs (I PANCASILA, 2020).

Now a days, leaders also believe in adopting ‘Democratic leadership style’. This leadership style makes the employees more valued because this type of leaders involve the concern and opinion of employees in every important decision making (JT McCann, 2017). This type of leaders always give value to the opinion and advice to the employees (Vasilescu, 2019). This process not only helps in improving the working process of the company but also it enhances the confidence level of the employees which ultimately results in enhancing the job satisfaction level of the employees (S Kelly, 2019). Many companies are struggling due to the higher attrition rate of the employees. In this case, using democratic leadership style helps in maintaining good and positive relationship with the employees which is essential for long-term growth (Kibbe, 2019).

Making and receiving consensus plays a very important part in the Japanese culture. Japanese believes in taking major decisions only when they are having consensus in the organization. In most of the cases, Japanese believes in doing the work as per the concern of their immediate bosses. They never do the work without asking to their leaders which is also a very important aspect of the working culture of the Japan (Atlas, 2022).

Understanding the working culture of the country in which the organization of operating is essential otherwise there is a huge chance exists for facing conflicts with the team members. For example: If any American leader is leading a team of Japan and handling the employees of Japan, he has to wait for consensus before making any important decision (Guides, 2022).

In many countries, subordinates cannot make direct contact with their seniors because it is not in their working culture (S Kelly, 2019). Apart from this, in many countries, a particular symbols or gestures are not supposed to be used by any of the employees because it is not considered good in that particular country (Western, 2022). In short, it can be said that having a deep knowledge of the working culture of the host and guest country is essential for ensuring about the proper running of different business operations of the company (Guides, 2022).

Language and cultural awareness, both are important for the future success of the business operations of the company (Atlas, 2022). Effective cross-cultural leaders easily influence the subordinate of the people of other country with the help of his or her knowledge and smartness. In other words, being an effective cross-cultural leader need a lot of knowledge and effective intellectual and communication skills which ultimately results in making effective relationship with their followers (Guides, 2022).

Conclusion 

On the basis of above discussion, it can be easily concluded that the four discourses of leadership help in understanding the different concepts of leadership which also plays a very important role in solving the problems of cross-cultural leaders. It is also understood that various approaches of leadership are using by many companies so that the employees can work in more effective manner. It is also observed that knowledge and understandings are essential for the cross-cultural-leader-follower relationship. The analysis in the report also stated that maintaining effective relationship with the leaders and their followers plays a very important and crucial role in handling the problems of the organization which ultimately results in long-term growth of the company.

It is also concluded that different types of leadership approaches are used by the leaders which are proving useful for making effective decisions for the people of the organization.

References 

Atlas, C., 2022. Japanese Culture. [Online]
Available at: https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/japanese-culture/japanese-culture-core-concepts

Bremer, M., 2022. How can Organizational Culture make a difference in Leading Change?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.leadershipandchangemagazine.com/organizational-culture-leading-change/

Conversation, T., 2022. Social care Japanese style – what we can learn from the world’s oldest population. [Online]
Available at: https://theconversation.com/social-care-japanese-style-what-we-can-learn-from-the-worlds-oldest-population-96936

EA Landis, D. H. M. H., 2014. A synthesis of leadership theories and styles. Journal of management policy and practice, 15(2), pp. 1-97.

Guides, I., 2022. Japan cultural features. [Online]
Available at: https://www.insightguides.com/destinations/asia-pacific/japan/cultural-features

I PANCASILA, S. H., 2020. Effects of work motivation and leadership toward work satisfaction and employee performance: Evidence from Indonesia. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and Business , pp. 387-397.

JA Odumeru, I. O., 2013. Transformational vs. transactional leadership theories: Evidence in literature. International review of management and business research, pp. 1-355.

JT McCann, B. S. T. K., 2017. Leadership integrity and diversity in the workplace. Leadership, 2(5), pp. 177-191.

Kibbe, M., 2019. Leadership theories and styles. Leadership in Surgery, pp. 27-36.

S Kelly, P. M., 2019. A look at leadership styles and workplace solidarity communication. Journal of Business Communication, pp. 432-448.

Vasilescu, M., 2019. Leadership styles and theories in an effective management activity. Annals-Economy Series, pp. 47-52.

Western, D. S., 2022. The Four Discourses of Leadership. [Online]
Available at: https://www.analyticnetwork.com/assets/four-discourses-of-leadership-2020-.pdf

Z Nawaz, I. K., 2016. Leadership theories and styles: A literature review. PhD Leadership, pp. 1-7.