Call for Chapters: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Managerial and

Leadership Psychology
https://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/4412

Leadership across cultures: Role of traits, states and emotions

Dr. Rick D. Johnson, Lawrence Technological University, USA & University of Phoenix, USA & Claremont Lincoln University, USA &
Johnson Professionals Inc., USA

Call for Chapters

Proposals Submission Deadline: November 4, 2019
Full Chapters Due: February 2, 2020
Submission Date: May 27, 2020

Abstract :

Leadership across cultures: Role of traits, states and emotions

Introduction
How leadership theories styles and model are evolving along with cultural change in
management.................
Leadership – Evolution (18 th Century, 19th Century and 20th century)
21st Leadership dimensions or changes
Change Leader
Visionary Leader
Transformation Leader
Servant Leader
Charismatic Leader
Add culture to all leadership evolution

The global survey made by the McKinsey & Company confirms that the seventy-six percent
of the senior executives accepted that the organizations have to develop leaders with globally
accepted capabilities and, but currently only seven percent of the leaders think they are

1
currently doing their job very successfully. It is increasingly important for the global
companies to enhance the leadership capacities at all levels with a cultural acquaintance at the
time of expansion of global operations. The global companies require leadership with Cross-
cultural competitive traits to withstand in today’s dynamic global market. ‘leadership across
culture must have unique capacities to handle subordinates in digitally disruptive
environments’

 There are some essential prerequisites for successful global leadership or leadership
across culture they are:
 Global leadership competencies (Traits & States) influence subordinates digitally
disruptive environments and varied culture.
 To articulate the reasons for unsuccessful leadership
 To understand the differences between successful & unsuccessful leadership practices
and strategies
 To manage leaders emotions to avoid ambiguities and complexities in complex
environments
 To enhance social awareness and by managing the Emotional Intelligence (EI) for the
sake of followers’ empowerment.
 To prop up best results in transforming an innovative global markets

Even though there are assorted leadership styles, some of the primary leadership
stylesinclude autocratic, consultative, democratic, participative, laissez fair or free reign.
Leadership styles need to vary with countries and the culture. It is essential to understand
the cultural nuances and to adopt different style accordingly because behaviors of the
subordinates and the corporate culture vary along with the countries specifically. Global
leadership requires a global culture to face the challenges across the globe. The current
chapter articulates the effect of traits (Big Five Personality traits), States(Psychological
capital) and emotion(Emotional Intelligence are the three holistic aspects of the
leadership as a primary stimulator of successful leadership during transformation,
innovation,and cultural diversity. Though the current leadership across culture is different
from traditional leaders because of digital disruption and transformation, inspiring the
followers is the requirements of all kinds of leadership.The first and foremost aspect of
leadership is the basic Personality which includes the individual differences and
characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling & behaving advocated by Digman (1990). The
big five personality traits universally understand as ‘OCEAN’- openness to experience,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.The leadership is based

2
 on traits,andit is exemplified by individual differences. The leader is differentiated
through innate traits by birth or byusing developed traits. The second important aspect of
leadership is psychological capital or ‘PSY CAP’ which is the positive and developmental
state of an individual attributed to high self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resiliency. The
state is the crucial dimension of leader behavior, development, and influence during
transformation or changes. The third dimension but a criticaldimension is “Emotional
Intelligence’ which is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and handle
all situations and all type of subordinates. The components of EI as propounding by
Daniel Goleman(1998)includes self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and
relationship management. The current chapter will discuss how the personality is an
influencing variable and prerequisite for leadership in varied culture. The personality will
significantly depend on heredity, situation, environment, and even geographical location.
The shift in the field of psychology is towards Psy Cap which is a positive orientation of
human strength to have better performance and subordinate relationship in the global
organization which is advocated by Fred Luthans (2002).The effective leadership theory
is based on the components how leaders handle their emotion by self-awareness and
social relationship. The role of self (i.e.) self-awareness,self-regulation, self-assessment,
empathy &compassion are fundamentalfacets of maintaining leaders emotions.The
chapter will help the students,academicians; industry practitioner is in various levels and
phases.Students and educators can understand the importance of leadership in formulating
corporate strategies. For the practitioner, the chapter facilitates to understand the
implication of different types of leaders and to formulate better succession plan in the
organization.

Introduction

The global survey made by the McKinsey & Company confirms that the seventy-six percent
of the senior executives accepted that the organizationshave to develop leaders with globally
accepted capabilities and, but currently only seven percent of the leaders think they are
currently doing their job very successfully. It is increasingly essential for the global

3
companies to enhance the leadership capacities at all levels with a cultural acquaintance at the
time of expansion of global operations. The global companies require leadership with Cross-
cultural competitive traits to withstand in today’s dynamic global market. ‘leadership across
culture must have unique capacities to handle subordinates in digitally disruptive
environments

 There are some essential prerequisites for successful global leadership or leadership
across culture .they are:
 Global leadership competencies (Traits &States) to influence subordinates digitally
disruptive environments and varied culture.
 To articulate the reasons for unsuccessful leadership
 To understand the differences between successful & unsuccessful leadership practices
and strategies
 To manage leaders emotions to avoid ambiguities and complexities in complex
environments
 To enhance social awareness and by managing the Emotional Intelligence (EI) for the
sake of followers’ empowerment.
 To prop up best results in transforming an innovative global markets
Leadership styles in different countries

Even though there are assorted leadership styles, some of the primary leadership
stylesinclude autocratic, consultative, democratic, participative, laissez fair or free reign.

 Autocratic – the leader who has and use absolute power, will not take into
account the peoples’ wishes and whims. It is an authoritarian leadership,
featured by individual control over all decisions
 Consultative- the task-oriented and directive style of approach was followed by
the leader and the leader ask opinion to his/her subordinates
 Democratic- participative approach followed by the leader and subordinates
have more role in decision making
 Participative- similar to democratic and the leader invite more input from the
subordinates.
 Laissez fair or free reign-also called as delegative leadership allows group
members to take a decision.
 Charismatic-Encourage participants for a particular decision througheloquent
communication, persuasion and force of personality.

Leadership styles need to vary with countries and the culture. It is essential to understand
the cultural nuances and to adopt different style accordingly because behaviors of the

4
subordinates and the corporate culture vary along with the countries specifically.The
leadership styles followed in six different countries are shown in Table 1

Table 1 Leadership styles in different countries

Germany France Japan

Spain Sweden USA

Source:https://www.crossculture.com/6-leadership-styles-around-the-world-to-build-effective-multinational-teams/

All the German leaders are not autocratic,but there will be an explicit cut instruction with
a vertical structure.However, in France, the leaders are more autocratic. The employees
are more interdependent, mutually tolerant and work in teams. The subordinates have
more faith in the leader.

Mostly consensus decisions and suggestions are followed in Japan. Top managers ratify
and clarify the decisions.Spanish leaders are more autocratic and charismatic through
expressive communication, influence and an attractive personality.

The Swedish culture entirely varies from European culture. Swedish enterprises and
culture areentirely ‘democratic.’The Swedish organizationhas fewer levels and managers

5
are accessible to subordinates easily. US organizations CEO’s can decide and act for
prosperity and earning money.

Even though culture across the globe varies through the personality traits of leaders,they
can influence and pull out the best possible the subordinates.It is an acceptable fact that
“good leadership’ is due to personality and how he/ she react in a right manner due to his
traits. The research concludes that leaders’ personality is an inevitablefactor that decides
the style of communication, decisions etc.

Global leadership requires a global culture to face the challenges across the globe. The
current chapter articulates the effect of traits (Big Five Personality traits), States
(Psychological capital) and emotion(Emotional Intelligence are the three holistic aspects
of the leadership as a primary stimulator of successful leadership during transformation,
innovation, and cultural diversity. Though the current leadership across culture is different
from traditional leaders because of digital disruption and transformation, inspiring the
followers is the requirements of all kinds of leadership.

Personality and Leadership

The first and foremost aspect of leadership is the basic Personality which includes the
individual differences and characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling & behaving
advocated by Digman (1990).Personality is a consolidation of feelings, belief, judgment,
opinion, credence of individuals. It is difficult to change,and it is long lasting forever.

The big five personality traits universally understand as ‘OCEAN’- openness to

experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The
leadership is based on traits, andit is exemplified by individual differences. The leader is
differentiated through innate traits by birth or byusing developed traits.

The trait theory of leadership (Lord et al., 1986) confirmed that leaders are born or made
with specific traits & qualities. Various qualities like intellect, wisdom accountability,
imagination,and inspiration are the prerequisites of an efficient leader, which help them to
outshine their role. The trait theory of leadership also analyzed the common mental,
physical and elite characteristics among leaders.

A number of researches (Shamir et al.,1993; House & Howell, 1992; Colbert et al., 2012)
correlate various personalities like Charisma, Extroversion, Introversion,

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 Conscientiousness, Integrity, Judging, Feeling, Intuitive, Sensing with leadership. With
the revolution of neuroscience the personality traits of leaders are analyzed and
compared, and global leaders traits and qualities are shown in table 2

Table 2Leadership qualities of great leaders

Source: http://www.personalitydevelopmenttip.com/Mark-Zuckerberg-Leadership-Qualities

7
 http://www.histecho.com/best-quality-narendra-modi-make-world-powerful-leader/

How personality types affect leadership style?

Each personality traits has unique qualities. Extraverts are effective and commanding. People
withsense personality take visionary decisions based on past experiences. Intuitive people
havea pattern of thinking and correlate all possibilities before making crucial decisions.
Thinking personality tendsto be more rational in understanding the positives and negatives of
the decisions. Feeling personality are highly empathetic, lenient in decisions and do not hurt
any individual by their decisions. Judging personality will have more sequential and
structured thoughts, decisions and work with schedule. Any type of personality can be
successful in the leadership role, but it depends on how the leader balances his strength and
weakness. Individual variation can be easily seen by certain dominant traits in specific
situations.

Psychological Capital and Leadership

The second important aspect of leadership is ‘States’ based called as is ‘Psychological

Capital’ or ‘PSY CAP’ (Figure 1) which is a positive and developmental state which has
four components self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resiliency. The component of leadership
is a crucial dimension of leaders in contemporary global leaders. The global leaders are
considered to be successful leaders when they can transform the change with vision, where
the role of PSY CAP is essential.

Though State and traits are entwined concept but there are some fundamental differences, and
it is confirmed by a number of researches. The state is emotional triggers that lead to
physical, behavioral, cognitive and psychological reactions. It is a temporary behavior which
depends on the situation and motivational aspects. However, traits are stable characteristics
which cannot be changed,and it is the basis of individual characteristics.

Insert Figure 1

Figure1 Psychological Capital

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 PsyCap is also an essential and imperative factor for both leadership development and the
related influence of subordinates. PsyCap has a number of advantages at all levels
including employees, leaders and organizational large. The Psy Cap (Luthans & Youssef,
2004) helps to explore the individual as ‘whom they are’ and it resulted in better ‘self-
awareness’ which is a primary factor to the progress of leadership (Rego et al., 2007).
A positive psychological state can rejuvenate employees’ cognitive thought processes and
develop independent thought process and perception which is a motivator for the task
accomplished. Hope leaders are imperative for the growth of the organization. They
encourage the subordinates and followers. The concept of Psychological Capital with its
four pillars of Hope, Efficacy, Resilience and Optimism (HERO) is a real a hero in
leadership. ‘HOPE’ full leaders encourage their subordinate to accomplish their goals and
initiate them to achieve their utmost potential.

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

The third dimension but a criticaldimension is “Emotional Intelligence’ which is the ability
to identify and manage your own emotions and handle all situations and all type of
subordinates. The components of EI as propounding by Daniel Goleman(1998) includes self-
awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. The biggest
challenge for contemporary leaders in the 21st-century is to adhere to changes and take hold of
opportunities. The Intelligence Quotient (IQ), has been well thought-out as the most excellent
measure for the life success but there is the greatest shift in the thought because of the evolution of the
concept “Emotional Intelligence” (EI). The term Emotional Intelligence was developed by Daniel
Coleman in the year 1995, who was a trained scholar from Harvard. The concept of EI includes
‘positive and constructive emotion management.’ (Goleman, 1995).

“By inspiring others, emotionally intelligent leaders can ignite passion on the part of their
teams to boost productivity and stimulate higher levels of employee engagement.”
-Tony Swainston,2007.

Numerous research studies continue to connect positive emotions to high performance in the
workplace. The components of Emotional Intelligence is shown in figure 2

Insert Figure 2

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 Figure .2 Components of emotional Intelligence
Source:https://www.divyaparekh.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/09/Depositphotos_13608575_m.jpg

Emotional self-awareness is a learned skill. It is a skill that involves being able to understand
your own emotions and then apply this understanding to outside situations, normally
situations that involve people. The employees with high Emotional Quotient (EQ) are assets
to the organization. The people with low EQ are distressed tensed and struggle to achieve the
target. This resulted in high employee turnover. It is essential for the organization to enhance
the EQ level of employees. The good thing is that EQ can be learned and developed and it
resulted in self-development

The Benefits of High EQ

The role of EI and the emotional quotient is very vital for successful leadership because the
individuals who have high EI will balance the work & life, stress level and take effective
decisions. Such persons havea cordial relationship with superiors, peers,clients, family
members, friends group and other stakeholders (Miao et al., 2017; O’Boyle et al., 2011).

Table .3 Benefits of emotional intelligence

Source:http://susanspritzmyers.com/tools/social-and-emotional-intaelligence-for-
leaders-and-teams/

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 Insert Figure 3

Figure .3 Emotional and Social Competency Inventory

Source:http://susanspritzmyers.com/tools/social-and-emotional-intelligence-for-leaders-and-teams/

Dr. Richard Boyatzis,(1998), Dr. Daniel Goleman (1995) and the Hay Group(1996),
created the ESCI 360°, a tool which analyses the individual holistically with twelve
crucial leadership skills. These competencies arevery essentialfor today’s successful
leaders and theyare shown in figure 3.

Conclusion

The current chapter discussed how the personality is an influencing variable and
prerequisite for leadership in varied culture. The personality will significantly depend on
heredity, situation, environment, and even geographical location. The shift in the field of
psychology is towards Psy Cap which is a positive orientation of human strength to have
better performance and subordinate relationship in the global organization which is
advocated by Fred Luthans (2002). The effective leadership theory is based on the
components how leaders handle their emotion by self-awareness and social relationship.
The role of self (i.e.) self-awareness,self-regulation, self-assessment, empathy
&compassion are fundamentalfacets of maintaining leaders emotions.

The chapter will help the students, academicians, industry practitioner is in various level
and phases. Students and educators can understand the importance of leadership in
formulating corporate strategies. For the practitioner, the chapter facilitates to understand
the implication of different types of leaders and to formulate a better succession plan in
the organization.

References

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competencies to enhance employee performance: A research project. The Association.
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code development. Sage.Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of
the five-factor model. Annual review of psychology, 41(1), 417-440.

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3. Colbert, A. E., Judge, T. A., Choi, D., & Wang, G. (2012). Assessing the trait theory
of leadership using self and observer ratings of personality: The mediating role of
contributions to group success. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(4), 670-685.
4. Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor
model. Annual review of psychology, 41(1), 417-440.
5. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.
6. House, R. J., & Howell, J. M. (1992). Personality and charismatic leadership. The
Leadership Quarterly, 3(2), 81-108.
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8. Luthans, F., & Youssef, C. M. (2004). Human, social, and now positive psychological
capital management: Investing in people for competitive advantage.
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15. http://susanspritzmyers.com/tools/social-and-emotional-intelligence-for-leaders-and-
teams/
16. http://www.rembellgroup.com/list-all-events/emotional-intelligence-for-leadership-
excellence-kuala-lumpur/
17. https://www.crossculture.com/6-leadership-styles-around-the-world-to-build-
effective-multinational-teams/
18. https://www.miriamhenke.com/emotional-intelligence-a-greater-predictor-of-life-
success/
19. http://www.personalitydevelopmenttip.com/Mark-Zuckerberg-Leadership-Qualities
20. http://www.histecho.com/best-quality-narendra-modi-make-world-powerful-leader/

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