Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 2015, Volume 6, Number 3 ISSN 2152-1034 Conflict Management Practices for Diverse Workplaces Daria Prause Florida Atlantic University 4110 SW 84th Ter Davie, Fl, 33328 Email: dariaprause@gmail.com AND Bahaudin G. Mujtaba Nova Southeastern University H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33314. USA Email: mujtaba@nova.edu Abstract The goal of this paper is to look into current conflict management practices, research their compliance with the diverse workplace environment and analyze the effectiveness of conflict management procedures in the modern society based on workplace diversity and gender differences. The article reviews the literature on conflict management, evolution of main principles in the society, and differences in attitudes of conflict management techniques based on gender characteristics. We dwell upon conflict structures, types, and challenges that may occur at a diverse workplace when managing conflicts and speak about the role of managers in the diverse working environment. Subsequently, the paper suggests conflict management strategies for managers and employees. Keywords: Conflict Management, Conflict, Thomas-Kilman, Diversity, Gender. Introduction Globalization has led to a higher migration of people seeking personal development, better market opportunities and new challenges. Today’s workplace is a melting pot of diverse cultures which cause new grievances to the managers and has increased the requirements for conflict management techniques. For the last two decades the perception of conflict has changed dramatically. It turned from authoritative approach with ignorance towards other parties to cultural awareness, value creation and skills in advocacy, listening and negotiation. In classical approach any conflict was about negotiable interests. According to this point an individual should be socialized to resolve the conflict and might as well be punished for the lack of socialization or negotiation on the problem. While using the above stated approach, people came to realize that basic human needs cannot be negotiated as they provide security, personal identity and physiological satisfaction which may depend on socio-economic, gender, nationality, and other such traits (Birkhoff, 1998, para. 4). Studies in labor relations and conflict management by Baur expanded “after the federal government passed collective bargaining legislation” (Birkhoff, 1998, para. 6). That gave start to diverse educational researches in the area of conflict management at workplace and new professions like mediators, who deal with conflict from a professional stand point. Just as business plans help drive the success of a firm, researchers dwell upon strategies focused on individuals, values that drive their actions and understanding of other cultures to provide healthier work environments (Cavico, Orta, Muffler and Mujtaba, 2014). According to Korkindale, there are “points of difficult cultures” working together with “different assumptions, different values and beliefs” which make the workplace atmosphere more grueling (Corkindale, 2007, para 7). Major equal employment opportunity acts such as Equal Pay Act (1963), Civil Rights Act (1964), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967), and Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) try to eliminate discrimination at workplace to reduce conflicts and present everyone’s values, abilities, beliefs and assumptions as equally important to provide a healthier diverse workplace environment. Notwithstanding that the laws emitted to fight discrimination exist, a lot depends on managers for effective implementation. Role of Managers in Diverse Workplace Environment “Organizations are collections of people who work together and coordinate their actions to achieve a wide variety of goals or desired future outcomes” (Jones & George, 2014, p.5). A good manager should provide possibilities for his/her employees to coordinate and cooperate within the organization. It means that they need to plan, organize, lead and control human and other resources to achieve organizational goals effectively and efficiently with the fewer conflicts, no impact of “glass ceilings” on minority workers, and other obstacles caused by stress and limited resources (Jones & George, 2014, p.5). Linkedin CEO, Jeff Weiner, in his interview to Wall Street Journal calls his conflict management strategy “managing compassionately” and suggests that it begins with the understanding that people see things differently and might not be equipped with the same information about the situation or issue (Weiner, 2011). In his understanding, the move from the classic strategy to being trusted and transparent in conflicts is vital in achieving high organizational performance. Today’s managers know that cultural awareness is a key component to effectively managing work tension and to increase the efficiency of human resources. The essential manager’s tasks should be well executed and appropriately conveyed to the team. In the stage of planning the manager should choose the strategy, the appropriate organizational goals and courses of action, while keeping in mind the diversity and different values of employees based on decisions that maximize value over time for all stakeholders (Pohlman and Gardiner, 2000). 14 On the organizational stage, the manager ought to establish good relationships that allow people to work together without causing any tension or conflicts. It includes the next task of leading, motivating and coordinating team members to work together and understand each other. The fourth stage is controlling function, which includes measuring and monitoring systems that help the manager to recognize any issues, conflicts, and evaluate performance (Jones & George, 2014). Each stage of the above tasks requires attention and devotion of the manager to his/her organization and team to be able to achieve high efficiency and effectiveness and recognize conflict at its early stage. Conflict Types A lot of people consider conflict as fighting, although it is important to realize that there are other sides of conflict. A conflict is often seen as a condition in which people experience a clash of opposing wishes, wants or even needs (Oxford Dictionary, 2010). Conflict consists of several components. Number one is disagreement or differences in the position of the parties participating in the conflict. For the issue to emerge, a misunderstanding or discrepancy in opinions or needs should take place. A vivid example of disagreement can be points of view on job responsibilities from employees and supervisors. Sometimes managers can ask for additional tasks to be done as a part of organizational team performance which might be considered as inappropriate or out of line (Behrman, 2012, para. 2). For the disagreement to arise parties of the conflict should be identified. They take different sides according to their beliefs, values and needs. Parties are the second component of any conflict, be it at a workplace or in social settings. Some managers might overlook the point that some parties of the conflict might be unaware that they participate, however it is important to recognize all of the parties to successfully solve issues. Third constituent of any conflict is needs, beliefs, interests and concerns of the parties (Behrman, 2012). According to Maslow’s pyramid of needs each human being possesses basic or physiological needs such as breathing, eating and sleeping, which determine his or her actions in life. The basic needs are accompanied by safety, love or belonging, esteem, and selfactualization (Maslow, 1943, pp. 81-86) which are required to be met for a human being to feel integrity and safety. There are two types of values: terminal and instrumental. Terminal values are “lifelong goals and objectives that an individual seeks to achieve” (Jones & George, 2014, p. 73). They are comfortable life, a world at peace, family security, pleasure, self-respect, wisdom, social recognition, and others. Instrumental values are “a mode of conduct that an individual seeks to value” (Jones & George, 2014, p. 74). Examples of these values can be ambitions, capability, cleanliness, forgiveness, honesty, independence, and more. If parties of the conflict have opposite or different values, it will result in dissimilar sides and attitudes. “The more the employees’ values are congruent with the organizational values, the more successful the individual will be and the more successful the organization will be” (Mujtaba, 2014, p. 3). Organizational citizenship behavior can also be a reason for a conflict as an example of collapse of values and beliefs in the organization. Although they “are the behaviors that are not required of organizational members, but that contribute to and are necessary for organizational efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage” (Jones & George, 2014, p. 78), most employees try to follow the unwritten rules. If a single mother is not able to put longer hours or come to work at weekends to help her coworkers, she might be perceived in an unsatisfactory 15 way by her colleagues and cause an interpersonal conflict due to the differences between her and organizational beliefs and values. Often employees feel underappreciated and underpaid which results in job dissatisfaction and conflict at their workplace or nationwide. When McDonalds’ employees demanded 15 dollars per hour instead of 7.50 the whole US chain of the fast food restaurants faced a problem of workers and managers having a conflict. Fourth component is the perceived threat which determines people’s actions and their position in the conflict. In reality, perceived threat might not be the same as the real threat they confront, thus people’s behavior could be modified inappropriately (Behrman, 2012). Low emotional intelligence which is “the ability to understand and manage one’s own moods and emotions and the moods and emotions of other people” (Jones & George, 2014, p. 82) might worsen the conflict as people could express some thoughts they never wished to be revealed or act “in a fit of temper” by, as in our example, threatening to walk away from jobs. Organizational Conflict Organizational conflict is “the discord that arises when the goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and those individuals or groups block or thwart one another’s attempts to achieve their objectives” (Jones & George, 2014, p. 532). The interference of another subjective opinion can cause diverse conflicts which are allocated into several types according to a place and number of participants: 1. Interpersonal conflict can easily degenerate into dysfunctional and lead to a disintegration of the team (Eisenhardt, 1997, para. 3). 2. Intragroup conflict arises within a group, team or department (Jones & George, 2014, p. 533). 3. Intergroup conflict with the allocation between groups, teams or departments with a possibility to grow into inter-organizational conflict. Diverse Workplace Challenges The evolution of management theories from scientific by Frederick W. Taylor where employees were seen as objects of production, theory of bureaucracy by Max Webber with its systems, tasks and hierarchy to behavioral by Mary Parker Follet and value driven management theories, where people are considered to have needs and values that should be satisfied, lead to the realization that all people are different and have complex behaviors that require more sufficient management tactics (Jones & George, 2014, pp. 38-59). We can define diversity as “acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status” (Green, López, Wysocki, and Kepner, 2002, para. 4). Workplace diversity implies focusing on the dissimilarities of people at a workplace. If well managed and organized, a diverse workplace can be a good force and provide an organization with productive partnership, creativity, wider possibility for recruitment and increased productivity. “Diversity is often interpreted to include dimensions which influence the identities and perspectives that people bring, such as profession, education, parental status and geographic location” (Woods & Borman, 2010, para. 1). Some team members can be focused on their children’s education; others draw more attention to their cultural site, thus managers should motivate and organize their teams accordingly. 16 Like an organization, personal communication within or between teams should also be addressed with some informal education on cultural values, beliefs and sign language. As an example, the cultural difference in body language can lead to a misunderstanding among coworkers. Roy Chua, of Harvard Business School points out that making people of diverse cultures work together is extremely difficult as it can cause fraction and collision of cultures (Scrumpeter’s notebook about Chua’s paper, 2014, para. 5). On the other hand, Lundrigan, Tangsuvanich, Yu, Wu and Mujtaba state that “well mitigated differences can actually strengthen team cohesion” (Lundrigan, Tangsuvanich, Yu, Wu and Mujtaba, 2012, para. 3). Well resolved conflict can give the organization benefits that were not expected. The example of this statement can be increased understanding among colleagues due to the discussion needed to resolve the conflict. The discussion could expand people’s awareness on how to achieve goals and understanding without “undermining those of other people” (Mankletow & Carlson, 2005, para. 5). Another outcome of effective conflict resolution is increased group cohesion with mutual respect and “renewed faith in their ability to work together” (Mankletow & Carlson, 2005, para. 6) as well as improved self-knowledge and understanding their own values. The supervisors’ and managers’ personal characteristics play an important role in the group cohesion and understanding. Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) framework “explains how personalities may influence organizational culture” as managers or founders “hire employees…whose personalities are similar to their own” (Jones & George, 2014, p. 85) which forms a special team cohesion and shared values and may cause to outcast the employees who are different in age, gender, origin or socio-economic factors. Managing Diversity Managing diversity involves effective decision making. The work by March and Simon provided background for research to develop a step-by-step model of decision making (Jones & George, 2014, p. 204). According to the model managers need to recognize the need for decision, in our case, it is the possibility of existing or coming conflict, generate alternatives or choose a strategy for conflict management, assess the alternatives to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of each of them and choose the best alternative to deal with the situation. After implementing the alternative it is always important to collect feedback to evaluate the outcomes of chosen alternatives (Jones & George, 2014). Thomas Roosevelt, a diversity consultant from Harvard University, once stated that “managing diversity is a comprehensive process for creating a work environment that includes everyone” (Geen, López, Wysocki, and Kepner, 2002, para. 12), thus managers should work on diversity awareness every day and encourage a change in employees’ understanding of this concept. As it was noted above, management commitment is important in tracing any conflicts or discrimination on diversity. “Top managers need to develop ethical values and performance or business oriented attitudes” to make the best use of their human resources (Jones & George, 2014, p. 153). Accuracy of perception and diversity awareness give individuals opportunity to modify behaviors and attitudes which lead to increase diversity skills, better interaction and healthier work environment. Fourth step is encouraging flexibility in “approaches and ways of doing things” (Jones & George, 2014, p. 155). Often we might hear encouragement to find better ways of performing 17 work which might mean that managers and colleagues are open to innovation and any creative ideas on styles of job organization. Additionally managers should pay closer attention to the ways workers are evaluated based on objective performance indicators, and 360-degree appraisals (and sometimes subjective appraisals), although they might be inaccurate (Jones & George, 2014, p. 386) and represented on different positions within a company. It can provide sufficient information on the time and attention devoted to employees’ evaluations and potential problems connected with minorities and women taking top level positions. Besides the job training on diversity and mentoring diverse employees, managers need to take a step of empowering employees to challenge discriminatory behaviors and reward them for effectively managing diversity (Jones & George, 2014; Mujtaba, 2015). In reality, these steps might help leaders in the creation of a non-stop diversity management, even when the managers themselves cannot participate directly. Value Based Management implies that values are the basis for employees’ thoughts and behaviors (Mujtaba, 2014, p. 4). Managers should “recognize differences” in values of different culture representatives and understand their impact onto the norms of conduct in departments. Neglecting the existence of cultural diversity could cause disaster in the workplace; however learning values and cultures and their influence on the “expression of business structures, systems, and priorities” can benefit the organization (Mujtaba, 2014, p. 5). Strategies and models of actions require special skills and personal characteristics from the managers implementing them. From creativity, intuition, hunger for success and desire to lead people, good managers should also have sufficient deductive skills. According to Koonce (as cited by Geen, López, Wysocki, and Kepner, 2002), there are several skills that a manager should possess to create a successful diverse workplace. First of all, a manager should be aware of any kind of discrimination, its meaning and consequences to be able to prevent or recognize it. Secondly, managers must recognize their own cultural biases and prejudices to be able to stay discrimination free. Finally, managers must be willing to change the organization if necessary (Geen, López, Wysocki, and Kepner, 2002, para. 12). Conflict Management Strategies Historically, conflict management strategies have ranged from a basic face-negotiation theory by Ting-Toomey (1988) and competing theory among team members to manage intergroup conflict by Cohen and Ledford (1994) to the often-cited Thomas and Killman 5 model strategy (1974). Thomas and Kilmann defined five modes for responding to conflict situations and which are used by managers in decision making process (Mujtaba and McCartney, 2010): 1. Competing is when an individual pursues his/her own concerns at the other person's expense (Kilmann, 2007, para. 5). This mode can be described as forcing and using a formal authority or power one possesses to satisfy his/her wishes and desires. A party should act in a very assertive way without any cooperation which might be necessary for emergency or time sensitive situations. Ethical dilemma is likely to occur in this type of conflict strategy as one of the parties could find it difficult to act in a way that helps the organization or others as it goes against his or her principles and interests (Jones & George, 2014, p. 101). 2. Accommodating is neglecting of an individual’s concerns in favor of some other person. This type of conflict solving technique appears when parties cooperate very well and one of the 18 members is an expert in the given situation, thus is able to provide a better solution even if it works against somebody else’s goals and desired outcomes. 3. Avoiding is when a person neither pursues his/her own concerns nor those of the other individuals (Kilman, 2007). This type of situation takes place when one of the parties does not want to participate in the conflict and pays no attention to it. It might happen when one of the parties has no interest in the conflict, does not wish to win the argument or is emotionally unwilling to create any tension, and hoping that the situation would pass by. 4. Collaborating implies working together to find a solution that satisfies all parties. The definition of collaboration in many dictionaries can be summed up as cooperation with the other party to express and hear concerns in the effort to find a mutually satisfactory outcome. It is also called a “win-win” scenario which is possible when one takes into consideration the wishes of all parties, broadens the frames of usual solutions and analyzes all of the ideas to create absolutely new and fresh outcome. 5. Compromising resolves the conflict with partial satisfaction of both parties. Sadly, it resolves the issue temporary. These conflict tactics can also be classified into three general groups: integration or working with people, distributive or working against people, and avoidance or working away from other people (Cupach and Canary, 1997). The ultimate goals of any conflict managing technique are to create a positive and conflict free atmosphere at the workplace, find a better solution to a problem and provide long life for the organization and their teams. Gender Roles in Conflict Gender roles, which represent learned patterns of behavior, are theoretical constructs that typically involve a set of norms that, within a culture, are considered to be socially appropriate for a specific gender (Roy, 2014). The interest to the diverse strategies used by men and women in conflict resolution has increased due to a growing number of women in the US labor force, which was over 46% in 2001 (Mujtaba, 2014, p. 196; Mujtaba 2015). Patricia Gwartney-Gibbs studied the ways in which gender affects conflicts at workplace, their origins, processes and outcomes (Birkhof, 2001, para. 5). Women seem to be more sensitive to conflicts and tend to report more interpersonal types of them while facing disputes based on the assumption of the society on gender stereotypes and work responsibilities. Comparative studies about men’s and women’s experiences at workplace conflict disputes and community mediation by Terrell Northrup and Marshall Segall showed that women feel more vulnerable in day-to-day relations, which contributes to women choosing to avoid conflicts as it may cause aggression and violence (Birkhoff, 2001, para. 12). A number of studies conducted by Holt and Devore (2005) were on gender differences in conflict management styles. They analyzed self-reported data on conflict styles of organization members and came across the conclusion that males in individualistic cultures are more competing, while females are compromising. Sone and Cardona also found that women tend to be more accommodating, compromising or avoiding (Sone, 1981; Cardona, 1995; Thomas and Thomas, 2008, p. 10). According to the authors’ personal observations, men are more fearless and aggressive in conflicts, thus are able to push their way through to top positions and negotiate a higher salary. Based on the report of Institute for Women’s Policy Research in 2012, female full-time workers made only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 23 percent (Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2014). 19 Gregory Bateson introduced a concept of “double bind” in the understanding of women’s position in conflict situations at workplace. The concept includes two parties, the leader and the “victim”. The leader sends a contradictory message to the “victim” which puts the party in the position of being subjected to “catch 22” repeatedly with no possibility to escape (Carter, 2011, para.3). It is suggested that women are more likely to be in the position of “double bind” due to stereotypes and judgments. An example would be the situation of women leaders who according to their position should act in a strong way, “be confident and assertive”, although the perception in society of these women is “uncaring, self-promoting, and aggressive” (Carter, 2011, para. 13). Furthermore, organizations that promote job opportunities for women demonstrate that this type of “double bind” thinking is not applicable to men, thus should not negatively affect their position, perception, promotion and salary (Catalyst, 2007, p.15). Summary Notwithstanding 21st century society advances and huge number of different researches on conflict management and legal codes that promote healthy work environment at diverse workplaces, our society still faces significant challenges in managing diverse societies and work environments, especially in the conflict situations. Conflict is a multilevel and complex phenomenon that most of the time cannot be satisfied with only one strategy but requires a compound set of steps and components. It also challenges managers to incorporate all of the techniques and strategies successfully to find a better solution for the conflicts of their employees and organizations. Diversity education, conflict management training and the development of creative thinking and an open mind can benefit modern companies in their fierce competition in the market and can be a crucial step in creating advanced firms with strong human resources component. References Avrich K., Mitchel C. (2013). 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Retrieved August 16, 2014, from http://live.wsj.com/video/linkedin-ceo-on-conflict-resolution/D5B8A41F-D49247C9-A110-4BB1F24366AC.html#!D5B8A41F-D492-47C9-A110-4BB1F24366AC Woods. S, Borman T., Schmidle D. (2010) Workplace Diversity. Cornel University, ILR School. Retrieved August 20, 2014 from http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/research/subjectguides/ workplacediversity.html. 22 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Problems of Effective CrossCultural Communication and Conflict Resolution Reza Najafbagy Dr. Reza Najajbagy is professor of culture and change management at the Islamic Azad University. Iran, and director of a Master's program in executive management. Many failures in international cooperation and conflict resolution seem to be related to communication problems and cultural differences. In other words, the establishment of realistic, proper and effective communication, based on mutual cultural understanding and on goodwill, would solve many national and international disputes. This article examines the contention that honest and effective communication, based on cultural understanding, would contribute positively to the solution of political, economic and social problems among nations. Effective Communication Based on Intercultural and Political Understanding Communication can be considered one of the most pervasive problems among nations. Even within a single culture, communication tends to have many complex effects. When communication takes place between two cultures, these effects get even more complicated, primarily because they are symbolized in one context and transferred into another. Intercultural communication, therefore, needs co-orientation as a prerequisite. Coorientation refers to any eftbrt that may be necessary to familiarize and train an individual in the life, work, social and political relations, norms, values, traditions, religion and other aspects of one's own culture and those of other concerned nations. The following principles could clarify the kind of co-orientation needed for conflict resolution: * To increase our awareness and understanding of our own rights. * To increase our awareness and understanding of our own culture. * To become more cognizant of our attitudes and feelings towards people of another country or community and vice versa. * To better understand the social, political and economic environments of 146 PALESTINE-ISRAEL JOURNAL other eultures and their impact on personal behavior. * To gain better awareness and appreciation of the similarities and differences between the different cultures. * To be flexible and realistic to an extent that could contribute to resolving conflicts.' But certain factors facilitate the understanding of the reasons behind a conflict and help in dealing with its solution. The study of history, language, religion, traditions, values and norms of other nations definitely helps in intercultural understanding and problem-solving, but it is only a starting point. Goodwill, honesty and respect are bases on which to develop political and cultural knowledge. In the West, technological progress seems to have somehow undermined the need for the sound understanding of various levels of social and cultural reality. People who are more adventurous and who visit and live among societies other than their own are able to acquire a realistic knowledge of other eultures. But it is not sufficient to understand how others differ; we must also understand how we differ.^ Lack of attention to these norms, values and traditions and lack of basic knowledge of intercultural communication among different nations is a general problem even among officials and politicians at the highest levels. Successful communication can only be achieved through sound and sincere reciprocity. It is to nobody's advantage to impose his or her culture or power on others. In fact, cross-cultural contacts are harmful unless they are conducive to constructive communication, and this can only occur if the parties have respect and sympathy for each other and show a large measure of flexibility. It is through acculturation that we , , • / ^ /• i , . , , . ,^ , ¡*fony misunderstanduiss have can learn about cultural differences and . , , . jr j . . .occurred, not only because the need for adaptation and change. Many r •^ , - ., , ^ ,. ^ , f / of mistakes m the usage of misunderstandings have occurred, not onlv j . . , . /T , \, words or expressions^ but also because of mistakes in the usage of words . ^', , , ,. , .„ , , , ^ because of the lack of goodwill or expressions, but also because ot the lack . ,/ ,, , j , , , . , , , , ,, and cultural knowledge. ot goodwill and cultural knowledge, which makes adaptation and change difficult. Factors Affectitig Relationships between Nations The idea that culture should be seen as communication is useful in that it has raised issues that had not previously been considered, and, as a result, has provided solutions that otherwise might not have been possible. 15.4/16.1 147 Feelings of superiority towards the Other are most harmful when one is trying to build relationships and solve conflicts between two nations. Communication is often blocked by the deliberate eultivation of cultural prejudice. Feelings of superiority towards the Other are most harmful when one is trying to build relationships and solve conflicts between two nations. Preconceptions about other peoples or nations as being hostile, alien, illiterate and uncivilized create antagonism and pessimism between the two parties and destroy other possibilities for development and suecess. Some countries are more individualistic than others in their orientations, which cannot be a sensible attitude in erosscultural communication and could lead to misunderstandings between the two nations. Individualism is defined as "a social pattem that consists of loosely linked individuals who view themselves as independent of colleetives and who are motivated by their own preferenees, needs, rights and eontracts."^ Among the many factors that inhibit cooperation and eonstmctive relationships between nations is the expectation of being treated as important, as exceptional and as having the right to enjoy extra privileges. Adjustment to the values ofthe other country, together with goodwill and respect for the status quo of the other party, are elements of successful communication (particularly used by anthropologists). Those who know their own culture and rights and are secure and content with it, and can realize and appreciate the good that they observe in the communities in which they work, live or come together to solve a conflict."* > Another obstacle to the process of cross-cultural communication and conflict resolution is that the upper and upper-middle classes, i.e., mostly wealthy people, industrialists, merchants and top government and private-sector officials, etc., tend to become integrated into a transnational socio-cultural system oftheir own. ál^^X^^ ^^^^ experience has shown that ^I^^^^^Kv^^^^^ ^^^^ groups have contributed very little to the development process, and have ignored their duty to orient and give direction either to the expatriates or experts in , ^, arranging programs that are right Barack Obama 148 PALESTINE-ISRAEL JOURNAL and relevant for the development of their country. It is essential to remember that most development projects, political and technical assistance provided to developing countries do not take cultural and soeial factors into consideration. A lot can be learned from past experiences, such as the case ofthe failed technical assistance to Iran. In 1980 (a year afler the Iranian Revolution), a seminar was organized by a number of American academics and advisers who had been trying for years to introduce reform to Iran. Their lack of understanding ofthe society, the culture, politics and history ofthe country had not only led lo the failure of their reforms, but it had created additional problems, eonfüets and pessimism among the people ofthe host country. The aim ofthe American seminar was to study "the failure of U.S. technical assistance in public administration: the Iranian ease." American aid to Iran started in 1953 in the form of aid to ministries and continued for nearly 25 years. But even after decades, technical assistance failed to produce the hoped-for results, and many more mistakes were made than successes achieved because: * Nearly all advisers in the public administration program arrived in Iran with no knowledge ofthe language and with a superficial knowledge of Iranian culture, history and social, economic and political systems; * For an American to become attuned to the intemal politics of a foreign country requires a radical shifting of his habits and attitudes; and * Although one must caution against generalizing from a single case, or a few cases, the Iranian ease — and others — strongly suggest that developed countries do not know how to help developing nations in their reforms.-^ The other case is the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. This is essentially a dispute between two national identities with claims over the same area of land. Many attempts have been made to broker a two-state solution, which would entail the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Perhaps among the factors that have hindered the resolution ofthe conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is the lack of mutual trust — a fundamental condition for the advancement of understanding between the parties. Another Mahmoud A hmadincjad 15.4/16.1 149 reason is the feeling of delegitimization, for the delegitimization of the adversary seems to be one ofthe major obstacles to a peaceful resolution of any conflict. However, it is the violence between Palestinians and Israelis that is the major obstacle to a readiness within both societies to make major concessions towards a final settlement ofthe conflict.^ To sum up, in the area of cross-cultural communication, whatever is done should be based on understanding, reciprocity and successful cooperation. Today's world order is crumbling, and there are unprecedented economic, social and political crises which cannot be solved through traditional means. It can only be done through the creation of a new world order, i.e., basically, the creation of a world culture, a global culture, whereby all people will develop collaboratively and responsibly, preserving not only their biological and cultural heritage, but furthering their natural development with greater awareness of and sense of solidarity with the Other. Endnotes 1. Douglas Medin et al.. Sacred Bounds on Rational Resolution of Violent Political Conflict. Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences ofthe United States of America (PNAS), March I, 2007. 2. Paul Beamish, Allen Morrison and Andrew Inkpen, International Management (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003), p.20l. 3. Rabi Bhagat et al., "Cultural Variations in the Cross-Border Transfer of Organizational Knowledge: An Integrative Framework," Academy of Management Review (April 2002), p.2O8. 4. Norman Daniel, The Cultural Barrier (Edinburgh: Western Printing Services Ltd., 1975), p.62. 5. John Seitz, "The Failure of U.S. Technical Assistance in Public Administration: The Iranian Case," Public Administration Review, Vol. 40. No. 5 (Sept/Oct. 1980), pp.407-413. 6. Neta Oren et al., "The Detrimental Dynamics of Delegitimization in Intractable Conflicts: The Israeli-Palestinian Case," International Journal of Intercultural Relations,-No. 3\ (2007),p.llL 150 PALESTINE-ISRAEL JOURNAL Leading Globally, Thinking Interculturally: Developing Global Characteristics Jason Caldwell Colorado Technical University This paper addresses the characteristics and practices that are essential to leading a global, international, or multinational organization. A global leader must develop a global mindset that allows for interaction with various people and cultures. The issue with developing a global mindset is that there is not a sufficient amount of literature that discusses the necessity for developing intercultural competencies that include cultural intelligence and a progression from ethnocentric to ethnorelative behavior. INTRODUCTION The society that we live in is developing itself into a shifting tidal wave of interweaving cultures that makes up the world. This tidal wave of cultures is increasing the need and importance for having welltrained and skillful leaders that have characteristics that define them as a global leader. Globalization is increasing, and technological advances are making it easier to be in two places at one time. However, time is certainly not standing still, which means that leaders, especially global leaders have to be sensitive to the growing shifts in society and become proactive. For leadership, the need is for developing practices and processes that are engaging and relevant to the times. Derungs (2011) stated that leaders can no longer just inspire and involve those that follow them, especially in the current global environment that is full of complexities and competition that can “pull societies apart” (p. 3). Therefore, it is important that a global leader possess the necessary attributes that allow them to lead well while at the same time becoming an integral part of an active and evolving society. In order to do this, a global leader must first be a well-versed leader with a definitive perception of various leadership styles. Second, a global leader must have an acute understanding of the necessary characteristics for leading in a global society, and third, a global leader must be cognizant of the future trends concerning globalization and global organizations. LEADERSHIP THEORY Defining leadership by various theories makes up the total of who a leader is. When trying to determine which leadership theory is most conducive to global leadership, the situational approach fits more appropriately. Situational leadership is considered to be a contingency style because it categorizes the style of the leader. The followers involved and the situations involved constituted the manner in which rewards were attributed based on the needs of the followers (Daft, 1999). In terms of definition, situational leadership has been refined since its conception by Hersey and Blanchard. According to Journal of Business Diversity Vol. 15(1) 2015 55 Northouse (2013), situational leadership draws its foundation from understanding that there are both directive, and supportive dimensions of leadership applied to each situation. The supportive dimensions are done in an appropriate manner by assessing the competencies and commitment of the followers based on assigned tasks (p. 99). Situational leadership develops its level of engagement based on how people from diverse backgrounds work together. The key to understanding situational leadership are the following fundamental concepts: task behavior, guidance and direction provided by the leader, relationship behavior, social and emotional support, follower preparedness (exhibited by task completion), and follower development. These concepts are not independent of one another, but rather work to engage the situational approach to leadership collectively. Testing contingency theory along side of other contingency theories, Mendenhall et al. (2014) suggested the “predictive power turned out to be less than adequate” (p. 4). However, the evidence does suggest that a leader's contextual situation has an influence on the outcome of the situation and how the leader engages in the various situations. Derungs (2011) suggested that situational leadership requires a leader to be flexible and adaptable to different situations. This alone suggests that situational leadership “convenient for cross-cultural management” (Derungs, 2011, p. 50). Morrison (2000) suggested that context and situation are the moderators for a leader’s personality and effectiveness in a given environment. In all, situational leadership, best defines the schema for developing global leadership qualities and characteristics. LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS Characteristics are those traits or features that help to define an individual. When defining a global leader, there are defining characteristics accepted universally. A research study conducted by de Waal (2011) tested and identified characteristics of high performing organizations. The study found a pattern of 35 characteristics framed within the following five factors (pp. 43-45): 1.) Continuous improvement 2.) Openness and action orientation 3.) Management quality 4.) Workforce quality 5.) Long-term orientation These five factors directly influences how a leader operates within a global organization. Cohen (2010) suggested that a global leader should be able to think globally, appreciate cultural diversity, become technologically savvy, build partnerships, and share in leading. In order to be able to develop these characteristics, a global leader has to develop a global mindset ultimately. According to Rhinesmith, (as cited by Mendenhall et al. 2014), a global mindset has two components, intellectual intelligence, and emotional intelligence. In addition to having a global mindset, another defining characteristic of a global leader is having intercultural training (Gundling, Hogan, & Cvitkovich, 2011; Derungs, 2008, Thomas, 2008). An intercultural competent leader is one who engages in cultural awareness and seeks to create an environment of shared experiences from varying perspectives that helps to bridge the differences in culture. Gundling, Hogan, and Cvitkovich (2011) stated, “leaders need to be able to discern cultures within cultures along with a substantial degree of individual variation relative to cultural norms” (p. 23). Intercultural characteristics allow a leader to recognize that leading in a global society is about ethnorelativism and pushing beyond one’s ethnocentrism. A successful global leader must be cognizant of how racial identity, workplace culture, and societal culture interplay and either becomes divisive forces of retrogression or inclusive paradigms of growth and development. According to Lucas (2010), it is imperative that global leaders work to change the mindset of those that work with them by getting them to share willingly in open discourse. Open communication in an organization aids in moving away from individual concern and achievement (ethnocentrism) to the overall success and achievement of the group 56 Journal of Business Diversity Vol. 15(1) 2015 (ethnorelativism). Ethnocentrism has both positive and negative attributes, especially in terms of historical and cultural preservation (Sorrells, 2013). In a global context and global leadership development, it is essential that leaders seek to become mediators of cultural dialogue in a deliberate and engaging manner that helps the organization rather than hurting it by not. According to Sorrells (2013), assuming that one’s specific group (whether cultural or team-based within an organization) is superior to others, can lead to “negative evaluations of others and can result in dehumanization, legitimization of prejudices, discrimination, conflict, and violence” (p. 13). FUTURE TRENDS The complex nature of societal evolution requires a leader within a multinational, international and global organization to be aware of the future trends that can potentially affect the organization. Globalization is a process that mimics, in a less aggressive manner, the early crusades and pilgrimages where missionaries and voyagers would set sail in pursuit of reaching distant lands in order to establish trade and a dependence on the encroaching culture. However, in a more robust business construct, globalization is a process whereby organizations seek to go global. The literature produced concerning a harmonious understanding of what globalization is has varied throughout the decades. Osland (2003) defined globalization as a process that leads to an interdependence of economics, politics, society, culture and environmental. Osland further suggested that there are both pros and cons to globalization and that globalization can create a monoculture within the cultures that develops a forced enculturation with the dominant culture. Beyond the parameters of globalization are the increasing numbers of trends that are influencing the way in which leaders engage in a global organization. Gundling, Hogan, and Cvitkovich (2011) developed research that suggested that there are three megatrends that will necessitate skills for global leadership. Megatrend #1: Population growth in the developing world Megatrend #2: Changes in the balance of GDP Megatrend #3: Rapid urbanization in Asia and Africa In addition to these trends, technological advances are also increasing the development of global leadership skills only because technology is making being global more accessible. Multinational firms now have the ability to communicate in a variety of ways with their members all across the world at any given time (Thomas, 2008). In addition to the technological and economic developments that are necessary for effective globalization, intercultural development is the developmental process that seen as diversity implementation. One way to engage in intercultural development is through intercultural praxis (Sorrells, 2013). The intercultural praxis is a concerted effort that involves the members of the organization in the development of their intercultural spaces, such as interpersonal development, communal development, and global development. The intercultural praxis utilizes six entry points: inquiry, framing, positioning, dialog, and reflection. An effective global leader seeks to prevent intergroup partiality and cultural ascendancy by serving as a prototypical representation of cultural diversity and praxis (Campbell, 2013); intercultural praxis encourages intergroup development. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE STUDY Global leadership reaches across borders by using a vast expansion of skill, ability, knowledge, and understanding to help develop and grow organizations. Society is changing, the world is evolving, and the need for global leadership is increasing. A global leader can be a transformational agent that seeks to help improve not only their organization but also the world-at-large. Based on the literature review, further inquiry into the development of identity models within the global leadership that address ethnocentric and ethnorelative behavior as well as how to be a culturally intelligent global leader is needed. The current Journal of Business Diversity Vol. 15(1) 2015 57 literature is not inclusive of intercultural development models providing just cause for its necessity in future research. The author would propose utilizing competency-based development training models for global leaders. These models include the Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (Bennett, 1986, 1993) and the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) model (Ang & Early, 2003). Without the active understanding of cultural differences, a global leader becomes stagnant and remains ethnocentric when in terms of organizational effectiveness they should seek to become ethnorelative. For leadership development, this means leaders are more engaging with the individuals, community, and society that makes up the global organization. By utilizing the necessary leadership characteristics that help define a leader, a global leader can recognize the trends of the present and engage them for the future. REFERENCES Bennett, M. J. (1986). A developmental approach to training for intercultural sensitivity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10(2), 179-196. Bennett, M. J. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In R. M. Paige (Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience (2nd ed., pp. 21-71). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Campbell, A., (2013). In-Depth Analysis of Global Leadership Challenges. Mustang Journal of Business and Ethics, 5, 69-76. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1510578695?accountid=26967 Cantle, T. (2012) Interculturalism: The New Era of Cohesion and Diversity. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan Cohen, S. L. (2010). Effective global leadership requires a global mindset. Industrial and Commercial Training, 42(1), 3-10. Daft, R. L. (1999). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace & Company Derungs, I. M. (2011). Trans-Cultural Leadership for Transformation. London, England: Palgrave MacMillan de Waal, A. A. (2012). Characteristics of High Performance Organizations. Business Management and Strategy, 3(1), 28-45 Earley, C. P. & Ang, S. (2003). Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press Gundling, E., Hogan, T., Cvitkovich, K. (2011). What is global leadership? 10 Key Behaviors that Define Great Leaders. Boston, MA: Intercultural Press Kim, J. & Bang, S.C. (2013). What are the Top Cultural Characteristics That Appear in High-Performing Organizations Across Multiple Industries? Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=student Lucas, L. M. (2010). The role of teams, culture, and capacity in the transfer of organizational practices. The Learning Organization, 17(5), 419-436. Morrison, A. J. (2000). Developing a Global Leadership Model. Human Resource Management, 39(2&3), 117-131. Mendehall, M.E., Osland, J.S., Bird, A., Oddou, G.R., Maznevski, M.L., Stevens, M.J., Stahl, G.K. (2013). Global Leadership: Research, Practice, and Development (2nd ed.) New York, NY: Routledge Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Osland, J. S. (2003). Broadening the debate the pros and cons of globalization. Journal of Management Inquiry, 12(2), 137. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/203316120?accountid=144789 Sorrells, K. (2013). Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications 58 Journal of Business Diversity Vol. 15(1) 2015 Thomas, D.C. (2008). Cross-Cultural Management: Essential Concepts (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Journal of Business Diversity Vol. 15(1) 2015 59 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. 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IBM SPSS statistics 23 step by step: A simple guide and reference. New York, NY: Routledge. Heeringa, S. G., West, B. T., & Berglund, P. A. (2017). Applied survey data analysis (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Chapman & Hall/CRC Press. Smith, P. D., Martin, B., Chewning, B., Hafez, S., Leege, E., Renken, J., & Smedley Ramos, R. (2018). Improving health care communication for caregivers: A pilot study. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 39(4), 433-444. USA swimming. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.usaswimming.org/ Yu, M., Johnson, H., Deutsch, N., & Varga, S. (2018). “She calls me by my last name”: Exploring adolescent perceptions of positive teacher-student relationships. Journal of Adolescent Research, 33(3), 332-362.
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