LEADERSHIP

Leadership Challenges for Global Companies



Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion2

Dualism3

Survey of Global Leadership4

The Impact of National Culture on Leadership5

Capturing Global Opportunities5

Managing Innovation6

Managing Global Talent6

Beginning With a Mutual Commitment7

Integrating Different Leadership Perspectives9

Understanding the Needs of Current Market10

Conclusion11

Leadership Challenges for Global Companies

Introduction

The theme of global leadership is the subject of numerous investigations and, increasingly, organizations are looking at what it takes to be an effective global leader. While there is an immediate response, the research points to common themes. There are cultural differences, the fact of speaking different languages, and differences in ethics between countries. Organizations are currently involved in the dilemma of leadership challenges, which results in lack of management abilities that typically rob the high-potential managers of critical on-the-job experiences, depleted resources for employee development, and a rapidly aging workforce, which results in decline of experienced managerial talent for leadership positions. The general failures of organizational structures and significant changes in work arrangements force executives and management development professionals to rethink how high potential managers achieve the necessary developmental experiences for leadership positions (Green et al. 2003: 38).

Global companies want to be everywhere in the world just like they are in their home countries and they want to be considered as local players in each country. For example, the food company Nestlé has adopted the appearance of a giant that is in all major markets all over the world. Such companies need to have a new type of leader, who can work anywhere in the world, quickly adapt to cultural particularities of local employees and speak several languages (Kellerman 2008: 16).

Executives are now in an unprecedented scale to the test. Their highly complex areas of responsibility are subject to constant changes. They have to act under increasing time pressure to meet rationalization with the increasing competitive pressure to make their companies and institutions successful in the growing competitive environment. In addition, leaders should have the ability to meet the requirements of employee responsibility, strategy development, goal attainment and earnings to meet - requirements that can be contradictory - and seem always appropriate, sympathetic and motivating.

Discussion

In everyday language, the word leadership is used in a variety of ways, resulting in a myriad of quite different understandings of the same word. A few examples follow (Cilente 2009: 47):

Position or rank: “The leadership of the organization is made up of six members.”

Status or market share: “The organization has leadership in the industry.”

Direction: “She provided leadership for the initiative.”

Skill or capacity: “He demonstrates strong leadership.”

Activity: “The group engaged in leadership.”

From an organizational perspective, leaders must be prepared to invest considerable time and money while operating in the global market. It means that if is a company is operating in UK, and it is going to another country such as Brazil, it must understand that things will work much slower than what how they used to work in the home country. An objective that gets completed in three months, in UK, could be two or three times longer in ...