Even after a lot of research has been conducted on the topic of Leadership, the researchers have

failed to come up with a universally accepted definition of leadership. However a research done
by about more than 170 researchers on this topic came up with a definition for organizational
leadership as the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute
toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members.A culture
on the other hand is a set of values, behaviors and attitudes that differentiates groups or
individuals from each other in a given setting.
The question our hand was, whether culture plays any role in the leadership styles when
managing an organization or not. A lot of empirical research has been carried out previously
(GLOBE), these show that how the styles and functions of leadership vary from culture to
culture and across borders. The world is quickly moving towards becoming a global world
(McFarland, Senen, & Childress, 1993).
Firstly the leadership styles are challenged by the ever increasing cultural diversity at workplace.
The managers have to be tactically strong in order to tackle the subordinates in a way to
demonstrate the ability to develop a strategy of making the workplace a cross-culturally effective
workplace.
It is often said that ways which are effective in one culture may not be effective in another
culture. Culture plays a very important role in setting up the tone for the leader at work. In future
it is expected that a broader range of variables will be added to this research of cross-cultural
issues, like language, ethnic background, religion (Dorfman, 1996).
A research conducted by Global Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (GLOBE) focused
on three main domains of leadership domain (GLOBE, 2002)
1) Behaviors, attitudes and organizational practices of leaders that are accepted universally.
2) Behaviors, attitudes and organizational practices of leaders that are accepted in limited
cultures.
3) What are the factors of society and culture that will affect the leadership style?
The culture defines the behavior demonstrated at the workplace. The Leadership behavior can be
categorized into several behaviors, Directive leadership, supportive leadership, Achievement
oriented leadership, Participative leadership and upward influencing leadership. These traits can
be associated with leaders from cross-cultural organizations. A leader has to be equipped with
these traits when managing a culturally diverse organization. Employees from different cultures
demonstrate different working demands. In which they may want autonomy, need a helping hand
where they would need a direction to work and reach a goal rather than setting a goal. Employees
may want their leader/manager to be friendly with them at work and care for their welfare and
well being.
The culture and leadership have an impact on factors which are important for bringing out a
positive result while working for an organization. These factors include behavior of employees,
motivation of employees, performance of employees, teamwork and cooperation and intergroup
and interdepartmental relationships (Kousar, Saif, Saleem, Ishtiaq, 2011).
These factors are important to any organizations success. Therefore, a leader should try to
become a role model for his employees from which ever culture they belong to. The leader
should be the one to formulate strategies to make his/her employees of different cultures gel in
which each other to observe team work and to remove any misunderstandings that may arise due
to different cultural orientations.
To achieve the strategic fit, the leader has to align his/her organizations structure to the goals of
the organization. Organizational culture plays a pivotal role in achieving that strategic fit. If the
employees in an organization want to work towards a collective goal, it will only be possible if
the organizational culture as a whole would suit the employees. It is the organizational culture
sets the working environment for employees.
Leadership alone is nothing. It has to be coupled with behavior of the leader at work. According
to a research conducted Organizational cultures were significantly (positively) correlated with
leadership behavior and job satisfaction, and leadership behavior was significantly (positively)
correlated with job satisfaction (Tsai, 2011).
Moreover, there can be situations where the subordinates are of the same culture and the leader is
from a different culture. A lot of foreign businesses in Pakistan are following this pattern.
Majority of the employees are from the Pakistani culture and their leader/manager is from a
foreign origin. This creates problems of communication gap, different point of views, cultural
differences and then this may all affect overall organizational performance. As a result of this,
there might rise a sense of insecurity and restlessness among employees that may result in high
turnover rate or any other such factor for the organization.
Therefore, it can be concluded that culture and leadership should go hand in hand with each
other. A leader should be careful in assessing the culture that he/she has to deal with. As with
improper judgment of the leader the organization may not work to its fullest potential. As every
employee has a different requirement and these requirements can be attributed to the culture
he/she belongs to. The leader has to be vigilant and act accordingly.



http://www.thunderbird.edu/wwwfiles/sites/globe/pdf/jwb_globe_intro.pdf
Organizational Behavior: A Strategic Approach- H i t t , M i l l e r a n d C o l e l l a - Y e a r
P u b l i s h e d : 2 0 0 6 - P p . 2 7 7 - 3 0 8
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32531821/Culture-Organization
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/11/98; BMC Health Services
Research 2011, 11:98.