Leadership Theories and Cultural Intelligence

The assignment delves into the realm of leadership, analyzing prominent theories such as transformational leadership and traditional models. It emphasizes the significance of cultural intelligence in navigating diverse work environments. The provided readings offer insights into emotional intelligence, the person-situation debate, generational shifts in values, and the impact of culture on leadership effectiveness.

Running Head: Dynamic leadership
Dynamic Leadership
Reflective essay

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Leadership Discovery..................................................................................................................................3
Values..........................................................................................................................................................3
Schwarz’s values and motivational domains...........................................................................................3
1.2 Schwarz’s online survey (Appendices 2)...........................................................................................4
1.3: Consolidate values and domains.......................................................................................................6
1.4: My values and domain summary......................................................................................................6
Traits...........................................................................................................................................................8
2.1: The big five project personality test (Appendices 3)........................................................................8
3: Strengths................................................................................................................................................10
3.1: The reflected self-best (RBS) exercise............................................................................................10
3.2: The Richard step: Strength finding questionnaire...........................................................................11
3.3: Zender’s 16 leadership capabilities.................................................................................................12
4: Emotional intelligence...........................................................................................................................12
4.1: The quick emotional intelligence self-assessment..........................................................................12
5: Cultural intelligence..............................................................................................................................14
5.1 The dimensions of culture questionnaire.........................................................................................14
5.2 Diagnosing your cultural intelligence........................................................................................15
6: Leadership style: Task vs. Relationship.............................................................................................15

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Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................16
References.................................................................................................................................................16
Appendix...................................................................................................................................................19
Appendices 1.........................................................................................................................................19
Appendices 2.........................................................................................................................................20
Appendices 3.........................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
Leadership is the capacity and the ability of a person to inspire, motivate and encourage a group
of followers. It is an important aspect with respect to an individual as well as an organization
(Bolman, 2017). The leadership abilities vary from person to person. There is a strong set of
values, traits and intelligence that define the kind of a leader a person will be (Northouse, 2015).
Leadership is a very crucial aspect of any individual as it largely defines with an individual’s
ability to lead, guide, motivate and inspire people (Fairhurst, 2014). It is considered to be an
important quality in one’s career. Hence it becomes imperative for individuals to identify and
work on their leadership abilities early in time.
In this course module, I have deeply reflected upon my leadership skills and the value set that
governs the same. I have been a part of various online surveys and taken a genuine and honest
feedback from my friends in order to understand my leadership abilities. In this report I have
attempted to understand and fully document the various aspects of my leadership style and
abilities.
Leadership Discovery
1: Values
Schwarz’s values and motivational domains
Schwarz has pioneered the study of values. He believes that values are long term and not mere
attitudes to different situations. Based upon this thinking, he came to build the “Schwarz’s theory
of basic value”. In this theory, he has reasoned that values are goals for motivation and therefore
basic values must be derived by basic needs of humans namely our biological needs, our need to
coordinate with others and the need for the group to survive and flourish (Marcus, 2017).
These basic needs of humans drive their basic values and shape the personality of an individual.
Schwarz identified 10 basic needs of a human and related various set of values with those 10
needs.

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I sincerely read the chapter 8 of Personal values from ‘Success with soul’ (Sun, 2014) and
established that my top 3 values are as below:
1. Honesty – One of my top most quality as per analysis is honesty. I have always been an
honest person and I really do not indulge in lying. Many of my friends have often lied in
order to get out of school or any such responsibility but I have ensured that I don’t lie. I
strongly believe that honesty is very crucial to develop and maintain trust. I have realized
that this value belongs to the domain of Benevolence (Schwarz, 2014).
2. Broadmindedness – My second most important quality is my broadmindedness which fits
under the module of universalism. Since my teenage years, I have been very liberal in my
views and I do not easily get offended. I do no judge people and I really understand that
every individual thinks, behaves and acts differently.
3. True friendship – For me friendship is very important. I am a very social person and have
a lot of friends. However, I have a set of 4 friends who are very close to me and I really
value their friendship. This is a part of the security module. I believe, these true
friendships provide a sense of security and safety.

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1.2 Schwarz’s online survey (Appendices 2)
While in the process of understanding my values, I also took the online survey of Schwarz’s
value scale. The findings of which were as below. This survey made me realize that I score
highest in Hedonism and Self-direction. This implies that I am a very motivated person but I also
believe strongly in my personal pleasure and happiness (Caprara, 2016). As a person I don’t
value traditions much as I believe they pull us down. Also these traditions and customs probably
suited ancient times but are not necessarily valid today.
Domain Score
Power 3.7
Achievement 4.2
Hedonism 5
Stimulation 3
Self-direction 5
Universalism 2.2
Benevolence 4.2
Tradition 0
Conformity 4
Security 2.8

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1.3: Consolidate values and domains
CONSOLIDATED VALUES & DOMAINS
TOP 3 VALUES
Highest Value (1 )__________ HONESTY ___________________: Domain is ___
BENEVOLENCE ___
Second highest Value (2) is ________ BROAD MINDEDNESS ______: Domain is ___
UNIVERSALISM __
Third highest Value (3) is ____ TRUE FRIENDSHIP __: Domain is _______ SECURITY
_______
NEXT 3 VALUES
Fourth Value (4 )__________ INDEPENDENCE ________________: Domain is ___ SELF
DIRECTION____
Fifth highest Value (5) is ________ EQUALITY______: Domain is ___________
UNIVERSALISM _____
Sixth highest Value (6) is _____ HELPFULNESS ______: Domain is ____ BENEVOLENCE
________

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1.4: My values and domain summary
My Values and Domain Summary – Impact Consideration
Individual
Value
Motivational
Domain
Impact on My
Self – Personal
Impact on My
Career Choice
Impact on My
Leadership Style/
Behaviour
1 Honesty Benevolence I am always
honest.
Sometimes
people find me
too straight
forward
I will be able to
work in the
department of
business ethics and
efficiently work to
As a leader, I will
be able to give
genuine and honest
feedback to my
team members
2
Broadmindednes
s
Universalism I don’t judge
people and I
respect people’s
opinions even if
they don’t match
with mine
I will be able to
work in training
and development
where I will
I will be able to
consider
everyone’s
perspective before
making a decision
3 True friendship Security I value true
friendships and
put in efforts to
build genuine
friendships with
people
I can work in
teams and enhance
my social network
owing to my
friendship skills
I will be able to
develop and
encourage team
spirit and enhance
personal
relationships within
the team

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4 Independence Self-direction I am very
independent and
tend to take
responsibility of
small tasks by
myself
Entrepreneurship
can also be a
chosen career
option for me as I
am very
independent
I will be able to
take quick
decisions at the
time of a conflict.
5 Equality Universalism I treat everyone
equally and do
not discriminate
I can effectively
work in
organizations that
have a flat
hierarchy
I will be able to
treat my team
members with
equality and create
no biasness.
6 Helpfulness Benevolence I have always
been helpful and
try to do my best
to help people in
need
I will be able to
help my team
members and instil
a sense of
helpfulness within
the team
2: Traits
2.1: The big five project personality test (Appendices 3)
In order to gauge my traits as a leader, I took the big five personality test. This test made me
realize my top traits and I scored highly on extraversion and openness to experience (Judge,
2015). This is true because I really enjoy the company of others and I am always open to new
experiences. This is evidenced by the fact that I travel a lot and indulge in various sports and
event. I scored low on neuroticism because my temperament is very moderate. I tend to remain

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calm in different situations and avoid getting angry or feeling depressed. Whenever I feel angry,
I try to compose myself.
Personality/ trait dimension Score Rank (1-5)
Openness to experience/ intellect 95 2
Conscientiousness 75 4
Extraversion 99 1
Agreeableness 85 3
Neuroticism 41 5
Result of my reflective partner
Personality/ trait dimension Score Rank (1-5)
Openness to experience/ intellect 78 4
Conscientiousness 82 3
Extraversion 94 2
Agreeableness 99 1
Neuroticism 44 5

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3: Strengths
3.1: The reflected self-best (RBS) exercise
With an aim to identify my biggest strengths, I took the RBS test wherein I asked my friends to
email me my biggest strengths. I also asked them to enlist why they thought I possessed those
particular strengths. Once I received their feedback, I started evaluating exactly how these
strengths would help me become a better leader and impact my leadership style. The following
table, shows the result of the exercise.
Strengths from feedback Examples cited Interpretation to my life
Helpful Always helping friends I would be keeping the team
together and helping my team
members as a leader
Optimistic Always smiling and hoping
for the best
I will not easily panic is case
of a crisis and will be able to
look at the best for my team
Creative Looking at things from a new
perspective
I will be able to handle
situations with a fresh
perspective and try to be
different than others
Honest Cannot take lies. Does not lie
ever
I will ensure complete
transparency and
communication in my team
and encourage complete
honesty. I will also be able to

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prove genuine feedback to
my team members
Hard working Gives 100% to any task I will not give up even if
things get tough. I will
encourage my team to work
hard and lead the same by my
own example
3.2: The Richard step: Strength finding questionnaire
Top 5 Strengths
1. Optimism: I always look for the positive in every situation. I can hence work in sales or
marketing as I don’t get easily demotivated.
2. Integrity: I keep my commitments and value honesty. I stick to programs. However, I
need to learn to say ‘no’.
3. Purpose: I like being busy and having a sense of purpose in everything I do. I get rather
annoyed when I do not know the ultimate aim of doing a particular task
4. Salesmanship: I love meeting new people and becoming the initial point of contact in
various groups.
5. Self-motivation: I read and watch a lot of inspiring books and movie. I read about
successful people and hence remain motivated. The kind of life that I have planned for
myself, requires me to work hard. And I keep thinking of a successful future every time I
feel demotivated.
Next level strengths
Richard Step strength listing

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Strengths Percentage
Determination 81%
Adaptability 75%
Team work 75%
Risk Taking 69%
3.3: Zender’s 16 leadership capabilities.
Upon highlighting the leadership abilities on the Zender’s research. I have established that the
abilities are grouped. The capabilities are clustered around character and interpersonal skills
(Zehnder, 2017). Because I am an honest person who works with integrity. Also I have a large
social circle and I thoroughly enjoy meeting new people.
I need to enhance a few aspects of my personality. Firstly, develop others and Focuses on results.
This is because I feel I believe in effort. As long as I put enough effort, I don’t feel bad if the aim
is not achieved. I need to become more result oriented.
4: Emotional intelligence
4.1: The quick emotional intelligence self-assessment
Emotional intelligence or EQ is the ability of a person to identify, recognize, control and
manager their emotions. The person’s emotions can be a major driving factor for an individual.
A high level of emotional intelligence enables individuals to remain calm and composed and take
decisions efficiently.

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Emotional Intelligence Area Score
Emotional Awareness 82
Emotional Management 75
Social Emotional Awareness 30
Relationship Management 84
My scores show that I have a high ability of relationship management and emotional awareness.
I believe in developing others and working like a team. However I scored extremely low on
social emotional awareness. My awareness is usually limited to my inner circle. My score in
Emotional awareness is also good as I am a confident person and mostly aware of my strengths
and weaknesses. I usually tend to remain calm and composed but sometimes I lose my patience
and panic. Which is what I need to work on the most.
Emotional intelligence is extremely useful but can surely be worked upon (Druskat, 2013). I
have started putting in efforts to enhance my emotional intelligence. I make a sincere effort in
remaining calm when something angers me. I try to sit alone with myself and compose my
temperament. Also I try to become more aware of my surroundings. If I see that someone is
angry, I try not to irritate them and make an attempt to understand their situation. Hence I am
working on being more empathetic.
Working on my emotional intelligence is expected to lead to an improved mental health,
increased job performance and leadership abilities (Gilbert, 2017). When I lead the team in the
future, it is imperative that my emotions are well under control and effectively managed. This is
very important if I want my team to work together and take important decisions quickly.

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5: Cultural intelligence
5.1 The dimensions of culture questionnaire
Cultural intelligence deals with the ability of an individual to relate work cross culturally in an
efficient manner (Ang, 2015). In this course module, I have taken up a questionnaire to
understand my perception of my culture as compared to other cultures. The scores of which are
as below:
Dimensions of Culture Mean Score
Uncertainty avoidance 5.5
Power distance 4.5
Institutional collectivism 2
In-group collectivism 7
Gender egalitarianism 4
Assertiveness 2.5
Future orientation 2.5
Performance orientation 6
Humane orientation 3

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I have come to understand my views and perspectives in greater detail. For example, I strongly
believe that my Australian culture and society is provides equal opportunities to men and women
as compared to Anglos. However, as a family, our culture is strong enough to promote love,
respect and appreciation between parents and children. This is why I have scored 7 on in-group
collectivism.
5.2 Diagnosing your cultural intelligence
During this course, I looked at the article in Harvard business review named “Cultural
Intelligence” (Harvard Business Review, 2004). And I performed a small exercise that helped me
diagnose my cultural intelligence. The details of which are as below:
Dimension of CQ Score
Cognitive CQ 4.5
Physical CQ 4.8
Emotional CQ 4.2
I have scored relatively high in this because I have worked with various nonprofit organizations
that allowed me to interact with people from different countries. This helped me understand that
I can easily adapt to a different culture and their lifestyles. According to the analysis, I have a
high CQ which will really help me work in multi-cultural organizations and lead a sundry group
of people (Chao, 2017).
6: Leadership style: Task vs. Relationship
In order to understand my leadership style, I took the VLS task vs. relationship test. The purpose
of the test was for me to understand how much I emphasize task as well as relationship behaviors
in my life. And also to gauge the relationship between these task and relationship behaviors
(Cronin, 2015).

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My score on relationship is 24 which falls under the category of high range. I have come to
realize that I am a relationship oriented leader and believe in building good relationships with my
team members. I genuinely feel that if a team works together in unity then they can surely
achieve their targets. Moreover, the culture in which the organization functions in more
important.
My score on Task is 13 which is low moderate range. This means that I believe in accomplishing
the task and fulfillment of goals but not at the cost of hampering relationships with the team
members.
Conclusion
This module has been extremely helpful for me to analyze my leadership skills. I have taken up
various surveys and online tests that have helped me understand that my people management
skills and communication skills are my strengths. I should work on them further and highlight
them in my professional experience.
My virtues of honesty and my love and responsibility for my family are also important aspects of
my personality and I will never corrupt them. Lastly, my leadership style is more relationship
oriented than task oriented. I will work on being more result oriented and also put efforts to
increase my emotional intelligence.

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References
Ang, S. and Van Dyne, L., 2015. Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Caprara, G.V., Vecchione, M., Schwartz, S.H., Schoen, H., Bain, P.G., Silvester, J., Cieciuch, J.,
Pavlopoulos, V., Bianchi, G., Kirmanoglu, H. and Baslevent, C., 2016. Basic values, ideological
self-placement, and voting: A cross-cultural study. Cross-Cultural Research,
p.1069397117712194.
Chao, M.M., Takeuchi, R. and Farh, J.L., 2017. Enhancing cultural intelligence: The roles of
implicit culture beliefs and adjustment. Personnel Psychology, 70(1), pp.257-292.
Cronin, L.D., Arthur, C.A., Hardy, J. and Callow, N., 2015. Transformational leadership and task
cohesion in sport: The mediating role of inside sacrifice. Journal of Sport and Exercise
Psychology, 37(1), pp.23-36.
Druskat, V.U., Mount, G. and Sala, F., 2013. Linking emotional intelligence and performance at
work: Current research evidence with individuals and groups. Psychology Press.
Fairhurst, G.T. and Connaughton, S.L., 2014. Leadership: A communicative
perspective. Leadership, 10(1), pp.7-35.
Gilbert, D., McKee, A., Spreitzer, G. and Amabile, T., 2017. Happiness (HBR Emotional
Intelligence Series). Harvard Business Press.
Harvard Business Review, 2004, ‘Cultural intelligent’, https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-
intelligence, retrieved on 15 November, 2017.
Judge, T.A. and Zapata, C.P., 2015. The person–situation debate revisited: Effect of situation
strength and trait activation on the validity of the Big Five personality traits in predicting job
performance. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), pp.1149-1179.

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Marcus, J., Ceylan, S. and Ergin, C., 2017. Not So “Traditional” Anymore? Generational Shifts
on Schwartz Values in Turkey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(1), pp.58-74.
Northouse, P.G., 2015. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Schwartz, S.H., Caprara, G.V., Vecchione, M., Bain, P., Bianchi, G., Caprara, M.G., Cieciuch,
J., Kirmanoglu, H., Baslevent, C., Lönnqvist, J.E. and Mamali, C., 2014. Basic personal values
underlie and give coherence to political values: A cross national study in 15 countries. Political
Behavior, 36(4), pp.899-930.
Sun, M., Zhang, H., Zhao, Y. and Shang, J., 2014, November. From Post to Values: Mining
Schwartz Values of Individuals from Social Media. In Chinese National Conference on Social
Media Processing (pp. 206-219). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Zehnder, C., Herz, H. and Bonardi, J.P., 2017. A productive clash of cultures: Injecting
economics into leadership research. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1), pp.65-85.

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Appendix
Appendices 1

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Appendices 2
Appendices 3
https://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/results/?
o=94,88,100&c=75,56,75&e=94,94,100&a=75,88,75&n=31,13,81&y=1990&g=m

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