Case Study: Leadership Dynamics at the Latino Center and Community

This case study examines the leadership of Mary Davis and Jose Reyna at the Latino Center, a non-profit organization serving the Latino community in River City. The analysis focuses on the leaders' strengths and weaknesses, particularly in fundraising and community engagement, highlighting their success in raising significant funds for renovation. The case study explores the leaders' leadership styles and their alignment with Latin American cultural dimensions, emphasizing the importance of team-oriented leadership and community involvement. It also discusses the cultural dimensions impacting the project, the leaders' vision and their potential clashes with existing community values. The analysis further suggests strategies for leaders to temper excitement and incorporate cross-cultural competencies to enhance community support. The provided references support the analysis of leadership, cultural dimensions, and community impact.

Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It? 1
Title: Whose Latino Center Is It?
Assignment Name:
Student Name:
Course Name and Number:
Professor:
Date:

Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It? 2
Contents
Case Overview.................................................................................................................................3
Strong and Weak Areas of Mary’s and Jose’s Leadership.............................................................3
Targeting Latino Community at the Fund Raising Campaign.........................................................4
Comparison of Mary’s And Jose’s Leadership with Latin America Profile...................................4
Latino Cultural Dimensions.............................................................................................................5
Tempering the Excitement...............................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It? 3
Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It?
Case Overview
Latino Center is a non-profit organization which is responsible for serving the
requirements of the Latino community and the community of River City with the help of
different programs and services. Consisting a population of 200,000 people River City is
growing at a fast pace. It is growing at an annual rate of 5%. The community is diverse with
a mix of 65% white, 20% African American population, 13% Latino, 2% of Native
American. The Latino community is growing at a very fast pace with an annual growth of
10%. The Latino Center is managed by a board of directors and an executive director. Mary
Davis and Jose Reyna are the newest members of Latino Center who have experience in
neighbourhood development and in city government respectively (Mahajan, 2011). Both
these new entrants led to immense alteration of the center, which includes renovation of the
infrastructural facilities and shifting the focus of the community programs along with some
legal, cultural as well as educational services. The board of directors consists of 15 people,
10 discern themselves as Latino while remaining 5 recognize them as Non-Latino. In order to
create a better space for offices, programs and services of the center, the old building owned
by Latino Center was scheduled for renovation.
Strong and Weak Areas of Mary’s and Jose’s Leadership
Jose and Mary, being the newest members of the Latino center worked towards
improving and enhancing the services that the center offered. The building was being
renovated which was substantiated by the people’s view at community forums, it required
around $ 1.4 million. The board of directors started a citywide campaign in order to raise the
capital for renovation. Mary and Jose had their jobs, but along with that they also managed to

Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It? 4
raise a handsome amount of $ 1.3 billion for the project using their skills, all in a period of
six months. Most of the funds came from private foundations and corporations (Mitevska-
Encheva, 2018). Their dedication and clarity of vision is one of the major strengths they
possessed. When it comes to weakness, their strength in a way turned out to be their
weakness as well because they did know what they had to do, but they lacked in knowing the
interests of the community at the same.
Targeting Latino Community at the Fund Raising Campaign
Mary and Jose put forth the idea of raising funds from the Latino community, because
they were more inclined towards giving in the service of their churches rather than to non-
profit establishments. There shouldn’t be a problem if the Latino were targeted for the funds,
keeping in view that it is mainly for the benefit of the Latino community as a whole. Also,
the funds were to be used for betterment of the society and there shouldn’t be an issue with
that (Mauksch, 2016).
Comparison of Mary’s And Jose’s Leadership with Latin America Profile
The Latin America profile emphasizes on the team-oriented leadership rather than
individualistic one. Mary and Jose worked together to achieve a goal, they also changed their
vision when it was not entirely supported and appreciated by the community. Their
leadership was value-based which means that they had the ability to inspire and motivate
people to enhance their performance. Due to this quality they were able to manage a good
amount of $ 1.3 billion for foundations and corporations. Mary’s and José’s leadership were
participative in nature (Martínez-San Miguel, 2015). This is clear from the fact that when
people were opposing their ways they tried and aligned the objectives. A desirable leader has
always planned ahead of time, that is exactly what Mary and José did. They were

Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It? 5
encouraging, motivating, and had a clear vision of their plans. The Latin American leadership
is based on the foundation of inspiration, participation of all, etc. All these qualities were
fairly observed in both the leaders of Latino Center.
Latino Cultural Dimensions
Culture generally means beliefs, values, norms, and traditions that are known and
followed by a group of people. Ethnocentrism being one of the major obstacles to effective
leadership. It makes people prejudiced and intercepts from gaining knowledge of or
venerating other cultures. Hall (1976) has presented in an article that the main attribute of
belief is the degree and level of focus--on a single person (individualistic) or the team
(collectivists) (Joo & Chung, 2014).
The main characteristic of Latin American cultural dimension is that they are loyal and
devoted. Cultural dimensions classified and compared archetypes between cultures on the
basics of time, leadership, gender and causality to mention a few. Earlier, the center was
making a slow and steady progress, keeping in view its one major goal- providing emergency
services to the local community. With Mary and José leading the center, they had a
contemporary and a more sophisticated vision which didn’t very well align with the
grounded previous vision. In the past, when the change came it was phased and gradual
whereas the view that Mary and José held was way more grand and refined. The Latino
cultural dimensions were about expressing support towards community by providing basic
services which were not so in the case of Mary’s and José’s leadership, it was more focused
on structural changes. This led to the resistance from people towards the renovation project
(Uzonwanne, 2014).

Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It? 6
Tempering the Excitement
The Latino center building used to be a fire station that was perpetuated for around 15
years. The building was bought by the center from River City for $1. The fire station required
restoration, but it had a suitable location, right at the center of the Latino community. Mary
and José planned a first class renovation of the building, with the latest green building
techniques. Both leaders and some other members of the board were excited for the process
of renovation. These techniques were healthy, efficient and environmentally safe. If I were in
Mary’s or Jose’s place I would have taken the process of renovation gradually and steadily
instead of rushing into it. I would have taken my time to gather the support of the board
members and that of the community (Shlossberg, 2011). As mentioned by Adler
Bartholomew, 1992 I would have incorporated the cross-cultural competencies meant for
leaders. These include developing an understanding of the business culture and politics,
learning perspective, drift and innovation of various cultures, ability to work with people
from other cultures, most importantly to grasp and associate with people from various
cultures from a point of fairness rather than supremacy (Jogulu, 2010).

Case study 16.3 Paper: Whose Latino Is It? 7
References
Jogulu, U. (2010). Culturally‐linked leadership styles. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, 31(8), 705-719.
Joo, B., & Chung, J. (2014). Suggestion of a classification table of design modeling elements in
cultural dimensions - Focused on Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions -. Journal Of Korea
Design Forum, null(43), 223-232.
Mahajan, S. (2011). Study on Leadership Styles and Theories. Indian Journal Of Applied
Research, 4(3), 281-282.
Martínez-San Miguel, Y. (2015). Ethnic specularities: Exploring the Caribbean and Latino
dimensions of Down These Mean Streets. Latino Studies, 13(3), 358-375.
Mauksch, S. (2016). Managing the dance of enchantment: An ethnography of social
entrepreneurship events. Organization, 24(2), 133-153.
Mitevska-Encheva, M. (2018). Effects of Demographic Indicators on Perceptions of Followers of
Leadership Styles. Information & Security: An International Journal, 39(3), 206-219.
Shlossberg, P. (2011). Ritual, Art, And Latino Political Communication. Cultural Studies, 25(6),
940-943.
Uzonwanne, F. (2014). Leadership styles and decision-making models among corporate leaders
in non-profit organizations in North America. Journal Of Public Affairs, 15(3), 287-299.