Cultural Leadership and Followership Portfolio Assignment

This portfolio comprises two case studies exploring cultural leadership and followership. Case Study A examines the impact of cultural values on leadership expectations, discussing leadership styles such as democratic and inclusive leadership in managing diverse workplaces, particularly within the ...Read More

Running head: CULTURAL LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWERSHIP
Cultural Leadership and Followership
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Portfolio Case Study A: Cultural Leadership
A study that was carried out in the year 2004 by that of Global Leadership and
Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness stated that members of the different societies have
varying expectations from leaders owing to cultural values (Globeproject.com 2019). This
report discusses about different kinds of leadership styles that can help in the management of
a culturally diverse workplace. The report talks about inclusive leadership that can be useful
for an organization. The report also talks about the approaches that can help in leading
diverse workforce in Australia.
The leadership style that can prove to be appropriate for a culturally diverse
workplace is the democratic style of leadership where all the members take an active role in
process of the decision making. Cultural Leadership can be said to be a style of the leadership
that is rooted within the community along with the cultural identity. The cultural leaders in an
organization are committed to the aspect of the social justice and they serve the diverse needs
of people coming from various kinds of cultural backgrounds (Lambert 2016). The
democratic leadership can help the employees in exchanging the ideas along with the
opinions that can be advantageous for an organization. People coming from various cultural
backgrounds can express their ideas and the democratic style of the leadership helps in the
assimilation of various kinds of ideas within an organization (Wood and Wilberger 2015). A
diverse workforce helps in encouraging the aspect of the creativity that can help in the
development of an organization. A democratic leader can inspire trust among the followers
and it can help in the professional development of people of various cultures.
Each culture has shared motives along with values which are transmitted from one
generation to another. People from various kinds of cultures come to work in an organization
and inclusive style of the leadership can play an important role in an organization that is

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culturally diverse. Inclusive leaders are people-oriented and they can use skill set and the
knowledge of the various kinds of people who are from different cultural backgrounds. The
inclusive leaders are patient and they have an understanding nature that helps them in serving
the needs of the diverse people in an organization (Choi, Tran and Park 2015). The inclusive
leaders shows the element of optimism that helps in promoting collaboration in an
organization. The inclusive leaders provide motivation to the team by understanding the
opinions of the people of the various cultural backgrounds. Dialogue is integral to the culture
and an inclusive leader can set dialogue effectively in an organization (Javed et al. 2017). An
inclusive leader listens to the view point of the other people that makes the employees feel
encouraged within the framework of an organization. The inclusive leaders can facilitate the
discussions in a successful manner that can be useful for the various kinds of employees
within an organization.
Study has pointed out to the fact that people of different kind of cultural background
has different kind of expectation that can give rise to conflicts in an organization. The
democratic leadership style can suit a diverse workplace and it can help the employees in
voicing their concern in an organization. The employees take an active role in the area of the
decision-making that helps in the growth of the employees. It facilitates the process of
exchanging of ideas along with opinions that can come to be of use for an organization.
Cultures have their own distinct values that gets transmitted across the generations. An
organization has people of different kind of cultural background and inclusive style can come
to be of use for an organization. These kinds of leaders show the optimism that promotes the
aspect of collaboration within organization. They provide the motivation to team with the
help of their creative mind set.
It can be recommended that the organization should provide the equal opportunity to
the people of various cultures that can help in the effective performance of a company. There

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should be representative number of the people in the main positions in the company that can
help in matching diverse demographics of community. There should be an acceptance
approach in the organization that can help in management of business in a successful manner.
It can help in the creation of a productive work environment where the employees feel
confident about themselves. The implementation of individual development plans can help
the employees in overcoming the barriers pertaining to cultural diversity in an organization.
Portfolio Case Study B: Followership
Followership refers to willingness of an individual in co-operating that can help a
person in accomplishing a goal. The interactive teamwork in an organization helps the leaders
in building co-operation in an organization. This report throws light on the objective of the
article, “Authentic leadership, authentic followership, basic need satisfaction, and work role
performance” and the main results of the article. It talks about the importance of the article
and the significance of finding for Australian leaders.
The article, “Authentic leadership, authentic followership, basic need satisfaction, and
work role performance”, has the objective of finding out whether the authentic leadership
along with authentic followership in an organization can help in satisfying the basic needs of
the followers (Leroy et al. 2015). The research that has been reported in the article pertains to
the fact whether the interplay in between authentic leadership and authentic followership can
help in bringing out positive consequences for an organization. The article has talked about
the fact that authentic leadership in an organization is influenced by the organizational
climate along with the culture. Authentic leadership helps in fostering the aspect of work
engagement with the help of follower empowerment. The self-determination theory talks
about the importance of autonomy along with competence that can prove to be crucial for the

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success of an organization (Gatling, Kang and Kim 2016). An environment which does not
support the self-determination of the employees frustrates the basic needs of the followers.
The results of the study have pointed out to the fact that the basic need satisfaction in
an organization can help in showing the positive evidence of the positive leadership for
authentic leadership along with the authentic followership. It can be interpreted with the help
of the report that authentic leadership can help in strengthening relationship in between the
authentic followership and basic need satisfaction of follower. It can be said that there exists
connection in between the leadership and the followership as it has brought out the fact that
the authentic leadership can help in the creation of effective followers in an organization
(Hoch et al. 2018). The research has shown that basic need satisfaction can help in mediating
interaction in between the authentic leadership and that of authentic followership. An
alternative interpretation of this article is that the aspect of authentic leaders in an
organization can lead with the help of example that can help in the creation of authentic
followers in an organization. The importance of the finding for the Australian leaders is that it
can help in the building of an enduring organization that can be instrumental in providing the
superior customer service to the people (Kiersch and Byrne 2015). It can prove to be effective
in the creation of long term value for that of the shareholders. It can help in the creation of
self-efficacy in an organization that can help in increasing the work performance of the
employees. The implication of the results is that it can help in leading an organization
towards that of enhanced performance (Edú-Valsania, Moriano and Molero 2016).
Followership is indicative of willingness of the individual which can help an
individual in achieving the objective. Interactive teamwork of organization can assist leaders
in the building of co-operation in organization. Interplay taking place in organization in
between the authentic leadership and that of authentic followership can bring out the positive
results for a company. It can be recommended that the authentic leader should ask for the

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feedback that can help in bringing about positive change in the organization. It can also be
stated that the authentic leader should explain the meaning of the work to the employees that
can help in providing direction to employees of an organization. It can also be said that the
authentic leader should focus on the sharing of information in an open manner that can prove
to be useful for an organization. They should abide by the ethical rules that can help in
ensuring success in relation to an organization. The authentic leader should focus on building
a string bond in between the employees and the organization that can pave the path for
success of an organization.

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References
Choi, S.B., Tran, T.B.H. and Park, B.I., 2015. Inclusive leadership and work engagement:
Mediating roles of affective organizational commitment and creativity. Social Behavior and
Personality: an international journal, 43(6), pp.931-943.
Edú-Valsania, S., Moriano, J.A. and Molero, F., 2016. Authentic leadership and employee
knowledge sharing behavior: Mediation of the innovation climate and workgroup
identification. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 37(4), pp.487-506.
Gatling, A., Kang, H.J.A. and Kim, J.S., 2016. The effects of authentic leadership and
organizational commitment on turnover intention. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, 37(2), pp.181-199.
Globeproject.com (2019). 2004, 2007 Studies - GLOBE Project. [online] Globeproject.com.
Available at: https://globeproject.com/study_2004_2007 [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].
Hoch, J.E., Bommer, W.H., Dulebohn, J.H. and Wu, D., 2018. Do ethical, authentic, and
servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-
analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), pp.501-529.
Javed, B., Naqvi, S.M.M.R., Khan, A.K., Arjoon, S. and Tayyeb, H.H., 2017. Impact of
inclusive leadership on innovative work behavior: The role of psychological safety. Journal
of Management & Organization, pp.1-20.
Kiersch, C.E. and Byrne, Z.S., 2015. Is being authentic being fair? Multilevel examination of
authentic leadership, justice, and employee outcomes. Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies, 22(3), pp.292-303.

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Lambert, J., 2016. Cultural diversity as a mechanism for innovation: Workplace diversity and
the absorptive capacity framework. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and
Conflict, 20(1), p.68.
Leroy, H., Anseel, F., Gardner, W.L. and Sels, L., 2015. Authentic leadership, authentic
followership, basic need satisfaction, and work role performance: A cross-level
study. Journal of Management, 41(6), pp.1677-1697.
Wood, V.R. and Wilberger, J.S., 2015. Globalization, cultural diversity and organizational
commitment: Theoretical underpinnings. World, 6(2), pp.154-171.