Awards:

Paul B. Pedersen is the 2010 Recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology Award

“This is a well-written book. Quite simple and precise … The authors should be commended. This book deals with leadership from a very contemporary perspective that reflects the importance of multiculturalism.”

–Guo-Ming Chen, University of Rhode Island

No matter how culturally different the person or group, there will be common-ground similarities and no matter how similar the person or group, there will be significant differences. Culture influences our thoughts, words, and actions in ways that are often unrecognized, leading to misunderstandings. Each misunderstanding can become very expensive, both in terms of missed opportunities and less effective business outcomes. Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment provides leaders with the tools necessary to effectively interact with all individuals.

Although much of the research related to multiculturalism has focused on expatriates and international assignments, Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment also focuses on leaders in domestic organizations, as they can benefit from developing their own multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Effective leaders can shape the culture of their organization to be accepting of individuals from all races, ethnicities, religions, and genders with a minimum of misunderstandings.

Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment is well grounded in solid research, but written in an easy-to-comprehend style that:

Provides a “culture centered” leadership perspective allowing organizational leaders the opportunity to attend to the influence of culture; Helps the reader find examples of how multicultural awareness can make their leadership task easier; Promotes an organizational culture that is more satisfying to both individuals and their leaders by embracing and celebrating differences.

Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment is an ideal supplemental text for undergraduate- or graduate-level international management, leadership, or diversity-related courses taught in the business curriculum. It could also be used in leadership courses taught in education and communication departments.

Cultural Frameworks and Their Importance for Leaders

Cultural frameworks and their importance for leaders

Major Objective

To identify and describe models of culture and their relationship to leader actions in the workplace

Secondary Objectives

  • To identify several models of the various dimensions of culture
  • To discuss intercultural sensitivity
  • To outline a three-stage developmental sequence for developing multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills

Culture has been defined as the source of ties that bind members of societies through an elusive “socially constructed constellation consisting of such things as practices, competencies, ideas, schemas, symbols, values, norms, institutions, goals, constitutive rules, artifacts, and modifications of the physical environment” (Fiske, 2002, p. 85). These internalized rules create traditions that often go deeper than reason (Stuart, 2004). Using Kelly's (1955) terms, cultural orientation could ...

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