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It struck me long ago that we make an exaggerated distinction between leaders and followers. The ability to attract and inspire followers is part of the very definition of leadership, and leaders without followers quickly fade away, however exciting their vision ([3] Bennis, 2009).
Leadership does not exist in a vacuum. By their nature, leadership and followership are two sides of the same coin. And as [3] Bennis (2009) wrote: "The ability to attract and inspire followers is part of the very definition of leadership". In this article, the term leadership is used generically and is not necessarily restricted to those at the top of large organizations. It refers to both executives who are appointed or selected to be in charge of organizations as well as to those who find themselves leading smaller teams, units, or departments within organizations. To differentiate between leadership and management, it is worth keeping in mind the insightful words of [4] Bennis and Nanus (1985) that, "Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing". Ideally, some leaders might also be good managers, and some managers might be successful leaders, as was found in this study.
What happens, one wonders, if executives who were born and raised in one country decide to live and work in a different country and in an environment where their followers are more diverse, multicultural, and multinational? Will these executives adapt their leadership style and practices to fit the new situation in order to be successful? Or will they impose their culture and style on the new organizational environment? These are the questions that prompted this study, and the research findings will endeavor to answer.
In brief, would the indigenous cultural attitudes and leadership behavior of executives change if and when contexts and situations change? It is encouraging to read what [21] Jackson and Parry (2008) wrote, "In effect, by bringing context into the analysis we are suggesting that the 'when' and 'where' questions should be given a lot more prominence when we study leadership".
[30] Muna and Zennie (2010) in their book, Developing Multicultural Leaders , corroborate the significance of culture and context after conducting a field research by interviewing 310 successful Middle Eastern leaders from 12 countries from 129 organizations. They found...