Many of the leadership theories and approaches were developed in the United States from an American perspective. Select one country and one theory and explain how the leadership theory may need to be changed in order to be applicable in the country you chose.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

For example: Country: Mexico; leadership skills approach. Mexico has a high Power Distance
(PD) score according to Hofstede’s work. This means, among other things, that a person in
charge is obeyed more promptly and with less skepticism than in countries with lower scores in
PD. It is possible that in a country like Mexico, ‘interpersonal skills’ and ‘social judgment skills’
will not be as important since the boss (leader) will be obeyed based on his or her position of
authority. Actually, none of the skills may be as important as the formal position of authority.
The leadership skills approach may need to be adapted to include the importance of formal
authority in the valuation of different types of skills. It may also be the case that the
interpersonal skills that may be valued may be different from those valued in the United States.