Preface

This is the second book being published by the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program. The purpose of this book is to report the results of Phase 3 of GLOBE, which is the most recent phase of GLOBE. Phases 1 and 2 are described in Culture, Leadership, and Organization: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, edited by Robert J. House, Paul J. Hanges, Mansour Javidan, Peter W. Dorfman, and Vipin Gupta, Sage Publications, 2004.

The evolution and research design of GLOBE are described in that book. The objectives of GLOBE are to answer the following questions:

Following is a brief description of Phases 1 and 2.

Phase 1 was concerned with the development and validation of data collection methods including questionnaires and guides for collection of information from interview, focus groups, and media as well as unobtrusive measures of attributes of cultures. Phase 2 was concerned with capturing the major cultural attributes of 62 societies. Phase 2 was also concerned with identifying the leadership attributes that contribute to outstanding leadership in each society. The results of Phases 1 and 2 are reported in the book mentioned earlier edited by House et al.

Results of Phase 3 are reported in the present book. Phase 3 consisted of intensive qualitative and quantitative research in each of 25 societal cultures relevant to the enactment of highly effective leadership. The results of this intensive study of each of the 25 societies are reported in a separate chapter for each society. The final chapter describes the major conclusions that can be drawn from this research.

Phase 3 overlapped with Phase 2. All of the country coinvestigators who participated in Phases 1 and 2 were invited to write a chapter for the present book. Research teams in 25 societies accepted this invitation. The earliest drafts for country chapters came in 1997 and latest in 2001.

The first four chapters that came in, from India, Colombia, Ireland, and the Netherlands, were edited by me. This took place concurrently with the final editing of the book by House et al. (2004). The editing process consisted of having each chapter reviewed and evaluated by independent scholars who were knowledgeable about the cultures described in the present book. These review were summarized and a summary as well as the original reviews were sent to the authors of each of the chapters. The summary included several suggestions for revision of the chapters based on the independent reviews. All of the four chapters required moderate to substantial revision. Upon revision, additional changes were requested of the authors in order to make each chapter as complete and readable as they possibly could be. This process required as many as two or three revisions for each chapter.

On completion of the editing of the first four chapters received, I realized that editing this book would be a substantially larger and more challenging task than originally anticipated. On this realization, I decided to invite Professor Jagdeep Chhokar to be coeditor for the remaining chapters. This required me to prepare explicit guidelines for the entire review process. As Professor Chhokar and I proceeded with the editing of the remaining chapters, we became even more acutely aware of the complexity of the process of coordinating the effort of chapter authors from highly diverse cultural backgrounds. About this time, Felix Brodbeck offered to participate and help us out in the editing process, an offer that Professor Chhokar and I gratefully accepted. Thereafter, Professors Chhokar and Brodbeck jointly edited the remaining chapters. As with the first four chapters, the remaining chapters also required moderate to substantial revisions as suggested by the reviewers. The outcome of this process is the present book. This book consists of the introductory chapter and the chapter on methodology written by Professor Chhokar and the conclusion chapter written by Professor Brodbeck. Professors Chhokar and Brodbeck did an excellent job of editing the chapters of this book, and putting together the entire manuscript. Felix also undertook the major task of final editing of all the chapters. I was happy to let Professors Chhokar and Brodbeck do all that needed to be done to bring this book to completion.

This book is a product of collective efforts of about 60 scholars from the 25 countries it includes. Most of them have firsthand experience with the GLOBE data-collection process and have participated in many discussions among GLOBE members about development of concepts and methods, and about how to interpret the results found in Phases 1 and 2 of GLOBE.

This book is addressed to both university teachers and researchers, and practicing managers. It provides in-depth understanding of 25 cultures from multiple perspectives and suggestions for further research in each of these cultures. Reading all the chapters together will provide a detailed understanding of the similarities and differences of cultural and leadership practices and values in a broad range of countries across major regions of the world. Managers who are planning to work, or who are already working, in cross-cultural environments (which we believe more and more managers will have to do in the coming years) will find each country chapter to be a source for developing a thorough understanding of the culture and leadership practices of that country. In addition, they will find practical suggestions, based on rigorous research and experience rooted in that country, about how to deal with managers of and situations in that country.

Information contained in this book will also be a valuable resource for senior managers planning to do business with other countries or to set up offices or operations in other countries. Taken together, the comparative study of 62 countries presented in House et al. (2004) and the in-depth reports about each of a sample of 25 countries from the present book, constitute a rich source of information for anyone interested in understanding the culture and leadership of countries and organizations across the world.

Such an undertaking is obviously not possible without the help, cooperation, and contributions of several individuals. I would therefore like to thank everyone who was involved in the preparation of this book. Foremost, I thank all the country chapter authors for the unstinted support and patience in the long process of bringing this book to completion. I also acknowledge the generous support of their institutions for providing the resources and facilities to complete various tasks associated with completing their respective chapters. Kwok Leung very willingly agreed to write the Foreword and we are grateful to him. The reviewers of the various chapters made an invaluable contribution in ensuring the high quality of scholarship and accuracy in the country chapters, and I am grateful to all of them. Contributions of all the participants in the GLOBE program involved in the processes of data collection, analysis, and writing are reflected in this book in several ways and I thank them for all their efforts. On the final stretch, it was Anne Duffy of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates who ensured that every detail came together for publishing the book in its present form, and therefore her contribution is acknowledged with gratitude.

—Robert J. House

REFERENCE

House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. J., Gupta, V. (Eds.), & GLOBE Associates. (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.