195 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
J.L. Wildman, R.L. Griffith (eds.), Leading Global Teams,
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-2050-1_9
Chapter 9
Alternate Views of Global Leadership:
Applying Global Leadership Perspectives
to Leading Global Teams
Benjamin Biermeier-Hanson, Mengqiao Liu, and Marcus W. Dickson
While it is likely not a surprise to many readers of this chapter, the last two decades
have seen a steady increase in recognizing the importance of taking a global perspec-
tive in examining organizational behavior. The idea of adopting a global mind-set,
particularly in the area of leadership, has taken a firm hold in our cultural zeitgeist.
A recent search using the term “global leadership” on the media giant Amazon.com
came up over 12,200 results. Similarly, an identical search on PsycInfo came up
with over 1,600 results. Given the variety of terms that have been applied to this
field of study, it is likely that these results do not begin to encompass all the existing
literature. Business schools, executive training programs, and best-selling books all
recognize the importance of globalization, and focus on developing and teaching a
global mind-set, which is viewed as critical for success in our increasingly “flat”
world (e.g., Freidman, 1999, 2005; Javidan, Steers, & Hitt, 2007; Mendenhall,
Osland, Bird, Oddou, & Maznevski, 2008; Thunderbird, 2008).
This global mind-set has been defined as the ability to utilize and interpret criteria
and performance across a wide array of cross-cultural contexts (Gupta &
Govindarajan, 2002). The clear theme that emerges from these diverse perspectives
is that the importance of the global mind-set is here to stay, both for scientists and
practitioners of Organizational Behavior or Industrial–Organizational psychology.
In other words, it is clear that the industrialized world is not becoming more isola-
tionist. Rather, advances in technology and increased competition in the global
market continue to drive the need for an increased understanding of organizational
behavior in a global context.
One of the major biases inherent in much of the organizational behavior literature
is the Western-centric focus of the theoretical frameworks that we use to describe
and prescribe behavior for both leaders and teams. While the study of leadership,
B. Biermeier-Hanson (*) • M. Liu • M.W. Dickson, Ph.D.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Wayne State University,
5057 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
e-mail: b.biermeier@wayne.edu; mengqiao.liu@wayne.edu; marcus.dickson@wayne.edu
© Wildman, Jessica L.; Griffith, Richard, Nov 10, 2014, Leading Global Teams : Translating Multidisciplinary Science to Pr
Springer New York, New York, NY, ISBN: 9781493920501