Alon Lisak

... Chicago: Nelson-Hall. View all references; Ben-Amos & Bar-Tal, 20046. Ben-Amos, A. and Bar-Tal, D. 2004. Patriotism–We love you, our country , Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad & Dyonon (in Hebrew). View all references; Gal, 199918. Gal, R. 1999. ...

This study returns to the question that occupied “trait approach ” scholars in the early days of leadership research: identification of the major capacities required for leader-ship. The conceptual and methodological progress that has been made in psychology since the trait approach enables us to formulate models and deal with variables that did not exist in the early days of leadership research. We argue that three types of psy-chological capacities are essential for leadership: (a) self confidence, expressed and measured by three variables—internal locus of control, low level of trait anxiety, and self-efficacy; (b) proactive orientation, expressed by optimism; and (c) capacities re-quired for prosocial relationships, expressed by secure attachment styles. A series of questionnaires was administered to 402 soldiers from Infantry and Ar-mored corps who were nearing the end of 3 months ’ basic training. A sociometric questionnaire examining the peers ’ and commanders ’ evaluations o...

This study contributes to the empirical research on leadership of multicultural teams from the Positive Organizational Scholarship perspective (POS). Following the information/decision-making processes perspective on team cultural diversity, we examined the positive effect of leaders' global identity, on multicultural team innovation. We proposed that R&D, multicultural team leaders with high global identity foster team-shared innovation goals and motivate team members to adopt communication inclusion behavior, making sure that they all understand each other. Furthermore, we propose that the effect of fostering team shared innovation goals on communication inclusion will be stronger for teams with perceived high, rather than low, cultural diversity and that team communication inclusion will positively affect team innovation. Participants were 574 R&D multicultural team members, their leaders, and their leaders' managers in 82 co-located teams in a Chinese branch of a large, German global organization. Using SEM analysis, our findings supported our research model, demonstrating that multicultural team leaders with high global identity leveraged cultural diversity to promote innovative goals, which further enhanced team communication inclusion and its positive impact on team innovation. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications to the POS perspective on cultural diversity.

This study contributes to the empirical research on leadership of multicultural teams from the Positive Organizational Scholarship perspective (POS). Following the information/decision-making processes perspective on team cultural diversity, we examined the positive effect of leaders' global identity, on multicultural team innovation. We proposed that R&D, multicultural team leaders with high global identity foster team-shared innovation goals and motivate team members to adopt communication inclusion behavior, making sure that they all understand each other. Furthermore, we propose that the effect of fostering team shared innovation goals on communication inclusion will be stronger for teams with perceived high, rather than low, cultural diversity and that team communication inclusion will positively affect team innovation. Participants were 574 R&D multicultural team members, their leaders, and their leaders' managers in 82 co-located teams in a Chinese branch of a large, German global organization. Using SEM analysis, our findings supported our research model, demonstrating that multicultural team leaders with high global identity leveraged cultural diversity to promote innovative goals, which further enhanced team communication inclusion and its positive impact on team innovation. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications to the POS perspective on cultural diversity.

Taking a constructivist, collaborative experiential learning approach to education and training of global managers, we designed an on-line, 4-week virtual multicultural team project and tested its effect on the development of management students’ cultural intelligence, global identity, and local identity. The total sample of 1221 graduate management students, assigned to 312 virtual multicultural teams, consisted of four cohorts, each participating in one 4-week project; one project was conducted every year between 2008 and 2011. All projects were designed in the same way, according to principles of collaborative experiential learning, and offered a psychologically safe learning environment that enabled trust building. Data on cultural intelligence, global identity, and local identity were collected by way of web-based questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the project, as well as 6 months later. Team trust was assessed in the middle of the project. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that cultural intelligence and global identity, but not local identity, significantly increased over time and that this effect lasted for 6 months after the project had ended. Trust as a team level factor moderated the project’s effect on team members’ cultural intelligence and global identity, with significant effects under moderate to high rather than low levels of trust.

Purpose – Using social categorization perspective, this study explores the effect of global identity, perceived proximity and team interdependence on relational conflict in multicultural distributed teams.
Design/methodology/approach – Participants were 317 MBA students in 83 multicultural distributed project teams. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap methods were used to test the study model.
Findings – The results demonstrate that the indirect effect of global identity on relational conflict, through the pathway of perceived proximity, is moderated by team interdependence. More specifically, global identity leads to higher perceived proximity and lower relational conflict levels under low, rather than high, interdependence levels.
Research limitations/implications – The particular study context (multicultural distributed MBA student project teams) may limit the extent of the generalization of the findings.
Practical implications – The findings presented here can help practitioners in global organizations to defuse relational conflicts in multicultural distributed teams by embracing a global cultural approach and relying on shared global identity in team building, personnel selection and development. Additionally, managers should be conscientious when they use the practice of facilitating interdependence between team members and assess the need for other interventions.
Originality/value – This study advances multicultural distributed team research by highlighting the role of global identity in reducing relational conflict, identifying the mediation mechanism of perceived proximity, and the boundary conditions of team interdependence levels under which this attenuation effect prevails.

Keywords Multicultural distributed teams, Global identity, Social categorization, Cross cultural conflict, Social identity, Team interdependence

Today’s globalized environment exposes people to culture mixing—mixing of iconic symbols of different cultures in the same space at the same time. Findings on individuals’ exposure to culture mixing provide evidence for both exclusionary and inclusionary responses. In this article, we focus on the growing phenomenon of culture mixing of global and local symbols and artifacts. We generate a conceptual model to identify who is likely to respond in what way to the mixed cultural environment and why. To answer these questions, we build on the global acculturation model, which aims to explain individuals’ adaptation to the global environment by considering the relative strength of their local and global identities. We extend this model by considering not only the two entities’ relative strength but also their balance—the degree of symmetry between the identities’ strength. We propose that individuals with dominant (unbalanced) identity types (global or local) will exhibit negative and exclusionary responses to culture mixing, whereas individuals with balanced identity types (glocal or marginal) will exhibit positive and inclusionary responses to culture mixing. We also incorporate the concept of bicultural identity integration (BII) to suggest that individuals with high identification with both cultures (glocals) and with high BII will exhibit more inclusive responses than glocals with low BII. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.