The article highlights a research that has been done to find out the difference in leadership styles of the managers in Germany and UK. This article talks about how EFQM modifies the leadership role in an organization and makes it more strategic. This model demands a leader to be more inspirational and proactively participate in organization development and expansion. There are three clauses of EFQM that are relatively close to those enclosed in the literature of Anglo American that are; mission and the vision, management of people and the implementation of change. These aspects were previously considered as the main reason of difference between the organizations of the two countries. This article also sheds light on the concepts of Anglo German and according to this notion German leaders used to pay no heed to strategic planning and were only limited to daily affairs, authoritative approaches, no consideration for team work and absence of interpersonal skills and little tendency to absorb change. The article articulates about a research which was aimed to find out the impact of EFQM adaptation on the organizations operation in the two countries.
The findings explore disparity in what stated as customary practices and minor divergence in what stated as best practices. Three areas were the main focus of the research; to evaluate the overall peculiarity between the organizations in the two countries, peculiarity among organizations based on the acquaintance with the EFQM and differences shown by organizations unfamiliar with the model, and finally how the assessors are different in the two countries. Research draws some fine conclusions and recommendations about how and when the leadership styles should be modified with the upcoming challenges in the business world. Academic concerned communities have been encouraged to enhance cross culture literature study so as to find out more empirical findings about various leadership approaches.
KEY LEARNING POINTS
1. The roles of the leaders are now more complex and strategic with the emerging challenges and turning into a reflection of the EFQM.
2. EFQM and the literature of Anglo American coincide on certain points.
3. The Anglo German concepts depict that leaders and managers in the German organizations are now implementing few changes in their previous rigid style of management.
4. Change or adaption to new setting is the most difficult thing for Germans and they are risk averse, but once they have adopted any change then their execution stage is very thorough not like Britain where the implementation phase is highly incoherent.
5. The research was mainly focused to find out the impact of EFQM on the organizations in UK and Germany and also to compare the difference between the organizations not aware of this model.
6. The research was based on a list of 52 clauses of leadership styles for self appraisal on the basis of which each country’s organizations were evaluated.
7. Responses from the organizations aware of EFQM of both the countries have minor disparity in the leadership practices and their ideas about the best approaches were similar whereas the organizations not aware of this model have shown greater disparity.
8. The overview of the research shows that there are many similarities between the management practices of the two countries and the major differences lie at two points; that are the idea of fineness and the outdoor relationships.
9. German organizations that are aware of EFQM model and those not aware of this model have shown greater disparity compared to their counterparts in UK.
10. Organizations in Germany are now adopting the practices from the literature of Anglo Americans like empowerment of employees, mentoring and ongoing coaching, performance appraisal, rewards and titles of recognition.
11. Research establishes that EFQM has profound impact on the way people interpret and understand concepts of implementing better practices.
12. The assessors from both the countries have shown difference in their responses even though both have acquired the same training.
13. New progressing models of leaderships in both the countries have been discussed; German leaders are turning towards task oriented strategies, giving complete direction to team and stable relations with suppliers, and stakeholders in order to explore better set of opportunities and UK managers are maintaining more personal level interaction with the members of the team so as to delegate them authority to make decisions on their own. The outcomes in both the cases would be proficient enough to achieve the set goals.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
Emirates Group is a world recognized organization of my country and it has successfully expanded its business and considered as one of the market leaders in airline industry. The leadership style of its management is democratic and aspiring, the culture is very supporting and people are allowed to share their ideas and innovative thoughts to improve the services. Stakeholders participate actively in decision making and employees are especially encouraged to share their thoughts. Leaders empower their subordinates and set pace for innovation and change. Their leadership is more like of UK leaders’ style as they welcome feedback from their human capital.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The findings of this research article emphasizes on a very sensitive issue of cross culture management. The results are useful for the organizations in my country as two types of organizations operate; local and MNCs so therefore the managers need to clearly understand the mind set of team made up of people from different cultures and demographics. A manager faces challenges in dealing with various concerns therefore it is impeccable to adopt changes with time rather than implying traditional management. The fundamental and team wining concepts of TQM and EFQM should be infused strategically in order to be successful in today’s market place (Chris, 2007).
LEARNING REFLECTION
The article was a great learning experience and it has certain important strategic points that can be very fruitful for managers and chiefly for those working with a diverse workforce. Nowadays world is squeezing and cultures are merging into each other, diverse workforce is a key potency for organizations and MNCs are especially dealing with employees from different cultures So leaders and managers have broad set of responsibilities than before. There are differences in how team members and leaders in Germany and UK interact with each other. The UK organizations have more decentralized and participatory culture where every member of the team is entitled to provide own viewpoint. Whereas the Germans have more centralized setup and team members seek direction and guidance from their head at each step (Alexander, 2011). The challenge arises for a manager when working with a team of people from different cultures; the role of the manger becomes very crucial because he/she has to keep the team synergy intact while dealing with every member in the style he/she prefers. This concern of the managers become even more responsive if the members of the team are working in virtual system. So it is highly recommended to categorize leadership approaches according to the situation so as to minimize the chances of workplace conflicts.
References
Chris Hakes. (2007). The EFQM Excellence Model for Assessing Organizational Performance: A Management Guide. Netherlands. Van Haren Publishing
Alexander Stimpfle.(2011). The Enabler Criterion "Leadership" of the EFQM Model: Six Companies of the Financial Services Sector in Comparison. GRIN Verlag.
