ISSN : 1997-1052 (Print)
2227-202X (Online)
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Leadership and Culture: Application of a Western Leadership Theory in the Organizations of Bangladesh
Saber Ahmed Chowdhury
Abstract

Leadership is an important feature of everyday and organizational affairs. Since 1950s, the body of theoretical and empirical studies of question of organization and culture in developing countries has grown considerably. These studies have confirmed the significance of national and organizational culture to explanations of organizational performance in such settings (Blunt, 1991 cited in Blunt & Jones,   1997: 7). Cross-cultural research emphasizes that different cultural groups likely have different conceptions of what leadership should entail. There is a continuing debate as to how best to conceptualize the process of leadership. What should be the cultural characteristics of an effective leadership style? Is he someone who follows the same cultural attributes of the society in which the organization belongs to or he is someone who is practicing a new leadership approach developed in and requires different type of cultural attributes? We should take culture into account when we are going to apply any leadership theory develops in different socio-economic or cultural background. In this respect I will try to critically discuss the possibility of applying the transformational leadership theory in Bangladesh. This article is guided by two hypotheses. First, the transformational leadership theory is not possible to apply in organizations of Bangladesh on the basis of the cultural features of the country. Second, the cultural features of the country direct to hierarchical organizational set up and encourage more personal power of the leaders.

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