Influence of National Culture on Leadership in Business Management in Business Organisations in India

This paper investigates the influence of national culture on the aspect of leadership in business management in business organisations in India. The current level of globalisation is very high in the existing business scenario, due to which interactions between people from different nations and from different cultural backgrounds for business purposes is happening at a high rate. People from different nations carry the cultural perceptions and beliefs of that nation and construe different meanings to the same situation. Thus the understanding of the cultural norms & practices of different nations can be helpful in understanding why a person behaves in a given situation. Also, the development of the skill of cultural intelligence can be a valuable asset and those managers which posses this skill can be more successful and obtain better results in business dealings. The cultural variables as propounded by the seminal author Hofstede, namely power distance, individualism & collectivism, masculinity & feminity, and uncertainty avoidance, were used in this research. As per the previously done research by the seminal author Hofstede, India was ranked high in the power distance index, moderate in the individualism index, moderate in the masculinity index, and low in the uncertainty avoidance index. The findings have indicated the power distance in India is lower than what has been previously found out. Also, the cultural variable of masculinity & feminity has been found to be leaning more towards feminity rather than masculinity which is again opposed to the results as previously propounded. The findings have corroborated with the results as obtained by previous research regarding the cultural variables of individualism & collectivism and uncertainty avoidance, that individualism & collectivism is moderate and uncertainty avoidance is low in India. The findings have led to the conclusions that, currently in India, the leaders in business organisations cannot impose themselves on the subordinates and expect unquestioning obedience. The leaders have to be understanding and have to view the subordinates as a valuable part of the management team in a business organisation. Also the findings have indicated that the personnel in leadership positions in business organisations in India, are coming in contact with people of different nations, and not all, but some of the business organisations are providing training on cultural awareness & intelligence to its personnel.