Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership by Sherwood G. Lingenfelter

Author:Sherwood G. Lingenfelter
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2008-11-30T23:00:00+00:00

7

Trustworthy Leadership

Divided and Discontented: A Case Study

A small team of four (two Thais, an American, and a Canadian) work together to alleviate poverty in an arid, hilly area of Southeast Asia. Tawat’s father is a high-ranking general from the elite of Thailand. During his university days, Tawat met a Christian exchange student who shared the gospel with him, and through his witness, Tawat converted to Christ. Eight years ago, Tawat joined the team and has been a faithful and loyal team member, yet the value he places on hierarchy has created significant tensions for the North Americans on the team. The expatriate team leader, Brian, has expressed frustration that Tawat has continually vetoed the acceptance of new Thai members onto the team. Tawat, in contrast, finds Brian very naive: “Brian thinks that just any Thai can join this team. If we aren’t careful, they will want to have equal decision-making power with us, who have been together for a long time, and that’s not right, because they don’t know anything yet. My leader needs to learn wisdom and act more slowly.”

In Thailand there is a sharp dichotomy between those of high rank, who have power, and those of inferior status, who do not. The power distance between Thais has led to repeated conflict over decision making on this team. The conflict has grown so tense that one or another member of the team often cancels or postpones the weekly meetings. The discontented partners say that the team meetings are too long, and both sides have become entrenched in their position as they argue.

The team leader, Brian, has confided that while he is fond of his team members, he is so frustrated at their unwillingness to compromise that he often acts unilaterally. He has given several examples of situations where he had secretly carried out ministry activities in ways that were contrary to the ideals of his teammates. The clashing values between team members has led to stagnation, secrecy, and failure to achieve their goals (adapted from Dierck 2007, 126–27).

Power Distance and Conflicts about Decision Making

The D-Team case study represents all the things that one should not do when leading cross-culturally. As we look at the details of the case, it is clear that the focus of this team is project—not covenant community—teamwork. The participants are dysfunctional as a team, and because they cannot make decisions or work together, they also have had marginal success at creating income-generating projects.

Brian has not addressed the cultural differences among team members or given priority to forming covenant relationships within D-Team. It is clear that the senior Thai member on the team has blocked Brian from recruiting new members and has used his own personal default culture as the guiding framework for his relationships with the other team members. He has rejected the team leader’s culture, does not see value in the team leader’s objectives, and does not support decisions contrary to his preference or interest.

Reflecting on the perspective of Robert Banks and Bernice Ledbetter

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.