Communication competence among leaders – a cultural comparison

• Mike Myatt, leadership advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs and a Forbes columnist, wrote: “It is simply impossible to become a great leader without being a great communicator.” So what does it mean to be a great communicator? What specific communication competences are leaders expected to have and how do they relate to culture? Are the needs and demands universal or culture specific? The communication competence tradition has been around for decades and a lot of focus has been directed towards intercultural competence, but very few have studied communication competence among leaders. The purpose of such investigation is to find out which communication competences a leader is expected to have based on a multicultural group of participants. To achieve the aim of the study a questionnaire was used and distributed to 301 participants from a variety of cultures. On the questionnaire the participants were asked to assess 29 statements on a Likert-scale (1-7) about leader communication competence and agree (1) or disagree (7). The data was analyzed statistically with t-tests. In the analysis the participants were grouped based on cultural similarity (e.g. participants from high context cultures together) and compared with other groups. The top five ranked competences in general are: 1.Clear oral communication 2. Clear instructions 3. Effectiveness 4. Appropriateness 5. Listening (being an attentive, mindful listener that gives feedback) There are no significant differences between cultural groups when it comes to clear oral communication or effectiveness. These are truly the main communication competences that leaders around the world are expected to have. The importance of clear instructions, appropriateness, listening and several other competences differ when comparing some cultural groups. The outcome and meaning of this result, particularly what clarity and effectiveness mean from a cultural point of view, can be discussed.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Communication Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Kulturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Cultural Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Leadership

Communication competence

Culture

Clear communication

Fidelity

Effectiveness

Appropriateness

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