Angela Merkel Leadership

Introduction

In the era of internationalization and globalization, traditional leadership is being challenged with the context of multiculturalism. Leaders who fail to understand the behaviors of members from different cultural backgrounds will find it difficult to value these differences and achieve effectiveness. The capability to relate to and motivate people across gender, race, age, social attitudes and life styles has therefore become the prerequisite for modern leaders (Dubrin, 2007).

This essay aims at appraising leadership under the impact of gender, diversity and multiculturalism through the cases of Angela Merkel - the current chancellor of Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy- the 23rd president of France. On the basis of relevant theories, the essay will get an insight into the characteristics, skills and approaches of the two leaders through issues dealt by them and compare their results with a view to assessing their cross-cultural leadership effectiveness.

Literature review

So far numerous researches about leadership in multicultural context have been carried out to examine the impact of cultural values, gender-based discrimination on leadership effectiveness and how to manage diversity in such environments. Scholars, however, faces great methodological difficulties and have not yet reached an agreement about a perfect interpretation for these variables. Among the most prominent studies are the Hofstede dimensions of culture (1980) and the GLOBE (Global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness) project (House et al., 2004) which identify basic cultural dimensions influencing on leadership such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, future orientation, humane orientation, assertiveness, gender egalitarianism, performance orientation.

When it comes to the context of Europe, it is difficult to identify an ideal European leader as there seems to be no single typically European culture (Koopman, et al., 1999). There are two broad clusters in Europe: North-Western (Germany included) part and South-Eastern (France included) part (Brodbeck, et al., 2000). According to Koopman (1999), the South-Eastern cluster show higher scores on power distance, assertiveness and in-group collectivism whereas the other scores much higher on the future uncertainty avoidance, orientation, institutional collectivism and achievement orientation (based on the GLOBE project). Consequently, the South/East part of Europe highly appreciates leaders with autocratic style, procedural, status consciousness and administrative skills. In the North/West Europe, attributes such as integrity and inspirational capacity are considered as more valuable.

Analysis: Angela Merkel versus Nicolas Sarkozy

1. Leadership style

1.1 Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel (born July 17, 1954) is the first female Chancellor of Germany. She has performed an effective leadership style which helps her stay in power from 2005 until now.

As the first woman to lead a masculine society, Angela Merkel faces strong opposition from her male counterparts who question her charisma as a leader. Merkel, in response, develops a thoughtful and deliberate style with the mixture of restraint, consensus-oriented attitude and steadiness which positively contributes to her image. She simply resists pressures and takes advantage of the media to publicize the debate and to pressure her opponents, allowing a female leader to avoid offending male counterparts while still be able to resolve the conflict.

Germany is known as a multicultural society with large influxes of different ethnic and religious background. Facing the challenge of managing diversity, Merkel clearly states her view of welcoming immigrants but asserts that they need to integrate, learning German and accepting the country's cultural norms. She applies democratic leadership through a strategy of transparency, rationality and predictability and shapes her participative leadership behaviors listening to different policy suggestions, recognizing the situation and seeking a fact-based and logical resolution to the problem (Bernhard, 2007). Hence, Merkel gains the credibility of the majority of her people.

As head of Europe's biggest economy, Merkel plays the key role in the European crisis and the dilemma of Greece. Merkel has showed pragmatism, decisiveness and consistency when dealing with this problem. She is understandably concerned about protecting her own citizens while remaining aware of her commitment to the euro zone (Jena, 2011). Sticking to her clear vision for Europe toward political union, she makes efforts to keep Greece a part of Euro zone but only on condition that Greece conforms to the commitments on austerity policy, deficit reduction and economic restructuring (Matthew, 2012).

1.2 Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy (born 28 January 1955) served as the 23rd President of the French Republic from May 2007 to May 2012.

The first characteristic of Sarkozy's