Research Critique Paper

The purpose of the study was to determine the differences between cultures’ perception and preference towards leaders’ position. The study focused on two main cultures, the Asians and Americans, whereas both of them were the largest economic influencers in the world. The position of a leader, whether it was at the back or in the front, did not merely mean the physical position of the leader, but also meant the associated roles and responsibilities of the leader. Back leader was defined as a leader behind groups, who focused more on monitoring and protecting group members. Front leader was defined as a leader standing in front of the groups, who was more likely to find opportunities for the group, as well as act their wills out to the environment. The study successfully showed the existing differences between cultures. That implied that leaders managing multi-cultural workforce did have to care about how they performed in front of groups and that would make a difference for the perceptions from the followers.
The researchers provided an overview of the available literatures to demonstrate the different views about positions of leaders from the two different cultures, the Americans and the Asians. The review of the researches was detailed, and clearly showed the very different definitions from the two. The study was based on Implicit Leadership Theory where it focused on followers’ set of beliefs towards successful leaders. The researchers also claimed the relationships between power, responsibilities and positions of leaders. However, the explanations were a bit confusing that the relationship between power and physical positions seemed to overwhelm the relationship of positions and followers’ perspectives, which the later was the main question of the study. Then, the researchers explained the two main kinds of powerful leadership, trailblazing and trailing-behind, where the cultures’ focus and preference towards leaders’ responsibilities made the differences. For... [continues]

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