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Contemporary Leadership in the Context of Multiculturalism — Challenges for Human Resource Management ` Dr. Agnieszka Knap-Stefaniuk » Jesuit University Ignatianum, Institute of Political and Administrative Sciences, ul. Kopernika 26, 31-501 Cracow, Poland; email:
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` Dr. Łukasz Burkiewicz » Jesuit University Ignatianum, Institute of Cultural Studies, ul. Kopernika 26, 31-501 Cracow, Poland; email:
[email protected]
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1. Introduction Functioning in increasingly turbulent and changing environments of the 21st century exerts a great impact on the perception of employees, managers and solutions in the area of human resource management. It should be emphasised that human resource management in contemporary organizations is a complicated process, predominantly in multicultural environments. Employees’ knowledge, skills, engagement and loyalty are today especially important for the success of an organization. Growing competitiveness and innovativeness increase the role of efficient leadership, particularly in multicultural organizations. Leaders’ attitudes and behaviours directly influence performance, efficiency, flexibility and high adaptability of an organization, employees’ openness to changes and new challenges, and, additionally, in a multicultural environment, promote such significant values as respect, tolerance and understanding of different cultures. The leaders’ competences determine whether and to what extent the awareness of differences between cultures of employees coming from different countries will lead to misunderstandings and con-
flicts (Kapela, 2012) or to generating new knowledge and innovation and creating an environment where talents thrive and the value of human capital grows (Simpson, 2008). The authors of the paper would like to stress that leadership is one of the key challenges in human resource management in a multicultural environment. The tasks awaiting leaders in the 21st century include: devising a vision of the future that is acceptable for all employees, inspiring them to undertake common effective work, overcoming cultural barriers, developing positive relations within multicultural teams, and appreciating the role of cultural diversity. Modern leaders of the future are, first of all, teachers supporting the development of an organization and its employees through their attitudes, behaviours and engagement (Mrówka, 2009). Moreover, in the era of globalization, when contemporary organizations commonly operate in international markets, such leaders understand that diversity characterising multicultural environments offers a more flexible approach useful in adjusting to changes and reacting to new challenges (Jankowska-Mihułowicz, 2011).
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