Inter-American Leadership and Followership Differences: Latin America Versus “El Norte”

This chapter compares Latin America and the United States (“El Norte”) in terms of several cultural dimensions that impact the organizational behavior of their leaders and followers in different social contexts. The dimensions compared are power orientation, organizational structure, decision-making, self-leadership, social orientation, group inclination, family ties, relationships and rules, communicational style, assignation of status, locus of control, conflict management, handling confrontation, provision of negative feedback, level of social trust, type of trust, level of affectivity, and proclivity to indulge. In spite of the shared Western heritage of both regions, leaders and followers in Latin America and “El Norte” greatly differ in the first 16 variables listed above and show similarities in the last two variables. Although both regions are part of the cultural West, the history of the divide between Southern and Northern Europe, their colonial heritage, and their own postcolonial social evolution shaped their respective cultures in unique ways, which resulted in the differences and similarities discussed here. These cultural variations translate into marked inter-American contrasts in leadership/followership styles.