Building Cross-Cultural Consensus: Educational Leadership Challenges in a German Sustainability-Focused Institution
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57255/jemast.v5i1.1743Keywords:
Cross-cultural consensus, Educational leadership, Intercultural communication, Multicultural teams, Strategic decision-makingAbstract
While existing cross-cultural management literature is well-established in corporate settings, a research gap remains regarding how senior leaders in international educational organizations navigate strategic consensus-building, and whether standard national-culture frameworks adequately explain these dynamics. Addressing this gap, this qualitative, single-case exploratory study investigates the challenges senior leaders face in building cross-cultural consensus at a sustainability-focused unit of an internationally accredited business school in Germany. Using purposive sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three senior leaders from Germany, Colombia, and Croatia. The interview transcripts were analyzed thematically. Seven interrelated themes emerged: cultural diversity as a strategic asset versus a source requiring individual adjustment; the salience of individual over national-cultural differences; tension between hierarchical control and horizontal aspiration in priority-setting; persistent but manageable language barriers; uneven representation in senior decision-making; resistance to change addressed through incremental dialogue; and trust-building through informal relationship development. A recurring cross-cutting finding was that, within this case, participants perceived individual and organizational factors as more salient than national-cultural differences in shaping strategic consensus-building. This study contributes to cross-cultural educational leadership research by providing empirical evidence that qualifies the explanatory sufficiency of national-culture frameworks when applied to individual senior-leader behavior, while also offering actionable strategies for leading diverse academic teams.
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