Cultural factor affecting leadership
A Colombian salesperson is highly influenced by the society where he/ she lives, and based on the Hofstede analysis, the Colombian people have a lower individualism, which means that the people is very collectivist, and for this reason loyalty and long term commitment are very important values for strong relations. Analyzing power distance, it is a little bit high and it means that the society is hierarchy oriented, exist an inequality in terms of power and in terms of wealth.
Relating these two factors high collectivism and high power distance, is possible to conclude that leadership characteristics in a Colombian sales person could be hampered by the high power distance factor; because she/he accept to obey orders from their superior and do exactly what their boss says to do, it means they have a strong dependence on them. This is way it is more like a “trickle down” process and is very difficult to be viceverza, based on the hierarchy pattern of this society, and also is important to highlight the high uncertainty avoidance Colombian people have, because they attached to rules, and they don’t like to take risks, in this case for example do things different from what was assigned.
Organizational Commitment
The Colombian sales personnel tend to follow rules give from their superior because they think, that in that way their job will be more “secure” in the organization, and thus they can continue working there. Is very important to highlight that due to the economical environment Colombia has (unemployment 14,6%) [1], the employees are more willing to keep working there, even if they don’t really want it. Talking about affective commitment, as Colombian society is very collectivistic the employees tend to be more loyal with their group, in this case the organization so they will accept the beliefs and values it has.