The challenges of leading ethically in a frame of a multicultural organization

This Master thesis aimed to describe the challenges involved to lead ethically in a multicultural organization. There is a need to take into account these challenges as work environments are becoming more and more culturally diverse due to globalization. Multicultural organizations, from the perspective of this thesis, include having different moral frameworks within the organization, emphasizing the need to study the challenges on how to lead ethically. The research was conducted using the Grounded Theory method. The research was executed by conducting six interviews with leaders, leading culturally diverse teams in different countries, in combination with literature studies on national culture, the GLOBE project and ethical leadership. By analysing the obtained data the challenges of leading ethically in a multicultural organization are many. Challenges are due to miscommunication, both verbal- and non-verbal, cultural differences and, work pressure. However, it is believed by the interviewees that these challenges can be overcome by always being respectful and provide explanations that emphasize why certain decisions or changes are made and, to explain why things are communicated in a certain way