Book Review: Jean Lau Chin & Joseph E. Trimble,Diversity and Leadership

Birds of different colours soaring together and converging at their destination without changing their colour depicted on the cover of the book portray ‘respect’. Respect for culture, value, custom and diversity. Clearly, there is a call to ‘bid farewell to the alpha male leadership style’. Adaptability, integrity and authenticity are preferred over aggressive and dominant leadership styles. Technology and globalization have induced diversity into our everyday life; hence, ignoring them anymore would be like putting brakes on our very civilization.

Both Chin and Trimble are eminent scholars in the field of leadership, diversity and psychology, and have many books and widely cited papers to their credit. This book is their latest addition to the field of leadership and diversity. The purpose of this book is to bridge the knowledge gap in the field of leadership inclusiveness and diversity. The intended users of this book could be students, leaders and potential leaders who have interest in management, diversity and leadership and are exploring ways to lead a diverse workforce. This book promotes awareness and training of diverse leaders to be effective in the changing times. There are multiple dimensions of diversity; this book is primarily focused on race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.

The first two chapters of the book introduce the concept of diversity and multiculturalism into the study of leadership. The context is largely North American and Euro-American norms along with a minority and international groups’ perspective. Omission of diversity from the leadership literature throws light on the fact that ‘textbooks on leadership typically discuss models of leadership as a universal phenomenon without reference to diversity’. Women and minority groups are always referred to as exceptions than rule. These chapters delve deep into the characteristics of modern leadership and dimensions of diversity.

The third chapter emphasizes on grounded research theory; the authors motivate us to reflect on our research strategy by asking ‘are we doing research by the lamppost because that is where the light is?’ Diversity being a new challenge faced by the world today requires a different perspective of study in order to make a positive contribution to the field. The authors also promote the Daoist leadership model, promoting different world views and cultural values which emphasize on the exertion of minimum influence on the lives of the followers and employing soft tactics, such as persuasion, empowerment, modelling, teamwork, collaboration and services.

The next four chapters focus on identity, style, organizational context and societal context of leader, and push us to contemplate the kind of leader we want to be and the kind of leader we are willing to follow. Unlike traits, the authors suggest that leadership identities are developing and evolving and are often shaped by the perception of team members. Measuring organizational culture and assess- ing organizational fit between leaders and organizations is of paramount importance in order to achieve balance. Different types of leadership styles help us understand and recognize the merits and demerits of each, and also help us understand how diversity plays an important role in the evolution of leadership styles.

The last three chapters are vital for researchers and practitioners alike. Here, the authors have brought out well-devised frameworks for application of training culturally competent diverse leaders and organizations and developing a paradigm of diversity leadership in context of twenty-first century. Diverse leader–member–organizational exchange (DLMOX) paradigm offers the framework for shared responsibility of leadership, ethics, culture, inclusion, change, social responsibility and capacity building. Expanding the DLMOX paradigm for diversity leadership, the authors have provided a road map for the creation of an inclusive and culturally competent organization.

Some of the key features of this book also include the qualitative and quantitative data and discussion questions provided at the end of the chapters to promote better understanding of the issues for further study.

The uniqueness of this book lies in the fact that there was no book in the field linking both diversity and leadership; hence, this book is of great relevance for many diverse leaders who are growing in numbers. Moreover, there is a greater understanding of different factors influencing the existence of future leadership.

Also by bringing together two domains of research, research on leadership and research on diversity, the authors have successfully challenged the existing norms of leadership and paved way for a new diverse and global society and its institutions. This will also help in making the current leadership theories robust by adding the diversity angle to it.

This book is the torchbearer that brings in immense value to the field of study. The in-depth research presented in this book makes it stand out from all other books on the given subject.