A Grounded Theory of Leadership and Followership in Multicultural Teams in SIL

There is a growing need to understand what effective multicultural leadership and followership look like in a faith-based, nonprofit, international organization where communication is mostly conducted through electronic means. Very little research has been done on this subject. The purpose of this grounded theory study is to understand and describe what leaders and followers want leadership and followership to look like in this kind of setting. Data for this study were gathered largely through interviews with ten leaders and sixty-five followers working in SIL International and its partner organizations. Study participants originated from twenty-one countries, and, at the time of the study, were based in ten countries. The core elements of desired qualities of leadership and followership emerged through the analysis of these semi-structured interviews. This study proposes a substantive theory about the perception of leadership and followership: Both followers and leaders in SIL, where computer-aided communication is the most frequently used communication platform, perceive that effective leadership and effective followership derive from specific and identifiable relational qualities, task-oriented competencies, character-related qualities, spiritual qualities, cultural intelligence, and the way communication by computer is used and understood. Strengths and drawbacks of communication methods impact the relationship between leaders and followers.

EunSun Sunny Hong was born in South Korea and immigrated to America in 1983. When she came she was exposed to a different culture for the first time. Her understanding of culture expanded more when she joined Wycliffe/SIL in 1994. She has published several missiological articles through EMS, EMQ, and William Carey University's online Journal. She currently teaches at GIAL (Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistic) in Dallas, TX and works as an intercultural consultant at SIL International. Her Ph.D. work is an outcome of her bicultural background and rich experiences in working with many different cultures with Wycliffe and SIL.