Paper short abstract:

This paper will critically examine the organizational cultures of CSOs and explore implications for leadership effectiveness for today's global challenges. Through sharing current cases & literature on critical leadership studies, a set of practical actions will be proposed for CSO implementation.

Paper long abstract:

With significant change and turbulence impacting organizational life across the globe, it's critical to note the importance of leaders recognizing and effectively managing culture in workplaces (Collinson & Tourish, 2015). With a growing frequency of global challenges requiring different approaches to our work, this unique environment invites us to deeper examination of the often underrecognized organizational dynamics at play. From competing values to managing change, a new cultural mandate is far-reaching for leaders to consider across civil society.

Organizational culture, according to Schein (2010), comprises "the basic tacit assumptions about how the world is and ought to be that a group of people share and that determines their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and their overt behavior." At the heart of these cultural elements, it is impossible to ignore competing values throughout CSO networks. Through a myriad of norms on power and constructions of place across borders of nations and groups, this reality is present in our complex world of organizations.

Alvesson and Spicer (2014) suggest that organizational culture should be studied reflexively and "examine the patterns of power and domination associated with leadership and...broader ideological and institutional conditions." How can CSOs best navigate different perspectives and values in a growing system of global actors? Which ideological and institutional conditions impact leadership effectiveness, especially across the North-South divide? These and other critical questions will be explored as contributing realities in these CSOs positioned at the heart of responding to our world's most pressing problems.