Selecting International Executives: A Suggested Framework and Annotated Bibliography (Report (Center for Creative Leadership), No. 345.)

Manuel London Valerie I. Sessa

SELECTING

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVES A SUGGESTED FRAMEWORK AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

CENTER FOR CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

SELECTING

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVES A SUGGESTED FRAMEWORK AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

SELECTING

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVES A SUGGESTED FRAMEWORK AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manuel London Valerie I. Sessa

Center for Creative Leadership Greensboro, North Carolina

The Center for Creative Leadership is an international, nonprofit educational institution founded in 1970 to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. As a part of this mission, it publishes books and reports that aim to contribute to a general process of inquiry and understanding in which ideas related to leadership are raised, exchanged, and evaluated. The ideas presented in its publications are those of the author or authors. The Center thanks you for supporting its work through the purchase of this volume. If you have comments, suggestions, or questions about any CCL Press publication, please contact the Director of Publications at the address given below. Center for Creative Leadership Post Office Box 26300 Greensboro, North Carolina 27438-6300 Telephone 336-288-7210 • www.ccl.org/publications

©1999 Center for Creative Leadership All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. CCL No. 345 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data London, Manuel Selecting international executives : a suggested framework and annotated bibliography / Manuel London, Valerie I. Sessa p. cm. Includes indexes. ISBN 1-932973-45-1 1. Executives—Selection and appointment bibliography. 2. Executive ability. I. Sessa, Valerie I. II. Title. Z7164.C81S4538 1999 [HF5549.5.S38] 016.6584'07112—dc21 99-38115 CIP

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Table of Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 A Cultural Lens Framework .................................................................................... 3 Cultural Lens ........................................................................................................ 6 Cultural Context ................................................................................................... 8 Organizational Needs Assessment ................................................................. 8 Global Position Requirements ....................................................................... 9 Global Candidate Requirements .................................................................. 10 Decision Input and Process .......................................................................... 13 Decision Outcome........................................................................................ 14 Annotated Bibliography .......................................................................................... 15 Cultural Lens ...................................................................................................... 16 What Is a Global Organization? ................................................................... 16 How Is Cultural Lens Defined? ................................................................... 18 Cultural Context ................................................................................................. 19 Cultural Patterns of Managerial Success ..................................................... 20 How Cultural Values Influence Managerial Behavior ................................ 20 How Cultural Values Influence Career Behavior ........................................ 28 Developing International Executives ........................................................... 30 Global Position Requirements ............................................................................ 34 Skill Requirements for Successful Global Executives ................................ 34 Cultural Sensitivity ...................................................................................... 37 Global Candidate Requirements ......................................................................... 37 Decision Input and Process ................................................................................. 43 Criteria for Selection .................................................................................... 44 Corporate Selection Policies ........................................................................ 46 Group Decisions .......................................................................................... 51 Transnational Teams .................................................................................... 51 Defining Heterogeneity and Group Identity ................................................ 58 References ................................................................................................................ 61 Suggested Reading ................................................................................................... 64 Appendix A: Thinking about Global Executive Selection ................................... 67

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Appendix B: Research Ideas and Hypotheses ....................................................... 69 Appendix C: Cultural Influences on Managerial Career Development ............. 71 Appendix D: Examples of International Development Programs ...................... 76 Author Index ............................................................................................................ 79 Title Index ................................................................................................................ 81

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Preface The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has been interested in executive selection since its inception in 1970. A formal program of study, begun in the mid-1990s, aims to improve the quality of leadership in organizations by discovering and disseminating information about executive selection. It addresses the needs and challenges of decision-makers charged with placing executives into the top three levels of an organization (CEO and two levels down). The body of CCL’s knowledge about executive selection is defined by six previously published reports: Executive Selection: A Look at What We Know and What We Need to Know (David DeVries, 1993); CEO Selection: A Street-Smart Review (George Hollenbeck, 1994); The Realities of Management Promotion (Marian Ruderman and Patricia Ohlott, 1994); Selection at the Top: An Annotated Bibliography (Valerie Sessa and Richard Campbell, 1997); Executive Selection: A Research Report on What Works and What Doesn’t (Valerie Sessa, Robert Kaiser, Jodi Taylor, and Richard Campbell, 1998); and Choosing Executives: A Research Report on the Peak Selection Simulation (Jennifer Deal, Valerie Sessa, and Jodi Taylor, 1999). CCL also developed the Peak Selection Simulation (PSS), which was designed as a research tool and as a means to enable individual and team decision-makers to make better choices in selecting executives for top positions. This background of research and practice notwithstanding, CCL found it needed to deliver more information. Executives participating in CCL’s programs and simulations were asking for knowledge that addressed the global structures of modern organizations. Within these companies, decisionmaking teams are international in scope and design; selection choices are being made by and about executives who are very different from one another. To guide our search for answers, we turned to a burgeoning body of research being conducted within CCL that addresses global issues and which is disseminated in the following publications: Managing Across Cultures: A Learning Framework (Meena Wilson, Michael Hoppe, and Leonard Sayles, 1996); A Look at Derailment Today: North America and Europe (Jean Leslie and Ellen Van Velsor, 1998); A Cross-National Comparison of Effective Leadership and Teamwork: Toward a Global Workforce (Leslie & Van Velsor, 1998); and International Success: Selecting, Developing, and Supporting Expatriate Managers (Meena Wilson and Maxine Dalton, 1998). After considering the work that had been done in these areas (executive selection and global organizations) we decided that what was needed was a

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current overview of what both groups know about global executive selection. This report is the result of that effort. We are indebted to CCL for making this report possible. In particular, we thank the late Richard J. Campbell, senior research scientist, for his vision in bringing these two programs of research together.

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Introduction In the drive to remain competitive in a business world that in many respects has moved beyond borders, companies are seeking top executives who possess international perspectives born of multicultural backgrounds and extensive overseas experience. As a result of those executive searches the number and influence of non-U.S. executives among multinational companies, especially companies based in the United States, is growing rapidly (Ettore, 1997). Organizations looking to establish and maintain a proactive global presence have selection requirements that not only incorporate traditional leadership skills but also include cross-cultural experience in negotiating, developing, and maintaining partnerships with other businesses worldwide. But because the globalization of organizations is relatively new, little is known about how to identify and select executives who have the skills to operate effectively in a global environment. The purpose of this report is to summarize the most current information about the skills needed to successfully lead a global organization, and to define a framework for identifying executives who possess those skills. The report is a primer of sorts for practitioners and human resources professionals, providing current knowledge about identifying and selecting global managers. That information is presented in several different ways. First, in “A Cultural Lens Framework,” we offer a perspective on global executive selection that illustrates how culture must be taken into account in determining and assessing job requirements, executive characteristics, and the selection process itself. The cultural lens framework provides a way to understand the unique aspects of selecting global executives, as compared with selecting executives within a single culture. In the “Annotated Bibliography” section, we report the most current and salient literature on global executive selection. The annotations are intended to help executives and human resources professionals locate key references in this area. Although little has been written on the specific topic of global executive selection, the thirty-nine annotations collected here reflect readings from a variety of sources identified from library database searches and from recommendations from colleagues. We have organized the annotations according to the themes developed in our cultural lens framework. Finally, in four appendices to this report, we explore the ideas, theories, and questions that revolve around and inform the notion of international executive selection, and present case studies of how executive development

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(and, by extrapolation, executive selection) plays out in four different cultures (Germany, England, Spain, and Singapore). We also report how two international companies have developed programs that help executives prepare for success in the new global environment. These studies, cultural and organizational, provide context and experience about selection and establish a baseline of practical data on how global executives actually work and how organizations confront the challenges of global selection. This report is for managers and executives inside international corporations who are directly or indirectly involved in filling executive vacancies, human resources professionals who design or facilitate selection processes, and search-firm professionals who are asked to find the “perfect” global leader. It is also for managers and human resources professionals who want to know more about requirements for global executive positions to enhance their own development and learning or to support the management development of others in the organization. In addition, researchers studying cross-cultural dynamics in career and organizational development will find the report beneficial.

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A Cultural Lens Framework Previous research at CCL has demonstrated that executive selection is a subjective, risky process even when only one culture is involved (Sessa & Campbell, 1997; Sessa, Kaiser, Taylor, & Campbell, 1998). When one considers how the globalization of today’s organizations adds additional cultural dimensions, the executive selection process becomes even more complicated and risky. In this section, we expand upon our original executive selection framework (see Figure 1 on page 4; for an in-depth understanding of this framework, refer to Sessa et al., 1998). This expansion (see Figure 1a on page 5) shows the factors that must be taken into account when executive selection takes place in a global context; that is, when either or both the decisionmakers and the candidates come from different countries and cultures. We provide here only a brief description of these factors. Additional background on the thinking that led to our global executive selection framework can be found in Appendix A; the research ideas and hypotheses derived from our investigations can be found in Appendix B. The purpose of this framework is to provide, as part of our consideration of international executive selection, a structure for identifying and evaluating the issues underlying this kind of selection. The framework can also help to build a simulation of such decisions so that managers can consider selection issues as a developmental experience. For instance, as part of its Leadership at the Peak program for executives, CCL operates a computer simulation called the Peak Selection Simulation. This simulation presents realistic information about candidates and asks the decision-makers to evaluate the candidates and make recommendations. Our global executive selection framework could be used to design a similar simulation, taking into account the cultural dynamics of the job vacancy, candidates, and decision-makers. Additionally, the framework can be used to identify and measure characteristics of decision-makers and to study decision behavior of individuals and groups from different cultures. To begin the discussion of this cultural lens framework, let’s first define culture. Culture has been defined in a variety of ways, including shared constraints that limit behavior (Poortinga, 1992); shared values reflected in preferences for certain behaviors, attitudes, and practices (Wilson, Hoppe, & Sayles, 1996; see annotation on p. 18); and cultural differences in management styles (Bauer & Bertin-Mourot, 1992; Garrison, 1994; Trouve, 1994 [see annotation on p. 20]).

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Figure 1. Executive Selection Framework

➞

Organizational Needs Assessment

➞ Position Requirements

➞ Candidate Requirements

➞

Candidate Pools

➞

➞ Matching Process

Managing the Executive

• Decision-makers • Candidate information

➞ Performance

➞

➞

Outcomes

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A Cultural Lens Framework

Figure 1a. Global Selection Process

CULTURAL LENS • Dominant culture • Sharpness of focus • Contrast between cultures

Organizational Needs Assessment

➤

Global Position Requirements

➤

Global Candidate Requirements

➤ ➤

Matching Process • Decision-makers • Candidate information

➤

CULTURAL CONTEXT

Outcome

Candidate Pools

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Looking at Figure 1a sequentially from the top, one can see how the framework is meant to be understood. The “cultural lens” category incorporates the cultures that create the glass through which one views the global selection process. Through this lens (the clarity of cultural distinctions and the contrast between the dominant and other cultures) one assesses organizational needs, determines global position requirements, and defines the requirements for executive success. These requirements determine the desired candidate characteristics. At this point, the importance of the candidate pool becomes primary as the selection process moves toward an outcome. As we describe each of these components below in detail, the reader may find it helpful to follow along with Figure 1a. Cultural Lens The cultural lens is the filter that influences how one views the situation and other people from cultures different from one’s own. This lens becomes salient in the executive selection process only when decision-makers and candidates come from more than one country or culture. The lens varies by nationality and culture. Broad elements of the cultural lens include language, focus on time, equality or power differences between people, information flow, and general interpretation of the situational context (O’Hara-Devereaux & Johansen, 1994; see annotation on p. 18). In a global environment, the context and the executive selection process depend on the cultural lenses of the decision-makers and the candidates. As a result of seeing through their own cultural lenses, people from different cultures are likely to perceive the same situation very differently. Thus, the developers of the organization’s selection process and the executives serving as part of the selection committee must understand and recognize (crystallize and polish) the lens for each culture represented in the selection process to capture the different cultural perspectives and see how those perspectives merge during the decision process (Earley & Erez, 1997 [see annotation on p. 21]; Hofstede, 1991; Meyers, Kakabadse, McMahon, & Spony, 1995; Trompenaars, 1993; Wilson et al., 1996 [see annotation on p. 18]). At the organizational level, the cultural lens focuses on aspects of the culture, such as values, leadership styles and managerial characteristics, educational background, career-development paths, and business practices that determine how the job and candidates are perceived. People from different cultures rely on varying perceptions in the way they interpret the organization.

A Cultural Lens Framework

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The cultural lens also focuses on the role of the executive and the degree to which executives are expected by their subordinates and employees to be leaders, monitors, delegators, and coaches (Adsit, London, Crom, & Jones, 1997). For example, in the United States employees expect managers to involve them in decision-making, to be concerned about the employee’s welfare, and to see employees as motivated and possessing initiative (Adler, Doktor, & Redding, 1986). This lens is fashioned from the American penchant toward individualism, which means that employees have a high need to control their situation. In other countries, however, managers are expected to be directive and very formal when behaving with subordinates and to be autocratic in making decisions (Shaw, 1990). Thus, the cultural lens impinges on the entire selection process because it defines how jobs, managers, and employees are viewed in that culture. It affects what people expect from each other, and so determines job demands. Such influence makes the cultural lens an important element in understanding the role of global executives and the process for selecting global executives. The cultural lens is fashioned from three main components: (1) the dominant culture of the organization; (2) sharpness of focus; and (3) the contrast between the dominant culture and the level of globalization desired by the organization, or between the dominant culture and the culture of the job situation (if different from the dominant culture). The dominant culture of the organization typically derives from the country or region from which the organization originally came. Understanding the dominant culture means understanding the demographics, economic conditions, values, norms, beliefs, and attitudes that characterize the culture. Sharpness of focus refers to how clear the different cultural characteristics are to the employees in the organization. The more obvious the difference between the employee’s culture and the dominant culture, the more clearly (the sharper the focus) the employee understands how culture affects his or her behavior. So, for example, a Japanese employee working in a U.S. company in the United States will likely have a sharper focus on the cultural dimensions within the organization than, for example, a Canadian working in that same U.S. company. Cultural contrast refers to the extent to which the organization’s dominant culture and the dominant culture of the people involved in the selection process differs from the nature and level of globalization desired by the organization. For instance, Dutch managers are security minded and do not job hop; their career progress is slow and methodical (Mole, 1997). However,

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a Dutch company’s global strategy may require frequently moving managers between countries. Cultural Context Cultural context encompasses the external culture of the different countries involved as well as the internal cultures of the organization, the job, and even the work team. As with the cultural lens, cultural context becomes important only when those involved in the executive selection process come from different countries or cultures. In a global organization, two aspects of the cultural context are particularly relevant: the level of globalization desired by the organization, and the level of cultural demands required to meet that level of globalization. Organizational Needs Assessment. According to the selection model (Sessa et al., 1998) the first step in the selection process is assessing organizational needs. In the case of global selection, because the organization is placed in a cultural context, two additional components come into play during that assessment process. These components are the level of globalization that the organization desires to achieve and the cultural demands placed on the organization from within and without. Level of globalization. There are three levels of globalization toward which organizations can strive, purposefully or not: cross-culturally global, interculturally global, and transculturally global (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1989 [see annotation on p. 16]; Ohmae, 1990 [see annotation on p. 17]). Crosscultural globalization is the lowest level of globalization. At this level, the organization deals with people from different cultures while staying within its own dominant culture. Intercultural globalization requires organizations to develop interfaces between cultures in order to use the multiple cultures to create opportunities and grow new enterprises. Transcultural globalization involves creating an enterprise that is culture blind or that establishes its own culture. This could be used to describe a multinational corporation in which a strong corporate culture has emerged to overtake specific cultures regardless of the location or nature of its operations. Level of cultural demands. The more diverse the cultures that exist in the organization, the more complex the situation in terms of understanding employee behaviors, attitudes, and values. Cultural demands refer to the strains imposed within work relationships. Understanding the global executive selection process requires understanding the cultural complexity of the selection context, including the level of globalization chosen by the firm and the cultural demands on the job.

A Cultural Lens Framework

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Decision-makers who already have a different cultural lens from the context in which the selection decision will be made need to analyze the situation to be sure that they fully understand the underlying cultural situation and dynamics and, in making a selection, come to some sort of agreement among themselves to form a common view of the organization and what it needs. This shared view is a vital part of the executive selection process. Global Position Requirements. The requirements for an executive position are based on the outcomes the organization expects the executive to produce over a period of time and in part are derived from the organizational context. Position requirements include both fulfilling the goals of a particular position and answering the needs of the organization as a whole. Previous research has shown that position requirements should include how the executive performs the job; should account for the relationships that the executives develop with superiors, peers, subordinates, and customers; and should consider bottom-line organizational results (Sessa et al., 1998). With the addition of the global dimension, position requirements also depend on the cultural lens of the decision-makers together with the cultural context surrounding the selection. This complexity makes agreement on one profile of the ideal international manager unlikely (Storey, 1992). Job requirements for all global positions take into account cultural differences in business practices and the need to respond to local issues. Such requirements should also include the ability to make smooth transitions and adapt to changing environments, and management skills that foster collaborating and negotiating with people who have different values and assumptions about goals and business behaviors (Adler, 1997; see annotation on p. 34). Leadership across time zones requires integrating local and global information for multi-site decision-making (de Merode, 1997; see annotation on p. 35). Executives in these positions must be able to stimulate information sharing within the organization and represent the corporation outside the firm, often using a second language. The cultural demands of the particular situation will also determine particular job requirements. One situation may include resolving intercultural conflicts that occur when different cultures interfere with, or contradict, each other and prevent effective relationships. Another situation may include bringing diverse cultures together to accomplish more than can be done by one culture alone. These requirements suggest characteristics executives need in order to be successful in global environments, which brings us to the next element of our framework.

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Global Candidate Requirements. As there is no one profile of the ideal global manager, each profile needs to be specific to the organization, the position, and the additional global elements inherent in the situation. However, many researchers have attempted to identify a general set of characteristics that need to be taken into account for executives to be able to perform effectively in the international environment. Successful global executives have a higher level of cognitive complexity, excellent interpersonal skills, the ability to learn from experience, and advanced moral reasoning and integrity (Dalton, 1998; see annotation on p. 30). They need to seek feedback, try new things, and be flexible (Spreitzer, McCall, & Mahoney, 1997; see annotation on p. 40). They show patience, a sense of independence, the ability to curb the tendency to dominate and put achievement first, and the ability to work collaboratively with others (Kealey, 1996). Moreover, they need to be free of national prejudices, understand world marketing pressures and global resources, remain aware of political and regulatory developments, and be comfortable with almost continuous travel (Weeks, 1992; see annotation on p. 42). Another key competency of successful global executives is sensitivity to cultural differences. Intercultural sensitivity is the ability to interpret events in the same way as other cultures interpret them (Albert, 1996; Dunbar, 1996 [see annotation on p. 38]). Intercultural sensitivity involves learning to understand a culture from the viewpoint of the insider. People with intercultural sensitivity have a greater awareness of cultural patterns (Albert, 1996). They are able to interact effectively with people from another culture with little or no misunderstandings or conflicts. We view intercultural sensitivity as a nine-dimensional construct. Each dimension is a continuum representing insensitivity at one end and sensitivity at the other. The dimensions are: (1) comfort with other cultures, (2) positively evaluating other cultures, (3) understanding cultural differences, (4) degree of empathy for people in other cultures, (5) valuing cultural differences, (6) open-mindedness, (7) sharing cultural differences with others, (8) degree to which feedback is sought about how one is received in other cultures, and (9) level of adaptability. The further an individual can move to the positive side of these scales, the more refined is that individual’s intercultural sensitivity. These dimensions are defined in Table 1. Candidate pools. In addition to affecting the development of executive criteria, cultural factors also affect the pool of available global executive candidates. Without a strategy for developing a pool of candidates who have the general and the global characteristics needed for the position in

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A Cultural Lens Framework

Table 1. Dimensions of Cultural Sensitivity

Comfortable versus uncomfortable

The extent to which the executive feels comfortable working in different cultures.

Biased versus positive evaluations

The extent to which the executive positively evaluates different cultures.

Misunderstanding (confusion) versus understanding

The extent to which the executive accurately recognizes cultural differences in values and behaviors.

Ignoring or belittling cultural differences versus empathizing with other cultures

The extent to which the executive puts him or herself in the place of others in another culture and understands how they feel.

Devaluing differences versus valuing differences

The extent to which the executive appreciates cultural differences and uses these differences for the benefit of the organization and the individuals involved.

Closed-minded versus open-minded

The extent to which the executive avoids learning or shows a willingness to learn by seeking new information, clarifying explanations, and trying new behaviors.

Protecting one’s own culture versus generating a shared culture and fluency of understanding

The extent to which the executive avoids behaving in culture-bound ways and shares multicultural ideas.

Ignoring or denying feedback versus actively seeking feedback

The extent to which the executive accepts performance feedback and actively seeks it.

Inflexible versus adaptable

The extent to which the executive discontinues old behaviors and tries new behaviors in response to others’ reactions.

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question, the selection, no matter how well structured and considered, is doomed to failure. International companies have three choices in staffing management positions abroad. They can employ parent-country nationals (PCNs), hostcountry nationals (HCNs), or third-country nationals (TCNs) (Scullion, 1992; see annotation on p. 30). Depending on the level of globalization in the organization, a company may want corporate leaders to focus on international markets while keeping their offices in their home country; to relocate to the foreign country, bringing the culture of the home country and company to bear on managing in the foreign environment; or to be highly mobile, traveling frequently as they collaborate and negotiate within and between cultures. Which style works best depends on the executive’s home country and global experience, how the company is organized, the number of countries in which it operates, and the need for internal skills (Weeks, 1992; see annotation on p. 31). Cost is a consideration as well. The high cost of maintaining expatriates abroad and the greater sensitivity of local managers to local cultures and markets have led U.S.-based multinationals to rely on fewer PCNs and more HCNs (Kobrin, 1988, cited in Scullion, 1992; see annotation on p. 30). In contrast, multinational firms based in the United Kingdom tend to rely on PCNs in their foreign operations because of a perceived lack of availability of local management talent and a desire for tight headquarters control (Scullion, 1992). Weeks (1992; see annotation on p. 31) identified several strategies for sending managers abroad for international experience. Some organizations view top executives as conduits for policy control and maintaining financial results. European-based firms with this strategy employ experienced expatriates in all important organizational functions. In contrast, U.S.-headquartered firms use expatriates as part of start-up teams around the world, and they have special human resource policies for these expatriates. Another strategy is to use expatriate assignments to develop globally oriented managers with little previous foreign experience. For instance, a company might move a U.S. executive first into a Brazilian division with profit and loss responsibility, then to a planning position in Mexico, before finally promoting her to the corporate international staff. A fourth strategy is to limit the use of expatriates to positions that require their expertise and rely instead on experienced incountry nationals. A fifth strategy is to use expatriates to embark on international expansion; for example, moving an executive who has succeeded in domestic marketing to open a foreign marketing unit, even though the domes-

A Cultural Lens Framework

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tic experience may not generalize easily to the foreign territory. A final strategy is to use expatriates as part of a new joint venture in an international market. In general, the faster the growth abroad, the more the company moves managers from around the globe into key positions. When organizations establish a new venture in another country, they assign experienced expatriates to important positions until national talent is developed. Developing candidates for executive positions. Countries differ in the expectations they have for corporate executives and the management development processes they use to prepare managers for executive responsibilities. As an example of these differences, Appendix C compares the leadership characteristics and career structures in Germany, England, Spain, and Singapore, and suggests some implications for difficulties that multicultural executive search committees may have in trying to select a candidate to manage a cross-cultural enterprise. Recognizing the need to fill executive positions in the future, multinational companies have begun to think about how to develop managers to ensure they have a highly qualified candidate pool within the company. The intention is to use international career paths, language and cultural training, and intercultural team experiences to develop global competencies. These high-potential, often fast-tracked, managers in these development programs know well the company and the international business environment. The programs allow the company to grow their own as input to executive selection decisions rather than always having to recruit from outside for new blood. Examples of two such firms, Fiat and Colgate-Palmolive, are given in Appendix D. Decision Input and Process. The match between job requirements and candidate is the heart of any selection process. The match is determined by using various methods of collecting information on the candidates in the pool. Not surprisingly, these methods differ greatly by country and culture. For instance, graphology is a common practice in France even though it is viewed as invalid in many other cultures (Rafaeli & Klimoski, 1983). Family lineage may be important in cultures that view background and relationships to be more important than technical knowledge. These methods also depend on corporate practices, which may vary by culture. Such practices include the use of recruitment firms, high-flyer programs (fast-track management development programs), succession planning, up-from-the-ranks promotions versus external hires, encouragement of expatriate experiences, and cultural sensitivity training. To date, there is little understanding regarding how using these different methods affects the selection process. However, those in-

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volved in the selection process must be comfortable with and believe in the validity of the methods chosen for making the match. Cultural factors also affect how the decision about the match is made because the decision-makers involved in the selection process may comprise a multinational or multicultural team. All teams by definition are heterogeneous to one degree or another. However, there are three additional sources of heterogeneity when team members come from different countries and cultures: differences in cultural values, tensions between local and global perspectives, and differences in power and status (Janssens & Brett, 1997; see annotation on p. 52). A challenge in managing such a team is to take advantage of the heterogeneity of viewpoints and values while allowing the group to make a decision about which candidate would be best in this particular position. Transnational teams benefit when members’ roles are established early in the process (Scase, 1997; see annotation on p. 55). Team members need a sense of interpersonal trust based on an understanding of each other’s interests and stakes. They need to be trained in process facilitation, or they need professional facilitators to help them focus on process issues. The risk of subgroup domination is not easily overcome. Developing meaningful participation is a challenge that requires more understanding of how transnational teams operate and how issues of cultural diversity, differences in perspectives and power, and the divergent interests of multiple stakeholders emerge and are resolved (Snow, Snell, Davison, & Hambrick, 1996; see annotation on p. 56). In general, cultural biases in combining information, making judgments, and arriving at a final choice need to be explored in examining global executive selection decisions. Different decision processes that vary by culture may affect the use of different dimensions to evaluate candidates and/or the weights applied to the same dimensions in the candidate evaluation process. Decision Outcome. The final element in the executive selection framework is the success or failure of the selected executive. Just as cultural factors may affect the application of criteria in evaluating candidates, they may also affect the criteria used to evaluate the success of a selection decision, the last component in our framework. Ideally, the quality of the outcome is the extent to which the position requirements agreed upon in the beginning of the selection process have been achieved and how they have been achieved. Elements that need to be considered here include who is evaluating the executive (whether the person conducting the evaluation helped define, understood, and agreed with the original position requirements), the amount of time the executive is given to perform in the position, and mitigating external circumstances that occur over which the executive has no control.

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Annotated Bibliography The principal selection criteria for the following annotations were that the publication offer valuable insight into a key element of global executive selection and that the literature be current. We included pieces that focus on theory, research, and practice. The material presents survey results of prevalent attitudes, descriptions of conditions or situations, case examples of corporations or people, and theories of relevant variables and their relationships. A few older publications (from the 1980s) are included because they contain ideas that influence our understanding of cultural differences and selection processes today. The annotations describe the main points in each citation and clarify why they are important to global executive selection. They vary in detail depending on our judgment of the relevance of the ideas presented by the source to our topic. In some cases, only a brief abstract is included. In other cases, we provide a comprehensive description of the ideas and issues presented in the article or book. For material derived from a study, we include details of the research (for example, the number and type of people or companies in the sample) when the study was central to the key ideas proposed in the cited work. When we cite other authors in a summary, we include a complete citation for those sources in our reference list. Annotations cover the publication’s objective, a summary of the central ideas, and why the material is important to global executive selection. Sometimes, research studies are included because the data and results are important. In these cases, we summarized characteristics of the study, such as number and types of participants, measurements, and the results. Other times, we included studies because the concepts they studied are important even if the research itself was not particularly informative. In these cases, we concentrated on the ideas rather than describing the research. In a few cases, we repeated a citation, with a different emphasis on content, under different sections of the bibliography because the publication dealt with different aspects of global executive selection. Generally speaking, we have organized the annotations using five of the six main sections developed in our framework of global executive selection (see Figure 1a) and the subsections within them. In addition, we have added some headings to help guide the reader toward specific issues. The sixth category of the framework, “Decision Outcome,” does not appear in the annotations as a section because the literature doesn’t specifically cover it (partly because the assumption is that outcomes are positive). Even without a

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separate section for outcomes, however, the reader will see references to decision outcomes in works listed under other headings. Each section begins with a brief summary of the information covered by the annotations. Cultural Lens The articles in this section indicate that global organizations have evolved to provide flexible organization structures that meet changing market and financial conditions and the availability of human resources (labor and expertise). This development has been facilitated by new communications technology and rapid transportation. Companies move through stages of increased globalization and integration of diverse cultural perspectives. Truly transnational organizations apply a mix of centralization and decentralization to support the functions, independent units, and joint ventures that those organizations are establishing around the globe. Executives may be incountry nationals, expatriates, or third-country nationals who often work in transnational teams. These teams take advantage of their cultural diversity and recognize the influences of multiple stakeholders while they work on common goals. Still other works cited in this section consider how managers’ and decision-makers’ cultural lens (the filter that influences how we view others from different cultures) influences their perceptions. Elements of the cultural lens include language, context (the elements that surround and give meaning to a communication event), focus on time, equality or power differences between people, and information flow (sequential or looped). As a result of the cultural lens, different people are likely to perceive the same situation differently depending on national culture and legal context. The articles in this section answer two questions and are grouped as such: “What is a global organization?” and “How is cultural lens defined?” What Is a Global Organization? Bartlett, C., & Ghoshal, S. (1989). Managing across borders: The transnational solution. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 274 pages. This is a seminal piece because it was one of the first examinations of international businesses and teams. It is important to global executive selection because it describes a key aspect of the global executive position: participating in, and in some cases leading, transnational teams. This is also relevant because global executives are often selected by a transnational selection committee.

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Bartlett and Ghoshal distinguished between global, multinational, and transnational businesses. Global organizations are highly centralized organizational structures with corporate headquarters that determine all strategic and operational processes. Operating units dispersed in different countries follow direction from the central offices. These organizations have fairly strong ethnocentric corporate cultures. Home-based nationals (expatriates) fill most of the senior corporate positions. If in-country nationals are appointed to top jobs, they have had prior indoctrination to the central corporate culture. Multinational corporations are highly decentralized organizational structures. They are formed by an investment strategy that accumulates disparate units, which are managed by local nationals who are allowed to apply business practices that are appropriate to the culture. The headquarters mainly monitors the company’s finances and makes decisions about acquisitions and divestitures of the units in the conglomerate. A transnational business is one that has transcended geographic and cultural barriers to effectiveness. While global companies have the disadvantage of a costly headquartersbased, central management which may lack flexibility, decentralized multinational corporations incur costs through duplication of effort. Because of these disadvantages and costs, global and multinational organizations have moved toward the transnational organization model. Transnational firms organize some activities geographically, others by function, and others by product line worldwide. For instance, sales may be organized geographically to benefit from knowledge of the local customer. Human resources might be organized by function to ensure equitable and consistent policies within a legal or political region. Manufacturing may be organized by product line to take advantage of economies of scale. The nature of the organization depends on the nature of the markets, labor costs, and availability of expertise. These firms encourage unit collaborations across the company and across functions. ❖ Ohmae, K. (1990). The borderless world: Power and strategy in the interlinked economy. London: Collins, 223 pages. Corporations move through various stages as they internationalize. These range from home-based exporting through various stages of overseas production to the final stages where R&D, finance, engineering, and other functions are located around the globe depending on costs, markets, and expertise. Highly internationalized firms may have multiple chief executive officers around the globe. Market share becomes more important than dupli-

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cation of activities. Despite this seeming fragmentation, the corporation tries to maintain a clear corporate identity based on a strong central mission. How Is Cultural Lens Defined? O’Hara-Devereaux, M., & Johansen, R. (1994). Globalwork: Bridging distance, culture, and time. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 439 pages. O’Hara-Devereaux and Johansen described a cultural lens as a means of “peering through the fog of cultural diversity—a way to focus on the common features, the differences, and the interrelations among cultures at all social and work levels: a multifaceted lens” (p. 50). While a broad array of cultural variables might serve as facets in such a lens, the authors focused on five: (1) language, (2) context (the elements that surround and give meaning to a communication event), (3) time, (4) equality/power, and (5) information flow. Low-context communications hold information in a single message while high-context communications are more subjective and convey implied meaning through relationships, history, and status embedded in the culture. Regarding cultural attitudes toward time, there is the cultural distinction between monochronic time orientation (one event at a time) and polychronic (many events at once). Power distance refers to the relationships among people in terms of the degree of equality, status, and authority. The flow of information refers to whether communication between people and levels in the organization is sequential or looped. These five cultural variables interact to comprise the complex lens for understanding a culture. ❖ Wilson, M. S., Hoppe, M. H., & Sayles, L. R. (1996). Managing across cultures: A learning framework. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership, 50 pages. Wilson, Hoppe, and Sayles defined culture as “a pattern of shared values reflected in the preferences of groups of people for certain behaviors, attitudes, and systemic practices in their ideal work situation” (p. 3). They identified a learning framework for how culture influences behavior in business situations. The seven dimensions of their framework represent seven fundamental dilemmas that people of all cultures face at work; the first four overlap those found by Hofstede (1980, 1991) in his research on crosscultural value differences: (1) source of identity (individual versus collective), (2) goals and means of achievement (tough versus tender), (3) orientation to authority (equal versus unequal), (4) response to ambiguity (dynamic versus stable), (5) means of knowledge acquisition (active versus passive or reflec-

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tive), (6) perspectives on time (scarce versus plentiful), and (7) outlook on life (doing versus being). These may affect desired executive characteristics, executive interactions (conflict emergence, conflict resolution, and negotiation processes), selection, accountability for results, and executive development. Cultural Context The dynamics of the business environment take their cue from cultural context. National policies govern executive positions. Cultural environments differ considerably in their labor environments, degree of regulation, and the management discretion available to executives. This is an evolving environment that is responsive to the changing nature of work. For instance, in Western countries such as Great Britain, there is a move toward employing more knowledge workers, an increasing number of part-time and contract workers, and a large number of women in the workforce. These changes, coupled with the evolution of more horizontal organizational structures, have helped to produce a new climate of organizational efficiency. Executives need to understand and be able to manage this changing situation. The publications in this section show that national culture influences educational backgrounds, which in turn affect who gets ahead in businesses. Other articles show that the dominant cultural values in a country influence how managers behave and what they do to advance their careers. Regarding developing international executives, the type of executives chosen (their home country and global experience) depends on how the company is organized, the number of countries in which it operates, and its need for international skills among its executives. Multinational countries that develop global executives establish succession plans and encourage individual executives to develop career plans that include international assignments. In general, organizations with more rapid growth abroad are likely to move managers around the globe more frequently to develop international management expertise within the firm as quickly as possible. The papers in this section are organized according to four themes: cultural patterns of managerial success, how cultural values influence managerial behavior, how cultural values influence career behavior, and developing international executives.

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Cultural Patterns of Managerial Success Trouve, P. (1994). Managing people in France. In T. Garrison & D. Rees (Eds.), Managing people across Europe (pp. 63-91). Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann. Trouve stated that educational qualifications play a crucial role in the success of senior managers. Within the ranks of senior management of French companies, only 16 percent could be considered “self-made”—that is, rising from the ranks without the advantage of graduating from a premier educational institution. However, 27 percent graduated from the Polytechniques, 19 percent graduated from the ENA (Ecole Nationale d’Administration), and 7 percent graduated from the HEC (Hautes Ecoles de Commerce). Thus, three business schools turn out over 50 percent of the country’s top executives. These schools produce 500 graduates each year. The slightly less prestigious Grandes Ecoles and the other universities train several hundreds of thousands of students but contribute only 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively, to the ranks of top executives. This alternative system of entering the executive ranks is more typically German. In Germany, managers from such broadbased institutions of higher education succeed not because of their educational pedigree but because of their professional experience and demonstrated commitment to their employer. They acquire theoretical knowledge and progress rapidly from the lower echelons of the company. These factors seem to be less important in France where educational background makes a major difference in an individual’s likely corporate success. How Cultural Values Influence Managerial Behavior Church, A. T., & Lonner, W. J. (1998). The cross-cultural perspective in the study of personality: Rationale and current research. Journal of CrossCultural Psychology, 29(1), 32-62. Church and Lonner indicated that there is considerable evidence that personality dimensions are equally applicable across different cultures (see also Dunbar, 1996, annotation on p. 38). For example, research on the fivefactor or Big Five model of personality (McCrae & Costa, 1985) used imported questionnaires as well as indigenously developed questionnaires using national language peculiarities and nuances and found a similar factor structure in a wide variety of national cultures. This is likely to be important in comparing executives from different cultures. It also suggests that selection committee members from different cultures will evaluate candidates’ personalities on the same set of personality characteristics.

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Regarding the individualism-collectivism distinction, the behavior of individualists has been treated more as a personality trait, type, or disposition, while the behavior of collectivists has been treated as more situational or contextual. People in individualistic cultures tend to describe themselves in terms of traits and attribute behavior to internal attributes; this is not the case in collectivist cultures. In collectivist cultures, the situation is a powerful determinant of social behavior, and personality is less evident than in individualistic cultures (compare with Triandis, 1995a). While it is important not to overgeneralize from the available evidence, the implication is that behavior in collectivist cultures needs to be understood with respect to the situation or context, while behavior in individualistic cultures needs to be understood with reference to individual traits and dispositions. ❖ Earley, P. C., & Erez, M. (1997). The transplanted executive: Why you need to understand how workers in other countries see the world differently. New York: Oxford University Press, 208 pages. Earley and Erez showed how employees with different cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds respond to particular managerial strategies and human resource programs. Differences in values (for example, the collectivistic mentality) might make an effective incentive system in Japan but decrease productivity in the United States; a team-based cooperative effort in Russia might alienate employees in Great Britain. Earley and Erez split cultural values into two dimensions: self- versus group-focused, and high versus low power differential. Self-focused individuals look to themselves, not others, to judge their behavior. They are introspective and are concerned about their goals and actions. The United States and the United Kingdom are examples of self-focused cultures. Employees define themselves by their personal actions and goals and let go of group attachments if they become personally troubling. In contrast, group-focused people look to others to judge their behavior and are concerned about how their actions affect the work group. Brazil and Singapore are examples of groupfocused cultures. Employees think about themselves as part of the team or company, put group goals ahead of personal goals, and are concerned about how their performance affects the team. Germany and Spain are examples of countries that fall between the two extremes in reflecting group- and selffocused characteristics. In Germany, for example, management practices emphasize collective action (the labor-management system called codetermination) while still offering individual reward systems and incentives.

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The authors also used Hofstede’s concept of power distance as another important cultural value to categorize countries’ management practices. People from low power differential countries, such as Britain and the United States, don’t believe managers should order employees about but rather should involve them in setting goals and determining actions to accomplish them. People from high power differential cultures, such as Singapore, do not question orders from a supervisor even if the order is unexpected and places a burden on the employees. Earley and Erez proposed that three basic individual motives apply to people throughout the world to different degrees: (1) self-enhancement—the desire to feel good about ourselves and maintain a positive self-image; (2) self-growth—the desire to see ourselves as competent and capable of facing new challenges; and (3) self-consistency—the desire to experience and feel coherence and continuity in our lives. How these motives are manifested depends on the culture’s values. That is, the values determine what motivates people. For example, employees in a self-focused culture look to their personal accomplishments and career progress to assess self-growth. Employees in a group-focused culture look to the accomplishments of their colleagues in the work group and the accomplishments of the group as a whole to assess their self-growth. Thus, the American employee asks the question “How can I do this job better?” while the Korean employee asks “How can we coordinate our efforts to improve our group’s performance?” Here are some more specific examples: In countries such as Singapore and Brazil, for example, which have high power differential and group-focused values, rewards are group-based and unequally distributed. Goals are assigned, and teamwork occurs at the top of the organization (for example, in the form of management committees); decision-making is top down. In countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, for example, which have low power differential and self-focused values, rewards are individually distributed. Everyone in the organization may be eligible to benefit from a profit-sharing or gain-sharing plan, but these profits may be distributed according to individual merit. Goals are set through personal involvement and commitment, and individual growth is enhanced by challenging jobs. Decision-making is delegated to employees who are closest to where the work is done. Organizational hierarchy becomes less important because flat organization structures give people authority and allow the organization to respond quickly to environmental changes.

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In countries such as Spain, for example, which has high power differential and self-focused values, individual financial incentives are distributed unevenly to maintain large differences between high and low performers. Decision-making is top down and centralized. Individual jobs are hierarchically organized. In countries such as Denmark, for example, which has low power differential and group-focused values, rewards derived from organizational success are equally distributed (for example, stock ownership plans). Decisions are delegated to work groups, which set their own goals and manage the work on their own with little or no supervision (autonomous, self-managed teams). ❖ Kanter, R. M. (1997). Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the frontiers of management. Boston: Harvard Business Review Books, 306 pages. Kanter reported that there is no single framework of the global manager that cuts across all countries. Moreover, she argued that the global or “cosmopolitan” manager (defined as someone who is multilingual with international experience) is not necessarily sufficiently attuned to local political and social concerns and may lose voice in affecting factors important to economic development. Also, she found that managers’ attitudes about business depend on the country’s cultural heritage. Kanter’s findings came from her 1991 survey of 11,678 respondents from 25 countries. The 91-question survey was translated into the language of each country and printed in a business magazine. Readers were asked to return completed surveys to the magazine. The respondents were not selected at random, so the results may not have been representative of managers in each country. Also, language differences could have distorted results and limited their comparability. However, the sample did reflect a broad crosssection of managers around the globe. The average respondent was a male senior manager in his early forties, married, bilingual, and employed in a privately held, midsize organization with several thousand employees and a small number of foreign facilities. Across the entire sample, the average manager was more concerned about customer service, product quality, workforce skills, and technology than about political and macroeconomic issues. Respondents did not feel that government policies, trade rules, or currency risks were significant factors for their businesses. They strongly favored work-site child care and were concerned about the quality of education, believing that business could greatly enhance education in their countries.

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Managers from large, publicly held manufacturing companies were more cosmopolitan in their outlook. They were the least protectionist, and were closely involved in cross-country relationships with suppliers, customers, and joint venture partners. Also, their firms had experienced the most pervasive changes in recent years, such as workforce reductions, reorganization, mergers, and changes in top leadership. These managers reported less job satisfaction and a decline in loyalty and commitment to their companies. The survey showed a number of national differences. Managers’ responses tended to correspond more to their country’s cultural heritage and less to its geographic location or its regional economic allies. So, for example, the views of Italians, Spaniards, Mexicans, Brazilians, and Venezuelans were similar. Managers from these countries tended to be from privately held companies with fewer joint ventures. These managers also reported a higher reliance on trade policy for industry protection. Another cluster was a group of English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States. Managers from these countries preferred family over work and were the least cosmopolitan. The most cosmopolitan group was also the most pessimistic about the future. This included Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Several countries stood alone in their typical responses. Managers from Japan showed the strongest work ethic and were strongly in favor of free trade. Those from South Korea strongly favored protectionism and putting country ahead of company. They showed the greatest sense of responsibility for employees. Those from India were more optimistic about the future. Those from Hungary were strongly focused on economic recovery and development. The survey suggested a danger for countries with cosmopolitan managers. These managers would be likely to have less voice in domestic politics. The survey resulted in a correlation between patriotic responses, a local business orientation, and greater willingness for business to help solve the country’s social ills. Kanter argued that managers with a protectionist agenda could play a disproportionate role in shaping the country’s political agenda. Social problems are local even if economic activity is global, and cosmopolitan managers may not get involved with local problems, thereby losing political clout for themselves and their corporations. ❖

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Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1998). The cultural psychology of personality. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29(1), 63-87. Markus and Kitayama noted that while most conceptions of personality are rooted in a model of the person as independent, in many Asian cultures personality is based on an alternative model—the person as interdependent. In Asian cultures, personality is experienced and understood as behavior that is characteristic of the individual in relation to others in particular social contexts. In Western cultures, individuals describe themselves in terms of their personal dispositions. For example: “I am very easygoing and free-spirited. I believe that I’m exceptionally optimistic.” In Asian cultures, individuals describe themselves in relation to others. For example: “I respect harmony with people. I express my own interests to a certain degree, but I avoid conflicts almost all the time.” This cultural difference affects how people view themselves and others. As such, it will influence the reasons they give for their own and others’ behaviors. A particular action may be attributed to internal qualities in the West, and individuals will be blamed or held accountable for their actions. There is a recognition that behavior is primarily a function of autonomous actions due to internal attributes. Also, there is the view that individuals should be free to express their individual characteristics. In Asian cultures, the same behaviors may be attributed to situational characteristics, and the individuals themselves will not be held accountable. There is a recognition that behavior needs to be responsive to others with whom the individual is interdependent. A given behavior stems from relationships, rather than individual propensity or disposition. Sensitivity to others and the situation is key, and individual propensities are not supposed to be expressed or, indeed, are not a part (at least a main part) of the Asian conceptualization of personhood. This difference affects daily discourse, images, and practices. In the work setting, it affects how employees view each other, explain their own and each other’s behavior, and evaluate each other’s performance. ❖

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Peterson, M. F., Smith, P. B., Akande, A., Ayestaran, S., Bochner, S., Callan, V., Cho, N. G., Jesuino, J. C., D’Amorim, M., Francois, P. H., Hofmann, K., Koopman, P. L., Leung, K., Lim, T. K., Mortazavi, S., Munene, J., Radford, M., Ropo, A., Savage, G., Setiadi, B., Sinha, T. N., Sorenson, R., & Viedge, C. (1995). Role conflict, ambiguity, and overload: A 21-nation study. Academy of Management Journal, 38(2), 429-452. The authors surveyed 3,321 managers from diverse companies in 21 countries. Measures of role conflict or overload (incompatibility between the expectations of parties or between aspects of a single role) and ambiguity (uncertainty about what actions to take to fulfill a role) were correlated with country work-culture dimensions derived from Hofstede’s (1980) research. Peterson et al. hypothesized that the cultural dimensions have implication for work stresses because work structures, such as power distance, can influence role stresses. High power distance and low individualism create unambiguous structures and necessitate management of problems through authority, while low power distance and high individualism minimize hierarchical structures, status differences, and well-defined roles and encourage management of problems through self-reliant action. As predicted, managers from low power distance countries reported less role conflict than managers from high power distance countries. Low power distance corresponds to Western industrialized countries. Managers in these countries are more likely to believe they can manage their work but are unsure about how to do it. In non-Western countries, managers have clear roles, but they feel they have too much work to do it all well. Individualism and power distance had overlapping effects (that is, one did not contribute more than another to role ambiguity and conflict). Interestingly, organizational variables (such as company size and ownership) and individual variables (such as tenure, education, and race) did not account for significant variance in role stress compared to country related variables. ❖ Wilson, S. R., Cai, D. A., Campbell, D. M., Donohue, W. A., & Drake, L. E. (1995). Cultural and communication processes in international business negotiations. In A. M. Nicotera (Ed.), Conflict and organizations: Communicative processes (pp. 201-237). Albany: State University of New York Press. International negotiations occur in multinational corporations and governments over economic, human resource, legal, and procedural issues. Firms and governments try to attain access to markets, make international investments, and import and export goods and services. Culture influences negotiating styles because of learned behavior and shared values. For in-

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stance, the Japanese rarely say “no” directly. Saudi Arabians use the first meeting for building trust rather than conducting business. Collectivism may explain the Asian approach to negotiation, which places more emphasis on interpersonal harmony than on accomplishing tasks. This is in contrast to the individualism of the United States, with its more brash, controlling, and direct negotiating style. Compromising, integrating styles of negotiation are more likely in collectivistic than individualistic cultures. Studies of bargaining tactics have found major differences in language and nonverbal features of negotiation interactions. For example, Graham (1985) discovered that Japanese interactions contained more conversational gaps, while Brazilian interactions contained more direct eye contact, touch, and conversational overlaps. Brazilians used the word “no” ten times more often than American or Japanese managers. This does not mean that there are differences in reaching settlements. Different cultures may use different signals to achieve the same outcome. For instance, involvement may be demonstrated by Spanish negotiators through eye contact but by U.S. negotiators through verbal statements of commitment. Wilson et al.’s view is that the effects of culture on negotiations are more complex than simple differences in shared values. They cite Janosik’s (1987) conceptualization of culture as context and as dialectic. As context, culture needs to be understood along with situation, role, and status. For example, buyers tend to outperform sellers across cultures, but the magnitude of this difference varies by culture. Americans typically see sellers and buyers as equals, while the Japanese view buyers as having the upper hand. So in Japan, buyers tend to dictate the terms of agreement to sellers. Lee and Rogan (1991) found that managers from collectivistic but not individualistic cultures varied their likelihood of avoiding confrontation, especially when the other employee was of higher status. Culture needs to be understood as a dynamic tension between certain values. An example is the Japanese duality between the values of the warrior ethic and harmonious cooperation. The former encourages forceful pursuit of cause even if it means social turmoil. The latter encourages conflict avoidance and subordination to interactions with a close-knit group. Both are ideals to be achieved depending on the circumstances. Wilson et al. call for research on dialectics in international business negotiations, for instance, to investigate how dialectics create conflicts, to compare tensions that are salient in individualistic versus collectivistic cultures, and to show how these factors affect different stages in negotiations and different outcomes (agreement versus impasse, high versus low joint profits).

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How Cultural Values Influence Career Behavior Granrose, C. S. (1997). A model of organizational careers in national contexts. In C. S. Granrose (Ed.), The careers of business managers in East Asia (pp. 17-36). Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Drawing on Schein’s (1984) concept that the idea of a career depends on the culture in which it is embedded, Granrose proposed a model for understanding the forces affecting career beliefs, patterns, and processes, and how individual differences and organizational practices influence career patterns. She also explained how national and cultural factors affect careers. The meaning of a career will be influenced by such national factors as number and types of ethnic groups, political and economic relations, economic development, natural resources, extent of labor force participation, and the meaning and centrality of work and work values to the people. Political factors such as capitalistic versus socialistic trends, unionization, and the centralization of economic policy also affect career processes. Such national characteristics will influence organizational career practices as well as individual career beliefs and perceptions. ❖ Lin, R. Y. (1997). Individualism and collectivism in Asian managers’ careers. In C. S. Granrose (Ed.), The careers of business managers in East Asia (pp. 113-132). Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Lin studied the relationship between career planning processes (setting career goals and following various career tactics for goal achievement) and cultural values among managers from the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. A major difference between the U.S. and Asian cultures is that individualism is important in the United States and collectivism is important in Asia (compare with Hofstede, 1980). Collectivist values hold that contribution to society, humility, conformity, security, family, and preserving public image (face) are more important. In contrast, individualistic values hold that personal achievement, ambition, competition, freedom, benefits, and enjoying life are more important. Lin explored the extent to which individualistic and collectivist values are related to choosing different career goals and tactics in the United States and East Asian countries. Lin hypothesized that individualistic career goals and tactics would be more important to U.S. managers, whereas collectivist career goals and tactics would be more important to Chinese and Japanese managers. In addition, Lin hypothesized that Chinese and Japanese managers working for U.S. firms

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would rate individualistic career goals and tactics as more important than would Chinese and Japanese managers working for non-U.S. firms. Lin’s sample included 202 Chinese managers representing Hong Kong (71), Singapore (29), and Taiwan (102); 89 Japanese managers; and 65 U.S. managers. Fifty-one managers were female and represented a variety of companies from a cross-section of industries. Questionnaires were distributed by the firms’ human resources managers and other data collectors. Items measuring individualistic career goals asked for importance ratings of a good income, esteem or prestige, advancement or promotions, and power and influence. Items measuring collectivist career goals asked for importance ratings on good relationships/friendship, contributing to your company, contributing to your society, and contributing to your family. Items measuring individualistic career tactics asked for ratings of likelihood of doing something important that others will notice, becoming indispensable, and doing better than your peers. Items measuring collectivist career tactics included acting humble or courteous toward your superiors, conforming to what is expected, and showing loyalty toward your organization. The results showed that U.S. managers were more likely to use both individualistic and collectivist career tactics to accomplish their career goals than those from Hong Kong and Singapore. Japanese managers did not differ from U.S. managers on the importance of collectivist career goals or the use of collectivist career tactics. Lin explained that U.S. managers tend to be more action-oriented than Asians, and so were likely to take different kinds of actions to accomplish their goals. Also, the increased importance of team contributions and collaborative contributions in the United States may account for a focus on both collectivist career goals and tactics. Because Japanese corporations are becoming more like U.S. companies in moving away from lifetime employment, Japanese employees may have higher commitment to their careers than to their employer, and they will pursue individual performance goals to ensure they remain employable. Additional analyses found that younger managers in Japan and Taiwan were more likely to choose individualistic career goals and tactics than older managers in these countries.

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Developing International Executives Dalton, M. (1998). Developing leaders for global roles. In C. D. McCauley, R. S. Moxley, & E. Van Velsor (Eds.), The Center for Creative Leadership handbook of leadership development (pp. 379-402). San Francisco: JosseyBass, 481 pages. Dalton characterized the conditions surrounding a global executive’s selection and job situation. The global executive may be chosen from anyplace in the world no matter where the company’s headquarters happens to be. The executive’s subordinates may also be selected from anywhere in the world; indeed, each may be from a different country. They may be dispersed across the world or some may work in the same location as the executive, although they are likely to be expatriates. Moreover, the company’s board of directors selecting the executive may come from all over the globe. Dalton hypothesized that to meet the unique demand of the global role, executives must possess a high level of cognitive complexity, excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to learn from experience. Another critical demand is advanced moral reasoning and integrity—not just meeting the company’s goals without getting into legal or political trouble but owning, discussing, and resolving moral and ethical dilemmas across cultural frames and economic realities (compare with Donaldson, 1996). Expatriate assignments increase managers’ interpersonal skills, cultural knowledge, cognitive skills, personal skills, business knowledge, and management skills (Dalton & Wilson, 1996). ❖ Scullion, H. (1992). Strategic recruitment and development of the “International Manager”: Some European considerations. Human Resource Management Journal, 3(1), 57-69. International companies have three choices in staffing management positions abroad, argued Scullion. They can employ parent-country nationals (PCNs), host-country nationals (HCNs), or third-country nationals (TCNs). There is no one best answer as to whether parent-country nationals should be sent abroad (Boyacigiller, 1990). Scullion conducted structured interviews with human resources executives in forty-five international companies headquartered in the United Kingdom and Ireland to determine how their organizations recruit and develop international managers. Most of the firms in the survey relied heavily on expatriates to run their foreign operations, although just over a third hired host-country managers to run their foreign operations. The trend was toward the greater use of expatriates because of a

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perceived lack of availability of local management talent and a desire for tight headquarters control of foreign operations. (This raises questions about the ability and commitment of the companies in the sample to identify and develop host-country managers in their foreign operations.) The results also suggested the importance of strategic development strategies to ensure that home-country managers had meaningful expatriate development experiences that prepared them for higher level positions in the corporations. Results from U.S. companies ran opposite to these findings. The high cost of maintaining expatriates abroad and the greater sensitivity of local managers to local cultures and markets have led U.S.-based multinationals to rely on fewer expatriates and more host-country nationals (Kobrin, 1988). The challenge in these firms is to maintain corporate identity and to ensure that American managers have a chance to gain international experience abroad. ❖ Weeks, D. A. (1992). Recruiting and selecting international managers. New York: The Conference Board, Report No. 998, 39 pages. In this important and extensive report of Conference Board research, Weeks argued that the decision to move managers to expatriate assignments depends on the way the international company is organized; on the number of countries in which it operates; and on the skills, experience, and international perspective of the firm’s executives. Companies attuned to global management are those that want to become global competitors, have corporate values that are consistent with the national cultures in which they operate, use task forces peopled with executives from around the world, have boards of directors that include members from different countries, host many international meetings and conferences, have executives who travel frequently, invest in language training for executives, recognize managers’ cultural diversity and the effects of stereotypical thinking on managers’ interactions with each other, and have managers who are knowledgeable about global competitors. Also, senior executives in these firms devote time and attention to international aspects of staffing. Multinational companies that develop global executives formulate succession plans and career plans that include international assignments. The careers of these executives are monitored, and long-range plans are followed. Executives are tracked while they are in assignments abroad, and efforts are made to give them worldwide visibility in the corporation. Young managers receive career counseling to encourage them to expect and commit to international assignments. Operating managers are measured for the extent to which they develop expatriates and in-country nationals. Rotational assignments are

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matched to the executive’s rank within the company. Senior executives, for example, may receive short assignments that expose them to a variety of initiatives and issues throughout the company’s global operations. While building a global-oriented staff is a top priority for multinational firms, the attention given to developing international managers depends on the organization’s management development strategies. Weeks identified several such strategies for sending managers abroad for international experience. Some organizations view top executives as conduits for policy control and for maintaining financial results. European-based firms with this strategy employ experienced expatriates in all important organizational functions. In contrast, U.S.-headquartered firms use expatriates abroad as part of start-up teams around the world. Such firms have special human resource policies for these expatriates. Another strategy is to use expatriate assignments to develop globally oriented managers who previously had little foreign experience. For instance, a U.S. executive may be moved to a Brazilian division with profit and loss responsibility and then to a planning position in Mexico before being promoted to the corporate international staff. Still another strategy is to limit the use of expatriates to positions that require their expertise. Organizations might also use expatriates to embark on international expansion—assigning an executive who has succeeded in domestic marketing to open a foreign marketing unit, for example, even though the executive’s domestic experience may not translate easily to the foreign territory. An additional strategy for expatriates is as part of a new joint venture in an international market. In general, the faster the growth abroad, the more liberally the company moves managers from around the globe into key positions. When companies establish a new venture in another country, they assign experienced expatriates to important positions until national talent is developed. Management development and succession planning programs are incorporating international experience. Weeks found that 85 percent of the U.S.-based multinational firms in his survey and all the non-U.S.-based firms aimed to establish a broad, multilevel pool of managers with firsthand managerial experience abroad. Weeks identified several techniques used by organizations to build a global view: career review groups (annual reviews of all expatriate managers), international career counseling (employees and their families involved in career planning), global committees (involving many organizational levels and functions in strategic planning for a worldwide competitive strategy), swap programs for fast-track executives (high-potential managers are encour-

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aged to apply for a year in a foreign operation), controllership programs (controllers from the headquarters are assigned for three years to every national operation to ensure that the firm’s financial controls and reporting are understood and used abroad), international meetings (meetings of senior executives in international assignments are held to discuss business plans and opportunities), corporate internships (U.S. firms arrange for foreign nationals to spend a year in the United States), worldwide hiring (attempts to corner the market on scientists with world-class reputations), educating third-country nationals (“seeding” management talent in other nations by sending young managers to business schools), and guaranteed repatriation (promising specific assignments upon return as a way to recruit top talent for expatriate assignments). The successful multinational firm actively works on globalization. Companies become truly global when the leadership reinforces expatriate assignments. In these firms, the CEO and other top executives acquire considerable international business experience and exposure to multiple cultures. The board members are selected for their depth of international background. Functional and staff managers gain a similar commitment to global operations and multicultural skills. These firms make international assignments part of career planning. They communicate the value of global jobs and relate them to the firm’s global objectives. Fast-track candidates with foreign management experience are given the choicest assignments. Foreign-born students are recruited at local business schools. International recruiting firms are used domestically and abroad. Senior overseas executives help with this process to give expatriate managers attention, exposure, and choice assignments. Weeks reported that companies expect to face a number of problems in recruiting expatriate managers in the future. As firms downsize, there will be a smaller pool of managers who can be recruited for expatriate assignments. In addition, costs are increasing. Other problems are family pressures, the difficulty of repatriation, and dual-career issues. The emergence of the European Common Market and other markets in Central Europe as well as North American trade agreements between Canada, the United States, and Mexico suggest ever more opportunities for expatriates. In general, the new trading blocs carry some positive implications for executive development. They allow consolidating headquarters operations to regroup senior- and middle-level managers at a regional or continental level. More transnational business can be conducted from these headquarters locations. There is likely to be a rise in transfers within the trading blocs (within Europe, for example).

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Work permits will be easier to obtain for spouses. In addition, there will be an increased global focus for recruiting worldwide. Global Position Requirements The successful global executive needs to facilitate work in a diverse setting; generate the perception of shared culture; motivate, sustain, and facilitate cross-cultural teams; foster relationships between business units in different cultures; and select and evaluate staff from different cultural backgrounds. Successful global executives recognize cultural differences in business practice, respond to local issues, make smooth transitions between tasks and jobs involving different people and spanning different cultures, adapt to changing environments, and manage between extremes by collaborating and negotiating with people who have different values and assumptions about goals and business behaviors. Leadership across different time zones requires integrating local and global information for multisite decisionmaking. Executives accomplish these tasks in a variety of ways, emphasizing strategy, people development, use of knowledge and experience, control, and facilitation of change. Since international business poses different models of global organizations and each has different leadership requirements, there is likely to be no one profile of the ideal international manager. Some focus on international markets while keeping an office in their home country. Others relocate, bringing the culture of the home country and company to bear on managing in the foreign environment. Still others are highly mobile, traveling frequently as they collaborate and negotiate. In all cases, however, the watch phrase is “think globally and act locally” (Storey, 1992). This means that cultural sensitivity is important to communications and decision-making in global firms. The papers in this section are organized along two lines: skill requirements for successful global executives and cultural sensitivity. Skill Requirements for Successful Global Executives Adler, N. J. (1997). International dimensions of organizational behavior (3rd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing, 313 pages. A major textbook in organizational behavior, this book focused on international factors in understanding issues of organizational dynamics. With respect to executive success in global environments, it made the point that executives who are effective at cross-cultural management are able to employ

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cultural sensitivity and diplomacy, foster relationships that create respect for all parties, communicate clearly, and solve cultural problems synergistically. To manage the impact of cultural diversity within organizations and to resolve issues when working across cultures, executives need strong negotiation skills. ❖ de Merode, J. (1997). Readings on global leadership: Synthesis. Unpublished manuscript, Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC. According to de Merode, global role demands include motivating crosscultural teams, conducting cross-cultural negotiations, recognizing cultural influences on business practices, and selecting and evaluating staff in different cultural settings. Global executives manage information across multiple time zones, integrate local and global information for multisite decisionmaking, stimulate information sharing within the organization, and represent corporate interests outside the organization, all with the effective use of a foreign language or, possibly, with interpreters. The global executive builds relationships that lead to alliances, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and licensing agreements, choosing the best format for collaboration in relation to the regulatory framework in the multiple countries involved. The global executive focuses on markets, consistently customizing offerings in relation to clients’ needs in local markets. This entails leveraging multiple markets simultaneously and negotiating in the face of multiple risk factors in different business environments (ranging from jet lag to the use of interpreters). Some of these demands are the same as any senior executive would face. However, the global dimension imposes an infinite variety of factors and complexities that go far beyond domestic management. ❖ Kanter, R. M. (1995). World class: Thriving locally in the global economy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 416 pages. Kanter viewed global executives as cosmopolitan because they integrate knowledge; move capital, ideas, and people where they are needed; develop new communication routes; and manage dispersed centers of expertise, influence, and production. Global executives need to be able to learn from and leverage the unique heterogeneity and chaos of the world marketplace. Adapting to different cultures is not enough. The global executive must use cultural differences to gain competitive advantage. ❖

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O’Hara-Devereaux, M., & Johansen, R. (1994). Globalwork: Bridging distance, culture, and time. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 439 pages. O’Hara-Devereaux and Johansen indicated that the global economy has implications for management competencies in the twenty-first century. The authors defined global economy to mean worldwide markets, globally networked organizations, new work arrangements (such as the increase in parttime, temporary, and self-employed workers), and the importance of intangible, knowledge-oriented products. In light of these changes, O’HaraDevereaux and Johansen identified four key managerial competencies: (1) the ability to understand and communicate across multiple cultures; (2) technological competence in a time of rapidly proliferating information and communication technologies, in particular how those technologies apply to teamwork in cross-cultural, decentralized settings; (3) the ability to create and sustain business teams in a global setting; and (4) the ability to support the often painful and complex process of facilitating teamwork. Effective behaviors for mastering these competencies include using cultural guides, such as translators and colleagues, as expert resources; taking the time to build trust; redesigning work processes to fit the global situation; surfacing cultural differences; managing by setting up milestones; and creating new ways of working that are not culture-bound and that reject the “our way/your way” orientation. ❖ Tung, R. L. (1997). International and intranational diversity. In C. S. Granrose & S. Oskamp (Eds.), Cross-cultural work groups (pp. 163-185). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 286 pages. Tung summarized the increased demands on executives in the 1990s (globalization of industries, formation of global strategic alliances, advances in information technology, organizational restructuring, growing diversity in the workforce, and increasing mobility of the workforce across international boundaries). These demands give rise to a set of managerial skills and core competencies, in particular (1) an ability to balance the conflicting demands of global integration and local responsiveness; (2) an ability to work in teams comprised of people from multiple functions and disciplines, different companies, and diverse industry backgrounds; and (3) an ability to manage and/or work with people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Executives can acquire these competencies by undertaking overseas assignments. They need to recognize communication patterns (for example, that people from highcontext cultures such as Japan and Latin countries thrive on implicit messages whereas those from low-context societies such as those in the United States

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and the United Kingdom emphasize direct communications) and acquire proficiency in other languages. The need to fine tune negotiation skills is also made important by the emergence of network structures and the global workforce. Also, Tung recommended interventions to raise executives’ awareness of cultural differences so that unfamiliar cultural behaviors and patterns are understood and appreciated. Cultural Sensitivity Rodrigues, C. A. (1992). Developing expatriates’ cross-cultural sensitivity: Cultures where “your culture’s OK” is really not OK. The Journal of Management Development, 16(9), 690-702. Building on the work of Eric Berne’s (1964) Transactional Analysis approach to training, Park and Harrison (1993) suggested that an effective cross-cultural manager is one who has developed an ego state that views his or her own culture and the foreign culture as being “OK” (that is, acceptable). This means that the individual has successfully developed multiple frames of reference. Rodrigues provided some examples in this article. For instance, the expatriate manager can understand and be committed to the company’s values and goals and the values prevalent in the local culture. However, an incompatibility may arise if the local culture does not commit employees to the organization’s goals and objectives. For example, the company may value individualism (the importance of individual initiative and achievement) and the local culture may value collectivism (the importance of social relationships). As a result, the expatriate manager will be perceived as “not OK” in the foreign culture. Training may be needed so that in-country nationals come to adopt the organizational viewpoint. Alternatively, the expatriate manager will have to learn how to accommodate the conflicting cultural values between the local region and the organization to make both “OK.” In other cases, the contrasting values and modes of behavior are “not OK”; cultural sensitivity may not be enough. The manager should not just go along with the local traditions. Global Candidate Requirements The publications cited here attempt to identify characteristics of effective international executives. While there may be no one profile of the ideal manager, many researchers have attempted to identify characteristics executives perceive to be important to perform effectively in the international environment. Some leadership skills are more effective in some cultures than

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in others. Other skills, such as valuing cooperation among work group members, are effective across cultures. When executives derail, it is often because of problems with interpersonal relationships, poor team building, and/or not adapting to change. This holds true across cultures. However, these problems are particularly likely to occur in global businesses that impose high work demands of people from different backgrounds and when making transitions (the firm enters new markets, for example, or the executive’s assignment crosses cultures). Successful global executives show patience, a sense of independence, the ability to curb the tendency to dominate and put achievement first, and the ability to work collaboratively with others. Moreover, they need to be free of national prejudices, understand world marketing pressures and global resources, be aware of political and regulatory developments, and be comfortable with almost continuous travel. They undergo stages of adjustment as they learn and adapt to foreign environments. ❖ Dunbar, E. (1996). Sociocultural and contextual challenges of organizational life in Eastern Europe. In D. Landis & R. S. Bhagat (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural training (2nd ed., pp. 349-365). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 460 pages. Dunbar examined personality dimensions of expatriate effectiveness drawing on the Big Five dimensions of personality—stress tolerance, social extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (McCrae & Costa, 1985). These were measured using a 5-point semantic differential employing word pairs from the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The study found that all five dimensions of personality were related to international business skills and intercultural sensitivity measures derived from Hawes and Kealey (1981; see annotation below). (See also Church & Lonner, 1998, annotation on p. 20.) ❖ Hawes, F., & Kealey, D. (1981). An empirical study of Canadian technical assistance. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 5, 239-258. Hawes and Kealey defined and showed the importance of intercultural sensitivity to managerial success in other cultures. In particular, they found that self-reported cultural skills and knowledge predict more favorable ratings of intercultural effectiveness by host-country peers. This indicates that people are aware of intercultural skills (or lack thereof) and can accurately report how effective they are likely to be in a given cultural context. Candidates for

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intercultural positions should be asked about, as well as tested in, their cultural skills. These authors identified four dimensions of “intercultural sensitivity”: (1) speaks and understands the primary language of the country, (2) has lived in host-country communities, (3) is committed to the transfer of technical/ business skills to host-country persons, and (4) is sensitive to the image of [native country] in this [the host] country. The authors also identified four additional cultural competencies, which they labeled “international business skills”: (1) is knowledgeable about the country (history, religion, geography, politics, economics), (2) demonstrates solid business/technical skills, (3) is sensitive to the political climate of the country, and (4) has a high tolerance for stress and uncertainty. These competencies might be used to select global executives; however, more research is needed to measure them more exactly and to evaluate their relationship to a variety of success criteria. ❖ House, R. J., Hanges, P., Agar, M., & Quintanilla, A. R. (1995). GLOBE: The global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness research program. Philadelphia: The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. House, Hanges, Agar, and Quintanilla added three value-dimensions to Hofstede’s five: humanistic-versus-impersonal orientation, achievement orientation, and future-versus-present orientation. They proposed that selected values and beliefs that distinguish a given culture predict organizational practices and acceptable leadership traits and behaviors in that culture. They gave several examples: The Dutch emphasize egalitarian leadership, and words like leader and manager carry a stigma. The Arabs worship their leaders as long as they remain in power. The Iranians want power and strength in their leaders. Asian leaders are expected to be humble, modest, and dignified. The French value the charismatic leader (for example, de Gaulle) and the consensus builder, coalition former, and negotiator (Mitterand). Americans appreciate leaders who grant autonomy and delegate with confidence. They also appreciate the forceful, confident, risk-taking leader. ❖

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Leslie, J. B., & Van Velsor, E. (1997). A cross-national comparison of effective leadership and teamwork: Toward a global workforce. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership, 64 pages. Leslie and Van Velsor found that there are both culturally unique and common aspects of leadership. They studied perceptions of leadership in a sample of 1,275 middle and top managers from European countries (Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain) and 793 managers from the United States. European and U.S. managers were similar in that they perceived effective leaders to value personal influence over the group, value cooperation among the work group, and value acceptance of the rules and procedures set up by authorities external to the work group. They were different in that British managers valued efficiency and strong, impartial management, while French, Spanish, and U.S. managers valued teamwork and/or collaboration. The most effective leadership style for the European Union in the future is a delicate balance of approachable, democratic, and moderately dominant leadership blending stability with creativity and fostering meaningful employee participation in the workplace. ❖ Spreitzer, G. M., McCall, M. W., & Mahoney, J. D. (1997). Early identification of international executive potential. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(1), 6-29. Spreitzer, McCall, and Mahoney described behaviors that typify managers who are able to learn from international experiences and who are effective in international roles. These encompass learning-oriented behaviors such as seeking and using feedback, being cross-culturally adventurous, seeking opportunities to learn, being open to criticism, and being flexible. Other behaviors demonstrated end-state competencies. These included being sensitive to cultural differences, acting with integrity, being committed to success, having broad business knowledge, bringing out the best in people, showing insight, and having the courage to take a stand and take risks. Assessing candidates for global executive positions on learning-oriented behaviors predicts individuals who are able to benefit from their experience, even if at first they face a learning curve. Candidates for senior executive positions should be assessed on end-state competencies. ❖

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Van Velsor, E., & Leslie, J. B. (1995). Why executives derail: Perspectives across time and culture. Academy of Management Executive, 9(4), 62-72. Studying executive derailment (meaning little chance of further advancement due to a misfit between job requirements and personal skills) is a way to understand critical elements of leadership. Van Velsor and Leslie found that derailment and the factors involved with it apply across cultures. Having reviewed past research, they indicated that derailed executives had typically run up a string of successes early in their careers and were viewed as stars or, at least, tenacious problem solvers (McCall & Lombardo, 1983). However, these executives ran into difficulty as they advanced up the organizational hierarchy and job demands changed. Skills in which they excelled became irrelevant, while weaknesses took on more significance. Their performance suffered, they exhibited insensitivity to others, they didn’t build a team, and they were overdependent on a mentor. Other research found that women who derailed were unable to adapt to a boss or culture, appeared to be overly ambitious, and were unable to lead subordinates or act strategically (Morrison, White, & Van Velsor, 1992). Additional research found that troubled interpersonal relationships, difficulty in building a staff, lack of follow-through, overdependence on others, and differences with senior management were also reasons for derailing (Lombardo & McCauley, 1988). To examine the applicability of these results across cultures, Van Velsor and Leslie interviewed 20 executives from 15 U.S.-based companies and 42 English-speaking executives from 24 large companies in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Similar to the earlier research, the executives were asked to describe the careers of two managers they knew well, “one who had made it to the top of the organization and one who had been seen as having senior management potential but who did not make it to the top or made it and was not successful” (p. 63). The results that cut across cultures and are similar to the earlier findings were four themes that were related to derailment: (1) problems with interpersonal relationships, (2) failure to meet business objectives, (3) failure to build and lead a team, and (4) inability to change or adapt during a transition. Adapting to change, a factor in two-thirds of the derailments in both Europe and the United States, seemed to be more important than in the previous research because the ability to develop in the face of change is more critical in organizations in the 1990s. Reasons for derailment were similar across cultures. While there may be value differences between countries, these do not influence derailment. Derailment depends on management development in the face of corporate demands for more and different skills

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and perspectives. Organizations in the United States and Europe face similar business environments and markets and require similar management skills, including the ability to adapt and lead teams to high performance. Moving between cultures means facing new values as well as different organizational cultures and norms. This enhances the importance of interpersonal skills and adapting to change, and requires sensitivity to change and a readiness or maturity to face tough issues of trust, security, and self-confidence in uncertain environments. Managers who can learn when confronted by change are likely to avoid derailment. ❖ Weeks, D. A. (1992). Recruiting and selecting international managers. New York: The Conference Board, Report No. 998, 39 pages. Weeks’s Conference Board study of expatriates in multinational firms found that top executives in world-class firms are expected to (1) be free of national prejudices (showing that they possess global rather than a nationalistic orientation to people, customs, and business opportunities); (2) have knowledge of world marketing pressures and global resources, including funding sources; (3) be aware of political and regulatory developments and opportunities in countries where the firm operates; and (4) feel comfortable with almost continuous travel in support of the global mission. Moreover, regional and product-line operating executives need to be able to lead an international team as it develops new products, locates sources of materials, and establishes new ventures. Global executives need strong networks within their own firm to stimulate action, confidence in their authority, the ability to analyze international propositions and opportunities quickly, and awareness of international competitors’ plans and strategies. Weeks emphasized that communication skills are paramount for the successful global executive. “The objective must be not only to find executives with the requisite vision and personal skills, but also to build the ability of the resulting international organization to exchange information and to work together to solve problems across country lines” (p. 14). More than half the firms in Weeks’s survey of 112 U.S. companies and 18 non-U.S. firms reported that the skills that make an expatriate manager successful are flexibility, tolerance, and knowledge of the business. Of the non-U.S. companies, 72 percent emphasized interpersonal skills, compared with 43 percent of the U.S.-based organizations. Twice as many U.S. firms (22%) indicated the importance of previous success with a results-oriented management style compared to the non-U.S. firms (11%). ❖

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Wilson, M. S., & Dalton, M. A. (1997). Understanding the demands of leading in a global environment: A first step. Issues & Observations, 17(1/2), 12-14. Wilson and Dalton interviewed sixty-seven expatriate managers from three multinational companies to determine what makes global managers effective. They found that expatriate effectiveness involves a complex interaction among personality, personal history, life circumstances and experiences (for example, the time is right in their family lives for them to live abroad), and language and cultural training for the managers and their families. Regarding personality, effective expatriate managers are extroverted (assertive, socially ascendant, and energetic), conscientious (orderly, dutiful about fulfilling obligations), and more likely than others to hide true feelings and manipulate others. This is a profile similar to effective domestic executives. However, the successful global executive must learn to curb some of these tendencies and to show patience, limit the tendency to dominate and put achievement first, and be able to work collaboratively with others. Effective expatriates have had a career history that demonstrates extensive business knowledge and familiarity with policies and procedures in the company’s headquarters. Also, effective expatriates have generally had supportive role models, mentors, and sponsors as they were exposed to assignments in many functional areas and geographic regions. Decision Input and Process Criteria for selecting managers for international assignments include managers’ past performance at home and in assignments abroad, family acceptance, language skills, and cultural adaptability. Firms often need to overcome candidates’ reluctance to take an international assignment. Surveys of human resource practices find country differences in filling management vacancies from within versus without, use of recruitment method, and tendency to recruit from abroad. More U.S. companies are seeking assignments abroad for their managers. A problem is that expatriates are not always viewed favorably by local personnel, particularly when the expatriates appear to be insular and have trouble adapting to local conditions. Nevertheless, they serve an important purpose for the firm when they extend expertise and training, represent corporate and shareholder interests, coordinate with other subsidiaries, and globalize the company. In addition to international executive selection criteria, this section of the report addresses how executives work in transnational teams. This relates directly to executives’ job demands, which inform us about the characteristics

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that executives need to work effectively with others. It also relates to how transnational teams make decisions about selecting executives. An effective team-based selection process requires that the team reach a stage of group development in which the members work to continuously improve how they relate to one another in the group, are treated with respect by others, have a plan for goal achievement, and are confident that the group will succeed. They need to reach a level of meaningful participation, which means that members defer to each other as their knowledge and expertise becomes relevant to the group task. The works collected in this section of the report are organized into five areas: criteria for selection, corporate selection policies, group decisions, transnational teams, and defining heterogeneity and group identity. Criteria for Selection Weeks, D. A. (1992). Recruiting and selecting international managers. New York: The Conference Board, Report No. 998, 39 pages. Weeks found that principal criteria used to select managers for international assignments included managers’ past performance at home and in assignments abroad. Other criteria were family acceptance, language skills, cultural adaptability and, of course, the ability to do the job. Weeks found that only about a quarter of managers in U.S. companies say they want international assignments. They give reasons such as family responsibilities, spousal careers, and fears about what type of job they will have when they return. So, before offering managers a job abroad, some organizations provide coaching to help them develop flexibility and multicultural skills. This encourages the managers to begin talking with their families about an assignment abroad. Regarding women in international assignments, Weeks found that fasttrack women managers need and want international experience. This is especially important in service-oriented firms. However, previous negative experiences in some countries and spousal resistance limit the number of opportunities and female candidates for international positions. Also, U.S. firms have trouble bringing foreign-born women into U.S. jobs. Some firms are handling this cultural problem by providing their U.S. managers and project leaders with training in how to manage a culturally diverse team. Weeks reported that expatriate assignments have become more important in U.S.-based multinational firms. Forty-five percent of the U.S. companies he surveyed viewed expatriate assignments as stopgaps when national managers were not available. Also, relatively few CEOs (42%) of large,

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multinational U.S. companies had international job experiences—substantially fewer than in non-U.S. firms. However, there was increased participation in international assignments at lower levels of management. Weeks found that 75 percent of division heads and functional executives had some international job experience. ❖ Wilson, M. S., & Dalton, M. A. (1998). International success: Selecting, developing, and supporting expatriate managers. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership, 64 pages. Wilson and Dalton studied how international firms select, develop, and support expatriate managers. They proposed that becoming effective in an expatriate position is an incremental process, not one that depends solely on selecting the right person. Selection, development, and support work together over time to make the expatriate more comfortable with and effective in the foreign assignment. They gathered data from ninety-nine expatriate and repatriate managers located in fifteen countries. The respondents were employees of three multinationals, two headquartered in the United States and one in the Middle East. The research identified criteria for expatriate effectiveness, including good relationships with subordinates, peers, and the boss in the host country; adapting well to the business customs of the host country; and developing good business and political relations in the host country. Other criteria included maintaining good relationships with headquarters and demonstrating the ability to deal with unfamiliar cultural situations. Aside from these criteria, objective outcomes for effective expatriate managers included meeting company expectations during the assignment and achieving the company’s goals. According to Wilson and Dalton’s model, selection should be based in part on family readiness (the right time for one’s spouse and children, the compatibility of the spousal role and the host country, and adequate schooling and child-care arrangements). Selection also entails identifying managers with emotional stability, extroversion, openness to new experiences, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Early-life experiences are also important; for example, having had previous experiences with people from other cultures, having shown self-reliance (using one’s own internal resources to develop the skills needed in demanding situations), and having observed respectful relationships in one’s family and early job experiences. Development of effective expatriate executives involves on-the-job learning (for example, having had a job where there were many problems) to gain technical, managerial, business, and cultural expertise. Development also

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comes from role models and coaches and from international perspectives gained from extensive travel. Language and cultural training is also critical for expatriates and their families. Support, in the authors’ view, means the extent to which the organization’s policies and practices are global in outlook. This includes helping new expatriates adjust by giving them sufficient lead time to prepare for the move, clarifying their goals, providing help and advice to cope with the demands of the international assignment, and offering help for the family’s adjustment (such as exploratory trips for learning about the new location and getting settled). It also includes helping expatriates adjust when they return home, rewarding them for their accomplishments, and taking advantage of their recently acquired international expertise. In summary, expatriate success requires a complex alignment of selection, development, and support. Expatriates gain considerable insight and knowledge from their experiences if they are willing to listen, remain open to new ideas, recognize how others can make a contribution, and work collaboratively. Corporate Selection Policies Black, J. S., Gregersen, H. B., Mendenhall, M. E., & Stroh, L. K. (1999). Globalizing people through international assignments. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 720 pages. This book addressed how to select and develop managers who can “successfully formulate and implement strategies, invent and utilize technologies, and create and coordinate information in a global context” (p. xi). It focused on executives who must deal with the global economy and the strategic role of people in internationally competitive organizations. One chapter is devoted to selecting the right people for global leadership positions. Other chapters deal with the strategic roles of global positions, the process of adjusting to work in another culture, training people for global positions, appraising and rewarding executives who work in cross-cultural positions, and repatriating and retaining executives who return home from global assignments. Case studies are used throughout the book to demonstrate key points. The chapter on selection argued that firms often look for executives for a position in another country when there is an immediate need—a fire that has to be put out. So they search, usually internally, for someone with the technical and managerial qualifications who has already been successful in solving

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the short-term problem. After identifying such a person, the search stops. The ability of the candidates and their families to adjust to and be effective in the new environment is not necessarily considered. As a result, the executive and family return early, unsuccessful and embittered. The use of executive selection methods that may reveal cultural sensitivity and adaptability vary between countries. The authors cited data to indicate that interviews are almost always conducted in the United States (99% of the time) and Western Europe (100%) but much more rarely in Japan and Scandinavia. Since three-quarters of expatriates around the world are married, family information is also critical, even though it is a delicate topic. Spouses are interviewed about half the time in the United States (52%) and Western Europe (41%), much more rarely in Scandinavia (18%), and never in Japan. Cultural reasons for such disparity include the overriding commitment to the company in Japan and a concern for personal privacy in Scandinavia. Personality tests that may reveal cultural sensitivity and adaptability are seldom used (about 24% of the time in Scandinavia, 21% in Western Europe, only 5% in the United States, and virtually never in Japan). U.S. firms, in particular, rely on the suggestions of line managers and human resources professionals; however, these sources usually have little knowledge of the business, social, and cultural environments framing the new assignment. Black et al. outlined the process for predicting expatriate success. The process should begin with an analysis of strategic goals, including the degree of globalization currently and planned for the future. An example would be a company moving from exporting to establishing on-site facilities in different countries. The firm may find that it lacks qualified expatriates as it makes this shift. Relevant skills include professional and technical capability, conflict resolution, leadership, communication, being open-minded and sensitive to common behaviors in other cultures that may have different meaning (the opposite of seeing one’s own cultural ways as the “right” way), flexibility, and the stability to withstand the stress of entering a new culture. A variety of selection methods should be used to assess these characteristics, including biographical and background data, standardized psychological tests, structured interviews that ask about experiences with cultural differences, and work samples such as a job simulation involving a multicultural situation or an actual short-term assignment in a foreign country. The selection process should inquire about the family’s readiness to undertake the move. Expatriates expect that a global assignment will lead to advancement when they return home, but, according to the authors’ data, this often doesn’t happen. The data showed that only 11 percent of Americans, 10 percent of

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Japanese, and 25 percent of Finns received promotions after completing assignments abroad lasting at least two years. One reason behind this unfulfilled expectation is the position not being identified as strategic to the company when the assignment is first offered. Black et al. concluded their review of selection processes by recommending a comprehensive approach to getting the right people. Steps include analyzing the current global assignment needs, defining the current global candidate pool of high-potential managers with the potential for advancement and the need or desire for an international assignment, establishing future global assignment needs, and developing future global candidate pools for strategic success. A selection process for a specific assignment begins by creating a selection team with at least three members (a home-country manager, a host-country manager, and a human resources department representative). The team defines the strategic purpose of the assignment, assesses the cultural context, and establishes selection criteria. It then reviews the candidate pool, reviews the list of candidates willing to go or interested in international assignments, uses references and internal job postings to open the position to others who may want to nominate themselves or their colleagues, uses standardized tests and feedback instruments to narrow the field to one or two excellent candidates, interviews them and their spouses, extends the offer, and makes the transition to training and preparation. Black and his coauthors pointed out that women tend not to be considered for international assignments because of a perception that some cultures are biased against female managers and because dual-career couples present insurmountable challenges. The authors argued that neither of these reasons is completely defensible. Their evidence showed that women perform as well as men do during and after global assignments, even in traditionally maledominated cultures. The authors concluded by emphasizing that the selection process should be ahead of the firm’s current stage of globalization. If the firm wants to increase its level of globalization, it needs an established pool of international managers. The key to staying ahead of the globalization process is acting strategically. This requires conducting strategic analyses of current and anticipated needs and developing a strong candidate pool. ❖

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Dany, F., & Torchy, V. (1994). Recruitment and selection in Europe: Policies, practices and methods. In C. Brewster & A. Hegewisch (Eds.), Policy and practice in European human resource management: The Price Waterhouse-Cranfield Survey (pp. 68-88). London: Routledge. This paper showed differences in how companies in various countries select personnel and how those differences affect the approach to executive selection. Dany and Torchy showed that some organizations hire people solely to fill vacancies in different countries, while others hire people to keep and develop them over time to become international executives. This Price Waterhouse-Cranfield study of human resource policies and practices in European companies demonstrated that countries differ according to their dominant way of making recruitment and staffing decisions. Some countries tended to decentralize recruitment, delegating responsibility to the site of the specific department in which the individual will work. This is typical of firms in Denmark, France, and the Netherlands. Companies in other countries (Spain, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, and Turkey) tended to make recruitment and staffing decisions at their national head office. Still other countries (Germany and Sweden in particular) decentralized recruitment to the subsidiary but not the department or site level. These trends are not related just to the size of the companies in these countries, as some of the countries in the same grouping host large companies (Germany, for example) while others have predominantly small companies (Sweden, for example). The Price Waterhouse-Cranfield study found significant differences between countries in their tendency to fill top management positions from within (by promotion) or from outside, depending on the labor market as well as cultural factors in each country. For example, French companies reported difficulty in recruiting salespeople. This occurs for two reasons: there is no management degree in French business schools to train salespeople, and sales functions are often devalued in France (the field is considered to be a profession for the self-educated; fields that are associated with cleverness and intellectualism, such as finance, are more highly valued). Spain reported a similar problem recruiting salespeople. In terms of internal versus external recruitment of top executives, in France and Norway senior managers tend to be recruited from outside the organization. Internal promotions are the common pattern in Spain, Turkey, and Germany. In terms of recruitment methods, companies in most countries use the standard methods to fill senior management positions (promotion, internal advertising, external advertising, word of mouth, recruitment agencies, search consultants, and job centers). Some countries, such as Ireland, Norway, and to

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some extent the United Kingdom, are more apt to recruit from abroad than are other European countries. There are some national peculiarities, such as the use of job centers for managers in France. Some recruitment methods are more or less taboo: astrology and morphopsychology, for example. The use of graphology is primarily limited to France, where 57 percent of the firms use the technique compared with 8 percent in Germany and 2 percent or less in most other European countries. This heavy use of handwriting analysis in France persists despite the lack of evidence for its validity (Levy-Leboyer, 1991). Biodata tends to be widely used in Denmark (92% of the companies), with slightly more than half of the firms in Norway, Poland, and Spain also using the technique. Aptitude tests are used in the Netherlands, the former East Germany, and the United Kingdom, but less so elsewhere. Assessment centers, one of the most valid techniques, are used by 27 percent of the firms in the Netherlands but by many fewer companies in other countries. The predominant recruitment methods are application forms, interviews, and professional reference. German companies offer flextime and part-time work to attract scarce labor resources. However, they neglect training and retraining. In Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden there are fewer recruitment problems than anywhere else. Line managers, as opposed to HR professionals, are very much involved in recruitment and selection. Staffing requirements tend to be planned. In France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, recruitment agencies are often used to fill managerial vacancies. In Spain, Portugal, and Turkey, companies have difficulty finding management talent, especially managers who speak foreign languages. As a result, they have relaxed qualification requirements and age requirements, and offer training and increased pay, benefits, and relocation allowances. ❖ Hailey, J., & Lor, N. (1996, July 11). Breaking through the glass ceiling: Expatriate managers in Asia. People Management, 2(14), 32-33. Hailey and Lor argued that filling senior management positions in Asia with expatriates may do multinational corporations more harm than good. A study conducted by the Cranfield School of Management’s International Development Center in Malaysia and Singapore found that expatriates are not necessarily perceived positively by local employees. For instance, local managers often resent expatriates for their insularity, inability to adapt to local conditions, lack of proper qualifications, perks and privileges perceived to be undeserved, and their role in hindering the career development of local staff.

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Local managers assumed that expatriate managers were used to inculcate company culture and values and to control operations because they did not trust local staff. Over three-quarters of those interviewed perceived that the companies had a “colonial mentality” and a “desire to have their man on the spot.” Hailey and Lor offered some good reasons for continuing to use expatriates. For example, expatriates had a better understanding of the internal workings of the organization and of the global marketplace than did the local managers, they had specialist knowledge not possessed by local managers, and they played a role in the transfer of skills and values. Group Decisions Hyatt, D. E., & Ruddy, T. M. (1997). An examination of the relationship between work group characteristics and performance: Once more into the breech. Personnel Psychology, 50(3), 553-586. Effective work group process generally entails reaching a stage of group development where the members attend to group process (for example, work to continuously improve agreed-upon practices), have support (are treated with respect by others, especially those who commissioned the group), are goal-oriented (have a documented plan for goal achievement), show group confidence (members express assurance that the group will succeed; the group has a structure to maximize its performance), and have positive interpersonal group processes (engage in open and honest communication and recognize each individual’s unique contribution to the group). The challenge for groups with members from different cultures is to achieve a workable, if not exceptional, level of development when members differ in language facility, values, and underlying assumptions about group effectiveness and organizational processes. Transnational Teams Dorfman, P. W., & Howell, J. P. (1997). Managerial leadership in the United States and Mexico: Distant neighbors or close cousins. In C. S. Granrose & S. Oskamp (Eds.), Cross-cultural work groups (pp. 234-264). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 286 pages. The effectiveness of leadership style depends on national culture, and so leadership style should serve as a complement to the culture. In general, the bond between the leader and follower depends on mutual trust, respect, sensitivity, interest, and humanness, but this has different meanings in differ-

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ent cultures. Dorfman and Howell compared leadership styles in the United States and Mexico. They found that directive leadership had a positive effect in Mexico but not in the United States, while participative leadership had a positive effect in the United States but not in Mexico. The use of contingent punishment had a positive effect in the United States and a negative effect in Mexico. ❖ Janssens, M., & Brett, J. M. (1997). Meaningful participation in transnational teams. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 6(2), 153-168. A transnational team is a work group consisting of members from different nations whose normal assignments cover different functions and geographic areas. The team is formed for a specific project such as designing a new product, service, or organizational decision or policy that will affect, or be implemented by, units in different countries. The challenge in managing such a team is to take advantage of the heterogeneity of viewpoints and values while allowing the group to reach consensus. The group’s success depends on maintaining an outward focus by coordinating activities with other top executives and local units outside the team, gathering their input and commitment while communicating the team’s progress. Janssens and Brett described three sources of heterogeneity in transnational teams: differences in cultural values, tensions between local and global perspectives, and differences in power and status. Meaningful participation of group members involves generating a pattern of interaction in which group members defer to each other as their knowledge and expertise becomes relevant to the group task. ❖ Kossler, M. E., & Prestridge, S. (1996). Geographically dispersed teams. Issues & Observations, 16(2/3), 9-11. Kossler and Prestridge defined a geographically dispersed team (GDT) as a small group of individuals with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, have interdependent performance goals, and share an approach to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. A distinguishing feature of a GDT is the fact that its members are not co-located in close physical proximity. Rather, a GDT’s members are separated by distance and time. Their initial research focused on how organizations form, maintain, and support GDTs; which individuals are best suited for working on a GDT; and

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what competencies team leaders and members should have to be effective. They surveyed members of twenty-seven teams (a total of 228 team members) in twelve organizations. The respondents described the advantages and disadvantages of being part of a GDT. Advantages included learning about other countries, regions, and people; sharing best practices; and sharing ideas. The GDT provided members with a broader perspective of their business and the marketplace. They benefited from the diversity of the group. They enhanced their communication skills and learned to resolve problems quickly. One disadvantage of being a member of a GDT was communication problems. For instance, there was a tendency to use more formal communication styles. GDT members had to deal with other members with varying abilities to use electronic media. Language and cultural differences led to misunderstandings and prolonged communication processes. Respondents didn’t like waiting months before they had a chance to meet fellow members face-to-face. They sometimes felt disconnected from the action and “out of the loop.” Personal relationships took longer to develop. The respondents lamented the long travel time to get to meetings, the language problems at the meetings, and the lengthy time to get ready for the meetings. To be effective in a GDT, respondents felt that team leaders need to be good cross-cultural communicators. They have to work on developing trust and collaboration among members. They have to provide clear direction and explain the big picture to the members. Members need to know their functions well, be willing to accept responsibility for tasks delegated to them, and have good technical and project management skills. Kossler and Prestridge concluded that common challenges facing GDTs are the difficulty in agreeing on purpose and goals and in establishing roles and responsibilities. Communication breakdown and misunderstandings are likely and require time to recognize and overcome. Confusions arise because of the mixture of organization, local office, and national cultures. Overall, distance reduces collaboration and slows the process of building trust. Kossler and Prestridge recommended that a GDT begin with an initial face-to-face meeting, with periodic gatherings to supplement electronic meetings. Right from the start, the members should agree on what and how information will be shared. They should agree on how decisions will be made and documented, assumptions will be recognized and voiced, and conflicts will be surfaced and resolved. They recommended balancing high technology with high touch, with mutual support and reinforcement and frequent communication so that GDT members can learn to value and use differences. ❖

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Maznevski, M., & Peterson, M. F. (1997). Societal values, social interpretation, and multinational teams. In C. S. Granrose & S. Oskamp (Eds.), Crosscultural work groups (pp. 61-89). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 286 pages. Maznevski and Peterson considered how cultural orientations influence management processes in multicultural teams. For instance, one orientation they described is relationships among people which may be individualistic (with an emphasis on responsibility to and for self and the immediate family), collective (with an emphasis on responsibility to and for larger groups such as the extended family or peer group), and hierarchical (with an unequal distribution of power and responsibility such that those higher in status have power over and responsibility for those with lower status). Members of multicultural teams from individualistic cultures expect themselves and others to contribute to the team fully and uniquely in important ways. Those from collectivistic cultures focus on maintaining group relations and promoting active listening. Those from hierarchical cultures make good use of senior members’, supervisors’, and outside experts’ knowledge and expertise. Another cultural orientation Maznevski and Peterson examined is mode of activity: doing-achieving, being-feeling, and thinking-reflecting. Members from cultures that emphasize doing-achieving set goals and ensure goals are achieved. Those from being-feeling cultures maintain group relations and draw attention to how members are feeling. Those from thinking-reflecting cultures ensure multiple analyses and explanations are considered. Another cultural orientation they considered is relation to time: past, present, or future. Members of multicultural teams from a culture that focuses on the past identify similarities between past and current situations and learn from the past. Those from cultures with a present orientation promote a sense of urgency and address immediate threats and opportunities. Those from cultures with a future orientation draw attention to events with long-term implications. The authors also examined cultural orientation for relation to nature. Members from cultures with a mastery orientation identify and implement potential interventions to improve. Those from a subjugation-to-nature orientation prevent wasted effort at attempting to change relatively fixed constraints. Those from a harmony-with-nature orientation identify and implement whole system, synergistic approaches in the group. An advantage of multicultural teams is that cultural differences can be combined in ways that potentially lead to unique, innovative approaches and can be translated into competitive advantages. If the group emphasizes behaviors or customs of one culture (for instance, that of the majority of

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group members), then all members will not be satisfied with the group, will not offer their contributions, and will not be committed to the group’s decisions. This becomes an acute problem if the group’s task is not routine and the benefits of using the varied perspectives of the members outweigh the disadvantages of having to overcome differences of opinion and conflicts created by cultural differences. Teams that could be affected by such differences include self-managed teams, product development groups, customer service groups, sales teams, and international strategy groups. People from different cultures have different sources of uncertainty and ambiguity. Maznevski and Peterson gave the example of a work team faced with an increase in defective products. The team is in a Japanese-owned plant in the United States. A binational management team with an assigned leader is given the task to decrease the number of defective products by a certain date. Here, cultural differences in regard to time, mode of activity (here emphasizing analyzing and doing rather than being), and hierarchical relationships among people won’t be evident because these have been defined for the group. However, cultural differences with respect to relationship to nature may become a source of contention or innovation as members approach the task in different ways. Another example given was a self-managed, multinational team of engineers working on a research and development project initiated by a 50-50 joint venture between two high-technology companies. The assignment from the parent and joint venture headquarters provides a clear description of the finished product’s specifications and a given time frame. Since all the members are engineers, they share an orientation of relation to nature and time. However, they may vary in their approach to goal-setting and achievement. Cultural differences in mode of activity and relationships among people may affect the team’s ability to function effectively and so must be managed by team members. ❖ Scase, R. (1997). Transforming international business and transnational teams. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 6(2), 169-174. Scase noted that the degree of globalization (in line with Bartlett and Ghoshal’s 1989 typology of global, multinational, and transnational structures [see annotation on p. 16]) will determine the company’s reliance on transnational teams. Global firms are highly centralized, ethnocentric organizations with geographically dispersed units run by expatriate executives. Transnational teams such as those described by Janssens and Brett (1997; see

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annotation on p. 52) are rare in these organizations. When teams are established, they tend to be homogeneous in their cultural dimensions. They consist of members from headquarters, or they may consist of managers from one particular location, most or all of whom will have the same corporate values if not national background and have clearly defined powers from headquarters as to what they can and cannot do. Multinational firms are loosely structured conglomerates. As such, task forces are located within different companies and rarely if ever cross unit boundaries. In contrast, transnational organizations are a mix of centralized and decentralized operations. Their degree of integration and distinctness depends on what makes sense in relation to markets, technology, expertise, and costs. The synergy within this type of organization depends on crossnational and cross-functional collaboration. While project teams are globally distributed, they integrate diverse functions and expertise. Communication technology (the Internet, for example) facilitates interactions. Coordinated efforts produce products and services for different locations and global markets. According to Scase, transnational teams benefit when members’ roles are established early in the process. Team members need a sense of interpersonal trust based on an understanding of each other’s interests and stakes. Team members need to be trained in process facilitation, or they need professional facilitators to help them focus on process issues. The risk of subgroup domination is not easily overcome. Developing meaningful participation, to use Janssens’ and Brett’s (1997) term, is a challenge that will require more understanding of how transnational teams operate and how issues of cultural diversity, differences in perspectives and power, and the divergent interests of multiple stakeholders emerge and are resolved. ❖ Snow, C. C., Snell, S. A., Davison, S. C., & Hambrick, D. C. (1996). Use transnational teams to globalize your company. Organizational Dynamics, 24(4), 50-67. Snow et al. defined a transnational team as “a work group composed of multinational members whose activities span multiple countries” (p. 52). Their study of transnational teams provided a number of examples. Eastman Kodak Co.’s 14-country team launched Photo CD. Heineken N.V.’s 13member, 5-country European Production Task Force spent 18 months determining how the company could maximize production economies of scale across Europe while remaining responsive to the needs of its national operating companies. Glaxo-Wellcome Inc., the pharmaceutical company, formed

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an International Quality Assurance Coordination Team as a result of several years of informal meetings. British Petroleum’s European Gas Business Development Team was charged with developing a business plan for locating, producing, transporting, and selling natural gas throughout Europe. Studying such teams, the authors developed a comprehensive model of team effectiveness that includes key characteristics differentiating a transnational team from other types of work teams, and they showed how a transnational team copes with cross-cultural issues. The factors that drive a transnational team are task complexity and importance (which is usually high) and multicultural dynamics (handling cross-cultural issues in a way that maximizes the contribution from each of the members). Elements of a transnational team’s design that help it cope and excel are communications and decision-making technologies. A decision support system (“groupware”) includes electronic means for group scheduling, group authoring, real-time conferencing, and project management. Other technologies include access to databases and communications systems (email, voice mail, fax machines). Texas Instruments Inc.’s research and development team, for example, used mobile telephones to communicate between locations in California, France, and Japan. The team was able to operate twenty-four hours a day by transmitting electronically to the group in the next time zone the daily product from the subgroup in each location. Transnational teams deal with three powerful cultures operating simultaneously: national, corporate, and occupational. Teams that work well have leaders and members who trust each other and are committed to the team’s mission. This does not happen by chance but rather through a planned, facilitated process that recognizes and builds on multiculturalism. Such a plan means team members are selected carefully with the knowledge and expectation of the challenges they will face, speak multiple languages, agree on the team’s mission from the outset, and share the same business values. In addition, the team-building process can facilitate interpersonal trust through deliberate attention to building team norms, articulating member roles, and identifying criteria for success. Snow et al. outlined a four-stage team-building process for becoming an effective transnational team. Stage 1, forming the team, specifies the company’s investment in the team members and their development as a team. Attention is on understanding the business context and objectives, and on emphasizing strong senior management sponsorship. Stage 2, focusing the team and its mission, involves team-building exercises, development of team mission and norms, clarifying objectives and performance measures, and

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perhaps intervening to increase members’ cultural sensitivity (for example, discussion of cultural beliefs and values). Stage 3, maintaining the team, involves group memory (maintaining a record of agreement and action plans), transferring facilitation skills to group members (for example, members discuss cultural differences when they arise), spending time to become a better team, and continually updating the sponsor. Team process measures, such as attitude surveys and behavioral data, can show evidence of camaraderie, flexibility, dependability, shared responsibility, and commitment. Outcome measures relate the team’s products to key business results, such as time to peak sales, regulatory approvals, revenue, and profits. Stage 4, transferring learning throughout the organization, includes celebrating, publicizing, and rewarding the team’s success; reviewing the group process with the team and the sponsor; and transferring learning to other teams and facilitators. Defining Heterogeneity and Group Identity Hamada, T. (1995). Inventing cultural others in organizations: A case of anthropological reflexivity in a multinational firm. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 31(2), 162-185. In this provocative article, Hamada suggested that cultural assumptions are neither static nor good predictors of behavior. Rather, they are part of a process of cultural creation in the corporate and national environment. As such, we should not necessarily assume that there is one single set of characteristics that defines the corporate or national culture. This idea contradicted established notions of cultural values such as those proposed by Hofstede (1980, 1984, 1991). For example, an organization once believed to have a single, strong corporate culture may really be more like “a jam session, full of cognitive dissonance, individual creativity, and ad lib” (p. 182). As a consequence, organizational units with individuals from diverse groups are likely to produce substantial misunderstandings among unit members. Moreover, the unit is influencing and being influenced by a variety of social currents and crosscurrents beyond the unit to include the organization as a whole and society at large or indeed multiple societies. To understand how this happens and to predict potential conflict, we need to move away from trying to identify the one corporate or country culture that presumably controls behavior to recognize and describe the multiplicity of context. Identifying this complex context requires paying attention to social agents, time, various self-identities, and a variety of interpersonal interchanges. We need to examine how a variety of

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people in the same environment interpret events over time. We need to listen to the insiders’ perspectives. The implication for our purposes is that global executives need to be able to capture the native patterns in different geographic areas and to be sensitive to the evolution of these patterns. As such, cultural sensitivity may be a critical personality dimension for the successful global executive.

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Suggested Reading Alderfer, C. P. (1980). Consulting to underbounded systems. In C. P. Alderfer & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Advances in experiential social processes (Vol. 2, pp. 267295). New York: John Wiley. Alderfer, C. P. (1987). An intergroup perspective on group dynamics. In J. W. Lorsch (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 190-222). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Barham, K., & Oates, D. (1991). The international manager. London: Economist Books. Beach, L. R. (1990). Image theory: Decision making in personal and organizational contexts. New York: John Wiley. Beach, L. R., & Mitchell, T. R. (1990). Image theory: A behavioral theory of decision making in organizations. In B. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 12, pp. 1-41). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Beach, L. R., & Mitchell, T. R. (1996). Image theory: The unifying perspective. In L. R. Beach (Ed.), Decision making in the workplace: A unified perspective (pp. 1-20). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Beach, L. R., Smith, B., Lundell, J., & Mitchell, T. R. (1988). Image theory: Descriptive sufficiency of a simple rule for the compatibility test. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 1, 17-28. Beach, L. R., & Strom, E. (1989). A toadstool among the mushrooms: Screening decisions and image theory’s compatibility test. Acta Psychologica, 72, 1-12. Black, J. S., & Gregersen, H. B. (1991). When Yankee comes home: Factors related to expatriate and spouse repatriation adjustment. Journal of International Business Studies, 22, 671-694. Blum, K. (1994). Managing people in Germany. In T. Garrison & D. Rees (Eds.), Managing people across Europe (pp. 40-62). Oxford, England: ButterworthHeinemann. Bond, M. H., & Smith, P. B. (1996). Cross-cultural social and organizational psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 205-235. Breenhaus, J. H., & Callanan, G. A. (1994). Career management (2nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Dryden. Brewster, C., & Hegewisch, A. (1993, January). A continent of diversity. Personnel Management, pp. 36-40. Brewster, C., Hegewisch, A., & Lockhart, J. T. (1991). Researching human resource management: Methodology of the Price Waterhouse-Cranfield Project on European Trends. Personnel Review, 20(6), 36-40. Cox, T. (1991). The multicultural organization. Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 34-47.

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Dorfman, P. W. (1995). International and cross-cultural leadership research. In B. J. Punnett & O. Shenkar (Eds.), Handbook of international management research (pp. 267-350). Oxford, England: Blackwell. Fukada, M. (1996). Trade financing opened door to world travel: Management track. Nikkei Weekly (Japan), 34(1744), 12. Gamble, T. J., & Ginsberg, P. E. (1981). Differentiation, cognition, and social evolution. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 12, 445-459. Granrose, C. S. (1997). Cross-cultural socialization of Asian employees. In C. S. Granrose & S. Oskamp (Eds.), Cross-cultural work groups (pp. 186-211). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Humes, S. (1993). Managing the multinational: Confronting the global-local dilemma. New York: Prentice Hall. Jaeger, A. M. (1983). The transfer of organizational culture overseas: An approach to control in the multinational corporation. Journal of International Business Studies, 14(2), 91-114. Jaeger, A. M. (1986). Organization development and national cultures: Where’s the fit? Academy of Management Review, 11(1), 178-190. Johnson, J. W., & Olson, A. M. (1996, April). Cross-national differences in perceptions of supervisor performance. Presented at the annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego, CA. Jones, G. R. (1986). Socialization tactics, self-efficacy, and newcomers’ adjustments to organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 29, 262-279. Judge, T. A., & Ferris, G. R. (1992). The elusive criterion of fit in human resource staffing decisions. Human Resource Planning, 15(4), 47-67. King, P. (1994). The business culture in the Netherlands. In C. Randlesome (Ed.), Business cultures in Europe (2nd ed., pp. 323-363). Oxford, England: ButterworthHeinemann. Kluckhohn, F. R., & Strodtbeck, C. (1961). Variations in value orientations. New York: Row, Peterson Co. Laurent, A. (1983). The cultural diversity of western conceptions of management. International Studies of Management and Organization, 13(1-2), 75-96. London, M. (1995). Self and interpersonal insight: How people learn about themselves and others in organizations. New York: Oxford University Press. London, M., & Stumpf, S. A. (1982). Managing careers. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley. London, M., & Stumpf, S. A. (1983). Effects of candidate characteristics on management promotion decisions: An experimental study. Personnel Psychology, 36, 241259. Mitchell, T. R., & Beach, L. R. (1990). “Do I love thee? Let me count.” Toward an understanding of intuitive and automatic decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 47, 1-20.

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Nelson, T. D. (1993). The hierarchical organization of behavior: A useful feedback model of self-regulation. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 121-126. Pelto, P. J. (1968). The difference between tight and loose societies. Transaction, 5(5), 37-40. Potter, R. E., & Beach, L. R. (1994). Imperfect information in pre-choice screening of options. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 59, 313-329. Pruitt, D. G., & Carnevale, P. J. (1993). Negotiation in social conflict. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Rediker, J., Mitchell, T. R., Beach, L. R., & Beard, D. W. (1993). The effects of strong belief structures on information-processing evaluations and choice. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 6, 113-132. Smith, P. B., Misumi, J., Tayeb, M. H., Peterson, M. F., & Bond, M. H. (1989). On the generality of leadership styles across cultures. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 62, 97-110. Soelberg, P. O. (1967). Unprogrammed decision making. Industrial Management Review, 8, 19-29. Stevens, C. K., & Beach, L. R. (1996). Job search and job selection. In L. R. Beach (Ed.), Decision making in the workplace: A unified perspective (pp. 33-47). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Stumpf, S. A., & London, M. (1981a). Clustering rater policies in evaluating candidates for promotion. Academy of Management Journal, 24, 752-766. Stumpf, S. A., & London, M. (1981b). Management promotions: Individual and organizational factors affecting the decision process. Academy of Management Review, 6, 539-550. The man who knows what it’s like: KPMG Chairman Colin Sharman. (1997). Accountancy, 119(1243), 22. Triandis, H. C. (1982). Review of culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Human Organization, 41, 86-90. Triandis, H. C. (1995b). A theoretical framework for the study of diversity. In M. M. Chemers, S. Oskamp, & M. A. Costanzo (Eds.), Diversity in organizations (pp. 1136). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Tyson, S. (1994). Managing people in the United Kingdom. In T. Garrison & D. Rees (Eds.), Managing people across Europe (pp. 25-39). Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann. Weatherly, K. A., & Beach, L. R. (1996). Organizational culture and decision making. In L. R. Beach (Ed.), Decision making in the workplace: A unified perspective (pp. 117-132). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Welsh, D. H. B., Luthans, F., & Sommer, S. M. (1993). Managing Russian factory workers: The impact of U.S.-based behavioral and participative techniques. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 58-79.

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Appendix A Thinking about Global Executive Selection We considered many issues while formulating the cultural lens framework we use to view the process of international executive selection. Foremost, we had to consider what the process of global executive selection is. Our view is that it is the process of identifying, evaluating, and choosing candidates who can lead an enterprise that transverses cultures. International business requires global business executives, leaders who understand multiple cultures and how to use these cultures to the best business advantage. Second, we examined the effects of adding the global dimension to already established knowledge about executive selection. Such an overlay, we found, makes it necessary for decision-makers and, indeed, entire organizations to diagnose the multicultural job environment, performance expectations, and characteristics of successful executives. Cultural differences play a significant role here. Organizations see job requirements and candidate assessment through a cultural lens that defines values, leadership behaviors, executive education and development, and business practices. Culture also influences the information available about candidates and how this information is used by individual and group decision-makers. Third, we looked at the attributes of successful global executives. They must be able to communicate and get along with people from different cultures, which means successful international executives must be culturally aware and culturally sensitive, as well as possessing excellent technical and managerial knowledge, ability, and experience. Candidates for a global executive position are likely to have different cultural backgrounds (backgrounds from different countries and varying international experiences). The selection objective is to find someone who can not only work in different cultures but can integrate these cultures. This means being able to take advantage of the possible synergy that arises among people with considerably different backgrounds, languages, modes of working, and worldviews. Fourth, we looked at the corporate context of international executives. The global executive may be chosen from any place in the world no matter where the company’s headquarters happens to be (Dalton, 1998; see annotation on p. 30). The executive’s subordinates may also be selected from anywhere in the world. Indeed, each may be from a different country. They may work in different countries, requiring the executive to manage across cultures from a distance. Subordinates may work in the same location as the

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executive but come from different cultures. Moreover, the selection committee members may come from all over the globe. The corporate context also includes the degree of cultural difference between countries. A company doing business throughout western Europe that wants to expand to eastern Europe operates in a much different context than, for example, an Australian firm that wants to form a joint venture with a German company to design new products in India, acquire the raw materials in China, manufacture in Peru and Mexico, and sell in North America and Europe. The candidates for managing such an operation may come from different countries and have had a variety of foreign job experiences. Complicating matters further, the candidates may even be from different companies and even different industries—each with its own corporate culture. The decision-makers may be the board of directors of the parent firm, all of whom share the same cultural background even though they may have different interests in the business (some representing labor and others representing the shareholders, for example). Or the decision-making team may be an amalgam of business partners from different countries.

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Appendix B Research Ideas and Hypotheses In conducting research on global executive selection, we address a number of questions. Do people from different cultures use different dimensions to evaluate people from foreign cultures? Do they use the same dimensions but place higher values on some differences/characteristics than on others? One research idea is to devise scales of cultural sensitivity and acceptance of cultural diversity that can be applied to individual decision-makers and groups. In working toward building such scales, researchers could study selection in simulations and field studies that capture a variety of situations. Another approach to creating such scales would be to use case studies, to review in detail the procedures and issues that arise in selecting an executive for a global position. Other research suggestions, listed below, test the importance of variables that play a significant role in international executive selection: the global situation of the firm and job; culture-related criteria for success; personal characteristics of job candidates, work group members, and decision-makers; decision processes; and decision outcomes. • Study individual and group learning as participants confront candidates from different cultures, study corporate needs in different cultures, and study the needs of multinational firms doing business across cultures. • Study cultural differences in decision-making strategies, examine criteria used to evaluate executive candidates, and evaluate the importance assigned to different behaviors and accomplishments. • Examine cultural differences in behaviors, attitudes, values, and management styles needed for executive success in different cultures. • Study how the situation (organization global experiences and objectives, and international requirements of the position) influences criteria for success, best-candidate characteristics, and the decision process. • Study how the organization’s degree of globalization influences executive development policies and programs such as succession planning, fast-track programs, and selection-decision processes. (We hypothesize that experience with globalization leads to building development programs that support the advancement of executives with international experience. However, organizations embarking on globalization for the first time look outside for executive talent.) • Explore relationships between the elements of our cultural lens framework: the relationship between degree of globalization (of the business

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environment, job, and organization) and criteria for executive success; the relationship between degree of globalization and desired executive characteristics; the relationship between criteria for executive success and desired executive characteristics; and the way the cultural lens moderates these relationships—that is, how these relationships may change when different cultures are involved, have various levels of importance, and contrast with a dominant culture if there is one. (We hypothesize that stronger cultural focus on the current global business environment is associated with less attention given to the level of organizational globalization, to global success criteria, and to personal characteristics such as intercultural sensitivity. Further, we hypothesize that greater contrast between the cultures is associated with more importance given to the level of organizational globalization, the crosscultural nature of success criteria, and personal characteristics associated with culture.) • Study issues of person perception and decision-making within a cross-cultural context. For instance, study effects of cultural differences (the difference between the dominant culture and the level of globalization) on decision-makers. (Regarding cultural distance, we hypothesize that the greater the geographic/social distance between the decision-makers and the candidates and the clearer the cultural differences, the higher the likelihood of negative reaction from decision-makers. This may be curvilinear in that very large differences may be appreciated, very small/minor differences may go unnoticed, and moderate differences may be seen as a threat and viewed negatively.) • Study group decision-maker interactions as candidates from different cultures are evaluated. • Study the relationship between how global executives were selected and their later success on the job (how long they remained in the position; others’ evaluations of their performance; their own assessment of the value of the experience and their contributions to the firm; and various objective performance measures, such as changes in sales, customers, profits, and competitors).

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Appendix C Cultural Influences on Managerial Career Development This appendix describes the contexts for selection in four countries: Germany, England, Spain, and Singapore. Further, it describes some elements of leadership and career structures in those countries, with a section on the implications of these differences for global executive selection devoted to each country. The reasoning behind selecting these particular four countries involved the significant amount and quality of data we were able to acquire because of CCL’s work in those countries during its own globalization efforts, and because of research conducted by others studying the field of international executives. Germany Executives in Germany, especially CEOs, are expected to be strong, decisive leaders who are looked to for unequivocal direction (Mole, 1997). Employees expect their leaders to provide clear, precise, and, preferably, written orders with clear expectations for delegation. Executives are expected to get their hands dirty with nitty-gritty problems. The German workforce is highly trained and well educated. German companies do not have an elite core of managers entering from the dominant or prestigious universities, as French companies do with that country’s Grandes Ecoles. German workers rise through the ranks based on their professional competence, often from the lowest ranks of the organization. Managers with a technical background have the best chances of getting ahead. Engineers have higher status than those with marketing or finance backgrounds. Most managers are educated in the polytechnics and universities where they have studied skills directly related to their future careers. They do not have a general liberal arts background but rather a concentrated, disciplineoriented background (Randlesome, 1994a). Popular courses of study include mechanical and production engineering, economics, and business economics. Advancing to the top ranks of management in Germany is more possible for managers holding a doctorate. About 14,000 university graduates continue for their doctorate each year (Randlesome, 1994a). In 1985, 53.8 percent of the management board members of the 100 largest companies in Germany had a doctorate. Women are not likely to make it to the top in Germany (Mole, 1997). More than other Europeans, Germans have the most traditional views of the

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role of women in business. Some reasons for this include a bias against girls studying technical subjects in school, the length of time it takes to get a university degree, lack of gender discrimination laws, and a general male chauvinist attitude. Career structures are highly organized in German companies (Mole, 1997, p. 39). This limits possibilities for individual advancement. Outsiders are not often brought in. People are rarely passed over for promotion. As a result, managers do not feel they are competing for the same positions. This encourages a cooperative attitude among managers. The fast-track career is rare. Talented managers are recognized as prospects for planned, steady advancement. Managers are not likely to change companies in Germany unless they work for foreign-owned firms. Managers are more concerned about job security than promotion. A lot of moving around is viewed as a professional weakness. Even job rotation is viewed somewhat negatively. Job moves are made more to acquire additional technical experience rather than to move up the organizational hierarchy. The belief in continuous training and development is strong in German companies. As much as 25 percent of the population between the ages of 19 and 65 take part every year in some type of continuous education (Randlesome, 1994a). Large companies conduct most of their management development in-house (Randlesome, 1994a). They have lavishly equipped short-course centers and customize programs to fit their corporate culture (which in turns helps companies build employee commitment and enhance management retention). England Effective leaders in England are viewed as those who are able to conduct meetings efficiently and establish good relationships with subordinates. Instructions are disguised as polite requests (Mole, 1997). Subordinates expect to receive instructions and then be left alone to do the job. Being reserved, courteous, unassuming, and nonabrasive is respected. Increasingly, however, younger executives demonstrate energy and enthusiasm without inhibition. About 25 percent of British top managers had university degrees in 1985 compared with 85 percent of top managers in Japan and the United States, and 62 percent in western Germany and France (Handy, Gordon, Gow, & Randlesome, 1987; Randlesome, 1994b).

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Science and engineering graduates often go into financial services, accounting, or consulting firms for better pay. Accountancy is the most valued and widespread qualification. Performance is the principal determinant of advancement. Personal influence and nepotism do not go as far as in other countries, such as Spain. Coming from the upper class helps, but trying to capitalize on one’s parentage by pulling strings is rejected. Within the ranks of management, class doesn’t matter much. The company car is a symbol of rank as well as a widespread method of tax avoidance. Generally, British executives are paid less than executives in other European countries. As a result, elaborate corporate events and business entertaining are fairly common. These may include sporting and cultural events, to which spouses may be invited. British companies spend far less on training than German and French firms (about a sixth less). Training for higher levels of the organization is viewed as a reward, not a preparation for promotion. In Britain, the average manager receives just one day’s development per year compared to at least five days’ training or management development for 40 percent of the largest U.S., German, and Japanese firms (Randlesome, 1994b). Spain The ideal CEO in Spain is a benevolent autocrat who is firm and decisive (Mole, 1997). Leaders are expected to be courageous (valiente). Sharing decision-making with subordinates is likely to be viewed as a weakness. Authority doesn’t stem from the position so much as the quality of the interpersonal relationship with subordinates. Subordinate loyalty is to the person in charge, not the institution or proper protocol and chain of command. Still, lines of authority are clear, and delegation needs to be concrete and specific. Personal loyalty and friendship carry more weight than competence in making promotion decisions. When it comes to getting a choice job, family counts for more than ability. Cleverness is not valued as highly as character and breeding. The word listo implies being sharp, but also connotes being not altogether trustworthy (Mole, 1997). The best compliment is bueno, which implies being clever, honorable, and valiant. In the past, women achieved top corporate positions because of a family relationship and a lack of a male line. These were exceptions, however. Generally speaking, women are not found in management positions, as they

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tend to leave the job market to raise families. This situation is changing, however, due to a general skills shortage. Recently, women have been welcomed into education and management. Human relationships are of central importance on the job. Saying someone is a good friend is the highest compliment and best recommendation. While in the United Kingdom and in Germany this would be viewed as a breach of a personal barrier, in Spain it is evidence of a relationship built on trust and a personal sense of honor (orgullo) and respect. Spain does not have an educational elite, although graduates of the Jesuit universities or the Opus Dei University in Navarre are held in high esteem. Access to universities is through the University Orientation Course— a one-year pre-university course. A dramatic increase in the number of university students has taxed the university system. Spanish firms need far more executives than the universities can produce (Bruton, 1994). Spain’s top business school is the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Empresas in Navarre. Other top schools are Escuela Superior de Administracion y Direccion de Empresas in Barcelona and the Instituto de Empresas in Madrid. Executive success in Spain is viewed as a result of luck or influence, not capability or performance. People are assumed to get ahead because they have ingratiated themselves with top managers or are related to them. Managers who do get ahead flaunt their material wealth. Generally speaking, Spanish culture is not advancement-oriented. Managers are content with their rank or job and are more concerned about job security (Mole, 1997) than advancement. This is changing, however, because of rapid economic expansion. A shortage of skills has led employees in big cities such as Madrid and Barcelona to jump from one company to another for better pay. Moving from one city to another, however, remains the exception as the extended family is still the basic economic unit and social anchor. Singapore Leadership stems from the dominant group in the company, which is usually gained from family or personal connections (Earley & Erez, 1997; see annotation on p. 21). Rank is important. Leaders are all-powerful and keep their distance from work groups. Financial rewards go to groups, not single individuals. Individuals are motivated by supervisors who deliver a dignified personal gesture that conveys trust and affection. Disciplining an employee must take into account the employee’s need to save face and the company’s need to maintain close

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personal relationships among employees. Business decisions cannot be made with respect to economics and efficiency alone. Singapore is the ninth richest country in the world, and almost all Singaporeans (92 percent) own their own homes, compared with 60 percent in most developed countries (Perera, 1996). Singaporeans are driven to achieve. They use the Hokkien word kiasu, meaning “afraid to lose,” to describe themselves. Racial stereotypes abound. The Chinese are labeled as enterprising and materialistic business types. The Malays are perceived to have a keener focus on family relationships and personal day-to-day happiness. The Indians are described as emotional public speakers who enjoy argument. This blend of cultures is not a melting pot but rather an example of intercultural harmony supported by strict laws. A sense of real camaraderie is a common motivation to succeed. Across all the immigrant groups there is a spirit to strive for economic success and establish a better life for themselves and their families. Nepotism is common and appropriate in hiring decisions in Singapore. Family loyalty is likely to be more important than competence. Employing many members of the same family merges family and company loyalty (Leppert, 1996).

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Appendix D Examples of International Development Programs These cases demonstrate how two firms facing global expansion established executive success criteria and competencies and developed programs to help executives prepare for the emerging global environment. Both firms recognized the increasingly global nature of their businesses. In response, they developed intercultural competencies, methods for identifying highpotential managers, job rotations on international assignments, and training programs to sensitize managers to language and cultural differences. Fiat Fiat created a comprehensive dynamic program to prepare its executives to work in the global marketplace (Anteri & Tesio, 1990). The goal was to establish new professional attitudes in management while staying linked to the company’s traditional cultural values. The company designed a management development program with international career paths. It defined intercultural competence as having three components: (1) a corporate self-identity (the ability to recognize and interpret correctly the values of one’s own company culture, as well as the peculiarities of other cultural and company contexts); (2) the ability to dialogue with other cultures (the ability to either communicate or represent the company’s image abroad); and (3) the ability to interact with other cultures (the ability to both negotiate effectively and to optimize any professional relations with other cultures). Managers needed to learn how to handle cultural differences relating to other national contexts, without invalidating the values expressed by the company’s own individual culture. To help managers acquire these competencies, Fiat implemented new interculturally oriented training. Managers based at the company’s headquarters in Italy were taken on visits to offices abroad. An Italian briefing program was designed for non-Italian managers of Fiat companies throughout the world, with a goal of building a more thorough command of the Italian language and of supplying a framework with which to help interpret Italy and the Fiat world. Company briefings and seminars were held in various countries for managers who operated in international markets. These were intended to promote an understanding of the most salient features of different cultures. A program on communication and foreign language was used to develop language skills and communication models appropriate for an international audience. The goal was to enhance managers’ ability to express

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themselves publicly in English through the use of verbal and nonverbal techniques. Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive established a fast-track program for high-potential managers to solve two problems: raids of its talented young managers, especially those with international experience, and a lack of the human resources required to fill the growing number of international executive positions as the business expanded globally (Conner & Smith, 1997). Senior leadership worked jointly with the human resources department to identify desired qualities of high-potential managers, design developmental experiences with global job rotation, identify young managers for the program, and carefully monitor their progress. The human resources department designed a series of self-paced materials to help the managers in the program plan their development. Interviews with top executives in the company conducted by the human resources department yielded six key attributes of successful executives in their growth-oriented corporate environment: Leaders need (1) an exhaustive knowledge of all major facets of the business, (2) the ability to use personal influence to tap into and leverage corporate resources through formal and informal networks, (3) the cultural sensitivity that comes from living in foreign countries and a working knowledge of one or more second languages, (4) a strong set of clear values that can be counted on for doing what is right and for resisting inaction in the face of facts opposing those values, (5) effective people-management skills, and (6) entrepreneur behavior that allows risk-taking, vision, and quick action. In establishing a global management development program based on these competencies, Colgate executives agreed that a variety of assignments in different geographic locations and functions was the best preparation for executive positions. In expecting high-potential managers to take responsibility for their own career planning, the human resources department designed several tools: (1) a competency assessment to help managers determine how effectively they demonstrate leadership and management skills, (2) a personal values survey to help managers gain a better understanding of their deepest values, (3) a development activities chart that helps managers determine the on-thejob learning and development opportunities that come from particular job assignments and activities, (4) a global training curriculum grid that links the company’s courses to needed skills, (5) an individual development plan worksheet that helps high-potential managers to transform their awareness of

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needed skills and developmental opportunities into a course of action, and (6) a concise reference guide for defining and understanding global competencies. In order to keep talented young managers in this global development program, Colgate realized it would have to offer special incentives. For example, when the company recognized that high-potential managers are often reluctant to accept assignments in less attractive locations, it developed special compensation packages to encourage managers to take those assignments. Compensation included the typical post allowance, plus a mobility premium and a retention bonus paid after a specified time in the location. Also, the company made international moves easier for family members by providing them with cross-cultural orientation programs and language training. In addition, spouses are offered funds to help with their careers (the money can be used to buy a computer, for example, to maintain contact with a current employer, or to start a new business). Other incentives include rest and recreation breaks, such as special shopping trips.

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Author Index Adler, N. J., 7, 9, 34, 61 Adsit, D., 7, 61 Agar, M., 39 Akande, A., 26 Albert, R. D., 10, 61 Alderfer, C. P., 64 Anteri, E., 61, 76 Ayestaran, S., 26 Barham, K., 64 Bartlett, C., 8, 16, 55 Bauer, M., 3, 61 Beach, L. R., 64, 65, 66 Beard, D. W., 66 Berne, E., 37, 61 Bertin-Mourot, B., 3, 61 Black, J. S., 46, 64 Blum, K., 64 Bochner, S., 26 Bond, M. H., 64, 66 Boyacigiller, N., 30, 61 Breenhaus, J. H., 64 Brett, J. M., 14, 52, 55, 56 Brewster, C., 64 Bruton, K., 61, 74 Cai, D. A., 26 Callan, V., 26 Callanan, G. A., 64 Campbell, D. M., 26 Campbell, R. J., 3, 8, 9, 63 Carnevale, P. J., 66 Cho, N. G., 26 Church, A. T., 20, 38 Conner, J., 61, 77 Costa, P. T. Jr., 20, 38, 61, 62 Cox, T., 64 Crom, S., 7, 61 Dalton, M., 10, 30, 43, 45, 61, 67 D’Amorim, M., 26 Dany, F., 49 Davison, S. C., 14, 56 de Merode, J., 9, 35 Doktor, R., 7, 61 Donaldson, T., 30, 61 Donohue, W. A., 26

Dorfman, P. W., 51, 65 Drake, L. E., 26 Dunbar, E., 10, 20, 38 Earley, P. C., 6, 21, 74 Erez, M., 6, 21, 74 Ettore, B., 1, 61 Ferris, G. R., 65 Francois, P. H., 26 Fukada, M., 65 Gamble, T. J., 65 Garrison, T., 3, 61 Ghoshal, S., 8, 16, 55 Ginsberg, P. E., 65 Gordon, C., 62, 72 Gow, I., 62, 72 Graham, J. L., 27, 62 Granrose, C. S., 28, 65 Gregerson, H. B., 46, 64 Hailey, J., 50 Hamada, T., 58 Hambrick, D. C., 14, 56 Handy, C., 62, 72 Hanges, P., 39 Harrison, J. K., 37, 62 Hawes, F., 38 Hegewisch, A., 64 Hofmann, K., 26 Hofstede, G., 6, 18, 26, 28, 58, 62 Hoppe, M., 3, 18 House, R. J., 39 Howell, J. P., 51 Humes, S., 65 Hyatt, D. E., 51 Jaeger, A. M., 65 Janosik, R. J., 27, 62 Janssens, M., 14, 52, 55, 56 Jesuino, J. C., 26 Johansen, R., 6, 18, 36 Johnson, J. W., 65 Jones, D., 7, 61 Jones, G. R., 65 Judge, T. A., 65 Kaiser, R., 3, 8, 9, 63 Kakabadse, A., 6, 62 Kanter, R. M., 23, 35

Kealey, D., 10, 38, 62 King, P., 65 Kitayama, S., 25 Klimoski, R. J., 13, 63 Kluckhohn, F. R., 65 Kobrin, S. J., 12, 31, 62 Koopman, P. L., 26 Kossler, M. E., 52 Laurent, A., 65 Lee, H. O., 27, 62 Leppert, P., 62, 75 Leslie, J. B., 40, 41 Leung, K., 26 Levy-Leboyer, C., 50, 62 Lim, T. K., 26 Lin, R. Y., 28 Lockhart, J. T., 64 Lombardo, M., 41, 62 London, M., 7, 61, 65, 66 Lonner, W. J., 20, 38 Lor, N., 50 Lundell, J., 64 Luthans, F., 66 Mahoney, J. D., 10, 40 Markus, H. R., 25 Maznevski, M., 54 McCall, M. W., 10, 40, 41, 62 McCauley, C., 41, 62 McCrae, R. R., 20, 38, 61, 62 McMahon, T., 6, 62 Mendenhall, M. E., 46 Meyers, A., 6, 62 Misumi, J., 66 Mitchell, T. R., 64, 65, 66 Mole, J., 7, 62, 71, 72, 73, 74 Morrison, A., 41, 62 Mortazavi, S., 26 Munene, J., 26 Nelson, T. D., 66 Oates, D., 64 O’Hara-Devereaux, M., 6, 18, 36 Ohmae, K., 8, 17

80 Olson, A. M., 65 Park, H., 37, 62 Pelto, P. J., 66 Perera, A., 63, 75 Peterson, M. F., 26, 54, 66 Poortinga, Y., 3, 63 Potter, R. E., 66 Prestridge, S., 52 Pruitt, D. G., 66 Quintanilla, A. R., 39 Radford, M., 26 Rafaeli, A., 13, 63 Randlesome, C., 62, 63, 71, 72, 73 Redding, S. G., 7, 61 Rediker, J., 66 Rodrigues, C. A., 37 Rogan, R. G., 27, 62 Ropo, A., 26 Ruddy, T. M., 51 Savage, G., 26 Sayles, L. R., 3, 18

Selecting International Executives Scase, R., 14, 55 Schein, E. H., 28, 63 Scullion, H., 12, 30 Sessa, V. I., 3, 8, 9, 63 Setiadi, B., 26 Shaw, J. B., 7, 63 Sinha, T. N., 26 Smith, B., 64 Smith, C. A., 61, 77 Smith, P. B., 26, 64, 66 Snell, S. A., 14, 56 Snow, C. C., 14, 56 Soelberg, P. O., 66 Sommer, S. M., 66 Sorenson, R., 26 Spony, G., 6, 62 Spreitzer, G. M., 10, 40 Stevens, C. K., 66 Storey, J., 9, 34, 63 Strodtbeck, C., 65 Stroh, L. K., 46

Strom, E., 64 Stumpf, S. A., 65, 66 Tayeb, M. H., 66 Taylor, J. K., 3, 8, 9, 63 Tesio, V., 61, 76 Torchy, V., 49 Triandis, H. C., 21, 63, 66 Trompenaars, F., 6, 63 Trouve, P., 3, 20 Tung, R. L., 36 Tyson, S., 66 Van Velsor, E., 40, 41, 62 Viedge, C., 26 Weatherly, K. A., 66 Weeks, D. A., 10, 12, 31, 42, 44 Welsh, D. H. B., 66 White, R., 41, 62 Wilson, M. S., 3, 6, 18, 30, 43, 45, 61 Wilson, S. R., 26

81

Title Index A cognitive categorization model for the study of intercultural management, 63 A continent of diversity, 64 A cross-cultural comparison of organizational conflict management behavior, 62 A cross-national comparison of effective leadership and teamwork: Toward a global workforce, 40 A framework and model for understanding Latin American and Latino/ Hispanic cultural patterns, 61 A model of organizational careers in national contexts, 28 An empirical study of Canadian technical assistance, 38 An examination of the relationship between work group characteristics and performance: Once more into the breech, 51 An intergroup perspective on group dynamics, 64 Antecedent conditions of expatriate effectiveness, 61 A theoretical framework for the study of diversity, 66 A toadstool among the mushrooms: Screening decisions and image theory’s compatibility test, 64 Breaking the glass ceiling: Can women reach the top of America’s largest corporations?, 62 Breaking through the glass ceiling: Expatriate managers in Asia, 50 Career management, 64 Clustering rater policies in evaluating candidates for promotion, 66 Collectivism and individualism, 63 Consulting to underbounded systems, 64 Cross-cultural differences in upward ratings in a multi-national company, 61 Cross-cultural social and organizational psychology, 64 Cross-cultural socialization of Asian employees, 65 Cross-national differences in perceptions of supervisor performance, 65

Cultural and communication processes in international business negotiations, 26 Culture as an environmental context for careers, 63 Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind, 62 Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values, 62 Developing expatriates’ cross-cultural sensitivity: Cultures where “your culture’s OK” is really not OK, 37 Developing leaders for global roles, 30 Developing the next generation of leaders: A new strategy for leadership development at Colgate-Palmolive, 61 Differentiation, cognition, and social evolution, 65 “Do I love thee? Let me count.” Toward an understanding of intuitive and automatic decision making, 65 Doing business with Singapore, 62 Early identification of international executive potential, 40 Effects of candidate characteristics on management promotion decisions: An experimental study, 65 Enhancing managerial cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity: Transactional analysis revisited, 62 Executive selection: A research report on what works and what doesn’t, 63 Expatriate control and strategic control in American multinationals, 62 From the Atlantic to the Pacific century: Cross-cultural management reviewed, 61 Games people play, 61 Geographically dispersed teams, 52 Globalizing people through international assignments, 46 Globalwork: Bridging distance, culture, and time, 18, 36 GLOBE: The global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness research program, 39

82 Image theory: A behavioral theory of decision making in organizations, 64 Image theory: Decision making in personal and organizational contexts, 64 Image theory: Descriptive sufficiency of a simple rule for the compatibility test, 64 Image theory: The unifying perspective, 64 Imperfect information in pre-choice screening of options, 66 Individualism and collectivism in Asian managers’ careers, 28 International and cross-cultural leadership research, 65 International and intranational diversity, 36 International dimensions of organizational behavior, 34 International success: Selecting, developing, and supporting expatriate managers, 45 Introduction à la revue europeenne de Psychologie Appliquee, 62 Inventing cultural others in organizations: A case of anthropological reflexivity in a multinational firm, 58 Job search and job selection, 66 Les 200 en France et en Allemagne. Deux modeles contrastes de detectionselection-formation de dirigeants de grandes entreprises, 61 Making European managers: An overview, 63 Management promotions: Individual and organizational factors affecting the decision process, 66 Managerial leadership in the United States and Mexico: Distant neighbors or close cousins, 51 Managing across borders: The transnational solution, 16 Managing across cultures: A learning framework, 18 Managing careers, 65 Managing people across Europe: An introductory framework, 61 Managing people in France, 20 Managing people in Germany, 64 Managing people in the United Kingdom, 66

Selecting International Executives Managing Russian factory workers: The impact of U.S.-based behavioral and participative techniques, 66 Managing the multinational: Confronting the global-local dilemma, 65 Meaningful participation in transnational teams, 52 Mind your manners: Managing business cultures in Europe, 62 Negotiation in social conflict, 66 Off the track: Why and how successful executives get derailed, 62 On the generality of leadership styles across cultures, 66 Organizational culture and decision making, 66 Organization development and national cultures: Where’s the fit?, 65 Predicting sales success through handwriting analysis: An evaluation of the effects of training and handwriting sample content, 63 Readings on global leadership: Synthesis, 35 Recruiting and selecting international managers, 31, 42, 44 Recruitment and selection in Europe: Policies, practices and methods, 49 Researching human resource management: Methodology of the Price Waterhouse-Cranfield Project on European Trends, 64 Rethinking the culture-negotiation link, 62 Review of culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values, 66 Revised NEO Personality Inventory and NEO Five-Factor Inventory: Professional manual, 61 Riding the waves of culture, 63 Role conflict, ambiguity, and overload: A 21-nation study, 26 Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the frontiers of management, 23 Selection at the top: An annotated bibliography, 63 Self and interpersonal insight: How people learn about themselves and others in organizations, 65

Title Index Socialization tactics, self-efficacy, and newcomers’ adjustments to organizations, 65 Societal values, social interpretation, and multinational teams, 54 Sociocultural and contextual challenges of organizational life in Eastern Europe, 38 Strategic recruitment and development of the “International Manager”: Some European considerations, 30 The borderless world: Power and strategy in the interlinked economy, 17 The business culture in Germany. Part I: Western Germany, 63 The business culture in Spain, 61 The business culture in the Netherlands, 65 The business culture in the United Kingdom, 63 The challenge of international personnel selection, 62 The cross-cultural perspective in the study of personality: Rationale and current research, 20 The cultural diversity of western conceptions of management, 65 The cultural psychology of personality, 25 The cultural relativity of the quality of life concept, 62 The difference between tight and loose societies, 66 The dynamics of management derailment, 62 The effects of strong belief structures on information-processing evaluations and choice, 66 The elusive criterion of fit in human resource staffing decisions, 65 The globalist: Jean-Pierre Rosso, Chief Executive, Case Corp., 61 The hierarchical organization of behavior: A useful feedback model of selfregulation, 66 The influence of culture on the process of business negotiations: An exploratory story, 62

83 The internationalization of management at Fiat, 61 The international manager, 64 The making of managers, 62 The man who knows what it’s like: KPMG Chairman Colin Sharman, 66 The multicultural organization, 64 The role of expatriates in the management of interdependence, complexity and risk in multinational corporations, 61 The simple guide to customs and etiquette in Singapore, 63 The transfer of organizational culture overseas: An approach to control in the multinational corporation, 65 The transplanted executive: Why you need to understand how workers in other countries see the world differently, 21 Top management styles in Europe: Implications for business and crossnational teams, 62 Towards a conceptualization of culture for psychology, 63 Trade financing opened door to world travel: Management track, 65 Transforming international business and transnational teams, 55 Understanding the demands of leading in a global environment: A first step, 43 Unprogrammed decision making, 66 Updating Norman’s adequate taxonomy: Intelligence and personality dimensions in natural language and in questionnaires, 62 Use transnational teams to globalize your company, 56 Values in tension: Ethics away from home, 61 Variations in value orientations, 65 When Yankee comes home: Factors related to expatriate and spouse repatriation adjustment, 64 Why executives derail: Perspectives across time and culture, 41 World class: Thriving locally in the global economy, 35

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Selecting International Executives

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SELECTING INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVES A SUGGESTED FRAMEWORK AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Organizations looking to establish and maintain a proactive global presence have executive selection requirements that go beyond traditional leadership skills. These requirements also include cross-cultural experience in negotiating, developing, and maintaining partnerships with other businesses worldwide. Because the globalization of organizations is relatively new, little is known about how to identify and select executives who have the skills to operate effectively in a global environment. This book, for practitioners and human resources professionals, summarizes the most current information about the skills needed to successfully lead a global organization, and defines a framework for identifying executives who possess those skills. The Authors Manuel London is Professor and Director of the Center for Human Resource Management in the Harriman School for Management and Policy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and adjunct research fellow at CCL. He is the author of fifteen books, including Overcoming Career Barriers: Cognitive and Emotional Reactions and Effective Coping Strategies (Erlbaum, 1998), and co-edited, with Walter Tornow, Maximizing the Value of 360-Degree Feedback: A Process for Successful Individual and Organizational Development (Jossey-Bass, 1998). London holds a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from The Ohio State University. Valerie I. Sessa is director of the New Frontiers research theme and a research scientist at CCL in Greensboro, North Carolina. She works primarily in the areas of systemic leadership development and selection, and improving team effectiveness. Sessa was part of a team that created the Peak Selection Simulation, which emulates the decision-making styles of those who choose candidates for executive positions. She holds a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from New York University.