Going Global: Human Resources Considerations

1
Going Global Human Resources Considerations

• Thomas M. Begley, Ph.D.
• Associate Professor
• Northeastern University
• tel) 617-373-4723
• t.begley_at_neu.edu

2
Developing a Global Mindset

• Ethnocentric attitudes, beliefs, and managerial
  policies are a formula for failure overseas
• Managing internationally requires balancing
  desires for global consistency with needs for
  local responsiveness
• A global mindset combines awareness of diversity
  across cultures and openness to differences with
  the ability and propensity to synthesize across
  this diversity
• There are several ways to cultivate a global
  mindset

3
U.S. vs. Mexican Business Norms

• Formal reserve
• Mañana
• Get to know each other first
• Hierarchy The boss is The Boss
• Relationship-oriented
• Favor family friends, emotional expression
• Group-oriented

• Informality
• Punctuality
• Get right down to business
• Equality Weak status distinctions
• Task-oriented
• Emphasize impartiality, rules, objectivity
• Individualistic

4
The Global Consistency/Local Responsiveness Grid
High
Maximize world-scale systems
Balance global with local concerns
Global Consistency  
Encourage local autonomy
Export products from home
Low
Low
High
Local Responsiveness
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Elements of a Global Mindset

• A global mindset includes the ability to
• Think globally recognize when it is beneficial
  to create a consistent global standard
• Think locally develop a deep understanding of
  local and cultural differences
• Think glocally recognize situations in which
  demands for global and local elements are
  compelling

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Cultivating a Global Mindset

• In larger companies, the four Ts travel,
  teams, training, and transfers
• In smaller companies
• Education and training about diverse cultures
• Study a language
• Get as much experience overseas as possible
• Use diverse locations for team/project meetings
• Immersion experiences in foreign cultures
• Embrace diversity among managers employees
  hire promote diverse employees

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Assessing Individual Global Mindset

• In interacting with others, does national origin
  have an impact on whether or not you assign equal
  status to them?
• Do you consider yourself as open to ideas from
  other countries and cultures as you are to ideas
  from you own country and culture?
• Does finding yourself in a new cultural setting
  cause excitement, or fear and anxiety?
• When you are in another culture, are you
  sensitive to the cultural differences without
  becoming a prisoner of those differences?
• When you interact with people from other
  cultures, what do you regard as more important
  understanding them as individuals or viewing them
  as representatives of their national cultures?
• Do you regard your values to be a hybrid of
  values acquired from multiple cultures as opposed
  to just one culture?

8
Assessing Corporate Global Mindset

• Is your company a leader or a laggard in your
  industry in discovering pursuing emerging
  market opportunities in all corners of the world?
• Do you regard all customers wherever they live in
  the world as important as customers in your own
  domestic market?
• Do you draw your employees from the worldwide
  talent pool?
• Do employees of every nationality have the same
  opportunity to move up the career ladder all the
  way to the top?
• In scanning the horizon for potential
  competitors, do you examine all economic regions
  of the world?
• In selecting a location for any activity, do you
  seek to optimize the choice on a truly global
  basis?
• Do you view the global arena as not just a
  playground (market to exploit) but also a
  school (source of new ideas technology)?
• Do you perceive your company as having a global
  identity with many homes, or as having a strong
  national identity?