Global team members’ performance and the roles of cross-cultural training,cultural intelligence,and contact intensity: the case of global teams in IT offshoring sector

Abstract

This study investigates an unexplored form of global team prevalent in the Information Technology (IT) offshoring sector where IT service providers work alongside with client representatives in a global team context. Guided by theories of intelligence and intergroup contact, this study investigates global team members’ individual-level task performance. Specifically, this study examines the development of global team members’ cultural intelligence (CQ) following cross-cultural training. This study also determines the effects of improved CQ on individual-level task performance and examines the moderating role of contact intensity on the relationship between improved CQ and individual-level task performance. Data on the development of CQ, participation in cross-cultural training, and contact intensity were collected from 225 global team members while data on task performance were obtained from each of the global team members’ supervisors. The results of the statistical analyses reveal that: (i) CQ improved following participation in cross-cultural training sessions; (ii) improved CQ is positively and significantly related to individual-level task performance; and (iii) contact intensity moderates the relationship between improved CQ and individual-level task performance. These findings have a number of theoretical and practical implications for international organizations such as those in the IT offshoring sector.     

Multinational corporation management strategies and international human resources practices: bringing IHRM to the bottom line

This paper examined the relationship between multinational corporations' global management strategies and the resulting international human resource practices. Four global strategies, which vary in their extent of global integration and local responsiveness, were examined (ethnocentric, regiocentric, polycentric and geocentric). Data from international human resource professionals in forty-six companies generally supported the hypothesis that HR practices (recruitment, selection, socialization) varied by global strategy. In particular, strategies varied especially between the ethnocentric and geocentric companies. These strategies were further found to be related to a composite Multinational Corporation Success Index of economic variables (return on capital, sales growth, return on equity, profit margin). Companies which had ethnocentric strategies were found to be less successful than companies operating under any of the other three strategies. Findings suggested that local responsiveness should be incorporated into the global strategy of multinational companies. Recommendations for international human resource practices based on these results have been given.     

Valuing Japan-based German expatriate and local manager's functions: do subsidiary age and managerial perspectives matter?

Managerial functions valued by expatriates and reasons for appointing host country managers were examined in an exploratory, multimethod (interview and questionnaire) study with expatriates and local managers as the respondents. Based on theoretical perspectives of agency theory, transaction costs theory, resource-based views and organizational learning theory, changes in the valuation of these functions were hypothesized and examined for subsidiary age and nationality of the respondent. Expatriate and local managers' views supported previous research on certain management functions but differed on others (e.g. management development). The data indicated curvilinear relationships for a number of managerial functions between nationality of top manager and age of the subsidiary. Strategic factors were analysed by subsidiary age and nationality of the respondent manager to understand more about maturity of host company operations and strategic orientations. The results indicated the growth in the strategic functions of technological leadership and market development/branding in older subsidiaries. Implications of the results were discussed.     

How do lean management organizations behave regarding training and development?

This paper analyses the role of training and development in lean management organizations. The hypothesis is that organizations characterized by lean management have a distinctive profile in terms of training and development. Specifically, it is hypothesized that lean organizations have the following features to a higher extent than non-lean organizations:

? employee involvement in training and development

? use of work groups for quality, product development and task flexibility

? attribution of importance to training in quality, customer orientation and people management

? line management responsibility for training and development of the employees

? use of job enlargement

? information of employees about management decisions

? use of team briefings and quality circles.

The analysis shows that it is possible to identify a relationship between lean management and training and development, although the statistical results could have been more significant. It is also discussed in the paper to what extent country-specific variables dominate (or are dominated by) company-specific characteristics. The general finding is that company-specific impact seems to be stronger than country-specific variables.

In general, it can be said that the lean management pattern as a company-specific variable is characteristic for most countries analysed (although to a varying degree). It is, however, sometimes confounded by country-specific variables. For instance, Turkey does not follow the general pattern, and the hypothesis can be supported only in selected minor areas. Hence, in this case country-specific variables outweigh company-specific variables. In most other countries, this is not the case.     

The integration–differentiation puzzle: a resource-capability perspective in international human resource management

This paper is concerned with the management of the human resource agenda in international business. It begins by examining the critical question of how to balance the organizational need for co-ordination and control (integration) at the centre and the increasing pressures for sensitivity and flexibility (differentiation) at the subsidiary or unit level. A resource-capability (RC) view is then offered to re-examine the integration–differentiation (IN–DI) debate, proposing how firms might resolve some of the dilemmas inherent in IN–Dl decisions by cultivating their stock of knowledge and expertise. This perspective also enables us to assess the underlying paradigmatic foundation upon which strategic decisions in international human resource management are based.     

The whole is more than the sum of its parts? How HRM is configured in nonprofit organizations and why it matters

Evidence points to the central importance of configurations of mutually reinforcing HR practices as they are assumed to provide the basis for understanding how HRM relates to organizational performance. While progress has been made regarding the construction and effects of HR architectures in the for-profit literature, few studies investigate how HR architectures are configured in nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Therefore, this paper aims to advance a conceptual model that captures the relationship between ideal types of HR architectures and performance in NPOs. We develop theoretical propositions that provide further insight on the HR programs and HR practices that define the HR architectures and entail implications about variations in performance outcomes in NPOs.     

Evolving research on expatriates: what is ‘known’ after four decades (1970–2012)

The purpose of this paper was to provide a comprehensive review of the evolving research on a still key challenge for human resource management (HRM) in the globalized business of today: the expatriates and their impact on business performance. Research of four decades was reviewed to show what was known and what was not yet known. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to build a conceptual map of the evolving research. Up to 438 papers published in 104 different journals by 233 authors were analyzed. Most of the literature studies and research does not show a systematic approach, so this review may be useful for scholars and practitioners in the field of HRM and International Business Management in order to advance into the next stage of development on how to deal with and take advantage of hiring expatriates. Even after more than four decades of intensive research, the literature on expatriation is still nascent and requires higher order content. New contexts and organizations should be included in the research agenda, while an effort must be made in systematic approaches and in building higher order content in the international HRM field.     

企业战略人力资源管理开发研究

战略人力资源管理与开发已成为近年来理论界与实践界研究和关注的焦点。本文在对国外战略人力资源管理(SHRM)理论进行回顾的基础上,提出了我国企业进行战略HRM开发的途径和方法。     

Employment and wage practices of Japanese firms in the Philippines: convergence with Filipino-Chinese and Western-owned firms

In foreign-owned Philippine firms, human resource approaches and practices tend to converge. Japanese-owned firms localize their human resource practices by emphasizing local standards and practices in compensation, hiring, recruitment, job assignments and the like. On the other hand, Western-owned firms tend to adopt well-known Japanese style practices. Filipino-Chinese-owned firms tend to be traditional, emphasizing both informal and hierarchical control mechanisms which put a premium upon loyalty and trust, through familistic, informal but hierarchical control mechanisms. As the owners of these firms pass on control to the next generation, they tend to hire professional managers. These managers include younger generation Filipino-Chinese educated abroad. They are torn between the rational, and traditional norms and practices insisted upon by their Confucian-oriented elders, and the demands of a competitive and ever-changing technology and economy.

It is quite meaningless to attach adjectives like ‘Japanese’, ‘Filipino-Chinese’ or ‘Western’ to universal concepts like industrial relations and human resource approaches - the search for the best approach in work relations is beyond the issue of convergence or divergence.     

Extending strategic international human resource management research and pedagogy to the non-profit multinational

This article calls for the inclusion of multinational non-profit organizations in the research and pedagogy of strategic international human resource management. Multinational non-profit enterprise is increasingly influential, both economically and philosophically, as economic and socio-cultural boundaries become more interdependent. Yet the multinational non-profit sector has been ignored by international human resource management scholars. When research and pedagogy overlook practice, a concern exists with regard to their relevance. By outlining the international development of multinational non-profit enterprise, the article contextualizes strategic international human resource management in multinational intermediate private aid and development agencies. Analysis of a particular example, World Vision Australia, illustrates the discussion.