Good judgment comes from

experience; experience comes from

bad judgment.

-- Mullah Nasrudin
13th Century Sufi sage, Central Asia

(p.
24)
2
 In a time of drastic change, it is the
learners who will inherit the future. The
learned usually find themselves prepared
for a world that no longer exists.

-- Eric Hoffer
Moral philosopher, USA

(p. 24)
3
Opening question:
How can we best prepare today’s managers
for tomorrow’s global challenges?

4
Consider:
Management development at Google
1. What is unique about Google’s approach to providing global
training for younger managers?
2. What are some advantages—and disadvantages—of this
approach to training?
3. If you ran this program for Google, how would you improve
upon it?
4. Under what circumstances might this approach to training be
easily adapted to other companies?

(p. 24)
5
Topic for today:
Developing global management skills

• Traditional views of management

• Global managers: Variety of the species
• Rethinking managerial roles
• Rethinking managerial skills
• Developing global management skills

6
What is management? Some definitions

• Coordination and control of people, material, and

processes to achieve organizational objectives as
efficiently and effectively as possible.
• Getting things done through coordinated efforts.
• Planning, organizing, leading and controlling.
• Coordinating and overseeing the work activities of
others so that their activities are completed
efficiently and effectively.

(pp. 26-28)
7
Consider: Is management universal?
1. Are these definitions of management universal or
can they vary across different geographic regions?
2. If these definitions are universal, how might their
implementation vary across national and regional
boundaries?
3. What are the implications of such possible
variations for global management development?

8
 Types of Global Managers

Expatriates Frequent flyers Virtual managers

Management Focus • Long-term •Short term • Remote

• Face to face •Face to face • Work through
• Live in foreign •Frequent visits technology
country
Mode of Mostly face to face Mixed face-to-face Mostly virtual
communication and virtual
Key success factors • Deep knowledge of • Understanding of • Some understanding
local culture cultural issues of cultural
• Local language • Multilingual skills differences and
• Local business important variation in business
environment • Deep understanding practices
• Global business of global issues • Multilingual skills
issues useful
Cultural challenge Regional myopia: Global myopia: Technological
overemphasis of local overemphasis of myopia: ignore impact
versus global global versus local of culture on uses and
applications of
technology
9 (p. 29)
Consider: Expats at LG
1. Why did LG seek to hire several senior executives
from abroad?
2. To date, what benefits and possible drawbacks have
emerged as a result of their decision?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages for the
expatriates of taking such overseas assignments?
4. What can both LG and the expats themselves do to
enhance the likelihood of success in such ventures?

(p. 30)
10
 Consider: Adhira Inengar, frequent flyer
1. What are the key managerial challenges faced by frequent
flyers like Inengar in running her business on-the-go?
2. In her hectic life, how can she insure that important details
do not fall through the cracks?
3. What personal characteristics might serve to enhance the
chances of success for frequent flyer entrepreneurs like
Inengar?

(p. 32)
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Building Global Management Skills

Global
Management
Skills
Integration of
management
and cross-
cultural skills

(p. 37)
Key multicultural competencies

• A cosmopolitan outlook
• Intercultural communication skills
• Cultural sensitivity
• Rapid acculturation skills
• Flexible management style
• Cultural synergy

(p. 38)
13
Consider: Multicultural competencies

14
MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:
Developing Global Management
Skills

What many people fail to understand about being

a global manager is that the view from 10,000
meters up is often very different than the view from
ground level, where the managerial challenges are
immediate and very real.

15
 MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:
Becoming a global manager
1. While the basic definition of “management” may be
fairly constant across cultures, its implementation
can vary widely.
2. Global managers come in a variety of shapes and
sizes (e.g., expats, frequent flyers), and each
requires its own qualifications and skills.
3. Global management skills typically consist of a
combination of managerial and multicultural
competencies.
4. Successful global managers are always learning.
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MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:
The experiential learning cycle

Learning
Environment

(p. 40)
 (p. 42)
18
 MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK:
What are we missing?

1. What are we missing here?

2. To what extent do you think the average manager
can successfully adapt to various cultures and
environments around the globe?
3. Are multicultural competencies largely developed or
inherited?
4. What can companies do to enhance the likelihood of
managers’ success here?

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 Application:
Building a skills development program

1. Several multicultural skills have been discussed here and

elsewhere. As a group, identify what you consider to be
the three most important multicultural skills for managers
to have in order to build successful careers in global
business.
2. Next, provide the outline of a management development
program aimed at developing these three skills in young
and largely inexperienced managers.
3. How will you know if your program has been successful?
What criteria will you use?

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 Think about it: Developing your
global management skills

1. What type of global assignment do you believe you are

best suited for? Why?
2. What multicultural competences do you currently
possess?
3. Based on what has been discussed, outline a learning
strategy to further develop your own particular
multicultural competencies.
4. What are your greatest challenges in achieving this plan?

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