How to Assess Global Management Competencies: An Investigation of Existing Instruments

Abstract

Managers and employees need global leadership competencies in order to operate effectively in international business. In order to prepare both managers and employees for operating in the global arena an instrument measuring global leadership competencies would be very useful. In this article we design a framework for systematically assessing measurement instruments designed to measure Global Management Competencies (GMC). Based on an elaborate search, we found 23 instruments of varying quality, that measure GMC, with a special focus on measuring ways of coping with cultural diversity. These instruments mostly involve self-reporting survey questions only, often measuring attitudes, without referring to actual behaviour in cross-cultural interaction. Using the assessment framework we selected a limited number of instruments that may be useful for assessing global management competencies. Introduction"The continued globalization of industries has led to the relentless quest by organizations worldwide for global leaders who can help their companies survive and, perhaps thrive, in this highly competitive environment" (Tung 2004). These global leaders are confronted with a range of complex and often paradoxical challenges. "Today's managers must successfully adapt to changing demands and situations, manage multiple lateral relationships, set and implement agendas, and cope with stress and uncertainty" (Dragoni et al. 2009). To prepare global leaders for their role it is important to support them by developing appropriate capabilities. Besides, it is increasingly important to understand why some individuals function more effectively than others in culturally diverse situations (Ang /Van Dyne 2008). Selecting and developing individuals who can function effectively in culturally diverse domestic and international settings is a significant challenge facing most organisations (Van Dyne et al. 2009). Insight into the capabilities of a manager to function effectively in culturally diverse domestic and international settings is clearly useful. In our view, not only insight into these capabilities but also understanding how developmental assignments translate into actual behaviour-based "end-state" outcomes such as managerial competences is important (Aviolo 2007). We focus on 'Global Management Competencies' (GMC) and define these as the ability to monitor, integrate and direct the knowledge, skills, and motivations, together forming behavioural repertoires, which are the building blocks of our behaviour in an environment of business-and cultural -complexity. Several attempts to design an instrument have been made by researchers from a variety of disciplines, including such as Cross-Cultural Communication (Olebe/ Koester 1989): Behavioural Assessment Scale for Intercultural Communication Effectiveness, Organisational Psychology (Ang et al. 2007): the Cultural Intelligence Scale, and International Management (Arora 2004): Kefalas' and Neuland's Global Mindset Questionnaire. To be able to evaluate these instruments it is impor...

A systematic literature review on the definitions of global mindset and cultural intelligence – merging two different research streams

“…Regarding the overriding principles of cultural and strategic complexities, we argue that cultural intelligence does not properly constitute a global management competency in the sense outlined above as it is does not take the environment of strategic and business complexities that Bücker and Poutsma (2010b) identified as a characteristic for global management competencies into account. Cultural intelligence with its cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and behavioral components (Earley & Ang, 2003) does not relate to the business context and its complexity but rather stays at a purely cross-cultural level.…”

Cultural intelligence, global mindset, and cross-cultural competencies: a systematic review using bibliometric methods

“…CQ 3Examine the relationship between international exposure and CQ, as well as between CQ and the intention to work abroad (Remhof et al, 2013; see antecedents) * Examine the role of motivational CQ in experiential learning and cultural adjustment of expatriates (Schreuders-van den Bergh and Du Plessis, 2016; see learning) * Examine the relationship of CQ and adaptation of expatriates (Presbitero, 2017) Review (1) CQ (1) A review of the research on antecedents, outcomes and moderators of CQ (Ott and Michailova, 2018) 2A framework for and systematic assessment of measurement instruments of global management competencies (CC, GM and CQ) (Bücker and Poutsma, 2010b) Examine the relationship between individual and corporate GM and internationalisation (Felicio et al, 2016; see org-level outcome) * Conceptual paper on the need of a manager's GM to integrate global forces and a global network (Kedia and Mukherji, 1999; see org-level outcome) * See also: Lahiri et al, 2008;Gupta and Govindarajan, 2002 Antecedents 1GM 1Examine antecedents of GM (among them education, languages, international experiences) (Story et al, 2014) Learning 2GM 1CQ 1A framework to reduce the stigmatisation and stereotyping of inpatriates in the home country organisations with a focus on GM (Harvey et al, 2005) Examine the relationship between experiential learning in GVT and different performance outcomes (Taras et al, 2013) Org-level outcome (3)…”

Assessment and Development of Global Leadership Competencies in the Workplace

“…Table 1 lists these along with survey instruments used to measure these traits and dispositions. The psychometric properties of these global leadership instruments are reported in the works of Bücker and Poutsma (2010), Graf and Mertesacker (2009), and Bird and Stevens (2013). As noted by several researchers, the construct definitions for some of the traits and dispositions listed in Table 1 overlap (Bird & Stevens, 2013; Mol et al, 2005), and, for this reason, we listed some traits together after examining the definitions described by the authors (e.g., adaptability and flexibility).…”

“…As shown in Table 2, validated survey instruments specifically designed to measure global knowledge and skills are often used to measure global mindset and CQ . Three literature reviews describing the psychometric properties of the various self-report measures include Bücker and Poutsma (2010), Graf and Mertesacker (2009), and Bird and Oddou (2013).…”