Management

Academy o/ Management Executive, 1998, Vol. 12, No, 4

Managing the global workforce;

Challenges and strategies

Karen Roberts, Ellen Ernst Kossek, and Cynthia Ozeki

Executive Overview

The globalization oi the workplace has become a iact oi liie ior a substantial segment

oi U.S. companies, bringing a dramatic expansion oi the scope oi workiorce management

and a whole host oi new organizational challenges. Using data collected irom interviews

with international human resource managers in eight large companies, this paper

identiiies three practical challenges to managing the global workiorce and four

strategies ior meeting those challenges. The three challenges are: deployment,

knowledge and innovation dissemination, and talent identiiication and development. The

four strategies are: aspatial careers, awareness-building assignments, SWAT teams, and

virtual solutions. A diagnostic iramework ior each challenge is provided that indicates

when to use which strategy and basic implementation points are presented.

The line went dead. Steve Prestwick slowly

hung up the telephone, wondering what he

could possibly say to the executive committee

monitoring the Singapore R&D center project.

Shortly after being assigned to help staff the

facility, he had attended a committee meeting

that left him excited about tapping into the

potential of the company's large global work

force. "Get the best people from everywhere."

said one executive. "Don't just rely on information

from headquarters. Try to find out

what the people in Europe or Japan might

know." chimed in another. And from the CEO.

"Let's use this as an opportunity to develop a

global mindset in some of our more promising

people." The vision sounded great, and

Steve's role seemed simple: put together a

team with all the experts needed to get the

new facility up and running smoothly in its

first two years.

Right away Steve began having trouble finding

out who had the right skills, and even...