Managing the Global Workforce

In today's highly competitive global business environment, organizations need to aggressively compete for new markets, products, services, and top human talent in order to develop and sustain competitive advantage in the global arena. For many years, international firms have effectively managed their financial and material resources globally, leveraging economies of scale, low cost production, currency fluctuations, and the like. Human resources, as all other resources in multinational firms, are now being managed on a global scale. The first half of Managing the Global Workforce covers the three foundational areas for managing a global workforce: Global Business Strategy - How does human talent affect international integration, local responsiveness, and worldwide innovation and collaboration? Comparative HR Systems - What are the cross-border differences in employment and labor laws, workforce competence (e.g., literacy rates and educational systems), labor economics, and unionization? Cross-Cultural Differences - What are the cross-national differences in the ways individuals gain trust and credibility, communicate, and work together? The second half of Managing the Global Workforce applies the three foundational areas concurrently when considering the key practice areas of HRM: Managing Work Design and Workforce Planning - What are the strategic, comparative and cross-national contingencies related to the global mobility of jobs, the movement of employees, and cross-border knowledge work (e.g., transnational teams, virtual teams)? Managing Competencies - What are the strategic, comparative and cross-national contingencies related to recruitment, selection, training and development of the global workforce? Managing Attitudes and Behaviors - What are the strategic, comparative and cross-national contingencies related to compensation, incentives, performance management, and motivational reward of the global workforce? In our ever-increasing knowledge economy, winning in the global arena will largely depend on how well firms can leverage, attract, develop, engage and motivate the strategic capabilities of their human talent globally. " Managing the Global Workforce is THE compendium on global HR and workforce practices. As globalization permeates every facet of our lives, managers have to learn to master the paradoxes of global scale vs. local responsiveness, to design HR practices that leverage across boundaries and adapt to local conditions, and to manage talent worldwide and within countries. This book summarizes research and offers solutions on how to resolve these paradoxes. It is thoroughly researched and well written." -Dave Ulrich, Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Partner, The RBL Group ( www.rbl.net ) "All companies operate in a global economy, and most will sooner and later face the complexities of managing a global workforce. Caligiuri, Lepak and Bonache provide an invaluable, practical framework, based on the best research available to date, to tie human resource policies to business strategy and to ask all the right questions." -Angel Cabrera, Dean of Thunderbird "This is timely! Knowing and understanding where, how, and who does the strategic and support work for your organization is critical. All firms have traditionally determined what work is worth doing and how well it is to be done. But today the issue is where might it be done and the context of the workforce doing it. Insight into this is essential for any HR professional challenged by the global workforce. This book, Managing the Global Workforce, offers a fresh and insightful approach for success in globally competitive environments." -Richard W. Beatty, Professor of HR Strategy, Rutgers University " Managing the Global Workforce by Caligiuri, Lepak & Bonache provides a comprehensive review of the challenges, frameworks and practices in global human resource management today. They provide current cases on topics ranging from cross-cultural differences to mobility of work and workers. Based in the core linkage of human resource practices to business strategy, this volume is a must read for human resource and line leaders working in multi-national firms." -Marcia J. Avedon, PhD, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Communications, Ingersoll Rand "This book demonstrates the benefits of international collaboration. The text sheds light on existing problems and raises new HR issues facing multinational organizations. A well-researched and fascinating book that provides the HR profession with a solid foundation from which to operate." -Carlos Losada, General Manager- Esade Business School