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Category Archives: HAPPY WRITING

Hope, Living with Uncertainties, and Tolerance for Ambiguity

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Summary. In the light of uncertain future threatening outcomes, present ambiguous information often is interpreted more negatively than it would be the case in a safe context. Black-and-white thinking is hindering positive deciphering of ambiguous information. People educated in open-mindedness and who have learned to tolerate ambiguity can better persevere in their tolerance even in situations of danger. Individuals’ dependencies on hierarchical power can cause closed mental systems that are … Continue reading →

Tolerance for Ambiguity as a Gateway to Leadership Opportunity

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The necessity for tolerance of ambiguity Today’s professionals need to succeed in technology-rich environments [1]. Information age organizations are characterized by rapid change and uncertainty [2]. Progressing globalization poses challenges through ambiguities that are caused by ever novel, complex, and changing socio-economical, environmental, technological, and workforce factors [3]. The ability to tolerate ambiguity, therefore, is increasingly vital for successful leaders and employees alike [1]. Definition “The tolerance for ambiguity (or … Continue reading →

The Benefits of an Internal Locus of Control Personality

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Summery benefits of an internal locus of control Belief in one’s control over their life Improved information acquisition Better decision-making processes Self-efficacy, job effectiveness, and higher achievement Less risk of burnout Generally increased happiness Increase leadership adaptability   Rapidly changing leadership challenges Leadership education has undergone a substantial shift. Life and working world seem to have become more complex with competing urgencies and over-dynamic developments of issues that challenge the … Continue reading →

How do you define …

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How do you define ‘right’ If you know only black and white Asks a pen the other When denied to draw together How do you define ‘between’ If you know only up and down Asks a pair of hands When denied to come to terms How do you define ‘family’ If you know only friend and enemy Asks a father the mother When denied to see his daughter How do … Continue reading →

The Development of Cultural Agility (A Literature Review)

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Introduction Advancing globalization requires new workplace competencies [1]. Among Global Talent Managers, there is the sobering realization that people working in an increasingly global environment find themselves challenged in acquiring the necessary cultural agility [2] In today’s world Global talent management, mobility, and cultural agility belong together [3]. “Bridging the global skills gap” through international assignments was rated as a priority for more than 1,200 globally surveyed CEO’s ([4]. p. … Continue reading →

Promoting Cross-Cultural Cooperativeness in Global Talent Management (GTM)

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Content Cooperative behavior arises where it is cherished Cooperative conflict management Means to promote cooperation Equitable treatment to maintain willingness to cooperate   Cooperative behavior arises where it is cherished Women are often considered to have a greater tendency to use their cooperativeness for successful international assignments, especially where indirect communication is the culturally appropriate style as is tendentially the case in high-context cultures like Asia [1]. Cooperative and communicative … Continue reading →

Overcoming Language Barriers

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Content Language barrier in health care The advantage of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the interpretation of language Overcoming barriers beyond the language barrier   Language barrier in health care A lot of literature seems to focus the challenges of language barriers in the health sector, as, for example, studies that identify language barrier as a significant threat to care quality in hospitals … Continue reading →

Social Capital in Global Citizenship

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Content: Matching national and organizational cultures Prizing of social capital on individual, institutional, and societal levels The ‘paradox of unsocial sociabilities’ Global citizenship, international careers, and the culture of global nomadism Matching national and organizational culture According to Nahapiet & Ghoshal (1998), social capital is “the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from relationships” (as cited in [1]). However, it is not enough … Continue reading →

Mobility and Global Talent Management (GTM) Strategies

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Summary. The increasing number of expatriates reflects the need for multinational enterprises (MNEs) to compete in a global knowledge economy. Despite high pressure, mobility program cost management practices are often weakly formalized. To take full advantage of international assignments, the assignees’ gained knowledge should be matched with required job competencies. The ratio of parent-country nationals (PCNs) at subsidiaries is influencing business performance. Also, besides defensive and retaliatory actions, relational measures … Continue reading →

Global Talent Gender Gap

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Content The case for gender egalitarianism Prestige economies and cultural tightness Functional literacy and inclusiveness Strength-based approaches to fostering “female” leadership styles Humanitarian principles and global egalitarian mindset   The case for gender equality Although women represent half of the population in education and global workforce at career start and mid-level management, men outnumber women in all sectors’ leadership positions. The role of female talents in future leadership is a … Continue reading →

Reverse Mentoring and its Benefits

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Traditional mentoring Self-improvement can be intimidating, and personal interactions with other, like in a mentoring relationship might be extraordinarily valuable [1]. In today’s fast-changing world the potential for mentoring, especially if creatively employed, might be an increasingly useful type of relationship [2]. Yet relatively few employees got into a company mentoring program [3]. Traditional mentoring generally takes place between a senior and a junior person in a similar career field … Continue reading →

What do younger talents want?

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Summary. Younger employees around the world tend to prefer more professional freedom, meaningful work, and work-life in their work. Asking only older senior HR managers might not provide sufficient insight into the generation Y’s thinking though. Listening directly to the younger employees is vital to positively influence job satisfaction, engagement, and work performance altogether. The youth’s resourcefulness, e.g., in digital media, could be used for backward/reverse mentoring to engage senior … Continue reading →

Global Talent Management (GTM) in China: Between Globalization and Tradition

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Summary. Although multi-national enterprises (MNEs) in China are looking for talents who can balance domestic and international challenges, the evolving education and Global Talent Management (GTM) systems struggle with the timely identification, development, and retention of a workforce that is matching the required demand of new and future skills. Respect for the Chinese culture and access to so-called guanxi business networks shaped by collectivist cultural values are needed to access … Continue reading →

Global Mindset in Japan: A Critical Evaluation

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Summary. This article critically sheds light on current socio-economic challenges for Japan and the need for developing a global mindset for companies in a globalizing world. With little chance for getting a management position before the age of 40 and confronted with dominating domestic demand for a monolingual male workforce, Japan’s youth gets blamed for being ‘insular’ and individually responsible for the lack of global mindsets. To improve global success, … Continue reading →

How culture shapes different types of empathy

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It is useful to differentiate between sympathy and empathy as the basis to also understand better how culture itself (amongst other factors) shapes cultural empathy. This is important also to define and assess more subtle aspects of empathy as it becomes increasingly imperative in education and disciplines such as global talent management. Empathy (like sympathy and compassion) is related to human emotions as a reaction to other individuals’ plights [1]. … Continue reading →

Cultural intelligence (CQ)

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This article describes the relationships of cultural intelligence (CQ) with other types of intelligence, motivation, and leadership behavior. Mindfulness provides for a conceptualization of intercultural competence. CQ is a useful competency for acculturation challenges as required for expatriate talents in multinational enterprises. People used to minority status, people from more diverse environments, and those with higher CQ experience more positive acculturation and psychological well-being. For Global Talent Management CQ is … Continue reading →

Developing Cultural Empathy: Perspective Taking

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This article reflects on example biases that could impact one’s intercultural behavior and decision making and how the role of the media is shaping ideas about cultures. Finally, specifics of the European culture are analyzed as relevant for global talent management issues. Culture is an unconsciously learned way of thinking and living of a particular group of people that reinforces that worldview through its in-group similarity [1]. To change ‘cultural … Continue reading →

Developing Human Capital: Success and Failure in Learning

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Psychologists in the past have conceptualized talent as an IQ-like cognitive ability [1], and practice focused on the view of human achievements to be limited by innate characteristics [2]. Human cognitive processing is indeed universally depending on sensory abilities, often biased and unaware of its own mechanisms, and limited to a relatively bounded range of working memory capacity [3]. However, these innate factors are not directly encoding skills, but the … Continue reading →

Job analysis and its role in global talent management (Incl. insights from Japan)

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1. The role of job analysis in Global Talent Management 2. Japanese tendencies and the focus on people vs. positions 3. Towards systematic talent identification 1. The role of job analysis in Global Talent Management The identification of talent is a central aspect of Global Talent Management (GTM) practices in multinational enterprises (MNE’s) [1]. Job analysis respectively competency analysis constitutes a required input for talent identification [2]. However, traditional job … Continue reading →