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Tag Archives: Personal development

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Operationalization of the Concept of Talent Management (TM)

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Summary. Talent can be framed as either something that people possess (object approach) or something that people are (subject approach). Human capital may come from the historical meaning of a ‘talent’ in Latin and Greek of measuring the weight of a significant amount of gold or silver. Talent in the form of intrinsic learning motivation only realizes when sufficient encouragement and support exists. Inclusiveness is a feature of strength-based TM and … Continue reading →

Developing Distributed Leadership (DL) for Social Change

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(1) Distinct Co-operative Governance Challenges, (2) Distributed Leadership (DL), Self-awareness, Servant Leadership, and Safe Learning Spaces, (3) Empowerment for Service, Democracy, and Value-based Management, (4) Accountability for Strategic Leadership Processes: “Leading is a function, not a status.” Distinct Co-operative Governance Challenges Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and Co-operatives that are run according to cooperative principles, face distinct challenges compared to governments or for-profit organizations. About 90 percent of contemporary leadership research is … Continue reading →

Beyond happiness

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I was looking for happiness and found meaning. When I accepted meaning, happiness became meaningless.

Why People Justify Social Systems That Disadvantage Them

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The paradox of the disadvantaged justifying authoritarian systems It can seem paradoxical that people often justify the existing social system even when this comes at personal and collective costs [1]. System Justification Theory (SJT) provides a framework to understand what the motives and contexts behind this phenomenon are [2]. SJT posits that an underlying ideology is motivating the justification of social order in a way that contributes to the often-unconscious … Continue reading →

Cross-Cultural Transformational Leadership

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In an increasingly interdependent world, global leadership understanding for international collaboration [1] is vital for the development of cross-cultural leadership [2]. This essay provides some hints on what might be determining leadership prototype’s effectiveness from different global perspectives [3]. Universal and culture-specific features of transformational leadership Transformational leadership facilitates change through shared vision, intellectual stimulation, and support of individual’s aspirations [4] and is therefore essential for solving contemporary threats that … Continue reading →

Positive Change Through Rewarding Virtue vs. Punishing Non-Compliance

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Men have made millions of laws to punish crimes, and they have not established even one to reward virtue; Virtue being a product not of the command of law, but of our own free will, society has no right whatsoever over it. Virtue on no account enters into the social contract; and if it remains without reward, society commits an injustice similar to that of one who defrauds another of … Continue reading →