International Training and

Lecturer: Dr. Yumei Yang

Email address:
Management Development [email protected]
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 1. Identify the 2.Explain key learning
Learning challenges of
training an
objectives that drive
training programs aimed
Objectives international at enabling a productive
workforce
global workforce

3.Design cross-cultural training

programs that enable international
assignees to successfully complete their
assignments and develop an effective
global management team
 Challenges modern organizations are facing
• Traditional resource (e.g. Land, building, raw materials, and machinery)
may no longer be seen to offer sustainable competitive advantage.

• Resource-based view theory suggests that the success of modern

organizations is determined by intangible assets such as human capital
(Rashid 2013)

• Human capital can be defined as the individual’s capabilities, knowledge,

skills and experience of the company’s employees and managers, as they
are relevant to the task at hand, as well as the capacity to add to their
reservoir of knowledge, skills, and experience through individual learning.
“
 Training and development
• Training is the planned and systematic modification of behaviour through
learning events, programmes and instruction which enable individuals to
achieve the levels of knowledge, skill and competence required to carry out
their work effectively (Armstrong 1999).

Development is the growth or realisation of a person’s ability and potential

through the provision of learning and educational experiences. (or the
preparation of employees to become managers) (Armstrong 1999; Tarique
et al. 2016)
Imagine you are the resourcing and
training manager responsible for the
establishment for a new operation. You
have some influence in the selection of
the location, but must meet both
quality and budget requirements.

What factors would you take into

account when evaluating the options?
 The common model for training and development
(ADDIE)

• A= Analysis: training needs assessment

• D= Design: instructional design
• D = Development: create the content
• I= Implementation: deliver the instructional interventions to the
target audience
• E = Evaluation: measure the effectiveness of your training
intervention.
 The impact of national and organisational characteristics
on training and development

National level Organisational level

• Culture • Strategy formalisation
• Ownership • Strategic HRM
structures • Sector
• Variety of capitalism • Ownership
• VET
• Percentage GDP
spent on education

Attainment levels
Company-based T&D
• Average attainment
• Training formalisation
levels across Firm’s
• HRM involvement in T&D
population performance
• Training-needs analysis
• Educational
• Training Evaluation
emphasis
• Employee Training
• Labour market
norms
The role of institutions
Comparative Capitalisms and Training Systems :Liberal Market Economies
(LMEs: e.g. UK, Ireland )

 Voluntarist approach to training and development

 Vocational training is generally weak
 Reluctant to invest in apprenticeships
 Employees like to pursue higher education
 Employees have fewer incentives to invest in organization-specific skills within
LMEs
 Low trust between employers and employees on job retention

Goergen, Brester, Wood, Wilkinson, 2012, Varieties of capitalism and investments in

Human capital, Industrial relations, 51(1), 501-527
 The role of state national systems (1)

• Institutional theories can be applied to show the impact of states.

• The basic educational infrastructure varies from country to country.
• The basic level of literacy varies dramatically
• Teaching techniques and media as well as relationships between students and
instructors also vary so much

For example, according to OECD data, Korea is among the three lowest-performing
countries when comparing the skills proficiency of 55-65 year-olds, however,
comparing proficiency among 16-24 year-olds, Korea ranks second only to Japan.
On the other hand, in the UK and the USA improvements between younger and
older generations are barely apparent.

Adult education level in OECD

Growth in the higher education market

Education attainment and labour-force status

 The role of state national systems (2)
The growth of the high education market
Large percentage international students are from China, Indian, and Korea with Asian
students representing 52% of foreign students enrolled worldwide. (OECD, 2012)

Vocational Education and training (VET)

• Co-ordinated market economies tend to have • VET is more limited and less
higher coverage of vocational educational coordinated in Anglo-Saxon
training programmes and a longer-term view nations
• High-quality VET facilitates certain production • Characterised by rapid change
and product market strategies, focus on in fundamental technologies,
continuous improvement (e.g. mechanical such as IT.
engineering)
 Case study: The ‘deficit’ view of training at LME-Ryanair

• Ryanair is an Irish low-fare airline

• Cabin crew are sourced from agencies
• Potential cabin crew recruits pay the respective agencies their training
cost (nearly £2000) up front and the remainder in instalments in the
first year working for the airline.
Coordinated market economies (CMES: Germany, Austria, Denmark)

 More regulatory and less voluntarist approach (i.e. more rigid enforcement of
content; higher training levies.)
 Vocational training is more firm specific
 Due to high levels of job security, firms need to provide incentive to develop their
human capital
 Great trust between employers and employees on job retention
Examples: Germany and Denmark
• Dual system of interest representation
• Union involvement secures skills for employability
• Support of government and social institutions ensure the system work
• Italy, Japan, and France tend to favour company-based approaches
• traing and insittutional differences.pdf
 The Costs of Training
The cost of training varies across countries
Training and organisational performance
• The empirical studies not always support the link between
training and firm performance

• Training for managers and professional staff is associated

with increase in service quality (Morley et al. 2016)

• Training clerical and manual workers related to productivity,

profitability and innovation ratings.
 The role of national culture
 Culture can influence on training policy at the national level
E.g. Training was less regulated and there was a greater emphasis on
organizational learning in the UK than in France
Culture can influence the degree of participation of trainees.
E.g. authoritarian phenomenon in most Asian cultures
Culture can influence the choice of training pedagogies
E.g. See training techniques in different culture
There is relation between a society’s culture and investment in training.
E.g Countries which embrace low power distance, high future orientation and high
uncertainty avoidance tend to invest more in training than firms in countries that
embrace high power distance, low future orientation, and low uncertainty
avoidance (Peretz and Rosenblatt 2011)
Labor Market Training Expenditures as a Percent of GDP in
 The role of national culture
 Culture can influence on training policy at the national level
E.g. Training was less regulated and there was a greater emphasis on
organizational learning in the UK than in France
Culture can influence the degree of participation of trainees.
E.g. authoritarian phenomenon in most Asian cultures
Culture can influence the choice of training pedagogies
E.g. See training techniques in different culture
There is relation between a society’s culture and investment in training.
E.g Countries which embrace low power distance, high future orientation and high
uncertainty avoidance tend to invest more in training than firms in countries that
embrace high power distance, low future orientation, and low uncertainty
avoidance (Peretz and Rosenblatt 2011)
Labor Market Training Expenditures as a Percent of GDP in
• Who gains from training and development?
• Who is responsible for employees’ training and development?
• What role does context play in shaping the requirement for company
training and development?
• How might organisations seek to evaluate benefits of training
investment?
 Signs of change
• Acknowledge the differences
• Be aware of signs o f change in LMEs and CMEs
• European commission established the ‘Rethinking Education’.
• E.g UK government encourage and invest on vocational training
 Case study : Management development for
localisation in China

• Read the handout

• Answer the following question:

• How ABB succussed in developing mangers in China?

• What does Chinese mangers value in relation to training and development

 Global Leadership Development
Global Leadership Theories
• The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavioral Effectiveness
(GLOBE) Study
• Largest academic research on leadership from a global perspective
• Charismatic/transformational leadership styles used by leaders to
develop followers into leaders are strongly endorsed across cultures
• Different leadership styles are effective in different cultures
• For example, Asian managers heavily emphasize paternalistic
leadership and group maintenance activities.
 Global Executives:
Developing Managers in the Global Enterprise

Global companies need executives who

• Can easily switch from one culture to another

• Are fluent in several cultures and languages

• Can work effectively as part of an international team

Management development in Europe
France: Cadres, mangers are highly respected, seek more abstract discussion

Norway and Denmark focus on egalitarian management systems, long term

investment in training and development

UK and USA: unregulated external training providers and weak career

structures and low level of job security

German: highly intergarated unregulated external training providers

 Identification of High Potential Leaders

Leadership Identification
Approaches

Elite Elite Functional Managed

Cohort Political Approach Development
Development of Global Leadership
Competencies
Inquisitiveness
(Curiosity)

Perspective High Potential Character

(how leaders look at the Leaders (emotional connection and
world) unwavering integrity)

Savvy
(Exceptional business and
organizational savvy)
 Definition of a Global Mindset
•Knowing how to live and work across cultures is the essential
competency of people with a global mindset
•A state of being rather than a specific skill set
•Must be attentive to, and a developer of:
• Organizational cultures
• Values
• Beliefs that reach well beyond the manager’s own
background
•Think global and act local
 Characteristics of a global mindset

• Manage global competitiveness

• Work and communicate with multiple cultures
• Manage global complexity, contradiction, and
conflict
• Manage organizational adaptability
• Manage multicultural teams
• Manage uncertainty and chaos
• Manage personal and organizational global
learning
 Acquiring a Global Mindset

•The four T’s (travel, training, team, and transfer) have been
described as effective ways to develop a global mindset

•Living in another culture and going through the culture shock

that is necessary to learn how to accept the new culture

•Becoming sensitive (culturally literate) to multiple cultures

and their differences

•Mastering cosmopolitan skills in the taking of new

perspectives, and developing and holding multiple perspectives
Summary
• Training can be affected by the role of states

• Training can be affected by contexts such as cultural

differences

• The success of MNEs is determined by management

development (e.g. global leadership and global mindset)
 Seminar Activity:
Write up the analysis of the impact of institutional context on
recruitment and selection in the countries of your choice
(Anglo-Saxion country and one non-Anglo-Saxion country).
Word count: maximum 2-page essay including references.
Deadline: by 12:00 noon Wednesday
Next week seminar: read other groups’ work and provide
comments.
Essential readings:
• Brewster C., Houldsworth E., Sparrow P. and Vernon G., 2016,
International Human Resource Management, 4th edition. CIPD.
• Tarique I., Briscoe D., Schuler R., 2016, International resource
management : policies and practices for multinational enterprises, 5th
edition. New York: Routledge
• Goergen, Brester, Wood, Wilkinson, 2012, Varieties of capitalism and
investments in Human capital, Industrial relations, 51(1), 501-527