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

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 qualities (versus more competitive ones) have been attributed to woman stereotypically[2]. Research shows that cooperativeness depends a lot on the environment respectively the organization wherein it is more or less cherished.

Cooperative conflict management

Cooperative approaches to conflict exert positive effects on the relationship between employee and foreign manager, as a study also confirmed for the Chinese context [3]. As Western methods can create confrontations in transition economies, conflicting values and practices need to be resolved between different partners [4].

Means to promote cooperation

Different cultures should be recognized as different. A local-foreign social categorization can underline who needs help and who can provide the same [5]. There are other influenceable means to promote cooperation too. For example, cooperative goals for leaders aid cross-cultural leadership [6]. Focusing on long-term relationships and cooperation contributes to beneficial expatriate experiences [7]. Soft-skills-centric relationships (i.e., guanxi relationships in the East) result in an environment conducive to cooperative and positive interdependencies between coworkers [8].

Equitable treatment to maintain willingness to cooperate

If expatriates get advantaged, domestic employees might perceive inequitable treatment, which might impair their motivation, willingness to cooperate, and work performance; something HR and Global Talent Management (GTM) functions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) need to be aware of too [9].

References

[1] Tung, R. L. (1997). Canadian expatriates in Asia-Pacific: An analysis of their attitude toward and experience in international assignments. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, St. Louis, MO.

[2] Jelinek, Mariann, a., & Nancy J. Adler, a. (1988). Women: World-Class Managers for Global Competition. The Academy Of Management Executive (1987–1989), (1), 11.

[3] Yifeng, C., Dean, T., & Sofia Su, F. (2005). WORKING WITH FOREIGN MANAGERS: CONFLICT MANAGEMENT FOR EFFECTIVE LEADER RELATIONSHIPS IN CHINA. International Journal Of Conflict Management, (3), 265. doi:10.1108/eb022932

[4] Danis, W. M. (2003). Differences in values, practices, and systems among Hungarian managers and Western expatriates: An organizing framework and typology. Journal Of World Business, 38(3), 224–244. doi:10.1016/S1090–9516(03)00020–8

[5] Leonardelli, G. J., & Toh, S. M. (2011). Perceiving expatriate coworkers as foreigners encourages aid: social categorization and procedural justice together improve intergroup cooperation and dual identity. Psychological Science, 22(1), 110–117. doi:10.1177/0956797610391913

[6] Yifeng, N. C., & Tjosvold, D. (2008). Goal interdependence and leader-member relationship for cross-cultural leadership in foreign ventures in China. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 29(2), 144–166. doi:10.1108/01437730810852498

[7] Pfeiffer, J. (2003). International NGOs and primary health care in Mozambique: the need for a new model of collaboration. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 56(4), 725–738.

[8] Yang, F. X., & Lau, V. M. (2015). Does workplace guanxi matter to hotel career success?. International Journal Of Hospitality Management, 4743–53.

[9] Soo Min, T., & DeNisi, A. S. (2005). A local perspective to expatriate success. Academy Of Management Executive, 19(1), 132–146. doi:10.5465/AME.2005.15841966