Market research: Current management perceptions and practices in international assignee, global team preparation and diversity management : Case. itim International
Luong, Mai-Hong (2017)
Luong, Mai-Hong
Haaga-Helia ammattikorkeakoulu
2017
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 Finland
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017053111418
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017053111418
Tiivistelmä
The burst of globalisation and global business expansions have reinforced the use of international assignments, together with the noticeable growth of global team practices. The thesis, as a market research, aims to provide updated market insights about the current perceptions and practices of the Finnish market in preparing for international assignees and global teams. The research question can be worded as: “what are the current management perceptions and practices in international assignee, global team preparation and diversity management?”
The theoretical framework provides a discussion on, first, international assignments, global teams and the current trends. Second, the framework looks at international assignee preparation and global team management, in which mistakes and failures, training and preparation, cultural competences and cultural preparation, are thoroughly discussed.
The research methods are qualitative. The method chosen is the in-depth interview and its qualitative analysis. The number of informants was 16, including mostly managers of international companies, but also experienced representatives and experts of the field.
The research findings suggest that, the market offers a wide variety of practices. Even though an awareness of preparation provision and cultural impacts is gradually increasing, the field still appears to be underdeveloped, especially in providing training or cultural preparation. Companies prefer to select people with ready competences, rather than to provide massive training. Oversimplification of cultural impacts was commonly seen. Limited or no cultural training is often provided, but is expected to be individually managed. Cultural competences are not understood in the right context and the lack of context also leads to the neglect of cultural issues. Cultural competences are believed to be based on personal innateness which is difficult to be trained.
Workforce diversity is considered as a positive factor contributing a rich source of ideas to the workplace. Diversity management is seen as a big challenge. However, it does not remain as a prioritised management issue. It is rather dealt with at an individual level and in informal ways. Not much attempt is seen to be put into preparation for a multicultural working environment or to address differences. It is more important for team members to be open and willing to deal with problems on the go, in which case learning on the job is vital. Ways of addressing differences seem to be homogenising where people coming to the team may find the way to fit into the so-called corporate culture and team members are expected to find harmonisation along the time.
The big challenge is the lack of awareness of the benefits of training and oversights concerning the importance of preparation and cultural impacts. Therefore, it suggests significant room for development and awareness increasing.
The theoretical framework provides a discussion on, first, international assignments, global teams and the current trends. Second, the framework looks at international assignee preparation and global team management, in which mistakes and failures, training and preparation, cultural competences and cultural preparation, are thoroughly discussed.
The research methods are qualitative. The method chosen is the in-depth interview and its qualitative analysis. The number of informants was 16, including mostly managers of international companies, but also experienced representatives and experts of the field.
The research findings suggest that, the market offers a wide variety of practices. Even though an awareness of preparation provision and cultural impacts is gradually increasing, the field still appears to be underdeveloped, especially in providing training or cultural preparation. Companies prefer to select people with ready competences, rather than to provide massive training. Oversimplification of cultural impacts was commonly seen. Limited or no cultural training is often provided, but is expected to be individually managed. Cultural competences are not understood in the right context and the lack of context also leads to the neglect of cultural issues. Cultural competences are believed to be based on personal innateness which is difficult to be trained.
Workforce diversity is considered as a positive factor contributing a rich source of ideas to the workplace. Diversity management is seen as a big challenge. However, it does not remain as a prioritised management issue. It is rather dealt with at an individual level and in informal ways. Not much attempt is seen to be put into preparation for a multicultural working environment or to address differences. It is more important for team members to be open and willing to deal with problems on the go, in which case learning on the job is vital. Ways of addressing differences seem to be homogenising where people coming to the team may find the way to fit into the so-called corporate culture and team members are expected to find harmonisation along the time.
The big challenge is the lack of awareness of the benefits of training and oversights concerning the importance of preparation and cultural impacts. Therefore, it suggests significant room for development and awareness increasing.