Global leadership refers to the ability to influence the attitudes and behaviors of followers from different cultural backgrounds. A successful global leader should have a vision and purpose, exhibit certain leadership behaviors (e.g. building trust and spanning boundaries) and have a certain skillset in order to achieve their job responsibilities. 

A leader’s skills have an important impact on the overall performance of his subordinates. One important characteristic that seems to influence the subordinates’ performance is cultural intelligence (CQ).

Cultural intelligence consists of different meta-cognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral components and can be viewed as the ability of a person to adapt to an unfamiliar situation and correctly interpret communication across different cultures. 

There is a growing body of literature on global leadership development and as CQ is a feature that can be trained, it becomes of interest for MNCs looking to develop global leaders. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on global leadership and cultural intelligence and discuss how cultural intelligence impacts global leadership.

References:

Alon, I & Higgins, JM 2005. Global leadership success through emotional and cultural intelligences. Business Horizons, 48(6), pp. 501–512.

Li, M., Mobley, W. H. & Kelly, A. 2013. When do global leaders learn best to develop cultural intelligence? An investigation of the moderating role of experiential learning style. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(1), pp. 32–50.

Ramsey, JR, Rutti, RM, Lorenz, MP, Barakat, LL & Sant, Anna, AS. 2017. Developing global transformational leaders. Journal of World Business, 52(4), pp. 461–473.

Reiche, B, Bird, A, Mendenhall, M & Osland, J 2017. Contextualizing leadership: a typology of global leadership roles. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(5), pp. 552–572.

Perceived organizational support (POS) refers to beliefs held by employees regarding the extent to which their organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. These beliefs are founded in perceptions of the organization’s readiness to reward increased work effort and satisfy socio-emotional needs. POS motivates employees to show care for the organization’s welfare. Additionally, organizational support theory suggests that POS is a valued resource because it assures employees that help will be available from the organization when it is needed to carry out one’s job effectively and to deal with stressful situations. 

Studies have pointed out that POS plays also a role in predicting expatriate success. Furthermore, organizational stress scholars have argued that POS may be an important determinant of expatriates’ adjustment to the host country and their job performance. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the concept of POS, relate it to the literature of expatriation and discuss how POS may influence expatriate success. 

References:

Farh, J. L., Hackett, R. D., & Liang, J. 2007. Individual-level cultural values as moderators of the perceived organizational support-employee outcome relationships in China: Comparing the effects of power distance and traditionality. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 715–729. 

Kraimer, M.L., & Wayne, S.J. 2004. An examination of perceived organizational support as a multidimensional construct in the context of an expatriate assignment. Journal of Management, 30(2), pp. 209–237. 

Takeuchi, R., Wang, M., Marinova, S. V., & Yao, X. 2009. The role of domain-specific perceived organizational support during expatriation and their implications for performance. Organization Science, 20(3), pp. 621-634. 

Inpatriation is an important addition to a multinational company’s repertoire of international assignments and can help transfer knowledge, improve headquarters-subsidiary relationships and develop managers. 

The use of inpatriates increases the cultural diversity and multicultural staff composition at the headquarters. It also allows the headquarters to inculcate subsidiary managers into the corporate culture in a more direct way than would be possible by the transfer of expatriates and might also be a useful option to transfer tacit knowledge from the subsidiaries to the headquarters.

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the benefits and drawbacks of inpatriation in the context of international HR policies and practices.

References:

Harvey, M. G., Novicevic, M. M., & Speier, C. 1999. Inpatriate managers: how to increase the probability of success. Human Resource Management Review, 9(1), pp. 51-81.

Reiche, S. 2006. The inpatriate experience in multinational corporations: An exploratory case study in Germany. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(9), pp. 1572-1590.

Reiche, S., & Harzing, A. W. 2011. International assignments. International Human Resource Management, 3, pp. 185-226.

In recent years, multinational companies have an increasing demand for international assignees, while the supply of qualified candidates appears not to grow to the same extent. 

The insufficient supply of suitable candidates may be connected to dual career issues, the limited participation of women in international assignments, issues around repatriation, and deficiencies of talent management systems at an international level. 

In the light of these developments, organizations are frequently re-evaluating their international assignment policies. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a portfolio of new international assignment forms such as short-term assignments, international business travellers, rotational assignments, international commuter assignments, or virtual assignments. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the advantages and drawbacks of the various emerging forms of international assignments and formulate recommendations for global staffing policies. 

References:

Collings, D. G., & Scullion, H. (2009). Global staffing. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(6), pp. 1249-1252. 

Duvivier, F., Peeters, C., & Harzing, AW. (2019). Not all international assignments are created equal: HQ- subsidiary knowledge transfer patterns across types of assignments and types of knowledge. Journal of World Business, 54(3), pp. 181-190. 

Tahvanainen, M., Welch, D., & Worm, V. (2005). Implications of short-term international assignments. European Management Journal, 23(6), pp. 663-673. 

Welch, D.E., & Worm, V. (2006). International business travellers: a challenge for IHRM. In: G. Stahl and I. Björkman (eds), Handbook of Research in International Human Resource Management, pp. 283-301. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 

The belief of being treated unfairly leads individuals to engage in different behavioral responses. Literature distinguishes between antisocial and prosocial approaches. Antisocial behaviors dissolve a previously positive relationship and encompass both revenge and avoidance behaviors. In contrast, prosocial responses such as forgiveness or reconciliation focus on repairing the relationship with the offender. 

Several studies perceive organizational justice or injustice as a universal construct regarding its effects in organizations. A few studies examine organizational justice within a cross-cultural context. Recognizing the increase of multicultural collaboration, the importance of a deeper understanding of how individuals from different cultures cope with perceived injustice becomes apparent.

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on behavioral responses to organizational injustice and analyze how cultural differences can influence responses to injustice in cross-cultural contexts.

References:

Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 425–445.

Kim, T.-Y., Shapiro, D. L., Aquino, K., Lim, V. K. G., & Bennett, R. J. (2008). Workplace offense and victims’ reactions: the effects of victim-offender (dis)similarity, offense-type, and cultural differences. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29(3), 415–433. 

Shao, R., Rupp, D. E., Skarlicki, D. P., & Jones, K. S. (2011). Employee Justice Across Cultures. Journal of Management, 39(1), 263–301. 

Global virtual teams have become increasingly important in multinational corporations. Since team members come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and hardly meet face to face, they face additional challenges in comparison to co-located teams. 

Given the fact that members of global virtual teams are limited in their exchanges to virtual communication, cultural intelligence is particularly important to overcome the additional challenges in functioning effectively as a team. 

Cultural intelligence can be broken down into (meta-)cognitive, motivational and behavioral components and can be viewed as the ability of a person to adapt to an unfamiliar situation and correctly interpret communication across different cultures. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on the challenges of global virtual teams and the importance of cultural intelligence for global teams and integrate both streams of literature in a way to tease out the relevance of cultural intelligence for the specific context of global virtual teams. 

References:

Earley, P.E., Murnieks, C., & Mosakowski, E. (2007). Cultural intelligence and the global mindset, in Mansour Javidan, Richard M. Steers, Michael A. Hitt (ed.) The Global Mindset (Advances in International Management, Volume 19) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.75-103.

Presbitero, A. & Toledano, L. S. (2018). Global team members’ performance and the roles of cross-cultural training, cultural intelligence, and contact intensity: the case of global teams in IT offshoring sector. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(14), pp. 2188-2208.

Presbitero, A. (2020). Foreign language skill, anxiety, cultural intelligence and individual task performance in global virtual teams: A cognitive perspective. Journal of International Management, 26(2), p. N.PA.

Leadership contributes significantly to the success or failure of an organization. The effects of leadership styles on employees’ motivation and performance have been extensively studied. 

Research has shown that the leadership styles considerably differ across cultural boundaries. In Western cultures, leadership attributes, such as empowerment and clear vision, are often seen as important elements of good leadership in order to increase employees’ job satisfaction and commitment. By contrast, in China, leadership tends to be based more on position, authority and seniority as a result of a more rigid hierarchical organizational and societal structure. But are these leadership traits static or subject to change in response to the preferences of different generational cohorts?

Four generational cohorts make up today’s workforce: Baby Boomers (born between ~1946 and 1964), Generation X (born between ~ 1965 and 1980), Generation Y (born between ~1981 and 1996) and Generation Z (born between ~1997 and 2012). Having come of age and lived through vastly different socio-political events in various world-regions, members might have divergent preferences as to the leadership style employed by their supervisors and managers.

This Bachelor thesis should critically analyze arguments in support of and in opposition to generational differences in subordinates’ leadership preferences in the West and China. 

References:

Joshi, A., Dencker, J.C., Franz, G., & Martocchio, J.J. (2010). Unpacking generational identities in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 35(3), 392-414.

Ma, L., Tsui, A.S. (2015). Traditional Chinese philosophies and contemporary leadership. TheLeadership Quarterly, 26, 13-24.

Ren, S., Xie, Y., Zhu, Y., & Warner, M. (2018). New generation employees’ preferences towards leadership style in China. Asia Pacific Business Review, 24(4), 437-458.

Rudolph, C.W., Rauvola, R.S., & Zacher, H. (2018). Leadership and generations at work: A critical review. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 44-57. 

Performance feedback is an important management and communication tool in organizations. Effectively designed feedback can help both managers and employees to gain a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and promote organizational learning. 

Many multinational corporations find it challenging to design performance feedback systems, as individuals from different cultural backgrounds seek and perceive feedback differently. Misunderstandings due to cultural differences can generate cross-cultural conflict, lead to communication breakdowns and ultimately lower the performance. 

However, if handled appropriately, feedback can improve processes and unlock the potential of multinational enterprises. 

This Bachelor thesis should review the literature on performance feedback, explain how cultural differences influence this practice and provide recommendations for developing culture-sensitive feedback systems in multinational enterprises.

References:

Earley, P.C., & Stubblebine, P. (1989). Intercultural assessment of performance feedback. Group & Organization Studies, 14(2), 161-181.

Jang, S., Shen, W., Allen, T. D., & Zhang, H. (2018). Societal individualism–collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as cultural moderators of relationships between job resources and strain. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(4), 507-524.

MacDonald, H.A., Sulsky, L.M., Spence, J.R., & Brown, D.J. (2013). Cultural differences in the motivation to seek performance feedback: A comparative policy-capturing study. Human Performance, 26(3), 211-235.

Milliman, J., Taylor, S., & Czaplewski, A. (2002). Cross-cultural performance feedback in multinational enterprises: Opportunity for organizational learning. Human Resource Planning, 25(3), 29-43. 

Sully De Luque, M.F., & Sommer, S.M. (2000). The impact of culture on feedback seeking behaviour: An integrated model and proposition. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 829-849. 

Globalization has created great opportunities and challenges for multinational corporations (MNCs). One particular challenge these organizations face now pertains to how they can manage an increasingly diverse, educated, and mobile workforce globally. In response, the concept of global talent management (GTM) has emerged and received significant traction in recent years.

The objectives of GTM are to build and maintain a highly qualified workforce in a global context. GMTencompasses organizational activities such as staffing, performance appraisal, reward and compensation, promotion and retaining the best employees in the most strategic roles organized on a global scale.

In the past, the topic of GTM was primarily relevant for large American or European MNCs. However, the shift in economic power balance over recent decades, caused by a dramatic global expansion of large Chinese companies, led to an increasing relevance of GTM also for Chinese MNCs. This shift led to a questioning of the universal applicability of Western approaches to GTM for the Chinese cultural and institutional context.

This Bachelor thesis should critically analyze the relevant literature on Global Talent Management in MNCs, while highlighting the challenges for Chinese organizations. In addition, possible solutions to address these challenges should be outlined. 

References:

Froese, F.J., Shen, J., Sekiguchi, T., & Davies, S. (2020). Liability of Asianness? Global talent management challenges of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean multinationals. Human Resource Management Review, 30(4), 100776.

Pereira, V., Collings, D.G., Wood, G., & Mellahi, K. (2022). Evaluating talent management in emerging market economies: Societal, firm and individual perspectives. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(11), 2171-2191.

Tarique, I., & Schuler, R.S. (2010). Global talent management: Literature review, integrative framework, and suggestions for further research. Journal of World Business, 45(2), 122-133. 

Wang, M., Xu, J., Zhao, S., & Bian, H. (2022). Redefining Chinese talent management in a new context: A talent value theory perspective. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 60(2), 219-251.

Although multinational corporations invest considerable resources in sending managers on foreign assignments, many of them report dissatisfaction upon return, and a significant percentage leaves the firm within a year. In this case, the MNC’s substantial investment in the expatriate and the newly acquired knowledge with which the repatriate returns are lost. At a time when globally trained managers are valuable and talent shortage is a problem, the ways in which MNCs are managing their repatriation processes need particular attention. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the key challenges expatriates face upon their return, describe the specific problems of current repatriation practices and propose strategies for improving repatriation processes.

References:

Bailey, C. & Dragoni, L. (2013). Repatriation after global assignments, current HR practices and suggestions for ensuring successful repatriation. People & Strategy, 36(1), 48-57.

Jassawalla, A.R., & Sashittal, H.C. (2009). Thinking strategically about integrating repatriated managers in MNCs. Human Resource Management, 48(5), pp. 769-792. 

Lee, H., & Liu, C. (2006). The determinants of repatriate turnover intentions: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Management, 23(4), pp. 751-762.

Ethical values and behaviors vary cross-culturally. China and Germany are two distinct cultural contexts, characterized by different social norms, values, and historical backgrounds. These differences also matter in a business context. In China, an ethical leader is supposed to demonstrate integrity, honesty, and ethical behavior in his or her actions and decisions. While leaders in China should behave like role models in all aspects of life, they expect their subordinates to be hard-working, submissive and respecting their authority. In addition, while in China the authority of a leader is more pervasive, in Germany it is more limited to the professional dimension. 

This comparison of ethical leadership styles involves exploring the influence of Confucian versus Christian principles, collectivism versus individualism, high versus low hierarchy, and high versus low power distance.

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the existing literature on how ethical leadership is perceived and practiced in China in comparison to Germany. It should also consider its respective impact on subordinate responses within each cultural domain. Furthermore, the thesis should consider the underlying social and cultural reasons for those differences. 

References:

Husted, B.W., & Allen, D.B. (2008). Toward a model of cross-cultural business ethics: The impact of individualism and collectivism on the ethical decision-making process. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(2), 293-305.

Thorne, L., & Susan, B.S. (2002). The socio-cultural embeddedness of individuals' ethical reasoning in organizations (cross-cultural ethics). Journal of Business Ethics, 35(1), 1-14. 

Wen-Long, Z., Chun-Han, L., Hsin-Mei, L., & Yen-Feng, N. (2022). Moderating effect of paternalistic leadership on the relationship between thriving at work and expatriate performance. Sustainability, 14(13), 8119. 

The process of globalization has led to increased cross-border interactions, creating a growing need for effective communication and understanding across diverse cultural contexts. 

This is particularly the case for ethical concepts. Expatriates, i.e., individuals being sent from headquarters for a specified time period to a foreign country, often serve as vital conduits for bridging cultural gaps and facilitating the mutual understanding of ethical concepts between different cultures. Expatriates bring with them their home country's values and professional ethical concepts from their parent organization. This enables them to serve as ethical role models, promoting behaviors that align with the organization's values, while also considering the cultural sensitivities of their host country.

Expatriates should promote intercultural dialogue and ethical alignment. To achieve this, expatriates should have cultural sensitivity, ethical frameworks and intercultural competence which allows them to act as bridge agents in the face of misunderstandings, conflicts, and difficulties in aligning ethical behaviors and expectations due to differences in cultural norms, values, and ethical frameworks between their home country and the host culture. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on how differences in ethical concepts and resulting differing behavior can be bridged by expatriates. Key challenges and problems during this process should be discussed.

References:

Lee, L.Y., & Sukoco, B.M. (2010). The effects of cultural intelligence on expatriate performance: the moderating effects of international experience. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(7), 963-981. 

Moon, C.J., & Woolliams, P. (2000). Managing cross cultural business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 27(1), 105-115.

Tolga, U., & Fang, X. (2022). How do expatriate managers draw the boundaries of moral free space in the case of guanxi? Journal of Business Ethics, 176(2), 311-324. 

Research on generational differences across the world has been a popular topic in academic literature for many decades. Given the increasing number of Millennial (or: Generation Y) employees in today’s business environment, the question of how the different generations conduct themselves and interact with each other in a business setting has become increasingly important. 

 A generation is defined as a cohort of individuals, which were born in a particular period of years and were influenced by the socio-political events that occur throughout the life course of the birth cohort, particularly while the cohort comes of age. 

To date, three generational cohorts make up the majority of the workforce: Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Baby Boomer (born between ~1946 and 1964) employees used to be the majority in corporations and were associated with strong work ethics, placing work life above personal life. In contrast Generation X employees (born between ~ 1965 and 1980) are attributed with cynical and sceptical attitudes towards their employers and are said to be less loyal towards organizations. The Millennial generation or Generation Y (born between ~1981 and 1996) are said to be confident, team-oriented and place a high importance on work-life balance. Generation Z (born between ~1997 and 2012) is the newest generational cohort to come of age and are attributed with a pragmatic view of the world, shaped by the financial crisis and digitalization. 

 This Bachelor thesis should critically discuss the existing academic literature on how different generations think and act differently at the workplace and analyse how employing organisations must react to those changing patterns to continue to attract a high performing workforce. You should also outline possible differences at to generational differences across national and cultural boundaries.

References:

Becton, J. B., Walker, H. J. and Jones, F. A. 2014. Generational differences in workplace behaviour. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 44(3), pp. 175–189.

Benson, J. and Brown, M. 2011. Generations at work: are there differences and do they matter? International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22(9), pp. 1843–1865. 

Parry, E. and Urwin, P. 2011. Generational Differences in Work Values: A Review of Theory and Evidence. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13(1), pp. 79–96. 

Smola, K. W. & Sutton, C. D. 2002. Generational Differences: Revisiting Generational Work Values for the New Millennium. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(4), pp. 363–382.