Western managers are falling behind their Chinese counterparts in education and training, research has warned.
China has the fastest growing global economy and - according to a study by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) - also boasts a highly ambitious, sophisticated and commercially astute management population that poses a challenge to managers and businesses in the West.
The Global Management Challenge, which surveyed 327 managers in the UK, US, France and China, reveals that Chinese managers are underestimated by their Western counterparts and are launching a serious challenge to established Western business and management practices.
The good news is that organisations can provide services that facilitate successful adjustments. The cost of sending an employee and family on international assignment is substantial. For a minimal additional investment, corporations can provide pre- and post-assignment cross-cultural development programmes that reduce the stress of the move and meet the family’s needs. Specifically, such programmes help the family to understand the leaving process, the new culture(s), how to conduct themselves (socially, in business, and in daily life) more effectively in the new location, and how to manage culture shock and adjustment.
Cross-cultural programmes offer knowledge and support to the third-culture child. Many relocation companies contribute to the family’s international success by offering packages and programmes to the new assignee and family.
It is up to employers to promote the value of this to employees and their families, and to encourage them to make time for the training in the hectic schedule of an overseas move.
The employer’s organisation needs to support all the family members through the adjustment phase, which can take up to 18 months. The follow-through and tracking after the move is very important. Counselling services, coaching, mentoring, and, ultimately, a repatriation programme are other valuable options for third-culture children and their families.
Some of the strongest hiring intentions recorded are in Singapore, India, Peru and Romania, while China reported the weakest hiring outlook according to Manpower’s latest Employment Outlook Survey.
Thirty-two countries and territories expect positive hiring activity for the second quarter. However, as the majority of the predictions are weaker compared to the previous quarter, the general trend indicates a step back in hiring for many of the world’s largest economies, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
Some of the strongest hiring intentions recorded are in Singapore, India, Peru and Romania. These results reflect a high demand for talent in markets where foreign direct investment and labour mitigation are increasing. China reported the weakest hiring outlook.
A charity that campaigns to provide a “secure base for Britain’s minority ethnic communities” has called for effective leadership to promote diversity, after a poll revealed that almost nine in 10 recent graduates have experienced some kind of discrimination at work.
The Ethnic Minority Foundation, called for leaders to be held accountable for discrimination which, it says is “ruining the life chances of young people”.
It follows a survey of 200 graduates by recruitment site Milkround.com which found that 86% of had faced discrimination while working.
Race discrimination affected two in five respondents, with age discrimination affecting 14% and gender 12%. Other reasons for unfair treatment included sexual orientation and height.
One respondent said: “People like me coming from a different country or continent to study and then try to get a work placement here are very vulnerable, particularly if they are unfortunate enough to have employers or managers as ignorant as the one I [worked for].”
Lingua-Jobs is proud to announce the official launch of Lingua-Jobs.com, an exciting new job portal dedicated to the entire spectrum of multilingual and bilingual job vacancies on a global level.
The new language job site aims to connect ethnically diverse language groups with employers committed to fostering a diverse workplace or simply having the need to recruit for language speakers.
As the European Union, the Internet and other globalizing forces create new and expanding business relationships throughout the world, Lingua-Jobs.com provides clients with access to talent not found at more generalized job boards. With this focused talent pool, we help our clients leverage the advantages of diversity, filling key positions and increasing the strength of their organizations.
Companies are aware that knowledge workers are key to the success of the Dutch economy and, focusing on this growing community, a new congress ‘The Impact of Expats’ aims to cover everything which companies in the Netherlands bringing knowledge workers into the country need to know.
ZuidasThe success of the Dutch economy is knowledge-based and Dutch business and industry know only too well that it is the presence of highly skilled workers in a city which increases its capacity for innovation and makes it attractive for new business.
Amsterdam, with its highly rated quality of life, cultural diversity and lively reputation is becoming increasingly popular with skilled internationals seeking to develop their careers abroad.
Many employers are risking migrant workers’ wellbeing by not providing adequate health and safety training warned the Institute of Occupational Health and safety (IOSH).
It said many non-English speaking migrant workers are especially at risk as H&S training is usually delivered in English. IOSH recently conducted a pilot study into how H&S training is delivered to migrant workers in the food processing sector.
Half of the 26 companies polled admitted their H&S training did not address how non-English speaking workers were informed, instructed or trained in H&S issues and practices.
“The evidence from the food and drink sector is that too many employers are taking risks with their migrant workers by not offering proper training in H&S issues,” said IOSH policy and technical director Richard Jones.”Within this sector only 42% of employers provide English lessons to staff.”
Following the publication of the National Audit Office’s report that showed there was still a significant gap between the employment rate for ethnic minorities and the general population, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation has again highlighted the need for more work to be done in this particular area.
The report stated that the employment rate is 60 per cent for the ethnic minority population compared to 74 per cent for the general population.
The war for talent never ends. Middle managers in China? Good luck finding them, let alone keeping them. Assembly line workers in Central Europe? They’re well-educated and hard-working: Trouble is, every company wants them. The cubicle warriors of Bangalore? They get the job done—if they stick around. I For corporations, managing this widely scattered, talented, restive, multicultural workforce has never been harder. This Special Report, written to coincide with the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, brings readers to the front lines of the struggle. It delves into IBM’s (IBM) effort to rein- vent the way it gets tasks done around the world, follows a Nokia (NOK) manager as he recruits a workforce from scratch in Transylvania, meets a restless generation of IT workers in India, and hears from the corporate road warriors who never, ever stop traveling.
These and other stories make a simple but powerful point: The old way of managing across borders is fading fast. In the first half of the 20th century, the globalization of business was based on the British colonial model. Headquarters, functions, and capital were in one place, with managers dispatched to run regional operations like colonies. In the second half of the 1900s, companies adopted the multinational model, replicating their home country operations in other places where they did business. Country units rarely dealt with other divisions in other markets.
Today, global corporations are transforming themselves into “transnationals,” moving work to the places with the talent to handle the job and the time to do it at the right cost.
What are the top ten trends in training and human resource development that are expected to dominate in 2008?
HumaNext, have devised their own unique way to arrive at the answer. They don’t use surveys nor ask people what issues they “think” are important. They look for the areas in which companies have invested their money by buying products that addressed these issues in 2007. HumaNext offer over 700 products, from training programs and videos, to online courses, CDs, off-the-shelf-packages and onsite workshops, and thus are able to develop a very good idea of the kind of topics in which companies and consultants spend most of their money.
The thousands of orders they received in 2007 from customers among leading American corporations, government, educational, and non-profit organizations give us enlightening guides to the shifting trends in the training and HRD business.
They also monitor customers’ inquiries and requests for products that might not yet have developed, which helps gauge future needs and trends. And thirdly they monitor what their large number of affiliate program producers and publishers are planning to introduce in 2008.
Finally, they review published surveys on related topics to benefit from their findings. For example, they confirmed some of their findings with those of a new study from Novations Group Inc. that surveyed more than 2,500 senior HR and learning executives in December 2007 as reported in CLO newsletter.
Based on this multi-faceted approach, here are the top ten training topics and trends that they expect to see in 2008:
1- Leadership / Management Development, and Team Relationships: these areas are old but there is a growing interest in providing leaders at all levels with soft skills that help them lead and inspire their teams and relate to others effectively. Recent survey results confirm the expected growth of these areas.
2- Diversity and Inclusion/ Cultural Competence: Diversity is another old topic that is enjoying a renewed interest, because of the increasing diversity of the workforce, increased immigration, and the need for global skills to meet the needs of globalization.
3- Managing Generational Differences: This sub-area of diversity is becoming a critical topic in its own right. Because of the aging baby-boomers and the increasing number of generations X and Y in the workplace, consultants and managers are seeking training programs to help managers handle generational differences at work.
4- Leadership Communication: Although interest in communication skills training is old and stable, there is a new emphasis on leadership and executive communication that is based on the notion of leadership as a series of critical conversations. Our Critical Conversation training continues to enjoy good reception by various organizations and training departments in off-the-shelf packages, on site training, and certification.
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