dust cover information:

The turn of the century is here. The Berlin wall is down. The Soviet Union has dissolved. How could you have prepared your company for the unprecedented changes that have taken place in the last decade? How can you prepare for the changes of the 21st century? A Manager's Guide to Globalization helps you understand and develop the keys to management success in an increasingly challenging international market.

You'll discover what it means to "go global":

* How to develop a global competitiveness.

* How to manage complexity and organizational adaptability.

* How to manage uncertainty, multicultural teams, and personal and organizational learning.

Along with a concise, complete definition of the three levels of globalization---strategy/structure, corporate culture, and people---you'll find what you need to align and integrate these areas to compete successfully in a global market. Dr. Rhinesmith draws from literature in business, comparative management, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and intercultural relations to give you new standards for managing a global corporation.

A Manager's Guide to Globalization shows you how to:

* Manage the complexities, contradictions, and conflicts associated with going global.

* Develop managers for the new world of high-speed change in which skills of "letting go" are as important as skills in "taking charge."

* Organize a comprehensive 12-step human resource development program for a global organization.

About the author...

Stephen H. Rhinesmith is president of Rhinesmith and Associates, Inc., and as an executive, consultant, trainer, diplomat, author, and lecturer, has experience in leading and motivating people from over 60 countries. As an international management consultant, he specializes in human resource issues in globalization as well as management reform in Russia where he is chairman of the Department of Organizational Sociology at Moscow State University. He is the past president of the American Field Service (AFS) International Scholarship Program, Holland American Cruise Lines, and served for two years as former President Reagan's Coordinator for U.S.-Soviet Exchange Initiative, where he held the diplomatic rank of U.S. Ambassador. In addition, he received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and his B.A. from Wesleyan University.

 

Foreword

by John Naisbitt

Stephen Rhinesmith's superb Manager's Guide to Globalization could not have arrived at a better time. It is clear in today's business environment that our human resources hold the competitive edge in the global economy. For hundreds of years a country's natural resources and capital were the measure of its wealth. First Japan, and then South Korea (and the other three economic tigers) proved that you don't have to have natural resources for economic success. Capital is now a globally traded commodity.

That leaves the quality of a country's human resources as the distinguishing characteristic in global competitiveness. How well a country or a company develops its human resources will be the measure of its participation in the global economy of the 1990s.

But as Dr. Rhinesmith points out, the changes in how we manage have as yet been no match for the technological changes and the geopolitical restructuring of the world in which we must now operate. Dr. Rhinesmith helps us reconceptualize the role of management in this new world and redefine the skills needed by managers of global organizations to be responsive and effective in this new arena. He guides us in the transition from, as he puts it, "a limited, fixed world view to an open, free-flowing constantly changing world.

For the first time in this book, relationships between global mindsets and effective management behavior have been systematically spelled out. Dr. Rhinesmith leads us through answers to the questions "What are the global mindsets needed for this new world? What new competencies do managers in global organizations need to have? And how can we develop a human resource system that can better prepare managers for the world they will face in the twenty-first century?" These are critical questions for our organizations today and Dr. Rhinesmith provides intriguing insights based on his years of experience in the international arena.

A Manager's Guide to Globalization is aimed primarily at middle and upper managers of large international, multinational, and globalizing companies who are facing the new complexities and uncertainties of a changing world. The book will be supremely useful in helping these managers understand what it really means to "go global." There is no other publication to date that comes close to providing as much theory and practice on the issue of the human side of globalization.

Dr. Rhinesmith's "six keys to success in a changing world" will help managers understand in a very personal, readable way the highly competitive, complex, multicultural, uncertain and ever-changing world of global management. These six keys---managing competitiveness, complexity, organizational adaptability, uncertainty, multicultural teams and personal and organizational learning---constitute new management skills that are the gateway to personal and organizational success on a global basis and represent many of the new directions for the manager of the future.

Dr. Rhinesmith's basic message is that we must look toward the bigger, broader picture with a more systems view of the world and that we must learn to deal with the contradictions and ambiguities which a broader worldview thrusts upon us. Both of these ideas are difficult for many managers. Having been raised in a world of limited functional specialization with a reasonable degree of certainty built into professional expertise, many managers today have lived with a very different paradigm than that described in this book. The challenge raised by Dr. Rhinesmith is for them to develop broader more flexible mindsets and to back these up with a personal ability to deal with less structure and more openness to the unfolding of complex events many of which cannot be planned for in advance.

While the subject matter of this book is broad, it has been organized in a way that is very teachable. It can be used by human resource managers to reexamine their performance appraisal systems for global management skills, as well as to develop new management and executive training programs to help managers address the important issues outlined by Dr. Rhinesmith.

Dr. Rhinesmith does not claim that all his insights are new. In fact, one of the important aspects of the book is its excellent bibliography which is probably the best yet compiled in the field of global human resource management. Drawing from literature in business, comparative management, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and intercultural relations, Dr. Rhinesmith has successfully addressed the three levels of globalization---strategy/structure, corporate culture, and people---that he believes are necessary for an integrated approach to future global management.

Dr. Rhinesmith has given us nothing less than a new paradigm for the future management of global corporations. Any leader interested in articulating a global plan, aligning a global corporate culture to this plan, and mobilizing employees to develop the global mindsets and skills necessary for personal and organizational success will find this book a must for their business management strategy.

 

Introduction

[...]

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR THIS BOOK

The thought-prints of James Carse run throughout this book. His wonderful little work, Finite and Infinite Games, has been an inspiration in keeping me focused on the bigger picture and purpose of globalization.

Finite and Infinite Games is a lesson in paradigm shifting, in reframing, in play, and in what it is to be fully human and open for surprises. There are no more central lessons for the manager in a global organization.

This book, with Carse's help, attempts to define some of the elements of globalization that are important for managers who will learn to play the infinite game of constant change in the global world of tomorrow.

On a more mundane level, I have tried to integrate many of the disparate pieces of global organizational strategy, structure, culture, management, and human resource policies that form the organizational matrix within which the global manager must work to achieve corporate competitiveness in the coming decade.

In Chapter One we start the game of play by examining the globalization phenomenon to determine its relevance for different kinds of companies at different levels of international and global development. Since the ultimate focus of this book is to develop your capacity as a manager in a global organization and redirect your thinking toward holistic, integrated, open systems management, this warm-up chapter hints at some of the themes we will face in the expansion and reconceptualization of the subject in the remainder of the book.

Chapter Two introduces the more integrated conceptual framework within which we will operate, noting the levels of globalization-strategy/structure, corporate culture, and people---which are the fluid and changing parts of globalization. It also introduces six management competencies, each with its own associated mindsets, characteristics, and actions, around which the rest of the book is organized.

Chapter Three represents a summary of what is relatively well known about global organizations, that is, forming and developing global strategies and structures. Through a review of the strategic and structural issues involved in global business we also provide some basic terminology and definitions for managers approaching international business for the first time.

A major theme of this book, however, is that globalization is not just a matter of strategy and structure. Too often senior executives believe they have a global organization if they operate around the world. We shall see that this is far from the whole picture for today's globally competitive organization.

In Chapter Four we examine the nature of organizational complexity, note some of the fundamental contradictions of global organizational life---centralization versus decentralization, global efficiency versus local responsiveness, geographic versus functional priorities---which need to be managed, and discuss ways successful corporations have found to manage these challenges.

In Chapter Five we explore the importance of corporate culture as the means through which organizations maintain their adaptability. There is a great deal of discussion today about the ability of corporations to respond rapidly to constant change in their environments. It is clear that this cannot be achieve through continuous reorganizations. It is our thesis that global organizations maintain their adaptability through their global corporate cultures and global managers who are constantly monitoring and altering information systems, task forces, and international decision architectures to enable their organizations to be resilient to global changes while operating in a reasonably fixed structure.

In Chapter Six we probe the power and possibility of multicultural teamwork. Since teams are a fundamental element of organizational life today, and a global corporate culture depends very much on managing and leading multicultural teams, we will look at multicultural teams as organisms that use their diversity for creative answers to manage organizational complexity and adaptability.

In Chapter Seven we will explore the implications of redefining chaos as an infinite game to be played through continual change and renewal. With world change increasing in its speed and complexity, many global players feel they are being overtaken by chaos. If one concentrates only on the rules of the current game, then increasing chaos threatens the current organization. If, however, chaos is seen as an opportunity to redefine the boundaries of the systems and the rules of the game, then change can be used for competitive advantage. To do this, however, we must learn to flow with as well as control our organization's response to an uncertain environment.

The dynamics noted thus far obviously have enormous implications for the development of managers in global enterprises. In Chapter Eight we explore what can be done to help managers develop the mindsets, qualities, competencies, and behaviors for successful management in a global organization. We also examine a strategically-linked, and integrated approach to human resource development, review some developmental literature on individual, group, and organizational life cycles, and reflect on HRD challenges for the 21st century.

Finally, we turn to Chapter Nine. Here we use Carse's quotations to review themes that run throughout the book. Focusing on Carse's idea that "a finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game is played for the purpose of continuing the play," we examine how to focus on continuing the play for a successful and productive life.

 

THE SECOND STORYLINE

There is a second storyline that runs throughout this book, which I want to alert you to in advance---it is the movement from functional expertise to the broader, bigger picture, from stability to change; from structure to process; from individual responsibility to teamwork and play. The second storyline is movement to a global mindset.

I have come to the fundamental conclusion that successful global management is, first and foremost a state of mind. This state of mind has been referred to as a global perspective, global mindset, and matrixed mind by various authors in recent years.

My own developing awareness of this shift from rational, procedural, structural answers to an infinite, open-ended, flexible, playful game has made me realize that ultimately this requires a change not only of mindset, but of philosophy and perhaps, in the end, personal style, if not personality.

In the end, I believe we are facing a radical shift in the definition for effective management. Rather than being rewarded for creating order out of chaos, we may be entering an era in which creating chaos out of order is the key to personal and organizational survival. If this is the case, then I, by management experience and training, am the wrong person for the new world and you may be also.

But if this transition seems reasonable to you as it does to me, we have two choices. One, we can curl up in a corner and hope that stability is regained and predictability will allow us to anticipate the joys of the daily known---like eating, sleeping, and reading the newspaper filled with descriptions of all the chaos the world is in. Or we can become an active player in this infinite game and decide that we will try to understand what this new world is demanding, even if it is not our natural bent.

Hopefully, after reading this book you will choose the latter course. To help reflect on the journey you are about to undertake, I have created an outside observer and guide to this book called "the global mind." Remembering my days as a comparative European literature and philosophy major at Wesleyan University, I decided to take a chapter from some of the original thinkers about life and its challenges---the Greek chorus.

The Greek chorus was a companion to the audience in the great Greek plays of the 4th century BC. In these, the chorus reflected on what was happening on stage, noting issues of importance and suggesting to the audience lessons that might be learned. It provided a counterpoint line of reasoning about what they were seeing, feeling, and thinking.

In this book, the Greek chorus has become the global mind. Prior to each chapter, there will be "Forethoughts from a Global Mind" that will introduce the subject and provide a context within which to approach the next portion of the book. The global mind has both a left and right brain, just like humans, with the left controlling rational, linear, analytical thinking and the right controlling open, associative, intuitive patterns. Ultimately, the global mind tilts toward its right side as the dominant side for global management.

At the end of most chapters, their will be two applications sections. The first, "Key Practices and Tasks" will suggest actions that you can take to carry out the competency discussed in the chapter. In the second, "Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets" the Greek chorus performs its other role of summing up the lessons from the play.

At times this journey may be difficult. At times, I hope it will be enlightening. In the end, becoming a manager in a global organization will probably involve some fundamental challenges to the way you think of yourself and the world today. To this extent, becoming a global manager may encourage you to experiment with new perceptions of yourself, your potential, and your relationship to your work and the world around you.

Stephen H. Rhinesmith

Contents

Chapter One GOING GLOBAL Forethoughts from a Global Mind, Changes in Management Thinking and MBA Education, Cultural Prerequisites for Effective Global Competition, Team Play, Continuous Play, Sea Changes, HRD Implications of Globalization, Contexts and Levels of Globalization, Globalization Levels and Corporate Objectives, Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets, Chapter Two GLOBAL MINDSETS AND COMPETENCIES Forethoughts from a Global Mind, Global Mindsets, Global Mindsets and Personal Characteristics, Competencies and Characteristics, A Manager's Guide to Action, Integration of Global Competencies with the Levels of Globalization, Global Competencies, Practices, and Tasks, Global Competency Learning Cycle (CLC), Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets, Chapter Three MANAGING COMPETITIVENESS Forethoughts from a Global Mind, Forces Driving Corporations to Become Global, Evolution of the Global Enterprise, Fundamentals of International Strategy, Fundamentals of International Structure, New Directions in Strategy and Key Practices and Tasks for Managing Competitiveness, Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets, Chapter Four MANAGING COMPLEXITY Forethoughts from a Global Mind, American Cultural Predispositions About Complexity, Contradiction, and Conflict, Complexity in Global Organizations, Sources and Methods of Managing Complexity, Sources of Contradiction, Ways to Manage Global Contradictions, Conflict Management as a Key to Managing Complexities and Contradictions, Key Practices and Tasks to Manage Complexity, Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets Chapter Five MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL ADAPTABILITY Forethoughts from a Global Mind, Global Corporate Culture, Managing in a Global Corporate Culture, The Competitive Benefits of a Global Corporate Culture, Key Practices and Tasks for Managing Organizational Adaptability, Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets, Chapter Six MANAGING MULTICULTURAL TEAMS Forethoughts from a Global Mind, Importance of Teams in a Global Organization, Understanding Multicultural Teams, Guidelines for Diagnosing the Effectiveness of Multicultural Teams, Key Practices and Tasks for Managing Multicultural Teams, Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets, Chapter Seven MANAGING UNCERTAINTY Forethoughts from a Global Mind, Uncertainty and Global Management, Physics and Global Business Strategy, Seeing Chaos as a User-Friendly Ally for Change, A Flow-Control Theory of Organizational Change, New Mindsets for Flow Management, Key Practices and Tasks for Managing Uncertainty, Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets, Chapter Eight MANAGING LEARNING Forethoughts from a Global Mind, Corporate Globalization and Global Competencies, Twelve Human Resource Challenges for Developing Global Managers, Different Degrees of Global Management, Global Human Resource Challenges for the 21st Century, New Directions, Key Practices and Tasks for Managing Learning, Afterthoughts for Global Mindsets, Chapter Nine INTEGRATION Forethoughts from a Global Mind, The New Paradigm---Finite to Infinite Games, A Final Afterthought for your Global Mindset, Appendix Summary of Six Competencies, Mindsets, Characteristics, Practices, and Tasks, Selected Bibliography

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