Integrating global mobility and global talent management: Exploring the challenges and strategic opportunities

Abstract

2Although global mobility represents an important element of many multinational enterprise's (MNEs) global talent management systems, the two areas of practice have largely been decoupled in research and practice. The current paper aims to build a dialog around the integration of these two important areas of practice and illustrate how the integration of global mobility and global talent management can contribute to the success of the MNE. Human capital and social capital theories are introduced as theoretical frames for the integration of the two areas and global talent pools and routines for managing global staffing flows are introduced as key organizational routines that can maximize the contribution of global mobility to the MNE. The paper also considers challenges and opportunities for the integration of mobility and talent and outlines some directions for future study.

Talent management motives and practices in an emerging market: A comparison between MNEs and local firms

“…RBV focuses on the development of human capital through the lens of economics, but human capital cannot be considered in isolation, it needs to be combined with social capital (Collings, 2014). Social capital is focused on those features in organizations that "facilitate collective action in pursuit of shared goals such as trust, culture, social support, social exchange, psychological contract, informal organization social and interfirm networks" (Tempest et al, 2004(Tempest et al, : 1525.…”

“…International assignments extend personal networks, enable the sharing of tacit knowledge and the development of an individual's cultural intelligence (Collings, 2014, Bücker, 2014. Such practices can include training in international operations, international assignments and international project teams.…”

“…Indeed, if TM is governed by the 'positions' philosophy then international assignments are central to global mobility (Collings, 2014). Such assignments not only develop leadership ability but also address the issues of coordination, cost control and flexibility (Collings & Scullion, 2012, Farndale et al, 2014.…”

Global talent management and inpatriate social capital building: a status inconsistency perspective

“…A GTM infrastructure can help to bring out the best in inpatriates, but Kim, Park, and Prescott (2003) have argued that the globalization of talent bring with it the requirement to create new HRM tools, methods and processes that fit the globally mobile workforce and that enables them to become boundary-spanners. Until further research is able to clarify some of the fundamental issues around GTM (Collings, 2014), it is difficult to establish concise guidelines for inpatriate. However, this paper attempts to take one step closer in identifying the appropriate GTM technique of inpatriate managers as boundary-spanners, knowing that the literature has not kept pace with practice (Al Ariss, Cascio, & Paauwe, 2014).…”

Managing talent across advanced and emerging economies: HR issues and challenges in a Sino-German strategic collaboration

“…Such outcomes may in fact be a greater risk for MNCs than AE-SMEs as the former follow trends, fashions and emulate and reproduce kindred corporatized models. AE-SMEs, given specific geographic origins and specificities may be more reluctant to incur costs inclined to individual and idiosyncratic approached.Above all, third parties may be in strong positions to provide information and experience relating to diverse international settings that are simply not available to some firms (Collings, 2014). This leads to the second proposition of the argument:…”