“…The remarkable perceived distance, that local managers described in the interviews, raises the question whether top managers in this regard possibly are failing in their job, if we consider the notion that “international management is management of distance” (Zaheer et al , 2012, p. 19; emphasis Zaheer et al ). Local managers’ evasive manoeuvres, othering practices and activities “behind the scenes” (Fuchs and Schalljo, 2017, p. 24) indicate that there are fields of hidden conflict (see Dörrenbächer and Gammelgaard, 2011; Kristiansen and Schweizer, 2022). Top managers might reflect on the question whether communication could be improved by mutual sense-making between the international partners, including training for the international training managers. - Secondly, at the same time, it must be considered that local managers interviewed stated that there is limited need for their colleagues, who work in different skill formation systems, to receive information about the peculiarities of the German skill formation system and related practices.
…”