Global Leadership Development

Introduction

Global leadership development is a key to an organization’s adaptability to the dynamic business environment. Leaders provide solutions to various problems that arise in the course of operations to ensure that the business remains sustainable and competitive. This paper will discuss some of the issues surrounding global leadership, analyze the major challenges related to them and discuss some of the IHRM strategies and practices that address these issues.

Team Management

Human resource is usually made up of different people whose abilities and skills are brought together for the success of the organization. Teams must be built, nurtured and made to adapt to the demands of the organization in regard to human resource while at the same time adapting to the dynamic business world (Muhonen, Jönsson, Denti, Chen, 2013). Leaders have challenges building and developing a team. This process requires full participation of the team leader who should examine the whole group to determine the abilities, talent, and knowledge of the team members. The team should be built in such a way that these three aspects complement each other leading to perfect combination. The leader should also help the team members in understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses in order to maximize on the former and help reduce the likely negative effect of the latter on the team’s output. The leader must also initiate team development which requires full support and a good understanding of the abilities of the team members and the expectations of the organization on the team (Mockaitis, Zander, De Cieri, 2015). IHRM practices on team management recommend that organizations come up with teams, members, and diverse attributes as it increases the abilities of the team and its chances to penetrate the global business environment through market prospection, invention, and competitive global branding. The team members should receive individual performance contingent pay, rather than team rewards as it boosts personal effort.

Initiating Change

The global business environment is characterized by different aspects of dynamism. It requires that the business makes the necessary adjustments to remain competitive and achieve its goals in the new environment. Muhonen et al. (2013) notes that most businesses have corporate cultures that have been in place for years, decades, or even centuries and initiating a change in an organization or even an industry may prove counterproductive as employees are likely to rebel. It is the role of business leaders to ensure that they manage the whole procedure, mobilize resources necessary for the change, help the employees understand the necessity and the procedure to be undertaken to implement the change, and act as a leader in the whole process. Their guidance role is usually supported by their ability to mitigate the likely consequences, challenge any resistance that comes against the change, and effectively deal with employees’ reactions in regard to this change. IHRM practices for initiating and managing change recommend that there should be thorough assessment of the likely events surrounding this change before it is introduced. The organization should then educate the employees on the necessity of this change, get their insights on what should be done, and incorporate it in the process to enhance the adaptability and acceptance of the proposed changes.

Managing Relationships Between Stakeholders

Most business organizations bring together various stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, the management, and regulators. The relationship between these groups forms the basis of success in an organization. However, these relationships are likely to result in bad politics that can damage the image, reputation, and efficiency in an organization. The management should ensure that they support various stakeholders and integrate them into the organization without affecting efficiency as it is these leaders who act as an interface between stakeholders (Barnett & Salomon, 2012). The leaders should get buy-ins from departments, individuals and groups by following IHRM practices and strategies such as clear definition of roles and responsibilities to avoid conflicts.

Employee Development

The process of hiring and integrating employees into an organization is a rigorous one that requires keen attention of the management. Often, the management might procure services from external entities and individuals to promote the effectiveness of this procedure. It is likely that new employees or even existing ones who take up new positions and roles might have a problem adapting to these positions (Alter, 2015). The management should ensure that there is sufficient coaching and mentoring to help these individuals fit in the new positions and roles. The leaders should ensure that the most appropriate candidates are chosen for various jobs and that there is enough information to evaluate the individuals for these jobs (Muhonen et al., 2013). This is then followed by creation of milestones to be utilized in evaluating the individuals.

Conclusion

The business environment has become dynamic with most industries utilizing the global market. It means that all resources, especially human resource, should be aligned to meet the needs of this market, enhance competitiveness while not compromising the profit-making goals of the organization. Employee development, relationship between stakeholders, team management, and practices to initiate change have a great influence on the success of the business in taking advantage of the globalization in most industries. Leadership plays a key role in overseeing this success by bringing together resources and mitigating on solutions for the challenges that arise.