In this month’s Jeitocast Karen Beaman interviews Sandee Piece on the cultural differences around the world that impact effective working relationships on a global project. Sandee shares her experiences and learnings developed over many years of managing large global teams and provides some helpful tips and recommendations to ensure effective global collaboration. Three areas in particular, she feels are critical to successfully managing a global team:
understanding of the team’s level of project management maturity,
differing perceptions of time and meeting attendance, and
managing team expectations and completion of assignments.
The end of the year is a time to look back and reflect on what we accomplished (or didn’t!) and look forward to what will be different (we hope!) in the new year. So here are three things that I think have changed for HR and HR systems during this rough, recessionary year — the worse economic year for business since the Great Depression. And I think these are lasting changes. While the recession will abate and the economy will slowly recover, I think these are some fundamental things that have changed for HR forever.
1) We got leaner.
Unemployment reached its highest level in 26 years (November 6, 2009 New York Times). And while it’s not front page news anymore, organizations are still continuing to “rationalize and rightsize.” I think HR as a function was particularly hard-hit. Our continuing inability to justify the HR function as a value-added business partner has caught up with us. There seem to be as many VPs and Directors of HR out of work as there are real estate agents without houses to sell. Yet being lean is a good thing. It teaches us to work smarter and be more efficient and effective in everything we do.
2) We got meaner.
This difficult economic year has taken its toll on the people left behind in the organization. Called the “survivor syndrome“, the people left behind have a whole new set of challenges they have to deal with. In most cases, they have to pick up additional responsibilities because the work doesn’t simply doesn’t go away when people leave. In other cases, they may have lost a close friend or ally at work. As a result, I think organizations have gotten meaner. At a recent HR Breakfast Club meeting participants said that their companies no longer feel any obligation to provide training or development opportunities for their employees. The feeling was that the employees should just be happy they have a job at all! Being mean is NOT a good thing. Environments where everyone looks out for their own self create anarchy and breed situations such as Enron. While it is definitely a cold hard world out there, as the economy rebounds and as companies must again compete for top talent, I believe (hope!) that this change will soften. While I believe that people are ultimately responsible for driving their own careers, organizations have a responsibility to support and develop their workforce to help individuals achieve their greatest potential — which study after study has shown, contributes to company performance — that means growth and profitability.
3) We got greener.
The sustainability movement accelerated considerably in the last decade as people are now realizing that the earth doesn’t have an endless supply of raw materials and as organizations are now learning about the savings that can be accomplished through more effective re-use of materials (e.g., recycling paper and printer cartridges). process automation (e.g., eliminating paper forms), and implementation of self-service strategies (e.g., eliminating duplicate paper forms with multiple signatures/approvals). The annual CedarCrestone Technology survey has consistently demonstrated that automation and self-service enablement can bring 25-75% savings, depending on the process. Becoming “greener” and providing more direct access through process automation is definitely a good thing!
So what lasting impacts do you think the recession has had or will have on HR, HR systems, and business in general? I look forward to hearing from you!
I have been honored to be selected to be among the many dignitaries to appear on The Bill Kutik Radio Show® to talk about going global with HR and HR technology. Bill Kutik himself is quite the globalist… having traveled to such exotic places as the Arctic, Labrador, Galapagos… you get the idea… really nice vacation spots where they all speak English! A true “globalist” in the making!
Not surprisingly, Bill starts off with his contrarian view asking just how global is the world anyway and aren’t I biased since all I see and work with are global companies. And indeed, according to a Harvard Business Review survey a couple of years ago, it is certainly the case that less than 30% of business interactions and communications take place globally. So I prefer to use Pankaj Ghemawat’s term “semi-globalized” when thinking about the world of global HR. While there are many commonalities around the world, there is also a lot of diversity in business practices, customs, cultures, languages, legislation, and regulations.
Working effectively in the semi-globalized world means balancing the often conflicting demands of multiple worlds: corporate headquarters, regional leadership, business unit leaders, and country management. Often the needs of these different groups can be diametrically opposed. So I often suggest to organizations to focus on being “as global as possible, as local as necessary.”
But the fact is that the vast majority of the Fortune 1000 companies do have some amount of global operations. So just how global the world really is depends on how you define “global.” Global can mean the company has 500 people in two or three countries or 30,000 people across 20 countries or 300,000 employees across 170 countries.
But no matter how many people and how many countries, Corporate HR still wants to be able to get a global headcount report, to understand where there top-performers are for succession planning purposes, and to have some degree of standardization and oversight into hiring and staffing practices around the world. So my answer is that every company needs a global strategy for their HR service delivery, operations, and infrastructure.
So whether you work for a 3,000 or 300,000 person organization or are globe-trotter like Bill, check out our fun and informative discussion about going global in HR today, Wednesday, December 9, 2009, at 9:00 Pacific, 12pm Eastern, 6pm Central European Time. As with all shows, it will be recorded so you can listen to it anytime that’s convenient for you.
Jeitosa Group International Certifies for Safe Harbor, Enhancing Ability to Support the Needs of Multinational Clients
San Francisco, CA – December 1, 2009 – Jeitosa Group International, a global human resources and systems consultancy, announced today its certification under the Safe Harbor Framework between the United States Department of Commerce and the European Commission with respect to personal data transferred from Europe to the United States.
The U.S. Department of Commerce developed the Safe Harbor framework working closely with the European Commission to meet the requirements on data protection mandated by the EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC). The directive prohibits the transfer of personal data to non-European Union nations that do not meet European standards for data and privacy protection.
“As our business grows, we want to ensure that we are in compliance with both U.S. and European guidelines for data privacy practices. We take the privacy our client’s information very seriously and view this certification as a critical step in illustrating that dedication both in the U.S. and abroad,” stated Karen Beaman, CEO and Founder of Jeitosa Group.
Safe Harbor certification provides assurance to European organizations and individuals that Jeitosa not only understands the Safe Harbor Framework, but also has taken the steps required to implement appropriate protection for their transferred data. In fact, Jeitosa goes well beyond what is required for Safe Harbor, by applying the program’s privacy principles to its handling of all personal data, regardless of geographic origin. This enhanced sensitivity to privacy concerns enables Jeitosa, with their team of Transnational Experts across the globe, to help their clients develop effective data privacy strategies and policies.
Jeitosa’s compliance with the Safe Harbor framework and its privacy policy are further detailed on the company’s website at http://www.jeitosa.com/privacy. To view Jeitosa’s certification online and to learn more about the Safe Harbor program, visit the U.S. Government’s Export Portal at http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/.
About Jeitosa:
Jeitosa Group International was founded in 2004 to provide global, strategic and functional business and information technology support to Global Fortune 1000 organizations. Jeitosa provides thought-leading, global business and technology solutions to drive enterprise effectiveness. Jeitosa’s transnational network encompasses more than 50 consultants across more than 20 countries. Collectively their experience comprises more than 500 years of global human resources and information technology experience.
Jeitosa has just completed the preliminary analysis of Global Readiness Survey results. Some of the key findings include:
Survey participants were asked what top three challenges they encountered in going global in the HR/HRIT function. The majority of respondents indicated cultural differences (53%) as the top external challenge they faced, followed by compliance with data privacy regulations (42%).
The good news is that there are solutions available for these challenges: leadership development, cultural awareness training, change management programs, and global communication plans can help individuals understand and appreciate cultural differences and provide tools and techniques for improving cross-cultural collaboration. Formalized strategies for dealing with data privacy challenges, particularly in dealing with the European Data Privacy Directive, can be developed and include approaches such as Safe Harbor, Model Contracts, and Corporate Binding Rules.
The top internal challenges companies are facing in going global fall into two major categories: lack of technology and systems to support global initiatives (51%) and lack of experienced and culturally adept resources to work effectively in a global environment – both a lack of global leadership (47%) and a lack of sufficient other global resources (45%). Going global is a relatively new initiative for many companies, so it is not surprising that many would still be immature in these areas.
Solutions to these challenges are readily available, but organizations need to step up and realize that building a global infrastructure with global systems and global people takes effort, resources, budget, and time. More and more vendors are globalizing their product and service offerings making it now possible to source a global solution for HR systems. With the increased mobility and globalization of the workforce, it is also now possible to find experienced resources who understand first-hand the issues and challenges in designing and deploying a global solution.
Working globally, companies are also experiencing some successes. By far, the greatest success they are finding is in developing and appreciating global diversity (68%). While this is a challenge for some, it is also a success for others. Generally, the more familiar one culture is with another, the greater the understanding and acceptance of the differences that exist.
You can download a copy of the preliminary research report by clicking here. The participate in the survey and receive a free, personalized copy of the full report, benchmarking your organization to others who have taken the survey, please click here.
RSS Feed
