Effective global management: Established constructs and novel contexts

While there is a growing literature on global managers, most studies in this area have not built upon the wealth of existing knowledge in the field of management development. This study examines if established theoretical constructs will account for managerial performance in complex global jobs and investigates the utility of each of these approaches. Boss performance ratings were correlated with manager's self-ratings on measures of personality, role skill, learning capability, business knowledge, and international experiences for 194 managers--half with global responsibilities and half with domestic responsibilities. Skill in the roles of leader and decision maker were significantly related to performance ratings for managers in high and low global complexity jobs. Learning skills, additional role skills, and international business knowledge were uniquely, albeit modestly, related to performance ratings for managers in globally complex jobs. A development framework is proposed that integrates the various theoretical constructs. Specifically, personality and international experience are considered as antecedent to skill rather than as predictors of global performance. Financial resources are not the problem. We have the money, products, and position to be a dominant global player. What we lack are the human resources. We just don't have enough people with the needed global leadership capabilities.