Building a global workforce

Once merely a concept, global talent manage­ment has now become an essential
prerequisite for successful global com­panies. As a result of the economic power
shifts and changing global demographics, more and more enterprises are
establishing world-class practices and a balanced approach to develop a
sustainable multi-national talent base. Global companies now have to build a
strong and globally deployable workforce for effective execution of their
business goals and to remain globally compe­titive. It has become essential for
them to bind all the employees together and induce a closely-knit environment
across all the locations of the company.

A Global Workforce

Sans doubt, it is the 'people' or 'talent' that is the most valuable asset
of a company and a key differentiator. 'Talent' collectively determines an
organization's and the economy's productivity and the quality of the output. At
a macro level, productivity or efficiency is vital for the economy, but quality
is the decisive metric of effectiveness and provides a competitive edge in the
global scenario.

The education system needs to be continuously aligned with the emerging and
dynamic demands of the industry. Industry-relevant concepts and processes such
as effective quality management and 'Six Sigma' should be introduced at
educational institutes.

Besides curriculum revision on an ongoing basis, behavioral skills training
at engineering and business schools are recommended to prepare students find
their feet in the corporate world with confidence. A major component of such
skills is the effective communi­cation and influencing skill. This coupled with
technical proficiency is an indicator of the collective strength of any
workforce.

Given that people work in teams and experience, the interplay of cultural
sensitivities has led to the evolution of 'communi­cation skills'. The onus to
facilitate the creation of environments and skills that nurture cultural
sensitivity lies with the human resource depart­ments. Training modules have
been developed in this context eventually contribute toward shaping
organizational philosophy and values.

As a result of the economic power shifts and changing global demographics, more and more enterprises are establishing world-class practices and a balanced approach to develop a sustainable multinational talent base

The human resource team works closely with the senior management for creating
appropriate leadership behaviors and values, which then cascades into an
organizational chain, establishing a culture. While this might contradict the
cardinal rule that the culture of an organization is based on the collective
behavior of its constituents, the larger role played by the leadership in this
area needs to be understood and leveraged to establish the right culture.
Leaders have a greater influence on culture creation and hence, it is imperative
that it starts at the top. This aids in cross-pollination of ideas and ensures
that diverse geo-teams are united in their approach.

Currently, there are no specific training models to build a global workforce.
However, there are many initiatives institutionalized to foster a global culture
within an organization. Successfully creating a global workforce can be achieved
by a combination of behavioral and management training, and leading by example.

With cross-cultural teams working together from different time zones,
challenges are inevitable. Some basic challenges that are relatively easier to
address are accent compre­hension, articula­tion, and communication styles. More
serious and sensitive issues that need to be dealt with caution are
inter-cultural diversity, power connotation, keeping up deadlines and time
schedules that might differ because of the distance and, cultural and social
diversity.

The vision, mission, and values of a company have a direct bearing on
'buil­ding a global workforce'. While the 'vision' represents the goal,
'mission' indicates the path that should be followed to achieve the goal, it is
the 'values' that provide the energy and zeal to achieve the goal. All three
together run like a common thread inspiring and motivating employees across
geogra­phies to work closely in good spirit.

Abhay Valsangkar

(The author is Senior
Director-Human Resource,
Symantec India