Kirkbride on the Job of International Managers

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Kirkbride, in his book Human Resource Management in Europe, acknowledges that the job of international managers is both challenging and demanding (Kirkbride, 1994). To thrive on these challenges, he notes that there is a need to have a philosophy in life that drives a person to do so. As far as he is concerned, for a manager to be successful in international business depends on how the manager thinks and reasons, what he feels as well as the beliefs and values that motivate him (Kirkbride & Ward, 2001). This is summed up precisely by appreciating that the success of these managers depends on three mutually sustaining parts of Cognitive complexity, emotional energy, and psychological maturity (Kirkbride & Ward, 2001).

However, the point of determination is whether the success of international managers is limited to these three interlocking parts or not. First, it is important to understand who these international managers are as well as the interlocking parts so as to be able to agree or disagree with Kirkbride’s articulations.

Vladimir and Tania define an international manager in a narrow sense as being an executive in a leadership position that involves international assignments (Vladimir & Tania, 1998). This is in contrast to global managers as these are described by Vladimir and Tania to be “executives having the know-how of international business, capable of working across cross-cultural, cultural, organizational and functional limits as well as an ability to balance the simultaneous requirements of short term profitability and growth” (Vladimir & Tania, 1998). Having known who an international manager is, one can proceed to analyze the interlocking parts hypothesis by Kirkbride and Ward.

Cognitive complexity requires that an international manager be able to observe a situation via a number of dimensions rather than from one particular angle (Kirkbride, 1994). The importance of this aspect is that wherever there is an occurrence of doubt or situational change, this manager will view the situation from different angles in an attempt to resolve the situation (Black & Porter, 1991). His dynamism in the field of management thus is important (Townsend et al., 2006).

Generally, an international manager is faced with a number of tasks required to be resolved in a company, hence if solving them orchestrate an issue of, say something like environmental demand, unless the manager has this virtue of cognitive complexity, his decision might not be rational and as such could have effects on the company’s margins (Helen, 2003). Core to cognitive complexity is the ability of international managers to read the minds of other people from different perspectives (Black & Porter, 1991). This can be achieved via the manager being able to listen and appreciate the thinking of others.

The success of international managers is also described to be dependent on emotional energy (Goreman, 1998). Thus international managers should be able to overcome stressful encounters whether from within the business setting or from the family (Helen, 2003).

The last aspect of a successful international manager, as per Kirkbride, is that of psychological maturity. Psychological maturity describes an international manager’s capacity to be curious enough to learn, his willingness to apply a great deal of psychological energy to work loose, easier said than done situations, as well as his strong appeal of personal morality (David H, 2001).

The success of an international business depends wholly on the manager’s capability. International managers are not only responsible for business growth but also are the figureheads of an organization. Therefore in agreeing with Kirkbride and ward, the success of an international business would be subject to the three interlocking parts pertinent to successful international managers.

First, in international business, a manager encounters cross-culture challenges, such as language differences (Helen, 2003). This problem requires a manager to be mature in age and attitude, well presented as well as the ability to adopt a very diplomatic approach to business relationships (P. Townsend et al. 2006).

A faint-hearted person cannot provide good international management. The job requires company expertise and industrious leaders (Goreman, 1998). The zeal to learn, as noted, becomes very crucial for navigating the local network. Challenges faced by international managers can mount a lot of pressure, and as such psychological maturity in resolving such scenes is crucial for a manager (Goreman, 1998).

A manager who portrays the willingness to learn qualifies to propel an organization to achieve great heights internationally (Vladimir & Tania, 1998). This is so because such a manager will be able to understand the new economy as well as the political environment. An added advantage will come from understanding the language, culture as well as social environment (Helen, 2003). Thus the importance of an open mind cannot be underestimated. Researches show that international assignments are presently career progression, offering opportunities for both a transfer of knowledge as well as learning of new competencies by the international manager (P. Townsend et al. 2006).

Abel Adekola and Bruno S. Sergi in Global Business Management notes that international managers should possess qualities such as “ability to handle complexity and uncertainty, ability to relate well with diverse groups of people, good listening skills, good communication skills, ability to think outside the box, acceptance to that there is more than one way to do something, willingness and desire to travel, ability to deal with complex information as well as the ability to deal with multiple languages” (Abel & Bruno, 2007). these qualities are best summed up by Kirkbride’s interlocking parts for successful international management.

In conclusion, the interlocking parts described by Kirkbride operate to produce a manager with fundamental attributes of professionality and technical competence, rational capability leadership factors, the family situation as well as being culturally oriented (Abel & Bruno, 2007).

References

Black, J. S. & Porter, L. W. (1991). Managerial behaviors and job performance: A successful manager in Los Angeles may not succeed in Hong Kong. Journal of International Business Studies, 22, 99-113.

Goreman, D (1998). Working with emotional intelligence, Blooms bury London.

Peter Townsend, Caroline Wan and Huay Jun Poh (2006) – International Management skills for small business: The development of the construct of international capability working paper 33/66.

Vladimir Pucik, Tania Saba, (1998). Selecting and Developing the Global versus the Expatriate Manager: A Review of the State-of-the-Art. Human Resource Planning, Vol. 21,

Helen Deresky, (2003). International Management: Managing Across Borders and Cultures Prentice Hall.

David H. Holt, Karen Wigginton. (2001) International Management: South-Western College.

Paul Kirkbride & Karen Ward (2001) Globalization, The Internal Dynamic. Wisley.

Kirkbride, Paul S. (1994) The transfer of managerial knowledge to Eastern Europe. In: Human resource management in Europe: perspectives for the 1990s. Routledge, London.

Abel Adekola & Bruno S. Sergi (2007). Global business management : A cross-cultural perspective. Ashgate.

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Kirkbride on the Job of International Managers

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