With globalization, companies are opening offices all other the world to take advantage of skilled workers and lower costs. However, opening offices in foreign countries is easy, managing it effectively and efficiently are much more difficult. This is a major challenge that all global companies are facing because managing people from different cultures, speaking different languages, having different education skill levels is something few people know how. As companies move from national to global with offices and manufacturing facilities around the world, “manage global people” is becoming the critical skills in very high demand.
The traditional way of managing across borders is based on the British colonial model. This system stated that the headquarters and key functions are located in one central place, with managers sent to foreign countries to operate local operations. In that case, all local operations must follow the policy, rules and direction of headquarter. That system does NOT work anymore. Today, global companies must follow the local government laws, local cultures, and local needs. Moving works to foreign countries where there are skilled workers require local operations to have certain degree of independent from headquarter for efficiency and ensure that their operations meet local culture and laws. That is why instead of sending managers to local operations, global companies must hire local managers and depend on them to manage the business effectively. However, it is extremely difficult to find qualified people who can operate in both cultures, and speak both languages. That is why there is a critical shortage of these talented people in almost every country.
According to a study from Harvard University, global companies are having difficulty to find managers in China and be able to keep them for awhile. The manager turnover rate there is about 70% each year, that means almost two third are changing job every year. Finding someone who know how to manage well, speak both English and a Chinese is very difficult because globalization is so new and happen so fast, few people are prepared for it. The same thing also happens in India. It is very difficult to find good managers in India, but not because of language but because most Indian managers want to work in the U.S, NOT in India. If they have to stay in India then they demand high salaries because every global company would want them, as there is shortage of qualified managers in India. The study also found that Information Technology (IT) is the fastest growing field globally, finding good IT managers who has both technical skills and language skills is difficult. To support company to do business globally, information technology is needed. Things such as communication networks must be built, data center must be established, applications must be installed before any business or manufacturing facilities can move there so the demand for people who have skills in information system management suddenly become one of the most sought after skills.
Information System Management (ISM) is not a new field but it changes a lot in the past few years. Today a skilled ISM manager must understand how to provide IT as a services and guarantee the continuity, availability and quality of service delivered to company and users. All service delivery must deals with the required service levels, financial viability and the necessary IT infrastructure capability. Few years ago, information system management was limited to providing infrastructure services such as a network and internet connection, a few servers and installation for the proper functioning of the organization. However, today this has changed, as Information system management represent a important part of the business. The objectives of good information systems services management are providing adequate quality management to increase efficiency of the business; to align business processes and IT infrastructure and reduce the risks associated with IT services. For most global companies, managing this widely scattered, talented, multicultural workforce has never been more difficult.
When I attended 2009 World Economic Forum in Dalian, China. The problem of finding good ISM managers in China was the number one issue. I remembered IBM CEO Sam Palmisano talked about global workforce: “The big issues for us are: Where do you find them? How do you develop them? How do you retain them? How do you move work to them or them to work? If we can solve these problem we will be the most successful company in the world”. Several executives from Europe and the U.S also expressed similar views of their difficulty of finding local ISM manager. As they expand their businesses globally, they cannot find enough talented IT managers to set up the infrastructure needed and it slowed their global expansion.
To solve this problem, there are several suggested solutions: One is to quickly establish the Information System Management (ISM) training programs locally to develop IT service managers to meet the demand. The key of this program would be a foreign language requirements, especially in English so when graduate, these students will have language skills. Another solution is to hire local IT graduated students, bring them into the headquarter for training then send them back to their country to manage IT system there. Most companies in the U.S are already following this strategy. Last year, U.S. companies have hired several hundred Chinese and Indian graduates and brought them to the U.S. for trainings. However, European companies are following a different strategy. They found that after bringing IT graduates there and trained them well, many refused to return since they can easily find jobs in Europe due to the shortage of IT workers. That is why most European companies are assigning their managers to foreign countries and hire local IT students, put them on-the-job training with these managers so they can learn until they can take over.
Regardless whether to receive training locally, or in the another country, every global companies are looking for talented ISM manager everywhere. Without someone who can manage information system, having skilled IT workers alone will not be the best way to maximize the benefits.
Prof John Vu
Carnegie Mellon University
Original source: http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,941
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