International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
11-1
Module 11: Global Leadership Issues and Practices
YOUR CONTENT
Summary
Learning Objectives
Key Terms and Definitions
Content Outline
ENGAGEMENT & APPLICATION
Boxed Text Discussion Questions with Suggested Answers
End of Module Exercises
Critical Thinking Questions
globalEDGE Research Task
MiniCase
Bonus Activities
CONNECT TOOLS FOR ASSESSEMENT OF LEARNING
Connect Content Matrix
Connect Activities
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
11-2
YOUR CONTENT
SUMMARY
International companies require a new type of leader in order to compete successfully in a
complex and dynamic global environment. These global leaders need to not only be proficient
in terms of their business acumen, but to also evidence an array of additional skills. They must
be able to envision the nature and direction of change that is occurring within and across
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
LO 11-1 Discuss the importance of creating a company “global mind-set.”
LO 11-3 Identify the competencies required for effective global leadership.
LO 11-5 Describe global team leadership skills.
KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
global mind-set (p. 294)
A set of ideas and attitudes that combines an openness
to and an awareness of diversity across markets and
cultures with a propensity and ability to synthesize
across this diversity
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
global team (p. 305)
A team characterized by a high level of diversity,
geographic dispersion, and virtual rather than face-to–
face interaction
leadership (p. 294)
The behaviors and processes required for organizing a
group of people in order to achieve a common purpose
or goal
social loafing (p. 308)
Tendency of some people to put forth less effort when
they are members of a group
team norms (p. 306)
Legitimate, shared standards against which the
appropriateness of behavior can be evaluated
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
CONTENT OUTLINE
The following section provides the flow of information using the LEARNING OBJECTIVES as a
guide, KEY TERMS learners will need to take away from the course, and LECTURE NOTES to
drive home teaching points.
LO 11-1
Discuss the importance of creating a company “global mind–
set.”
• Introduction
• The Global Mind-Set
Key Terms:
• global mind-set
I. Introduction
A. Lindsay Levin’s Quest for International Leaders, in the opening vignette, discusses one
person’s quest to determine what it means to be a responsible business in a shared and
increasingly complex, ambiguous and interconnected world, and the implications for
effective management.
1. Most organizations do not have the leaders they need for such challenges.
2. A key requirement for such leaders is a global mind-set.
B. The Global Mind-Set
1. Intellectual intelligence, including business acumen.
2. Global emotional intelligence, including self-awareness, cross-cultural understanding,
cultural adjustment, and cross-cultural effectiveness.
3. Developing a cadre of managers and a company culture that embrace a global mind-
set is a key challenge for global leaders.
Describe what distinguishes the practice of global
leadership from domestic leadership.
• Global Leadership: What It Is and Why It Matters
o How Global Leadership Differs from Domestic
Leadership
o The Challenge of Finding Global Leaders with
the “Right Stuff”
Key Terms:
• leadership
II. Global Leadership: What It Is and Why It Matters
A. Leadership is not the same a management, though they overlap.
1. Warren Bennis distinguished between leaders and managers.
a. The leader innovates; the manager administrates.
b. The leader develops; the manager maintains.
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
c. The leader challenges the status quo; the manager accepts it.
d. The leader has a long-range perspective; the manager has a short-term
perspective.
e. The leader asks “what?” and “why?”; the manager asks “how?” and “when?”
f. The leader originates; the manager imitates.
g. The leader inspires; the manager controls.
B. How Global Leadership Differs from Domestic Leadership
1. Four dimensions of complexity: multiplicity, ambiguity, interdependence and
flux/dynamism.
2. Globalization increases both internal and external complexities.
3. Project GLOBE found that people in different nations had some similar and many
dissimilar understandings of the traits of leaders; the largest number of leadership
traits were contingent on cultural context (see Table 11.1 for a summary).
4. Global leadership is the same but different in kind from domestic leadership.
C. The Challenge of Finding Global Leaders with the “Right Stuff”
1. Globalization not only creates many new business opportunities, it also creates
opportunities for a new breed of leaders who can operate in an increasingly
globalized world.
2. In addition to proficiency in business, they must have cultural understanding and
adaptability and be able to work with and inspire individuals from a range of nations
LO 11-3
Identify the competencies required for effective global
leadership.
• What Competencies Are Required for Effective Global
Leadership?
Key Terms:
A. Asperian Global identified 5 abilities for a successful global leadership assignment:
2. Make connections.
3. Adjust.
4. Integrate and lead change.
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
B. Mintzberg and others identified a range of roles for a global leader, including monitor,
spokesperson, liaison, leader, negotiator, innovator, decision maker, and change agent.
C. Scholars at the Center for Creative Leadership suggest global leaders are more challenged
in the areas of emotional stability, ability to learn, and decision-making and negotiating
roles than are domestic leaders, due to the impact of cultural differences.
D. Project GLOBE researchers concluded that a global mind-set, cultural adaptability and
flexibility, and tolerance for ambiguity are attributes global leaders need in order to be
effective.
E. Alan Bird identified 3 categories of competencies of global leaders (see Table 11.2):
1. Those needed to manage the business.
2. Those needed to manage people and relationships.
3. Those needed to manage the self.
F. The five-level Pyramid Model of Global Leadership (Figure 11.2) identifies a progression of
skills required for effective global leadership:
a. Bottom level is a baseline of necessary global knowledge.
b. Next level includes four threshold traits: humility, integrity, inquisitiveness,
resilience.
c. Level 3 includes attitudes and orientations affecting the way global leaders
perceive and interpret their world.
e. Level 5 includes system skills that enable global leaders to effectively influence
people and systems inside and outside the company.
LO 11-4
Distinguish among the approaches for selecting and
developing effective global leaders.
• Selecting and Developing Effective Global Leaders
o Assessing Global Leadership Competencies
o Models for Developing Global Leaders
• The Global Leadership Expertise
Development (GLED) Model
• The “Right Stuff” Model
Key Terms:
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
I. Selecting and Developing Effective Global Leaders
A. Assessing Global Leadership Competencies
1. Many assessment instruments have been developed.
2. Choice of instrument depends on context.
B. Models for Developing Global Leaders
1. The Global Leadership Expertise Development (GLED) Model (Figure 11.3).
i. Emphasis on process by which expertise developed.
2. The “Right Stuff” Model (Figure 11.4)
i. Match between leader’s skills and abilities and the firm’s needs.
C. Tools and Techniques for Developing Global Leadership Skills
1. Non-linear process comprised of diverse experiences.
2. Skills necessary to deal effectively with complex, ambiguous, high-level challenges.
3. The goal of the leadership development process is to develop global leadership skills
experientially through transformational experiences.
LO 11-5
Describe global team leadership skills.
• Leading Global Teams
o Leading Teams
o Complexity for Teams in the Global Context
o Global Team Leadership and Culture
o Virtual and Geographically Dispersed Teams
o Performance Management in Global Teams
Key Terms:
• global team
• team norms
• social loafing
I. Leading Global Teams
A. Leading global teams is a complex activity.
1. High level of diversity.
2. Geographic dispersion.
3. Virtual environment.
B. Leading teams includes three main activities:
1. Establishing the team.
2. Coaching team members.
3. Setting team norms.
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
C. Complexity for Teams in the Global Context
1. Increased multiplicity.
2. Increased ambiguity.
3. Increased interdependence.
D. Global Team Membership and Culture
1. Global team leaders must manage basic conditions of team performance—
organization, social processes, and task processes—as well as issues accompanying
the international context.
2. Cultures influence how people think about defining and managing roles and
identifying acceptable communication and conflict resolution norms.
3. Global teams must explicitly address their communication and conflict norms.
4. One way to understand the various cultures of team members is to use the map–
establish how they will work with one another and includes decentering and
avoiding blame.
c. Integration is the process of managing the various differences so team members
begin to understand the expectations and assumptions of their peers, as well as
their backgrounds and skills.
E. Virtual and geographically dispersed teams
1. Failures linked to ineffective reward and recognition strategies.
2. Team-based rewards can encourage social loafing.
3. Five areas to consider when establishing a balance of team and individual rewards:
a. The nature of the task.
b. Stability of team membership.
c. National cultures of team members.
d. Labor laws affecting employee compensation.
e. Available reward options.
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
LO 11-6
Identify some of the challenges of leading global change.
• Leading Global Change
o Change Models
o Change and Culture
Key Terms:
I. Leading Global Change
A. Change Models
1. Kurt Lewin model: unfreeze, change, refreeze.
2. John Kotter’s 8-step model.
3. Change is not an orderly, sequential process, because it rests on human behavior.
B. Change and Culture
1. Attitude toward change is influenced by culture.
2. Driving change requires ability to communicate across cultural borders.
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
11–10
ENGAGEMENT & APPLICATION
BOXED TEXT DISCUSSION QUESTIONS WITH SUGGESTED ANSWERS
GLOBAL DEBATE: Are Global Leadership Positions What Corporations and Women Have Been
Waiting For?
The focus of this box feature explores the extent to which women occupy (or not) senior
management positions in large companies, as well as differences in the typical skills and
attributes of female versus male global leaders. The discussion highlights the case that women
are proportionally underrepresented among top management, including in Fortune 1000
1. The research findings suggest that women might be better suited than men for the
challenges of global leadership. Yet how could this be true, given the small number of women
occupying executive leadership positions?
The answers to this question will vary, and it is intended to help people think through the issues
from various perspectives. It is not uncommon for some students to suggest that there is a
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
11–11
2. What options might be available for increasing the level of women’s participation in global
leadership positions?
This question raises an issue that almost always generates strong opinions and a variety of
perspectives. Some students may point to the appropriateness of establishing an affirmative
action approach to redress the gender-based imbalance. Others might emphasize the
3. Are there certain industries, nations, or other contexts in which it would be inappropriate
or undesirable to have women as leaders? Why or why not?
This question can raise interesting issues for discussion and debate. Some students may suggest
that women might be inappropriate as executives in nations or industries where women
IB IN PRACTICE: Volunteer Assignments Build Global Leadership Skills
The focus of this box feature explores the use of volunteer assignments as a means of
enhancing students international leadership skills, especially when they may not have prior
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
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international experience or positions with international responsibilities. Asking questions such
as, “Why would a company allow employees to take volunteer assignments in international
corporate social responsibility programs, paid by the employer?,” or “What goals would be
achieved by promoting such participation?,” will serve as a starting point for class discussion on
the use of volunteer assignments as a means of developing global leadership skills.
1. Why would a company allow employees to take volunteer assignments in international
corporate social responsibility programs, paid by the employer?
Answers here might vary, but some students might suggest that companies would use such
postings in order to retain employees who feel a strong affinity for corporate social
2. How could you, as a student, identify volunteer assignments that might enhance your
ability to develop global leadership skills and what could you do to gain the most value from
such an assignment if you obtained it?
Again, answers may vary on this question. Some students might suggest that they could directly
contact existing organizations such as nonprofits or other nongovernmental organizations to
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
11–13
GET THAT JOB! FROM BACKPACK TO BRIEFCASE: Chad Henry: Developing Global Leadership
Skills and Experience, Beginning with an Internship in Croatia
The focus of this box explores Chad Henry’s decision to gain international experience through a
one year AIESEC internship in Croatia, an international experience that he leveraged into a
decade of living and working in that country. He preceded his departure with a limited
contextual preparation, but then provides recommendations about how to approach an
1. How would you evaluate Chad Henry’s recommendations about how to prepare for and
adjust to cultural differences when going abroad?
Students will have various answers to this question, depending on their experience with other
cultures as well as their own self-awareness and self-confidence. Henry chose to go to a place
2. Chad Henry originally went abroad for a one-year internship, but ultimately stayed for a
decade. Would you want to live abroad for such an extended period right after you complete
your university education? Why or why not? What might be the biggest challenges you would
face from such an extended stay abroad? What benefits might you gain from such a long
immersion?
Students will have various answers to this question, depending on their experience with other
cultures as well as their own self-awareness and self-confidence. On one hand, students will
emphasize the challenges of dealing with loneliness and isolation, separation from loved ones
and familiar events, being surrounded by people speaking a language different than one’s own,
International Business, 2e
Geringer, McNett, Ball
Instructor Guide to Module 11
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