Having just returned from our annual family skiing trip I have been reminded of how important it is to conserve and restore your energy resources. A few consecutive, full days of skiing can easily sap your physical energy. But we all know that our mental energy is a finite resource as well. And sometimes it […]
Would you want to live and work longer?
Today average human life expectancy is longer than ever before. According to WHO data, for the first time in history today, most people worldwide can expect to live into their sixties and beyond. Moreover, as there has been a steady grow in longevity over the past 150 years, it seems reasonable to assume that the next […]
Four Worlds of Work: Which One Shall We Pick for Our Future?
The world of work is changing, we all hear about it, read about it and experience it. There is an increasing amount of self-checkout machines in customer care, more and more people are getting involved in virtual jobs, and employers are ever more eager to hire people with abilities to learn and adapt, rather than with […]
Remote Gig Work: Flexible and Independent?
I suppose it comes as no surprise that the nine-to-five workday is considered outdated and employees instead expect flexibility in their workplaces. Flexible work policies, including opportunities for home office or the possibility to telework away from home in temporary office spaces such as those provided by WeWork or Daysk.com appear attractive for a reason – […]
The Global Mobility Function Re-engineered: Latest Industry Findings
Over the past few years the role and focus of the Global Mobility function has been under scrutiny. The annual Global Mobility Survey by Santa Fe has pointed to a mismatch between the desired and actual role responsibilities of the Global Mobility function — both as viewed by the function itself and by line management. As discussed in my […]
Are Issues of Religious Diversity on Your Managerial Agenda?
In the aftermath of Notre Dame’s catastrophic fire, several social issues have similarly seemed to ‘catch fire’. Some speak about the hypocrisy of the situation, seeing the generous donations of the rich in France as a way of buying the ‘indulgences’ for wealth inequalities. Others question why such donations are raised to restore a building, […]
FOMO and FOBO That Leaders Should Be Aware of
Fear is one of the universal and central emotions to human existence. Some 200,000 years ago fear helped our caveman ancestors to survive on a daily basis, and it seems to have been an adaptive feature of our cognitive and affective repertoire ever since. Although nowadays we hardly find any saber-toothed tigers, we successfully focus […]
From Brain Drain to Brain Gain: The Case of Canada
In my previous blog post, I discussed the topic of entrepreneurial talent and highlighted some findings from the latest GTCI report. One of the key points in the report was about the need to nurture such talents as they provide small businesses, large organizations and countries with a competitive edge. The notion of nurturing implies […]
Entrepreneurial Talent: Insights from the Latest GTCI Report
The notion of talent is central to all stories of success. We can speak about high achieving talents in sports, find many historical accounts about talented leaders of countries and nations, and attribute business success to talented heads of organizations. Yet, behind these success stories of talented leaders in the field there are usually stories […]
Deep Work in a Global Context
In the last blog post I touched upon the topics of internet addiction, digital distractions, and the harmful influences of our online lifestyles, in general. Following up on the topic, let’s look at the notion of deep work, a term coined by a computer science professor at Georgetown University, Cal Newport. In his bestselling book, […]
The dark side of the digitally savvy and connected world
Internet and information technology tend to be viewed as major contributors to the development of global businesses and, generally, productivity growth. I have also repeatedly written about these benefits, be it business opportunities created by social media platforms, new forms of work, such as telecommuting and virtual expatriation, or improved connectivity that allows for functioning […]
Should I Control You, if I Trust You? Recent Research on the Trust-Control Link in Russia
Reflecting about what nurtures personal and professional relationships, we are probably quick to think about trust as a main ingredient. And when you are asked what trust means, you probably think ‘less control’. If I trust you, I shouldn’t need or want to control you, right? Well, this logic is challenged as soon as you become a […]
Run and Hide from Our Group Identities?
In my last blog post I wrote about identity politics and how they lead to further division of society based on emphasizing diversity. Speaking bluntly, in our efforts to notice and embrace diversity, and eradicate inequality and intolerance, we may have created a climate in which everyone feels that the group they identify with is unnoticed […]
What if the tale of diversity and inclusion has gone wrong?
Modern technology, international business, cooperation through cross-cultural projects, a steady increase in the number of international travelers – shouldn’t it all bring people together and create more cosmopolitanism? Paradoxically, while having all these opportunities to connect, we seem to be moving further away from this ‘togetherness’, and, as current political trends indicate, towards separation and […]
Out now: International Human Resource Management, 5th Edition
Dear regular reader and guest to my blog, whether you are student, a fellow scholar or a practitioner in the field of international human resource management, I would like to draw your attention to the latest edition of the bestselling International Human Resource Management, published by SAGE. Together with my colleagues Anne-Wil Harzing and Helene […]
AI: Robots against Humans, or For Humans?
Automation of jobs is an unfolding phenomenon at the moment. As discussed in one of my previous blog posts, there is some sense of worry and anxiety concerning this. There are industry reports, statistical estimates and numerous media articles, which all suggest the possibility of robots replacing humans across many jobs, of robots ‘taking over’… For example, drivers […]
What does contemporary human resource management stand for?
Foremost, I believe, it is the notion of recognizing employees not only as resources but as human beings, which is becoming more central in the contemporary approach to managing people. Compared to the first industrial revolution, when in the factories skills were standardized and employees were perceived as a commodity, today continuous automation shifts us […]
