2007 Cultural Survey International Executive Search Federation

If we knew how global managers adjust, we could explain why –Only 10-15% of organisational projects have positive results (Peter Senge) –4 of 5 expatriates are less than successful –Many conflicts become inter-cultural or are part of expansion into new countries The purpose

3 Cultural Survey Cultural adjustment –Do global managers create a new kind of global culture? –Or do they adjust to each culture as they move? –Or do they keep their national values? –Are some nationals faster or slower to adjust? Personality –Can differences in adjustment be attributed to personality and years on the move? –Are global managers different from the average? The research questions

4 Advanced research Zero: You will always keep your childhood national values. More likely, though: You adjust to the new culture not by adopting it totally, but by creating a ’global set of values’ less radical than your national set of values. And: Personality plays a role in self-selection and subjective well-being. Basic hypotheses

5 Advanced research 1.Cultural values ref Professor S Schwartz e.a. Documented in P O Olson (2004): The New Cultural psychology. Unpublished whitepaper. 2.Personality variables, Five Factor Model Documented in P O Olson (2007): The Big Five factors in personality. A primer. International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) public domain definitions by Professor L R Goldberg e.a. 3.Subjective well-being research. Psychological theories

6 Advanced research Three basic dimensions (see whitepaper) 1.Egalitarianism and social justice v hierarchy (management of relations) 2.Harmony v mastery (self-concepts) 3.Autonomy v embeddedness (meaning of life) Some basic evidence 1.Evidence that teachers and students are representative of country and country trends. 2.Cultural clusters match history and geography (as opposed to Hofstede) 3.Ties in with other research e.g. Cultural self and Well- being research Cultural values

7 Advanced research Schwartz’ Value Surveys 3 basic dimensions Cultural clusters

8 Advanced research Schwartz’ Value Surveys Our research uses these value items

9 Survey part 1 Cultural values

10 Survey part 2 Personality

11 Survey part 3 Subjective Well-Being

12 The Process 1.Global companies, spread of countries worldwide 2.Employees with international work, who are or have been stationed abroad 3.Confidential survey (20 – 30 minutes) managed by FIRM: 4.Results shared with respondents and companies Your side

13 The Process 1.List of address to IESF partner, who sends to Paul 2.Paul sends a larger file to the research company 3.FIRM s access codes and follow up with reminders 4.Analyses assisted by Stockholm University Our side

14 Questions Research questions or website issues to the project leader Paul O Olson Any other questions via your IESF partner