CULTURAL DIVERSENESS AS A SHAPER OF GLOBAL MANAGERS: EVIDENCE FROM THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

Abstract

Global managers have become a key element for MNCs to operate successfully because they support headquarters and subsidiary projects responding to global challenges and local demands to accomplish organizational goals. This requires a particular skill set at both levels. Much of the literature argues that global managers are global leaders who must consider their subordinates' cultural differences to lead, motivate, and make appropriate decisions. However, more research about the global manager's cultural diversity needs to be conducted. Global managers, apart from their particular skills, carry their cultural characteristics that we define as cultural diverseness, which includes international experience, type of experience, native language, spoken languages, working languages, and personal sphere, which involves elements such as a foreign spouse, nationality, or previous involvement with the country of work. By conducting fifteen semi-structured interviews with managers of different nationalities affiliated with the automotive industry, this research seeks to understand better what characterizes global managers. Our findings show that the manager's cultural diverseness includes international experience, type of experience, native language, spoken languages, working languages, and personal sphere, which are essential characteristics of global managers in addition to their managerial skills and demonstrate the importance of the background of the individuals in understanding the day-to-day functioning of managers. It also shows an ability to rise above the problems associated with national cultures, as if this were a prerequisite for functioning correctly in this role. Finally, these findings enable us to recommend how to help the emergence of effective global managers.