Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industry

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 argu...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Emil Velinov, Vincent Montenero, Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEECA 2024-04-01
Series:Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ieeca.org/journal/index.php/JEECAR/article/view/1543
_version_ 1797220325012799488
author Emil Velinov
Vincent Montenero
Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja
author_facet Emil Velinov
Vincent Montenero
Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja
author_sort Emil Velinov
collection DOAJ
description 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. 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.
first_indexed 2024-04-24T12:47:44Z
format Article
id doaj.art-3b2f8fbdbb094ba3b1681b7f5e9df622
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2328-8272
2328-8280
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-24T12:47:44Z
publishDate 2024-04-01
publisher IEECA
record_format Article
series Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research
spelling doaj.art-3b2f8fbdbb094ba3b1681b7f5e9df6222024-04-06T22:27:26ZengIEECAJournal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research2328-82722328-82802024-04-0111210.15549/jeecar.v11i2.1543Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industryEmil Velinov0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6073-1196Vincent Montenero1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4177-5844Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja 2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3848-8147Department of Marketing and Management, Skoda Auto University, Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic Department of Business Studies, RISEBA University of Applied Sciences, Riga, LatviaMasaryk Institute of Advanced Studies, Czech Technical University, Czech Republic EDHEC Business School, FranceDepartment of International Business, Faculty of International Relations, Prague University of Economics and Business, 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. 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. https://www.ieeca.org/journal/index.php/JEECAR/article/view/1543global managersautomotive companieslocal cultureorganizational culturecultural diversenesGlobal Managers, Automotive Companies, Local Culture, Organizational Culture, Cultural Diverseness, Competencies
spellingShingle Emil Velinov
Vincent Montenero
Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja
Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industry
Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research
global managers
automotive companies
local culture
organizational culture
cultural diversenes
Global Managers, Automotive Companies, Local Culture, Organizational Culture, Cultural Diverseness, Competencies
title Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industry
title_full Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industry
title_fullStr Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industry
title_full_unstemmed Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industry
title_short Cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers: Evidence from the automotive industry
title_sort cultural diverseness as a shaper of global managers evidence from the automotive industry
topic global managers
automotive companies
local culture
organizational culture
cultural diversenes
Global Managers, Automotive Companies, Local Culture, Organizational Culture, Cultural Diverseness, Competencies
url https://www.ieeca.org/journal/index.php/JEECAR/article/view/1543
work_keys_str_mv AT emilvelinov culturaldiversenessasashaperofglobalmanagersevidencefromtheautomotiveindustry
AT vincentmontenero culturaldiversenessasashaperofglobalmanagersevidencefromtheautomotiveindustry
AT yadiraixchelmartinezpantoja culturaldiversenessasashaperofglobalmanagersevidencefromtheautomotiveindustry