Knowledge that Transforms

his article examines whether Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programs adequately prepare human resource professionals. It also compares managers' and professors' evaluations of the competencies HR managers will need in the twenty-first century. It finds that both managers and professors view interpersonal and problem-solving competencies and integration of HR with bottom line concerns as more important than technical know-how. HR managers, however, are much more critical of what MBA programs are doing than are HR professors. HR professors may be risking complacency about their product.

Global teams today make an increasing number of decisions in multinational organizations, addressing challenges broad in scope and critical to performance. An additional role of global teams is discussed here—providing ideal training for future global leaders. After reviewing the knowledge and skills global leaders need, the article describes three group processes for global team effectiveness: mapping, bridging, and Integrating. The effective global team as a rich context for developing global leadership knowledge and skills is then explored. Specific ways in which human resource managers can support global teams to maximize both team performance and global leadership development are identified.

One of the first tools human resource managers turn to in meeting the challenge of developing global leaders is formal executive development. TRW, a leading company in automotive, aerospace, and information systems, provides an interesting case study of how a U.S.-based organization has dealt with the challenges of globalizing top managers. In 1996, TRW launched its global leadership program by combining U.S.-based classroom teaching with real life learning experiences from often uncomfortable locations around the world. This article reviews TRW's experience with this program and offers important insights for others contemplating designing and delivering a systematic global leadership development program.

This paper critically reviews research on unionized grievance procedures to identify key issues for human resource/labor relations executives and to provide recommendations for dealing with these issues. The review covers psychological, sociological, economics, and industrial relations-based research. Specifically, the authors recommend that senior human resource/labor relations executives and their staffs conceptualize the grievance procedure as a high involvement human resource practice, distinguish between the presence and use of grievance procedures, use grievance data to determine whether grievants or their supervisors suffer management reprisals, assess supervisors' dominant orientation toward employees, determine employee perceptions of grievance procedure fairness, and monitor the effects of work force composition and supervisor selection on grievance activity.

Should scientific measures be used to evaluate the effectiveness of HRM practices? Can HRM demonstrate that its proposals cause a predicted outcome? If the allocation of capital within an organization is based upon projected financial returns, should HRM be required to demonstrate the expected returns of its proposals? Would the use of scientific and financial measures give HRM practices greater internal support and continuity? The authors demonstrate how metrics were used to evaluate two new HRM projects at one of the world's largest retailers.

Business losses due to employee theft are estimated to approach $200 billion annually. Why do employees steal? Experts propose many reasons for employee theft, but provide few prevention strategies for human resource managers. In this article, the authors explore the various causes of employee theft, from employee personality characteristics, to the social environment, to flaws in the organization's control system. From this analysis, guidelines for theft prevention strategies are offered. Since strategies may involve top-down control or trust-building experiences for employees and managers, HR managers are encouraged to implement those strategies that fit their organization.

Global leaders can be "made", but it takes a training approach that is as serious and sophisticated as the global world these individuals are being asked to lead in. Fundamentally, global leaders require training programs that will help them radically redraw their provincial mental maps into global ones. In this article, we outline the key ingredients of successful global leadership training programs.

Will women become leaders in the increasingly global world of the twenty-first century? According to many Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), promoting the best people—whether male or female—into senior leadership positions is a strategic necessity if their companies are to succeed, let alone prosper. This article describes the commitment that one major multinational's CEO made to moving women from around the world into the most senior leadership positions. It describes an organizational development process, led by the CEO that included a targeted survey of both male and female executives, convening a 4 1/2-day Global Leadership Forum, and actively changing the organization based on recommendations generated at the Forum.