Michael J. Stevens

The Knowledge, Skill, and Ability Requirements for Teamwork: Implications for Human Resource Management

This study reviews the literature on groups to determine the knowledge, skill, and ability (KSA) requirements for teamwork. The focus is on: (1) KSAs rather than personality traits; (2) team rather than technical KSAs; and (3) the individual rather than team level of analysis. Fourteen specific KSAs are derived. Then, the implications of these teamwork KSAs for the modification or development of human resource (HR) management systems are determined, and research issues are discussed.

Career-Related Antecedents and Outcomes of Job Rotation

Drawing on related literature and an inductive pilot study, we propose a conceptual framework for the relationship between job rotation and selected career-related variables. A test on 255 employee...

Staffing Work Teams: Development and Validation of a Selection Test for Teamwork Settings

The purpose of this research was to develop a selection test for staffing work teams. The knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for effective teamwork (Stevens & Campion, 1994) were used to develop a paper-and-pencil test of teamwork situations. KSAs reflected conflict resolution, collaborative problem solving, communication, goal setting and performance management, and planning and task coordination. Standard test construction techniques were used, and the test contained 35 multiple-choice items on hypothetical teamwork situations. Two validation studies were conducted involving production employees in a pulp mill (n = 70) and box plant (n = 72). Results showed criterion-related validity with supervisory and peer ratings of teamwork and overall job performance. However, a key unexpected finding was the large correlation with employment aptitude tests, suggesting that the Teamwork Test has a significant general mental ability component. The study also has secondary implications for the literatures on both contextual performance and situational tests. It was concluded that a consideration of individual level KSAs can have both conceptual and practical value in the staffing of work teams.

Defining the content domain of intercultural competence for global leaders

Purpose – Research on expatriation and global leadership has been characterized by wide variations in defining what constitutes intercultural competence. Greater progress can be achieved if a comprehensive definition of the intercultural competence domain can be established, particularly with regard to the specific context of global leadership. This paper aims to focus on the issues.Design/methodology/approach – The authors conduct an extensive review of the global leadership and expatriation literatures, integrating and synthesizing prior theoretical and empirical efforts to develop a comprehensive domain definition for intercultural competence in the context of global leadership.Findings – The domain of intercultural competence in the context of global leadership comprised three dimensions – perception management, relationship management and self management. Each dimension is characterized by facets that further delineate aspects of intercultural competence.Research limitations/implications – The domain...

A turnover model for the Mexican maquiladoras

Abstract Existing turnover models have been developed and tested almost exclusively in Anglo cultures. Thus, there is reason to question whether these models apply to workers elsewhere. We addressed this question using as participants 47 Mexican maquiladora workers. Through interview responses analyzed using a variation of grounded theory-building, we inductively created a model of voluntary turnover with research propositions. We then compared the new model to traditional turnover models, concluding that many of their constructs and mechanisms are familiar in the maquiladoras. However, the cultural and economic environment perceived by the workers help determine the precise antecedents, their salience, and the strength of their linkages with turnover. Finally, we suggest how turnover research might be extended to better apply to workers in other cultures.

The effects of HR policies and repatriate self-adjustment on global competency transfer

A growing body of literature has emphasized the important role of international assignments in helping create a more globally competent management cadre. Indeed, the competencies acquired through international assignments can often be a significant source of competitive advantage for firms. However, for employers to derive benefits from a repatriates newly acquired global competencies, they must work to ensure the successful transfer of those competencies to subsequent job assignments. This study specifically examined the degree to which a firms HR policies and practices influence the transfer of global competencies acquired through an overseas assignment. In addition, we examined the impact on competency transfer of the repatriates capacity and desire to adjust to the repatriation job assignment, which has been a largely neglected element in this stream of research. The relative predictive effects on competency transfer of both the firms HR policies and the employees self-adjustment were determined via hierarchical regression. Results showed a large incremental change in predicted variance when firms HR policies were entered after employee self-adjustment. Conversely, employee self-adjustment showed only minimal incremental change in predicted variance when entered after HR policies. A deliberate and proactive consideration of a firms HR policies and practices, therefore, seems of primary importance in deriving benefits from an employees overseas assignment, while the employees self-adjustment experiences are also important but relatively less so.

Measuring Global Leader Intercultural Competency: Development and Validation of the Global Competencies Inventory (GCI)

Based on a review of multiple literatures, a comprehensive content domain of essential intercultural competencies for effective global leaders is presented. This domain is then used to guide the development of the Global Competencies Inventory (GCI), a 160-item self-report measure that assesses the degree to which individuals possess the intercultural competencies that are associated with global leader effectiveness. Using sample sizes ranging from several hundred to nearly 9,000 subjects, evidence from several studies is presented showing the GCI to have convergent validity, predictive validity, and freedom from demographic and ethnic subgroup biases. Implications for theory and future research are also discussed.

Neglected questions in job design: How people design jobs, task-job predictability, and influence of training

Three questions important to job design interventions but neglected in research were explored. First, how do people design jobs? Internal processes (e.g., growth needs) from psychological (or job enrichment) models of job design were not apparent. Instead, groupings of tasks into jobs suggested simple cognitive categorization based on task similarity, reflecting an engineering (or work simplification) orientation. Second, can job design be predicted from task design? Separate measures for job and task designs were unrelated, indicating that the whole is not predictable from the parts in job design, Third, can job design principles be trained? Subjects easily learned and applied different job design approaches.

Post-traumatic growth and global management competence—Enablers of retention after risk exposure in international assignment experiences

Military organizations are state owned enterprises that offer a valuable source of human capital with global experiences. It is important to understand how military can retain its international personnel for subsequent deployment as veterans experience high level of risk exposures in overseas combat deployment. Post-traumatic growth and global management competence may play important roles in military retention. This research shows that although risk factors have significant negative impacts on post-traumatic growth, global management competence, and retention intention, post-traumatic growth and global management competency do have positive impacts on retention intention, which offsets the negative effects of risk factors. High retention intention of internationally experienced personnel leads to subsequent international assignments. Insights from the military retention can contribute to international human resource management of crucible international assignment experiences.