Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies

The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable transformation of organizational structures worldwide.  Although there are economic, strategic, and technological imperatives driving this transformation, one of its more compelling aspects has been an ongoing shift from work organized around individual jobs to team-based work structures.  Increasing global competition, consolidation, and innovation create pressures that are influencing the emergence of teams as basic building blocks of organizations. These pressures drive a need for diverse skills, expertise, and experience. They necessitate more rapid, flexible, and adaptive responses. Teams enable these characteristics.

Brad Bell, Associate Professor, HRS and Director of ILR Executive Education and Pamela Stepp, Executive Director, CAHRS and Emmanuelle Leon, Associate Professor, Human Resource Management, ESCP Europe are pleased to invite you to participate in a new working group on global teams.  Our goal for this working group is to bring together HR Leaders and OD Specialists with responsibility for supporting global teams to explore and understand how companies can respond to these challenges. The following questions will be discussed:

WHAT IS THE BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATION CONTEXT DRIVING THE USE OF GLOBAL TEAMS?

1.  What is the business context in which your organization is looking to improve global working?

2.  What challenges does global working present in your organization?

3.  How do you develop a Global Mindset in your company?

4.  How does your function interact within a region?

5.  How does HR leadership sponsor and enable global teamwork (i.e. promotion and reward comes from overall strategic goals of the global business while operations such as team target and objectives are local)?

PRACTICES AND PROCESSES FOR SUCCESS

1.  What are the key attributes that your organization has found leaders need to work effectively across boundaries and regions?

2.  How do we make our organizations more agile and form teams quickly that will operate on a global basis?

3.  How have you gone about preparing people to work globally?

4.  How do global teams build trust, ensure alignment on priorities and practices, and establish a common vision?

5.  How can global teams overcome the logistical challenges presented by members working in different time zones and the teamwork challenges that can arise when integrating individuals from different cultures and countries?

6.  How can global teams leverage technology to increase communication and share knowledge?

The outcomes from these working groups will also help shape the focus and agenda for the 2010 CAHRS domestic and international spring partner meetings.

This working group will be an open-ended discussion around the issues on which members are working, and best practices established in their organizations. There is a flexible schedule to allow for ample interaction and networking—something CAHRS considers critical to the goal of its working groups. Meetings are free of charge to CAHRS partner firms, but participation is limited to no more than 15 attendees.

Schedule:
8:30-9:00am - Continental Breakfast
9:00-12:00pm - Working Group Discussion
12:00-1:00pm - Working Group Lunch
1:00-3:00pm - Working Group Discussion

Working Group Meeting:
January 12, 2010

Location:
Sheraton Paris Airport Hotel
BP 35051 Tremblay en France
95716 Roissy
Paris, France
Tel:  01-49-19-70-70
Directions to Hotel

This working group is facilitated by Brad Bell, associate professor of HR Studies and director of Cornell ILR School Executive Education, and Pamela Stepp, executive director, Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS) and visiting senior lecturer, Cornell Johnson School of Management.

For questions or more information, contact Brad Bell or Pam Stepp. To register to attend, please contact Jo Hagin or call 607-255-9358.