Over the past decades, and despite disruptions like the global pandemic, the rapid creation and development of multinational organizations have created the need for a globally mobile workforce. Attracting and retaining employees who are comfortable operating across cultural and institutional boundaries has become vital. This trend has led to a growing number of professionals with distinctly global careers. Individuals who have chosen this type of career often find themselves at one point or another in the roles of expatriates, frequent international business travelers, or members of global virtual teams. The main focus of this course is examining the strategies and practices organizations can use to best manage and support employees in these various types of global work roles. This is essential to ensure that these global professionals are successful, engaged, and able to thrive in often challenging international contexts. This course also aims to familiarize you with the benefits and challenges of pursuing a global career, thus helping you prepare for such a career path in the future.

We will cover topics such as cultural and institutional factors relevant to global careers, migration, global staffing, expatriation, repatriation, and alternative forms of global work (e.g., frequent international travel and global virtual teams). The course is highly interactive and is designed to maximize student learning and create a positive environment in the classroom by balancing time dedicated to lectures, cases, discussions, and engaging exercises. 

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe and discuss the cultural, institutional, and organizational factors that shape the experiences of global employees.
2. Differentiate between different types of global work roles and identify the opportunities and challenges they bring.
3. Critique extant practices related to the management of global employees and recommend viable improvements.
4. Design successful expatriation and repatriation programs.
5. Critically discuss challenges and opportunities arising from migration.
6. Describe and compare the various paths to crafting a global career.
7. Reflect on and critically evaluate your own future global career choices.
8. Demonstrate improved research, presentation, discussion, and critical thinking skills.

This course is to be held in person. As per WU's guidelines for PI courses, you will fail the course if you miss more than 20% of the course. Please note that any absences will also negatively impact your participation grade. 

This is a highly interactive course that aims for a balance between lectures and student involvement. Thus, the success of this class depends on students fully engaging and participating in class discussions and activities. The course comprises lectures, case analyses, discussions, and a student-team research project.

The team research project will give you an opportunity to explore topics of global employment and careers in depth. There are many issues related to global careers that we will not be able to cover in class. Thus, this team project will allow you to conduct more concentrated research on a topic that interests you. Most importantly, you will have the chance to talk with global employees and/or HR professionals who have valuable first-hand experience. 

All course documents, readings, assignment guidelines, lecture notes, etc., will be posted on Canvas in due time. 

Assessment will be based on both individual and team performance. Breakdown of assignments with percent of total grade:

1. In-class participation 30%
2. Two individual written case analyses * 20% each (40% total)
3. Team research presentation  * (final grade partially depends on peer evaluations) 20%
4. Team research executive summary * (final grade partially depends on peer evaluations) 10%

* More information on these assignments will be provided on the course website at the start of the course.

Please note that successful in-class participation involves not only attending class but also frequently and thoughtfully contributing to the discussion by answering questions, engaging in a thoughtful analysis of the discussed cases, building on other students’ ideas, actively participating in activities, and synthesizing across readings and discussions. You are expected to have read all the required reading materials and cases in advance and be prepared to discuss them.

Grading key:

90-100% = 1

80-89% = 2

70-79% = 3

60 - 69% = 4

Below 60% = 5

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

Prior knowledge of human resource management and cross-cultural management is helpful but not necessary.

Assoc. Prof. Mihaela Dimitrova, Ph.D.

Department of Global Business and Trade

Office: D1 3.032

I am available for individual meetings by appointment. Please email to set up an appointment (mdimitro@wu.ac.at)