How to assess global management competencies : an investigation of existing instruments

Managers and employees need global leadership competencies in order to operate effectively in international business. In order to prepare both managers and employees for operating in the global arena an instrument measuring global leadership competencies would be very useful. In this article we design a framework for systematically assessing measurement instruments designed to measure Global Management Competencies (GMC). Based on an elaborate search, we found 23 instruments of varying quality, that measure GMC, with a special focus on measuring ways of coping with cultural diversity. These instruments mostly involve self-reporting survey questions only, often measuring attitudes, without referring to actual behaviour in cross-cultural interaction. Using the assessment framework we selected a limited number of instruments that may be useful for assessing global management competencies.