Editorial: Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management challenges and opportunities in HRD

This special issue of the International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research brings together on-going work from the Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management3 (GETM3) project. GETM3 is a European Union Research Innovation and Staff Exchange (RISE) project investigating the HRD implications of the way existing and future talent can be managed at work, harnessing the entrepreneurial attitudes and skills of young people. The project is both interdisciplinary and international, exploring the key challenges of managing this entrepreneurial talent within organizations. The scope and content of the project align neatly with the intent of the Journal of International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research, not least the emphasis on practical HRD implications. Indeed, at the heart of GETM3 is an appreciation that true understanding and impact can only come from engagement with multiple stakeholders. This editorial provides a brief contextual overview of GETM3, focusing on its relevance for HRD, before providing a brief review of the articles and opinion/forum pieces that make up the special issue. Such explorations are certainly timely. Deloitte’s recent Global Human Capital survey highlights that organizations must re-invent their ability to learn. Indeed, the top rated trend for 2019, reflected by 86% of respondents, was the need to improve learning and development (Deloitte, 2019: 77). Related to this is the requirement for more dedicated evidence exploring the nature and impact of HRD (Gubbins, Harney, van der Werff, & Rousseau, 2018; Mackay, 2017), coupled with more directed attention to the process, rather than the content, of HRD interventions (Staats, 2019). The papers in this special issue certainly make a contribution to enhanced understandin

Editorial: global entrepreneurial talent management challenges and opportunities for HRD

This special issue of the International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research brings together on-going work from the Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management3 (GETM3) project. GETM3 is a European Union Research Innovation and Staff Exchange (RISE) project investigating the HRD implications of the way existing and future talent can be managed at work, harnessing the entrepreneurial attitudes and skills of young people. The project is both interdisciplinary and international, exploring the key challenges of managing this entrepreneurial talent within organizations. The scope and content of the project align neatly with the intent of the Journal of International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research, not least the emphasis on practical HRD implications. Indeed, at the heart of GETM3 is an appreciation that true understanding and impact can only come from engagement with multiple stakeholders. This editorial provides a brief contextual overview of GETM3, focusing on its relevance for HRD, before providing a brief review of the articles and opinion/forum pieces that make up the special issue. Such explorations are certainly timely. Deloitte’s recent Global Human Capital survey highlights that organizations must re-invent their ability to learn. Indeed, the top rated trend for 2019, reflected by 86% of respondents, was the need to improve learning and development (Deloitte, 2019: 77). Related to this is the requirement for more dedicated evidence exploring the nature and impact of HRD (Gubbins, Harney, van der Werff, & Rousseau, 2018; Mackay, 2017), coupled with more directed attention to the process, rather than the content, of HRD interventions (Staats, 2019). The papers in this special issue certainly make a contribution to enhanced understanding and equally to bridging the seemingly ever widening theory-practice gap (Holden, 2019)

The outcomes of perceived work-based support for mothers: A conceptual model

With the increase in the proportion of women holding leadership positions work-based support has been identified as an important issue in female workers’ job performance and their decisions to have children and to return to work after giving birth. Nonetheless, we need to better understand how mothers develop these perceptions about support at the workplace and how these perceptions in turn affect their decisions and behavior. Job performance (both task and contextual), work attitudes, and retention of female workers with children are influenced by the psychological contract expectations reflected in the perceived level of support provided by organizational, supervisor, and peer sources. Based on an integrative literature review, we propose a comprehensive model linking perceived multi-dimensional work-based support for motherhood with different work-related outcomes in order to more fully explain the decisions and behaviors of working mothers and how organizations might better accommodate the specific needs of this important contingent of the workforce

Take Your Partners! Transcending national culture to implement diverse international projects: the supremacy of individuals and influence of organisations

Globalisation of the world economy and trade, internationalisation of industries and organisations, born-global firms: these have all resulted in international working becoming the norm for ordinary people. Working internationally presents particular challenges over and above simply living in multicultural societies. International project work involves a further set of challenges, skills and keys to success due to constraints on resource, temporary teams, demands of delivery and time/scope limits. Based on an extensive series of in-depth interviews with participants and leaders in a 11-year series of different, but connected, international projects, this article explores the keys to success and reasons for failure in international working. These projects involved organisations and individuals in the higher education industry in 10 countries. This paper suggests that organisational culture and structure is a greater influence on individual attitude and behaviour than national culture. Individual attitude and behaviour is the key driver of success and relationship sustainability in international project working

Causes and differentials of childhood mortality in Iraq

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Limited information is available in Iraq regarding the causes of under-five mortality. The vital registration system is deficient in its coverage, particularly from rural areas where access to health services is limited and most deaths occur at home, i.e. outside the health system, and hence the cause of death goes unreported. Knowledge of patterns and trends in causes of under-five mortality is essential for decision-makers in assessing programmatic needs, prioritizing interventions, and monitoring progress. The aim of this study was to identify causes of under-five children deaths using a simplified verbal autopsy questionnaire.</p> <p>The objective was to define the leading symptoms and cause of death among Iraqi children from all regions of Iraq during 1994–1999.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To determine the cause structure of child deaths, a simplified verbal autopsy questionnaire was used in interviews conducted in the Iraqi Child & Maternal Mortality Survey (ICMMS) 1999 national sample. All the mothers/caregivers of the deceased children were asked open-ended questions about the symptoms within the two weeks preceding death; they could mention more than one symptom.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The leading cause of death among under-five children was found to be childhood illnesses in 81.2%, followed by sudden death in 8.9% and accidents in 3.3%. Among under-five children dying of illnesses, cough and difficulty in breathing were the main symptoms preceding death in 34.0%, followed by diarrhea in 24.4%. Among neonates the leading cause was cough/and or difficulty in breathing in 42.3%, followed by sudden death in 11.9%, congenital abnormalities in 10.3% and prematurity in 10.2%. Diarrhea was the leading cause of death among infants in 49.8%, followed by cough and/or difficulty in breathing in 26.6%. Among children 12–59 months diarrhea was the leading cause of death in 43.4%, followed by accidents, injuries, and poisoning in 19.3%, then cough/difficulty in breathing in 14.8%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In Iraq Under-five child mortality is one of the highest in the Middle East region; deaths during the neonatal period accounted for more than half of under-five children deaths highlighting an urgent need to introduce health interventions to improve essential neonatal care. Priority needs to be given to the prevention, early and effective treatment of neonatal conditions, diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infections, and accidents. This study points to the need for further standardized assessments of under-5 mortality in Iraq.</p

Values and behaviours of an effective community of practice: a case for staff/student collaboration for internationalisation

UK universities suffer constrained autonomy, disputed values and aims and increasing performance demands: ‘new managerialism’ or application in the public sector of private sector values. However, values of internationalism and the ideals of international co-operation aim for a world order of peace and social justice. Connecting these apparently disparate areas is the assertion that values are prominent not only in values-driven internationalisation strategy but also in entrepreneurial behaviour needed to establish communities of practice, similar to ‘academic freedom’. This article analyses the values and behaviour of a “campus community” that developed into a full structure of “communities of practice” or social collaborations which drove student mobility. Analysis of the action research cycles leads to the identification of different forms of motivation, levels of engagement and entrepreneurial behaviour in both students and staff, combining to define a set of values and behaviours driving a social collaboration’s culture and performance

Employment Preference and Expectations Regarding Employment Relationship of South Korean and EU Business Students

The psychological contract perspective is adopted to explore the employment expectations of business students in Poland, Slovenia, UK and South Korea. The main findings show some significant differences among the students regarding their preferred employment. For example, the South Korean students prefer larger and public companies. Overall, the students expect more relational and balanced dimensions of a psychological contract than transactional ones. However, there are significant differences in the elements, dimensions and types of psychological contract between the countries. The Polish and Slovenian responses show more elements of a transactional contract than the UK and Korean. The level of trust is important for building the expectations of a relational psychological contract, and the levels of trust differ by country and according to prior working experience. The implications of results for talent management, internships and education systems are also discussed. We adopt the psychological contract perspective in exploring employment expectations. The psychological contract is seen as an important framework for understanding the employment relationship and thus helping organizations to design effective human resource management systems to attract, manage and retain talent