In today’s world of business, “globalization” has become both a reality and a necessity. Geographical boundaries are diminishing as goods and services created in one part of the world are increasingly consumed in another, very different part of the world (Freidman, 2006). Technology, for example, has reduced the barriers that distance and language once created. For some, this is a threat; for others, an opportunity; for all, a reality.
For organizations competing globally, many unique human resource challenges must be confronted. For example, organizations must determine how to recruit, select, onboard and develop managers capable of functioning effectively across different cultures (e.g., Project GLOBE, a large-scale study of the managerial implications of culture; Koopman, Hartog, Konrad, et al., 1999). At all levels, organizations are increasingly confronted with the question of whether or not human resource programs created in one culture will be appropriate in other, different cultures. This is especially true of assessment programs. Can organizations use the same assessments, assuming accurate translations, across cultural boundaries? Do the same psychological constructs or traits exist across cultures? Can they be measured with the same tests? Do they relate to the same outcomes, such as performance, customer satisfaction, retention and organizational productivity in a similar fashion?