Limitations of the research
Appendix 8.1 Topic guide
1. What major changes have affected law firms in the last 10 years? (for example, what about international expansion?)
2. In what manner (please describe) has globalization affected your law firm? (for example, what has been the impact of non-UK firms operating in the UK and/or UK firms operating overseas?)
3. What sort of management structure is appropriate for an international law firm?
Who are the appropriate people to manage an international law firm?
4. How does this differ from what has historically been the firm’s structure?
5. Is your firm a limited liability partnership (LLP)? If not, do you see it moving in that direction?
6. What has been the impact of internationalization/globalization on lawyers’ profes- sional lives? (for example, effect on remuneration issues; effect on culture of the firm) 7. Have the key resource requirements changed in the last 10 years? (for example informa-
tion technology/information systems (IT/IS) or professional staff?)
8. Who do you see as your main competitors now compared with 10 years ago? (for example multidisciplinary firms (MDFs))
9. To what extent has the client base changed over the last 5–10 years? (for example, is it more international?)
10. To what extent is cross-border capability important to clients and what impact has it had on client relationships and the client base?
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9
The Performance Management–Training Interface in Australian Firms in China
Susan McGrath-Champ and Xiaohua Yang
Introduction
Performance management in the context of overseas assignments has attracted increasing attention recently. There have been a number of studies examining various aspects of performance management. Lindholm (2000) studied three aspects of performance management – goal setting, evaluation and feedback and development – identifying their impact on job satisfaction. Suutari and Tahvanainen (2002) explored goal setting and evaluation aspects of performance management. Woods (2003) studied staff perception of performance manage- ment. So far, little has been said about the training aspect of performance management in international and global settings.
While it is understood that employee training and career development corre- lates with job satisfaction and performance (for example Flynn, 1995), there is little understanding of how training and career development in overseas assignments is integrated into performance management systems in foreign ventures. Such an understanding can be a valuable contribution to the existing international human resource management (IHRM) literature. In particular, this study seeks to understand how cross-cultural training and career develop- ment for expatriates is integrated into performance management in Australian ventures in China.
The focus on Australian firms is justified here for the following reasons.
Australian firms have been internationalizing their operations for a shorter time than their North American and Western European counterparts, and there- fore they may have been lagging behind other Western countries in developing effective performance management systems in their overseas ventures and have less developed preparation programmes for expatriates. In particular, the cross- cultural performance management problem of Australian expatriates in Asia
has been examined in a number of studies with consistent findings that high- light cross-cultural capabilities as questionable or deficient (Dawkins et al., 1995; Rosen et al., 2000; Woods, 2003). However, the level of outward foreign investment originating from Australia has reached a historical high following the abolition of Australian restrictions on such investment (Parliament of Australia, 1995/6). In 2003, outward foreign direct investment from Australia was $A117,091 m ($US90,312 m), up from $A30,507 m ($US23,530 m) in 1990.
Of this, the Australian FDI in China was $A37,006 m ($US28,542 m), 31 per cent of the total, up from $A2489 m ($US1917 m) over the same period (UNCTAD, 2004). The time is ripe for a closer look at performance management systems in Australian foreign ventures from both theoretical and practical perspectives, in particular the role of cross-cultural training and development in performance management.
The next section of the chapter reviews the relevant literature and provides a theoretical foundation concerning performance management and training.
The third and fourth sections outline the methods used in the study, and set out the initial empirical findings, respectively. The fifth section discusses the findings and the final section draws conclusions regarding performance man- agement and its connection with training systems.