Cross-cultural, knowledge and talent management: Managing people, learning and capability across contexts

This chapter develops the cross-cultural people, talent and knowledge-management capabilities required when organizations operate across languages, institutions, professions, locations and national borders. It treats culture as a multilevel and dynamic context rather than a country label; critically examines Hofstede, Hall, Trompenaars, GLOBE and cultural-intelligence approaches; and applies these lenses to communication, trust, conflict, negotiation and global virtual teamwork. It then develops international human resource management as a problem of global integration, local responsiveness and responsible staffing, before building an integrated talent architecture covering workforce planning, recruitment, evidence-based selection, onboarding, performance, reward, retention, succession, mobility, repatriation, learning and capability development. Knowledge is analyzed as explicit, tacit and embedded, with critical treatment of the knowledge-based view, SECI, communities of practice, absorptive capacity and organizational learning. African evidence is centered through Ethiopian Airlines and Ethiopian Aviation University, while comparative evidence on generative AI at work illustrates technology-mediated knowledge transfer. Christian moral reasoning grounds people systems in dignity, conscience, fair treatment, privacy, meaningful work, stewardship and accountable use of power.

Keywords: cross-cultural management; cultural intelligence; global talent management; international human resource management; knowledge management; organizational learning; absorptive capacity; global teams; talent analytics; future of work