International Assignments in Strategic Leadership Development: Single Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to present a management framework of strategic leadership development through international assignments. The research assignment was to examine how international assignments should be managed so that the assignments function as a strategic leadership development method. In order to accomplish the purpose of this paper, the research tries to give answers to the following questions: what are the factors for achieving a successful international assignment from the leadership development perspective and, especially, how human resource management should support the overseas assignment process so that the assignments really support the development of potential future leaders.

The thesis utilises a case study as research method. The study is qualitative in nature, and the research data were collected through semi-structured interviews within the case company. The research data were analysed by classifying the information from the interviews under the main themes that emerged from the interview data.

The data analyses consistently indicated three areas that contributed to strategic leadership development through international assignments management support, in-house curriculums, networking, and the individual’s self-activeness. Another notable factor in leadership development was the fact that there should be a series of international assignment during the career of a potential future leader. The role of HR seemed to be less important.