Developing global managers' competencies using the fuzzy DEMATEL method

Modern global managers are required to possess a set of competencies or multiple intelligences in order to meet pressing business challenges. Hence, expanding global managers' competencies is becoming an important issue. Many scholars and specialists have proposed various competency models containing a list of required competencies. But it is hard for someone to master a broad set of competencies at the same time. Here arises an imperative issue on how to enrich global managers' competencies by way of segmenting a set of competencies into some portions in order to facilitate competency development with a stepwise mode. To solve this issue involving the vagueness of human judgments, we have proposed an effective method combining fuzzy logic and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) to segment required competencies for better promoting the competency development of global managers. Additionally, an empirical study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed method. (C) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.