Sully Taylor, Ph.D. Director, Masters in International Management

Mary Sullivan Taylor, International Human Resource Management, has a B.A. from Southern Methodist University, an M.A.T. from School for International Training, an M.A. from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Dr. Taylor teaches international management, global human resource management, and women in business. Her research interests include international human resource management, global organizational learning, and the management of women expatriates.

In combination with others, Dr. Taylor received ICEDR-funded research money in the amount of $318,000 for the Organizational Competitiveness project. This project is designed to explore the roles played by organizational culture and human resource management practices in fostering competitiveness in multinational corporations. The proposed program involves a multicultural and interdisciplinary research team, encompasses two research phases, and employs a variety of techniques, including face-to-face interviews, survey administration, and feedback sessions. The sample for this study consists of 11 companies (35 research sites) headquartered in 8 countries across the US, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The primary research methods consist of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with line and HRM executives and administration of a written survey questionnaire to a random stratified sample of all employees. In addition to the interviews and survey questionnaire, extensive archival company research of these companies' histories, strategies, and operations will be conducted on each participating firm. Finally, a survey will be administered to industry analysts to assess outside experts' opinions on the current and expected long-term capability and performance of each company in the sample.

The researchers intend this work to be a bridge between theory and practice, as exemplified by the active participation of senior executives during the model building phase of the project and the testing of the model in fifteen multinational companies from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Ultimately, this project will not only develop theory and an empirical base to understand the roles of organizational culture and human resource management in the competitiveness of multinational firms, but also provide valuable feedback and analysis in a timely manner to help firms enhance their global organizational competitiveness.

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To find out more about Dr. Taylor visit her profile page.