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Ecosystem behavior is complex and may be controlled by many factors that change in space and time. Consequently, when exploring system functions such as ecosystem “health”, scientists often measure dozens of variables and attempt to model the behavior of interest using combinations of variables and their potential interactions. This methodology, using parametric or nonparametric models, is often flawed because ecosystems are controlled by events, not variables, and events are comprised of (often tiny) pieces of variable combinations (states and substates). Most events are controlled by relatively few variables (≤4) that may be modulated by several others, thereby creating event distributions rather than point estimates. These event distributions may be thought of as comprising a set of fuzzy rules that could be used to drive simulation models. The problem with traditional approaches to modeling is that predictor variables are dealt with in total, except for interactions, which themselves must be static. In reality, the “low” piece of one variable may influence a particular event differently than another, depending on how pieces of other variables are shaping the event, as demonstrated by the k‐systems state model of algal productivity. A swamp restoration example is used to demonstrate the changing faces of predictor variables with respect to influence on the system function, depending on particular states. The k‐systems analysis can be useful in finding potent events, even when region size is very small. However, small region sizes are the result of using many variables and/or many states and substates, which creates a high probability of extracting falsely‐potent events by chance alone. Furthermore, current methods of granulating predictor variables are inappropriate because the information in the predictor variables rather than that of the system function is used to form clusters. What is needed is an iterative algorithm that granulates the predictor variables based on the information in the system function. In most ecological scenarios, few predictor variables could be granulated to two or three categories with little loss of predictive potential.

The purpose of this paper is to identify best practices of employee onboarding, the process by which a new employee is introduced to an organization and its vision, mission, and values.

Researchers requested that members of the Personnel Administrators and Staff Development Officers Discussion Group of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) share documents related to employee onboarding and three researchers independently reviewed the documents. The collected documents were compared to the socialization model proposed by Raymond Noe, including the detailed aspects of the organizational phase and the key components identified in the best practices literature.

In total, 17 institutions submitted documentation for review. All institutions discussed at least one or more of the key areas identified in the socialization process. Every institution in the study included a discussion of job expectations and evaluation criteria (100 percent); ten (59 percent) discuss mission, vision, and values; however, topics such as culture (five or 29 percent) and politics (one or 6 percent) were infrequently covered. Onboarding programs varied in length (one week to more than six months). Check lists were the most common tool used to manage the onboarding process. Other notable topics covered include dealing with change, understanding the team‐based environment, diversity, library awards and library fundraising.

Because of the limited number of documents examined in this study, the research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

Moving from a traditional new employee orientation model to a best‐practices onboarding model will require HR professionals to conduct an internal assessment of the current program.

Due to the high cost associated with recruiting new employees, the need for new employees to be fully functional and engaged as soon as possible, and the need to communicate performance indicators, the need to share best practices is important.

Ineffective expatriate performance and premature returns have been found to relate primarily to an inability to adjust to the foreign environment rather than a lack of technical competence. Research has identified three dimensions of expatriate adjustment: adjustment to work, adjustment to interactions with people in the foreign country and general adjustment to the culture and living conditions. Five major factors that have been found to influence these dimensions of adjustment and research using these factors provides a framework to help international firms understand and take a more active role in facilitating expatriate adjustment.

Research on expatriation and global leadership has been characterized by wide variations in defining what constitutes intercultural competence. Greater progress can be achieved if a comprehensive definition of the intercultural competence domain can be established, particularly with regard to the specific context of global leadership. This paper aims to focus on the issues.

The authors conduct an extensive review of the global leadership and expatriation literatures, integrating and synthesizing prior theoretical and empirical efforts to develop a comprehensive domain definition for intercultural competence in the context of global leadership.

The domain of intercultural competence in the context of global leadership comprised three dimensions – perception management, relationship management and self management. Each dimension is characterized by facets that further delineate aspects of intercultural competence.

The domain definition of intercultural competence for global leadership appears to be well supported in prior theoretical and empirical work focusing on expatriation and global leadership; however that work was fragmented in nature. A test of the comprehensive model, i.e. all three dimensions and 17 facets, is called for, as well as the validation of an instrument that measures them.

The paper integrates and synthesizes the extensive body of theoretical and empirical work related to intercultural competence and clearly establishes the content domain, thereby enhancing the efficacy of future theoretical and empirical efforts.

With globalization and accompanying expatriation becoming a reality for developed countries, including those that have recently arrived in Southeast Asia, this study explored the effects of family and personal characteristics on Singaporeans’ willingness to accept an expat assignment.

Data were collected from a random sample of 191 managers and engineers across a number of organizations in Singapore.

The results indicated that the perception of a negative influence on family members has a negative impact on Singapore engineers and managers intention to accept an international assignment. Further, both need for achievement and perseverance personal characteristics had a positive impact on intention for an international assignment.

The study findings suggest how international human resource manager can provide help to expatriates and their family in dealing with family issues related to expatriation.