ABSTRACT
International organizations are experimenting with global expertise networks that serve a knowledge management role, making use of “team rooms” established on the intranet to provide access to common implementation materials or live record updates to transfer and share insights into cross-cultural implementation issues (Harris et al., 2003). A technological infrastructure to support the formation and initiation of global HR networks is important, but not always necessary. For example, global leadership networks that were not strongly reliant on technical support formed an important part of operations at Diageo, ActionAid and Stepstone. Diageo initially constituted a series of global teams but, through their way of working, these teams began to develop into much looser networks of influential people. Diageo believed it was important that these teams did not just become debating clubs, dumps for technical data, or another layer of bureaucracy. They had to be decision-making bodies in their own right with the right level of authority. Therefore a common global team process was established through which teams:
worked out development priorities; developed world-class and internal benchmarks against which the results of the
initiative would have to be compared;, and formed their own network of expertise and decision-implementors.
