What is I-O?

• The finished 2-volume set comprises 43 chapters from 79 authors across 14 countries on four continents
• The volumes were published simultaneously in the USA and the UK, reflecting the cross-national divisionalized structure of our publisher, Sage.
• Editorial meetings were held between the four editors at international conferences in San Francisco, Atlanta, Glasgow, New Orleans, and Prague.
• Administration was controlled from University of Minnesota, contractual and publisher liaison from London, and all typesetting and copy-editing was carried out electronically from New Delhi.

As a case study for the recently initiated Global Vision column of TIP, therefore, this major project illustrates some important positive points, mainly, but also underscores the potential challenges in attempting to undertake such collaborations across countries and time zones. To summarize the bullet points above, our self-inflicted quest became one of editing a globally contributed, comprehensive series of chapters to cover the broad spectrum of topics that are deemed core knowledge for I-O psychologists in the United States, Europe, and the rest of the world. With the benefit of hindsight (Isnt it amazing how hindsight always seems to bring benefits?), not to mention now several months part-recuperation since its publication, we are able to reflect at a safe psychological distance, thus allowing our own core self-evaluations to remain intact and the sheer folly of our lofty ambitions to gracefully fade into hazy, repressed memories! 

Going Large: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Change in Aspirations

Why undertake to coedit a perfectly reasonable, moderately sized, targeted collection of chapters when you can aspire to hit the field with a magnum opus running to almost 1,000 printed pages in two volumes? Precisely. So, we opted for the latter. We had never truly analyzed the (self-evidently dysfunctional) within-group decision-making processes that led us as editors inexorably down this track until the prospect of a piece for the Global Vision column of TIP became live. Of course, we now have radically differing individual recollections over these group processes (Neil blames Deniz, Deniz claims that neither Neil or Handan stopped her, and Vish is adamant that Neil planted the idea subliminally in Denizs mind), but for sure, the irrepressible energy and highly contagious motivation of one of the editors lulled the others into a false sense of security early on (for obvious reasons we cannot mention names, but think meta-analysis, think editor of IJSA, think twin cities). So, however such outrageous alpha, beta, and gamma inflation occurred in our original editorial plans and ambitions, it did. And it took hold with a vengeance early on as we all remember obtaining copies of the relevant teaching syllabi for I-O psychology in the United States, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Australia in an attempt to make the eventually published volumes relevant across as many countries with developed professional education for I-O psychologists as possible. We also content analyzed several existing handbooks in our field, including Marv Dunnette and Leaetta Houghs classic and excellent four-volume tomes, and Drenth, Thierry and De Wolffs Europe-oriented set.

Having finalized the publication contract with our chosen publishers, Sage in the UK and USA, the next challenge was to contract (i.e., entrap) some internationally eminent authors for the 41 content chapters who would be willing (i.e., gullible) and intrinsically motivated (i.e., misdirected) enough to agree to provide us with state-of-the-science-and-practice reviews within our time scales. Authors were approached around the world as experts in their respected areas based upon our initial schedule of content domains for the Handbook, but also with the encouragement to involve coauthors from other countries if practical. The administrative office was based at Minnesota, on the grounds that most surprisingly we discovered administrative costs would be approximately 50% lower than in London, England. So, the whole effort was co-coordinated from the Minnesota office with the support of our publishers and the Psychology Department at the University of Minnesota. Given the nature of our undertaking, we made an effort to recruit cross-culturally sensitive administrative staff. Predictably, our editorial assistants proved to be invaluable assets in facilitating communications among culturally diverse individuals.

Our detailed experiences over these years are in Table 1, which follows this chronological flow and also highlights the main points of surprise experienced by the authors concerning aspects of this international collaboration. Readers of TIP will be able to see from this some of our major surprises, learning points, and few frustrations throughout this long haul. At a level of analysis above and beyond these points, and again with the benefit of hindsight, four further issues can be noted: 

• New technology and author professionalism
• Mixed-mode submissions and communications
• New technology versus old communication needs
• Cross-national cultural similarities and differences

Going Nicely: Lessons Learned from New Technology and
Author Professionalism

What was most amazing to us throughout this whole process was just how smoothly the main aspects of the editorial procedure were. Of all of the authors we originally contacted with invitations to contribute chapters only a handful declined, and all of these because they were so heavily committed to other ongoing projects. Beyond this, only three authors failed to deliver first draft chapters at all despite agreeing to do so, and these chapter areas were graciously covered by authors who stepped in and responded magnificently under our time-scale constraintsJohn Campbell, John Donovan and Gerard Hodgkinson, sincere thanks.

Table 1.
Pertinent Experiences and Chronological Milestones in Producing the Handbook of IWO Psychology
____________________________________________________________________
Date Milestone Editorial experiences
____________________________________________________________________ 

  ____________________________________________________________________

Going Electronic: Mixed-Mode Submissions and Communications

We believe that this is the first major handbook in our field where the technology has been sufficiently advanced and reliable to have been able to rely upon electronic submissions and routine correspondence with authors halfway around the globe. This stated, we actually used a mixed-mode approach where hard copies of any electronic correspondence were also sent by international mailthe learning point here was that what can arrive overnight within the USA may take up to 2 weeks to arrive from Australia or other long-distance journeys. Authors were, however, strongly encouraged to submit their draft chapters as e-mail attachments along with back-up copies sent by mail. Authors were assigned an action editor who collated anonymous reviews of their chapter and responded with suggestions for improvements and changes for the second draft version. Electronic submissions and reviews are becoming the norm amongst the top journals in our field, and so our aim was to try as many aspects of this approach as we could in our editorial process. This, we feel, with hindsight, was a generally successful process, and one which removed many what would otherwise have been unavoidable delays in the international post system (not to mention the trees saved and environments protected). 

To present this process as being one of magical, flawless reliance upon the new technology would not paint an entirely accurate or honest picture, however. One of our most telling experiences, well-documented in the literature on remote communication, was that e-mail contacts could never fully obviate the need for periodic face-to-face, or at least telephone-based conversations, between the editors and the authors. We collectively ran up extortionate phone bills throughout this 4-year project, and due to time differences, calls more often than not had to be made from our home phones (ouch!). This had the effect of blurring the work-home divide and extending even our usual hours of work still further. Time of day (or night) became secondary concerns to merely getting hold of the other person and talking with them. Another key tactic we used was to schedule considerable time for meetings at international conferences where all or some of the editors were attendingapologies to colleagues whose papers we missed as a result of this. We also scheduled author receptions at several conferences prior to publication to keep up the pressure on them ostensibly under the cunning guise of providing them with invaluable information for their chapters and a free glass of wine! But the underlying learning point for us all was that e-mail contacts were not enough, both in terms of editorial contacts and in terms of contacts between authors who were often based in different countries intentionally so as to give as international a coverage of topics as possible. Perhaps this underscores the need for more international conferences focused on individual topics like personnel selection. 

Going Global: Making Mole Hills out of Perceived Mountains

Given the multinational background of the editors (USA, UK, Turkey, and India), we were acutely aware that there is a wide world of cultural diversity beyond Elk City, Idaho, USA and Royal Tunbridge Wells, England, UK (Yes, there really is a town bestowed with Royal Heritage Status called this in England!). Not that this is at all derogatory toward Elk City or Royal Tunbridge Wells, of course, but when we began the Handbook we were slightly concerned that cultural differences in expectations between scholars based across four continents would have unpredictable consequences.

Use of English language (for some of our authors English was only their second or even their third language), style of expression, adherence to timetable deadlines, and use of e-mail and other technology differences all conspired to generate unease amongst the editors that standardization across the chapters would be an impossible goal. However, our subsequent experience was the direct oppositealmost without exception authors responded on time and exactly as requested in terms of style and formatthe only exceptions actually emanating from a couple of U.S. authors who failed to deliver to contract. This made the job of the editors relatively easy and the panel of authors a genuine pleasure to correspond with. Of course some support was given to authors who wrote and spoke English as only a second language, and Neils British English was translated into good-ole American English with the naturalized assistance of Vish and Deniz! As a quid pro quo, Neil subjected their joint-authored chapter to the referee standards of so-called Queens English or Received Pronounciation (RP) as the entirely proper form of international English language.

So what advice would we give the readers of this piece regarding collaborative research project on a global scale? One important lesson was that there were substantive differences on what topics are considered trendy across the continents but the commonalties were sufficiently encouraging that we can hope for a global science and practice of IWO psychology. The current debates in the business periodicals and political debates about the globalization of trade and commerce are good entrance points for our profession to the policy and decision-making fields. IWO psychologists have developed the skills for efficient human resource management in different cultural contexts and are in a unique position to contribute to these policy discussions.

A second rather surprising point we noted was that core knowledge areas and curriculum topics in most of the countries for training IWO psychologists were very narrow in global focus. We need textbook authors to bring perspectives from different countries into their chapters. Alternately, we need textbooks coauthored by authors from different backgrounds or by authors knowledgeable in different cultures. On a related note, we need empirical research that investigates IWO issues in different cultural contexts and succinct meta-analytic summaries of such extant literature on topics where many empirical studies exist. The recent attempts to examine the validity of cognitive ability and personality across countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa is a step in the right direction.

Finally, we would advise the readers of the time pressures that have to be addressed. Although true for all major projects, international collaboration puts a premium on time budgeting and management. When it is summer holidays in Europe, some of us may be having final exam week across the Atlantic. On one hand, this enables continuous and more time-efficient development of the project; but only if you plan and manage the project.

We hope we have conveyed some of our enthusiasm, enjoyment, professional development, and satisfaction in this collaborative effort. Our joint experience was such a positive one, the teamwork between the editors so collegiate, and the unswerving professionalism of the responses from our panel of contributing authors so supportive, that we would willingly consider a second editionjust in 25 years time, thats all! How wise were Marv Dunnette and Leaetta Hough in this time scale for their handbooks of I-O psychology we only now appreciate. Happy global collaborations! 

References