GKN
GKN is one of the West Midlands oldest and most successful companies, having transformed itself from its traditional markets of nuts, bolts, screws and fasteners, to emerge as a world leader in automotive components, aerospace systems and helicopter production.
As part of this transformation GKN has evolved from a largely domestic exporting company in the 1960s to a truly global operation with subsidiaries in twenty different countries spread across all six continents. Almost half of its workforce and more than half of its sales revenue come from outside the UK.
At the outset of their globalisation programme, GKN formalised English as the corporate language for use in international meetings and communications, and most of the management recruited overseas are competent in English. Nevertheless the senior management of GKN recognise that English is not a universal panacea to be used in every situation and in every country.
The GKN management now face many situations where English alone is not enough, such as when they want to communicate with shop-floor personnel: The Frankfurt factory alone has employees who speak 17 different languages. Similarly, when meeting with international customers and suppliers and when working with the pan-European Works Council, it is often necessary for GKN management to speak in other languages and to understand other cultures.
It is this recognition of the challenges of global management that has prompted GKN to launch its International Leadership Development Programme. This scheme recruits high calibre graduate engineers with the aim of developing s their skills as international managers of the future. Typically for UK recruits, leadership development would entail an 18 month “graduate apprenticeship” including training in a foreign language, followed by an overseas placement demanding use of their language skills.
Equivalent programmes of English training with subsequent UK placements are in place for graduates from Continental Europe and elsewhere.
In this way GKN is developing its next generation of managers equipped to succeed in an increasingly global competitive environment. It is a strategy that will not deliver immediate returns but the payback is already being noted in terms of the degree of integration and unity within the Group.
There can be no better practical demonstration of GKN’s focus on its mission “A global company committed to growth”, as Sue Fowler, Employment Affairs Advisor, recognises:
“The GKN Management Team is becoming ever more mobile internationally. It is more comfortable using languages other than English and more relaxed working in other cultures. Such developments are necessary to reflect the company’s increasingly global markets and strategies”.
For more information about GKN visit www.ildp.gknplc.com
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