With the growth of globalization, organizations are facing an increased challenge to manage talent, improve employee engagement, develop effective teams, create succession pipelines, and increase organizational effectiveness in multinational settings. Given the need to evaluate and compare individuals from more than one country using standardized assessment instruments, there is a consequent need to understand the issues and implications of norm selection decisions. The current investigation examines the impact of global vs. local norm selection in the assessment of motivation in work settings. A sample of 21,248 participants from organizations in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States completed the Individual Directions Inventory[TM] as part of ongoing organizational development activities. The choice of norm appeared to have minimal impact on most scales among the Anglo cultures studied. Results illustrate the issues researchers and organizations face when creating cross-national assessments and provide recommendations regarding norm selection and the communication of results to end users. (Contains 6 tables and 3 figures.)