The Management of Expatriates

by Martin Kremer

Contents

Introduction 2-4

1. Foreword 2
2. Definitions (Culture, comparison between nations and stereotyping) 2-4
3. Culture Shock 4
4. The mindset and international assignments 4

Main Part I 5-12

A - From first ideas to the solution (Recruitment - foreign assignment) 5-8

1. Recruitment and Selection (processes in short overview) 5
2. Preparation phase - Conditions for a proper entry-phase 5-6
3. How to staff the host country facility 6-7
4. Host country language - Yes or no? 8

B - To have success or to fail? 8-12

1. Advantages 8-9
2. Disadvantages 9
3. Decision for expatriates 9
4. Drawbacks 10
5. Money-problems - The compensation dilemma 10
6. Failures in Expatriate Management (person-related reasons) 10
7. What are other reasons leading to failures in international management 11
8. Inability of Spouse to adjust 11
9. Comparison (Japan - USA) 12
10.The dual-career-couple 12

Main Part II 13-16

1.) Global Skills and questions of assignment 13

2.) The Re-entry Phase 13-14
a) Job-related factors 14-15
b) Social issues 15-16

3.) The foreign assignment cycle 17
Conclusion 17-19
a) Good Expatriates are a prerequisite for the future of Expatriation Management 17-18
b) Management summary and last words 18-19
Attachments 20-40

I) Two case studies (self-developed cases - Thailand) 21
II) Solution to the cases 22
III) checklist I (Transfer duties) 23-26
IV) checklist II (orientation for assignees) 27-36
V) A model of expatriate recruitment 37
VI) From Departure to new ideas 38
VII) Glossary for expatriates 39-40

Literature 41-45
Additional: (including a Web-catalogue) 46-50

Introduction

1.) Foreword

Expatriate life in the past has been regarded as luxurious, exciting and dynamic. These perceptions, whether correct or not, have persuaded many people to work for multinational companies (MNC′s). On the one hand, an MNC′s recruitment strategy, however, do not occur in a vacuum and as a consequence changes in the international environment can have an important influence on their desire to employ expatriates. While, on the other hand, the proximity of the home culture and local culture definitely influence how the expatriate family adjust to their assignment abroad. This paper will discuss the advantages as well as the disadvantages of using expatriates for international assignments and it will explain the reasons for the most common failures. In addition, I will summarise the most useful lessons, which an international manager/expatriate has to know before going abroad (e.g. sending, entry, stay and re-entry). Finally, there will be a conclusion in which one can add his or her perception or ideas towards the individual case of assignment (whether it is long-termed or short-termed).
For a start, I will give the reader some definitions, which are important to know when dealing with the subject of foreign assignments. (à to get a short overview one can turn to the attachment-section)

2.) Overview and Definitons:

International Human Resource Management has five main dimensions:
1. The selection and recruitment of qualified individuals capable of furthering organisational aims
2. The training and development of personnel at all levels to maximise organisational performance
3. The assessment of employee-performance to make sure that the aims of the company are realistic and can be fulfilled by the company′s human resource
4. The retention of competent corporate personnel who can continue to facilitate the attainment of all aims (mission, vision, goals) that management are planning to achieve
5. The management of the interface between workforce and management so that the organisational "flow" is given (smoothing organisational belongings).

However, in my paper I want to examine the third main dimension. This paper will point out how important the human factor is inside international management, especially when foreign assignments are concerned. First of all, I will explain the main terms. They are a prerequisite for every sophisticated expatriate:

Culture:
In order to know or imagine what "a culture" includes and what is meant when talking about culture related topics one can think of the following question:

What is culture?

The majority of us will probably claim that culture is just a pattern of a specific accepted behaviour (within the society) or one of the following assumptions (they are only examples among a mass of typical stereotypes to imagine what mankind is trying to find within a culture):

- society′s perception of history
- society′s perception of religion an spirituality
- patterns of accepted behaviour
- accepted value systems

But for my topic we want to accept the following view which is easy to understand: Within each culture of any nation there the following areas are definitely included (more or less - depending on the cultural codex):
Tradition, politics, behaviour, art, literature, music, sports, dialect, traditional costumes, customs, religion, the way of life, different ways of work performance, history.

Within a culture mostly stereotyping takes place and is so to say difficult to avoid (but the good expatriate (compare: Conclusion of this term paper) will avoid the following assumptions (or at least view them with a certain level of objectivity):

What is typical for People from France:

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