KMB -302: Unit- 3 -Lecture- 7 (Expatriate Management)

1. Branch - MBA
International Business Management
DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
By
Dr. B. B.Tiwari
Professor
Department of Management
Shri Ramswaroop Memorial Group of Professional Colleges, Lucknow
Unit-3: Lecture – 7
International HRM:
Expatriate Management

2. Approaches of staffing
• Recruitment and Selection Procedures of Expatriates
• Expatriate’s Success and failure factors
• Women Expatriate
• Non – expatriates their roles
• Issues in staff selection

3. International recruitment have 3
important questions -
•From what country/ies to recruit (home, host or third)?
•What Techniques to be used when recruitment is planned
out side home country?
•Whether to centralized recruitment activities in home
country or decentralize in foreign subsidiaries?

4. Different sources of employees
• First, the company can send employees from its
, which are referred to as
expatriates, expats or home country nationals.
• Second, it can recruit
(natives of the host country),
• Third, it can hire who are
natives of a country other than the home country
or the host country.

5. Challenging aspects
• First, the initial cost of airfare, living expenses and transportation in
the host country.
• The second expense incurred with bringing expatriates in to the
international operation is the training involved in making sure the
people going to the host country are familiar with, laws, rules,
culture, languages and expectations in the new country.

6. International employee selection based on four issues in the
context of staffing global business:
•Linking staffing plans with the evolution of the MNC.
• Staffing orientation/ approach of staffing
• Managing expatriates
• Female expatriates

7. Choosing an Approach to
IHRM
• Political and legal concerns
• Level of development in foreign locations
• Technology and the nature of the product
• Organizational life cycle
• Age and history of the subsidiary
• Organizational and national cultural differences

8. Selection criteria for
International Staffing
• International selection is a two way process between the individual and the
organization. A prospective candidate may reject the expatriate assignment either
for personal reasons, such as family considerations, or for situational factors.
• However, after an extensive review of literatures on the selection of expats, the
researcher identified 18 variables and grouped them into four categories
• Technical Competency
• Relational Skills
• Ability to cope with variables and
• Family Situation

9. Individual Criteria Family Support

10. Expatriate
• An expatriate is an employee who is
working and temporarily residing in a
foreign country.
• Expatriate work as an agent between
two countries
Also known as
“International Assignees”

11. Selection techniques of
expatriates:
• Interview – structured interview
• The monitoring and targeting of
disadvantaged group – (staffing practices
• are strongly influenced by norms and
values that are not covered by the law)
• Psychological Testing- mentally fit for
international assignment
• Assessment centre – Competency
assessment

12. Selection Techniques in General,
important steps are-:
• Screening the applicant’s background on the basis of work
experience with cultures other than one’s own, previous
overseas travel, knowledge of foreign language and overall
Performance.
• Testing the candidate's ability to adapt to the new culture and
environment.
• Testing the ability of the spouse and family members of the candidates
to the foreign culture and environment.
• Predicting the adjustment of the candidate
• Testing the skill of adjustment with the host nationals.
• Job duties and responsibilities

13. Therefore expatriate must meet 6
basic criteria:
• They must be willing and motivated to go
overseas
• They must be technically able to do the job
• They must be adaptable
• They must have good inter personal skills and able to form relationship
• They must have good communication ability and
• They must have supportive families

14. Expatriate’s Success factors:
Rosalie Tung studied the factors that contributed to expatriate success and
identify different variables that affect success. She groups them into 4 general
categories:
1. Job competence
2. Personality traits
3. Relational abilities
4. Environmental variables and family variables
Which are further divided into two heads: general factors and specific ones

15. General Factors Specific Attributes
JOB Competence Technical skills: knowledge of HQ and host country
operations, general managerial skills, administrative
competence and creativity
Relational Traits Social Skill: Ability to tolerate ambiguity, Courtesy
and tact
Respect, kindness and behavioral flexibility
Cultural empathy and ethnocentrism
Integrity confidence and emotional stability
Personality Traits Diplomatic Skill: Believe in the mission
Congruence of assignment with career path
Interest in overseas experience
Willingness to acquire new behavior patterns and
attitudes
Interest to learn Host country language and practice
Adopting attitude of Non – verbal communication
Ability to interact with business associates
Environmental and
Family variables
Motivational Skill: Willingness of the spouse to live
overseas
Adaptability and supportiveness of spouse
Stability of marriage

16. Expatriate problem
Expatriate failure: premature return of the
expatriate manager to his/her home country
Cost of failure is high:
Estimate = 3X the expatriate’s annual salary plus
the cost of relocation (impacted by currency
exchange rates and assignment location)

17. Reasons for early return
1. Family concerns
2.Accepted new position in the company
3.Completed assignment early
4.Cultural adjustment challenges
5.Security concerns
6.Career concerns
7.Quality of life
8.Remuneration

18. Reducing Expatriate failure
• Reduce expatriate failure rates by improving
selection procedures
• An executive’s domestic performance does not
(necessarily) equate his/her overseas
performance potential
• Employees need to be selected not solely on
technical expertise but also on cross-cultural
fluency

19. 4 dimensions for successful
expatriate selection
1. Self-oriented
Expresses adaptive concern for self-preservation, self- enjoyment, mental
hygiene.
2. Perceptual
Accurately understands why host nationals behave the way they do.
3. Others-oriented
Cares about host national co-workers and affiliates with them.
4. Cultural-toughness
Able to handle the degree to which the culture of the host country is
incongruent with that of the home country.

20. Family-friendly policies
• Inter-company networking
• Job-hunting assistance
• Intra-company employment
• On-assignment career support

21. Adaptability to culture change
• Adaptability of men
expatriate:
• Faster adjustment after first
year when the age group is 30-
35 and higher level of
satisfaction.
• Gradual adjustment after third
and forth year when the age
group is 25-30 and medium
level of satisfaction.
• Adaptability of women
expatriates:
• Slow adjustment after first year
when the age group is 30-35 and
lower level of satisfaction .
• Faster adjustment after third
and forth year when the age
group is 25-30 and medium
level of satisfaction

22. Roles of Non-expatriates
• People who travel internationally yet are not
considered expatriates as they do not relocate to
another country
– Road warriors, globetrotters, frequent fliers
• Much of international business involves visits to
foreign locations, e.g.
– Sales staff attending trade fairs
– Periodic visits to foreign operations

23. Non-expatriates enjoy positives as:
– A Glamorous life
– Excitement and thrills of conducting business
deals in foreign locations
duty-free shopping,– Life style (top hotels,
business class travel)
– General exotic nature

24. Female Expatriate
?

25. Barriers to females taking international
assignments

26. Causes of low representation of
Females:
Barrier of
female
expatriate
Stereotyping
Capabilities
Family
constraints
Male dominant
society
Sexual
harassment
Host country
attitude

27. Advantages of Female Expatriate
• Better at Relationship skills
• Novelty – foreign clients believe that those who are
expatriated are the best.
• Role Models

28. Recent trends in International
Staffing
Background
check
Recruiting
sources
Workforce
diversity
Dual career
couples
Off- shoring
Trends

29. Current Expatriate profile:

30. Global Staffing
Japan China
Hire young people out of school Most hired from school, fewer from
other companies
Slow promotion through the ranks Slow but regular alary increase
Performance Appraisal once
or twice a year
Performance review usually once a year
Loyalty to the company Lack of loyalty to both company
and profession
Appraisal of long term performance 5 years plan; short term target
Promotions based on long
term performance and other
criteria.
Promotion based on
Performance, Potential ability,
and Education but family ties /
good relations with top managers
are important
Training and development
considered a long term
investment
Training program available, state
exam administered for managers.
Life time employment common in
companies
Job Security – virtually life time
employment.