International Human Resource Management Managing people in a multinational context

2 We focus on the ‘managing the people’ aspect of IHRM: Issues relating to staffing foreign operations The reasons for using international assignments: filling positions and developing managers and organizations. Various types of international assignments: short term, extended and longer term; Various non-standard arrangements: commuter, rotator, contractual and virtual The role of expatriates and non-expatriates in supporting international business activities Return on investment of international assignments The role of the corporate HR function in MNEs Chapter Objectives

Terms 3 Expatriate roles: agent of direct control agent of socialization language node network builder boundary spanner Approaches to staffing: inpatriates expatriates flexpatriates Assignments: short-term extended traditional commuter rotational contractual virtual ethnocentric polycentric geocentric regiocentric ROI approach

4 Table 4-1a The advantages and disadvantages of using PCNs

5 Table 4-1b The advantages and disadvantages of using TCNs

6 Table 4-1c The advantages and disadvantages of using HCNs

7 Determinants of staffing choices Figure 4-1

Reasons for International Assignments 8 1.Position filling 2.Management development 3.Organization development

Types of international assignments 9 IHRM Chapter 4 Short term up to 3months Extended up to 1year Long term (traditional expatriate assignment) 1 to 5 years Some non-standard assignments: Commutergo home every one to two weeks Rotationalcommute for set period followed by break in home country Contractualspecific skills employees hired for 6 to 12 months on specific projects Virtualemployee manages international responsibilities from home country base

10 Table 4-2 Differences between traditional and short-term assignments

11 The roles of an expatriate Figure 4-2

12 ROI indicators for calculating international assignments Figure 4-3

4-steps to calculate expatriate ROI 13 1.Identify financial and non-financial costs and benefits. 2.Link the costs and benefits to the purpose of the long-term assignment. 3.Identify the appropriate antecedents from a system’s perspective. 4.Conduct the calculation at an appropriate time within the context of the assignment’s purpose.

14 Table 4-3 Various roles of corporate HR