1. Chapter 5 Global Human Resource Management

2. Expatriate Managers
Expatriate Managers :Citizens of one country working abroad (in another country).
Most expatriates only stay in the foreign country for a certain period of time, and plan to return to their home country in the end, although there are some who never return to their country of citizenship.

3. Expatriate Managers Failure
Expatriate failure is the early return of an expatriate manager to his or her home country.
Between 16 and 40 percent of all American expatriates in developed countries fail to complete their assignments, and almost 70 percent of Americans assigned to developing countries return home early.
Each expatriate failure can cost between $250,000 and $1 million
Management Focus: Managing Expatriates at Royal Dutch/Shell
Summary
This feature examines how Royal Dutch/Shell, a global petroleum company employing over 100,000 people manages its expatriates. The international mobility of its workforce is an important part of Shell’s overall philosophy. However, in the early 1990s, the company found that it was having an increasingly difficult time recruiting personnel for foreign postings.
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Shell’s commitment to the success of its foreign assignments is demonstrated by its efforts to uncover expatriate concerns. Discuss the results of Shell’s survey to its present and past expatriates and families. How do these results compare to the results of other studies exploring expatriate failure?
Discussion Points: Shell discovered that there were five key issues that were important to its expatriates. First, the division of families that occurred when children were sent to boarding schools while their parents were on foreign assignments, second, the harm done to a spouse’s career during the foreign assignment, third, the lack of consideration for a spouse during the expatriate assignment process, fourth, the failure to provide adequate relocation assistance, and fifth, health issues. Students should recognize the similarities between the results of this study and the results of other studies that have found difficulties with the spouse and family’s ability to adapt to be a central reason for expatriate failure.
2. Shell has implemented several changes to its expatriate program including providing education assistance to families with children, and establishing a Spouse Employment Center to help locate employment opportunities. In your opinion, will these programs “solve” Shell’s problems, or is there still more to be done?
Discussion Points: Most students will suggest that Shell’s programs are a good start to ensuring the success of its expatriate program. They may also note that Shell may well be ahead of the game in even thinking about the situation. Expatriate failure can be very costly for companies, and so taking steps to ensure that expatriates are successful is an important component in a firm’s international strategy, especially for a company like Shell that relies heavily on expatriates.
Another Perspective: To learn more about Shell, go to the company’s web site at {

4. Why Expatriate Assignments Fail?
The main reasons for expatriate failure are :
Personality.
Personal intentions.
Family pressures .
Inability of the spouse to adjust.
Inability to cope with larger overseas. responsibility.
Lack of cultural skills.

5. Expatriate Managers Failure
Research shows the main reasons for expatriate failure for U.S. multinationals are:
the inability of an expatriate's spouse to adapt the inability of the employee to adjust
the manager’s inability to adjust.
other family-related reasons.
the manager’s personal or emotional maturity.
the manager’s inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities .

6. Expatriate Managers Failure
For European firms, only one reason was found to consistently explain expatriate failure:
the inability of the manager’s spouse to adjust to a new environment
For Japanese firms, the reasons for failure are:
the inability to cope with larger overseas responsibility.
difficulties with the new environment.
personal or emotional problems.
a lack of technical competence.
the inability of spouse to adjust

7. Helping Expatriate Assignment Succeed
Factors led to a successful Expatriate Assignment:
Providing realistic previews of what to expect.
Careful screening.
Improved orientation.
Cultural and language training.
Improved benefits packages.
Improved selection procedures .

8. Helping Expatriate Assignment Succeed
Four dimensions that predict expatriate success :
1. self-orientation : the expatriate's self-esteem, self-confidence, and mental well-being.
2. others-orientation : the ability to interact effectively with host-country nationals.
3. perceptual ability : the ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do.
4. cultural toughness : the ability to adjust to the position.

9. 2. Training and Management Development
Training focuses on preparing the manager for a specific job.
Management development is concerned with developing the skills of the manager over his or her career with the firm.
Historically, most firms focus more on training than on management development.

10. 2. Training and Management Development
Training and development programs should be effective for all participating employees, regardless of their country of origin.
When organizations hire employees to work in a foreign country or transfer them to another country, the employer needs to provide the employees with training in how to handle the challenges associated with working in a foreign country.
In an organization whose employees come from more than one country, two special challenges arise with respect to training and development. They are discussed on this slide.

11. 2. Training and Management Development
Training is needed on:
The impact of cultural differences on business outcomes.
How attitudes (both negative and positive) are formed and how they influence behavior.
Realistic knowledge about the target country.
Language and adjustment and adaptation skills.

12. Delivering Training in other Countries
Know your goals – clarify what overseas training is supposed to achieve.
Consider international differences among trainees when developing the training plan.
Keep an eye on quality – overseas trainers should meet the same quality standards as training at headquarters.
Be clear about standards for confidentiality and intellectual property.
Know the local laws that affect training programs.
Training professionals offer the following ideas for preparing and delivering training programs overseas:
Know your goals – clarify what the overseas training is supposed to achieve.
The training program must consider international differences among trainees.
Keep an eye on quality – Your overseas trainers should meet the same quality standards you have at headquarters.
Be clear about standards for confidentiality and intellectual property
Know the local laws that affect training programs
For details, see the “HR How To” box on page 448 in the text.

13. Before you took on a foreign assignment, what would you want to know?
Foreign Assignments
Would you consider taking a foreign assignment for a 6 months to 1 year duration?
A = Yes B = No
Before you took on a foreign assignment, what would you want to know?
With the globalization of business, foreign assignments have become more regular. It used to be that people who were most available or technically qualified would be asked to take these assignments. However, more and more companies are paying attention to non-technical factors that predict success in foreign roles as it is very expensive to have someone make the move.
Would you consider taking a foreign assignment for a 6 months to 1 year duration?
A=Yes, B=No
If you did take one you would be called an expatriate.
Because of the cost and criticality of success of foreign assignments many researchers have studied what competencies are important for such a role and effort has been placed in extensive preparation of expatriates.
Before you took on a foreign assignment, what would you want to know?
Use student’s answers to lead into the preparation stages on next slide.

14. Training For Expatriate Managers
Cultural training (seeks to encourage an appreciation for the host country's culture),
The training covers all three phases of an international assignment:
Preparation for departure.
The assignment itself.
Preparation for the return home.
When an organization selects an employee for a position in a foreign country, it must prepare the employee for the foreign assignment. This kind of training is called cross-cultural preparation. It often includes family members who will accompany the employee on the assignment.

15. Training For Expatriate Managers
language training (an exclusive support on an expatriate manager's ability to interact with host country nationals),
and practical training (helps the expatriate manager and her family ease themselves into day-to-day life in the host country) have all help reduce expatriate failure.

16. Training For Expatriate Managers
Yet, according to one study only about 30 percent of managers sent on one- to five-year expatriate assignments received training before their departure .

17. Repatriation of Expatriates
Repatriation – the process of preparing expatriates to return home from foreign assignment.
Preparing and developing expatriate managers for reentry into their home country organization is an important part of training and development.
HRM needs to develop good programs for re-integrating expatriates back into work life within their home country organization once their foreign assignment is over, and for employing the knowledge they acquired while abroad.
Repatriation should be seen as the final link in an integrated, circular process that selects, trains, sends, and brings home expatriate managers.

18. Repatriation: Problems and Solutions (continued)
Making sure that the expatriate and his or her family don’t feel that the company has left them adrift.
Solutions:
Match the expatriate and his or her family with a psychologist trained in repatriation issues.
Make sure that the employee always feels that he or she is still “in the relation” with what’s happening back at the home office.
Provide formal repatriation services.

19. 3. International Labor Relations
The key issue in international labor relations is the degree to which organized labor is able to limit the choices available to an international business
A firm's ability to pursue a transnational or global strategy can be significantly constrained by the actions of labor unions
HRM needs to foster harmony and minimize conflict between the firm and organized labor

20. The Concerns of Organized Labor
The bargaining power of unions comes from their ability to threaten to disrupt production by striking or protesting.
However, organized labor is concerned that:
multinationals can counter union bargaining power by threatening to move production to another country.
multinationals will farm out only low-skilled jobs to foreign plants making it easier to switch production locations.
multinationals will import employment practices and contractual agreements from their home countries and reduce the influence of unions .

21. The Strategy of Organized Labor
Organized labor has responded to the increased bargaining power of multinational corporations by:
trying to set-up their own international organizations.
lobbying for national legislation to restrict multinationals.
trying to achieve regulations of multinationals through international organization such as the United Nations.
However, these efforts have had only limited success .