Expatriate Job Performance and Adjustment - Research Paper Example

Research Paper: International Assignments Research Paper: International Assignments Components of Pre-departure Training Several components of a pre-departure training program ensure effectiveness to the program. Four of them are discussed in this paper. The first is cultural awareness. A multinational corporation operates in several countries each of which has their unique culture. Culture can be thought of at two levels: the culture of the entire national population and corporate culture. The latter refers to the accepted ways of doing business within a specific country. For an expatriate to be effective in their assignment, they must understand and appreciate both aspects of the culture of the country to which they are being posted(Kangas, 2012). Cultural training is country-specific as each country has its unique culture. Cultural training covers such aspects of culture as social customs and business etiquette. The second component of pre-departure training is didactic training. Didactic training has been found to be the most common form of cross-cultural training; over two-thirds of multinational corporations offer didactic training through informal briefings of the expatriates before their deployment (Hånberg & Österdahl, 2009). It may also take more structured forms such as lectures or informative booklets. This component of training is important as it provides practical information on living and working in the destination country. The content of didactic training is factual information such as shopping and travel. In addition, it may include information that aimed at helping the expatriate adapt to the culture of the host country. The third component of pre-deployment training is training in language skills. Language training entails teaching the expatriate the native or official language of the host country. Whileit may take the expatriate months or years to master the language and be fluent in it, it is important that the expatriate has a basic command of the language (Hånberg & Österdahl, 2009). On arriving in their host countries, our expatriates should be able to enter informal conversations, apply common courtesies, and demonstrate empathy for the cultures of their host countries. Language training is important as it will accelerate the ability of the expatriates to adapt to their new cultures. Indeed, language is a major aspect of any culture. As a result, the only way our expatriates can fit into their new cultures is by possessing a basic understanding of the languages of those cultures. The fourth component is interaction training. The organization has deployed expatriates abroad over the years. As a result, we now have a pool of experienced expatriates from whom our new expatriates can learn. While some of the older expatriates are still on their assignments abroad, others have since returned to the headquarters. Thus, our new expatriates can be trained at the head office prior to departure or they may receive training upon arrival in third host countries. Either way, interaction training has many benefits to offer. For instance, the new expatriates can learn first-hand from the experiences of those who went ahead of them(Hånberg & Österdahl, 2009). In addition, they can benefit from the contacts of their predecessors. Criteria for Assessing Performance 16-70% of expatriates on foreign assignments are estimated to fail in their assignments and return home before the expiry of their terms (Ghafoor, Khan, & Idrees, 2011). In the U.S. alone, expatriate’s failure is reported to cost multinational corporations (MNCs) approximately two billion dollars a year (Ghafoor, Khan, & Idrees, 2011). It is for this reason that that need criteria to assess the performance of our staff on foreign assignments. The assessment is an effective way of measuring the effectiveness of the cross-cultural training that they will have received prior to their deployment. Three models or criterions are now proposed. The first one is Black and Mendenhall model that measures the effectiveness of a training program while assessing the performance of expatriates. The model is based on the three aspects of the theory of social learning – attention, retention and reproduction (Ghafoor, Khan, & Idrees, 2011). At the same time, the model is based on the three stages of learning. First, the expatriates must learn the cultures of the host countries examine what they have learned then apply the relevant aspects of those cultures. The employees of the host subsidiary will provide useful feedback on how well the expatriates fit in the new cultures. The second model that will be used to measure the job performance of the expatriates is the Harrison and Shaffer model of 2005. The two scholars argued that there are two dimensions to job performance: the task and contextual dimensions (Bhatti, Sundram, & Hee, 2012). The task dimension includes the amount of time the expatriate commits to their work. The contextual dimension is concerned with factor that is external to expatriate such as the personality traits of staff in the host country. In order to measure how well or otherwise the expatriates perform their job, the company will assess, over time, how the expatriates relate with local staff at all the levels in the subsidiary. The third model of evaluation will be self-evaluation where individual expatriate will be required to give an honest assessment of their job performance at regular intervals. However, in order to standardize the self-evaluations, each expatriate will complete the same questionnaire (Silegren, 2014). In order to make the evaluation exercise effective, all the three models proposed here will be used concurrently. This strategy is necessary as no single mode of assessment is self-sufficient, hence the need for the approaches to complement one another (Silegren, 2014). Besides, an assessment based on all the three approaches will give a clearer picture of the performance of the expatriate. Recruitment Strategies The organization could use one of two strategies to select candidates for expatriate positions. The first strategy is for the organization to hand-pick candidates they believe best suited to the positions, bearing in mind the unique conditions in a particular host country(Silegren, 2014). In this approach, the organization will need to scrutinize candidates based on their skills, competencies, and experience in working in a multicultural environment. This approach is especially effective where there are returned expatriates at the headquarters; the management at the headquarters may use the ex-expatriates to mentor hand-picked candidates ahead of their deployment. The second strategy is for the organization to announce expatriate vacancies and invite qualified staff to apply for the positions. This is the strategy more likely to be pursued by the organization that considers itself an equal opportunity employer (Silegren, 2014). In this approach, pre-departure training commences after the qualified candidates have been shortlisted. By contrast, the first approach relies on mentorship as a way of preparing candidates for deployment abroad. Usually, the mentorship is an ongoing process that sometimes happens without the knowledge of the target candidate. Given the pool of ex-expatriates at the headquarters and the incentive to save money on pre-departure training, the organization should go for the first strategy where candidates are handpicked. Staffing Alternatives In filling senior managerial positions in offshore operations, there are two alternatives available to the organization: the organization may hire locals to head offshore operations or send expatriates to head the subsidiaries. Each alternative has its advantages and limitations. For instance, hiring locals to head subsidiaries could save the organization money. In addition, the locals understand better the cultural context within which the subsidiary operates, unlike sending over an expatriate who will spend several months or even years to adapt to the new culture. Overall, however, it is agreed that a suitably identified and trained expatriate offers several benefits over the locals; the main benefit is the transfer of knowledge and skills from the head office to the host country. The transfer of knowledge is especially necessary given the highly specialized skills required that may not be readily available in the host country. In addition, sending an expatriate from the head office makes easier control and coordination by the head office. Consequently, the organization is advised to send expatriates to the host countries. The Significance of a Mentoring System Regardless of how the expatriate candidates are picked, a quality-mentoring program significantly increases the chances of expatriates succeeding in their foreign assignments (Hånberg & Österdahl, 2009). A mentorship program does not replace pre-departure training; it reinforces it. Mentoring enables the learner to learn from a more experienced, usually older, peer in a structured manner. There exist several opportunities for mentorship at the headquarters given the sizeable number of returned expatriates. The organization needs to develop an organized structure through which potential future expatriates can learn from the colleagues who have served in those positions. Besides the head office, mentorship can also happen in the host country where an expatriate already exists. To help demonstrate the importance of a mentorship program in expatriation, Ericsson Corporation will serve as an example. The company is the world’s largest provider of telecommunications equipment and related services(Hånberg & Österdahl, 2009). Founded in 1876, today the company has a workforce of over 78,000 employees spread across 175 countries. The company has a long history of sending its employees abroad; the companys founder Lars Margus Ericsson spent 1873 and 1875 undergoing training. The company’s expatriation program is backed by a strong mentorship program where seasoned expatriates who have worked abroad and returned either as retirees of staff at the headquarters mentor their younger peers. Our corporation too stands to benefit from a similar program. Measuring Return on Investment (ROI) Expatriation involves costs. As the company has no in-house training team, pre-departure training must be procured from a consulting firm from time to time as the need arises. Besides the training costs, the company may have to meet the costs of settling down high-profile expatriates and their families in the host countries. Thus, the entire expatriation program constitutes an investment on which a return must be realized (Doherty, 2012). The main way through which the corporation will recover its investments is repatriated profits. This implies that the expatriates must work diligently so as to earn a sufficient profit to run the subsidiary and meet its financial obligations and still repatriate part of it to the mother company. Thus, repatriated profits become a means of measuring returns on the investment. Another measure of returns on the expatriation program is the growth of the subsidiary. The expatriates are expected to offer high-quality leadership that will spur the growth of the subsidiary in both sales volume and branch network. It is expected that the growth will translate into higher revenue hence more profits repatriated to the mother company. Thus, the success of the expatriation program will also be measured by the size of the branch network of the subsidiary and the sales volumes realized from those branches. References Bhatti, M., Sundram, V., & Hee, H. (2012). Expatriate Job Performance and Adjustment: Role of Individual and Organizational Factors. Journal of Business & Management, 1(1),29-39. Doherty, N. (2012). Measuring the return on investment in international assignments: an action research approach. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(16), 3434-3454. Ghafoor, S., Khan, U., & Idrees, F. (2011). Evaluation of expatriates performance and their training on international assignments. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 5 (3),335-351. Hånberg, C., & Österdahl, G. (2009). Cross-cultural Training of Expatriates: The Case of Ericsson. Uppsala: Uppsala University. Kangas, L. (2012). EXPATRIATION AND CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING. University of Applied Sciences. Silegren, M. (2014). ANALYSIS OF EXPATRIATE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT COMPANY’S POINT OF VIEW. Oulu: University of Oulu. Read More