The Expatriate Management Arrangement at Controls Inc - Case Study Example

The Expatriate Management Arrangement at Controls Inc Name Institution Date The Expatriate Management Arrangement at Controls Inc The headquarters of Controls Inc are located in Chicago at Illinois. The company has operations spreading to several countries in Asia, South America and Europe. Its expansions save for maquiladoras have happened in just recent years. This opened an era of the company involvement in the joint ventures. Its prior involvement was with Filtration Inc which was an enormous International Manufacturing conglomerate based in Chicago specializing in the production and design of filtration and temperature control systems. The quest to utilize cheaper labor and the allurer of being located to potential customers propelled the company to internationally expand at an amazing rate that would have been previously viewed absolutely out of the box of its corporate comfort zone. Following this advancement Control Inc had to get involved in expatriate management (Deresky, 2008). According to Deresky (2008), before sending of the expatriates, there is a survey team that is sent to analyze the viability of the project. One of the key business units of Control Inc, Freezer and Cooler Control Business Unit, having its headquarter in Lakeland, Minnesota, sent a team of four people, comprising of two representatives from Business Planning and Finance Departments and two engineers, to examine and see the workability of partnering with a Chinese electronics assembly operation that was yet to be identified. The team was mandated to identify potential partner. The team visited a period of one month. If the visit the team was to give a comprehensive report to the headquarter office. Having been appealed with the finding of the first team the planners resolved to send a second team to continue the negotiations that had been started by the first team. The joint venture in China presented a good opportunity for expansion. Finally an agreement was arrived at with a Chinese state-owned firm. Before being one is send abroad as an expatriate, there was the psychological preparation of the individual on what to anticipate in the foreign land. As in the case of James, the challenge of language and the remoteness of being away from home were highlighted. There were time to time review interviews to determine the ability of an individual to work as an expatriate and also to assess his general performance in the company. It is through these interviews that James went through that his persistent interest to work as an expatriate came to manifest itself (Latté, 2005). The choice of someone to work as an expatriate had no special qualifications and there was no known criterion that was being used. James had been promised to work in a joint venture in Tokyo but at the last minute someone else had been selected. However when an opening came from China it seemed that James was best suited for the position. The main goal of the joint venture was to gain entry into the Chinese market. In August 1992 the company sent James to go to Lakeland to meet the director of Cooler Controls Business Unit to deliberate the Joint Venture. The team negotiating the joint venture was still in China proceeding with the negotiations. The corporation had to place someone on the site and James was very eager to go. A formal offer for the expatriate position was processed through Personnel and conveyed through the immediate management of the expatriate. In the case of James it is his supervisor who informed of the offer in the late September (Deresky, 2008). Orientation Filtration Inc. had a specific set of rules to deal with expatriate work assignment. After determining the suitability of the expatriate candidate to go overseas, he was send to Chicago for orientation training. The training commenced with a day-long session conducted by international personnel function of Filtration Inc. Filtration Inc brought experts to deliberate on benefit, pay, benefits, moving arrangements, and many other issues concerning working for the corporation in an international assignment. Selmer (2004) notes that orientation process involving a trip for looking around that was supposed to last for seven days. It was at the liberty of the expatriate to lengthen this duration. The trip was to be arranged by the international office in Singapore although the Personnel Department in Pauley wanted to take over the issue. The Asia-Pacific office in Singapore that took over the arrangement was supposed make reservation in Shanghai Inn and make arrangement for a rental car (Schuler & Claus, 2008). The official days activities were to last seven days. For the case of the Randolf they first spent their unofficial three days sightseeing. The next two days of the official period were spent with an on-site consultant who was on a retainer from the Joint Venture. The consultant showed the potential expatriates around the city taking them to the site that were thought to be appealing to their culture and way of life, in the Randolfs case, American. After touring the Joint Venture factory near Shanghai, the expatriates headed to the Controls Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore to take part in an extensive orientation workshop. Topic covered included compensation policies and other matters of interest to the potential expatriates. This was covered in the relation to Control, Inc. the expatriates went back to America and took part in a two-day orientation covering life and work in China. The orientation was organized by Prudential Relocation Services Inc. in Boulder, Colorado and was arranged according to the needs and the desires of the expatriates. Optional tracks in the curriculum included culture, history, business climate, political climate, and people from the particular region. In the case of James he preferred business-related curriculum being taken by a local university professor. Any expatriate who returned from the international office was given an opportunity to discuss his experience with the potential expatriates. Filtration, Inc conducted intensive Mandarin language in Chicago where expatriates were free to go. The expatriates were allowed to hire a language tutor to supplement the initial language training. The procedure of orientation came to a close with a checklist of things that the expatriates after the beginning of the expatriates on-site assignment. Work Place orientation The Mandarin language is the official language used in the factory in China. The work days at the factory were scheduled commencing from Tuesday through Saturdays. The schedules were planned centrally to alternate with those of other factories in a way that saw consumption of power is conserved. The Chinese partner possesses business center and warehouses on the island which became part of the Joint Venture. There was conspicuous absence of humidity and temperature control. The winters were cold while the summers were hot and humid. The machinery present had no safety guards. The workforce in the Factory in China was made up of young women (Lazarova, 2001). Plant’s organization and operation bore considerable inefficiencies. Method of quality controls were extensive amounts of 100% testing and inspection carried out after the product was completely assembled. The production areas were not expensive. There was no shelving. The plant output was not scheduled but only the number of hours to be expended. The expatriate was also entitled to a translator. In China there was the aspect of movement of an individual personal file from one employer to another hence it was difficult to acquire a competent translator. Increase of the wage of a qualified translator was hard to come by. The office in Shanghai was not flexible. Decision making in most Chinese companies were top to down. All the crucial decisions were made by the director. The Chinese managers at the Joint Venture were far much educated as compared to the workers. They possessed degrees in Engineering and management. In some cases the education and experience of the manager emanated from his period as a career-solder in the Army. The Joint Venture had a labour union which was extremely weak and superficial. The Chinese people followed every example given or set with diligence. The interaction with people in a new environment brought new experience always. One of the function of the expatriate was to make the manager feel good including firing anyone comparing being stupid with the choice to stay in China. The workers at the joint venture were very cooperative. Majority of the Chinese population were communists. There was ignorance of the political situation going around and everyone seemed to pursue his own individual life. Chinese were eager to learn anything they could obtain from a westerner and were ease to learn. People lived simpler as compared to the westerners. The learning went on throughout the working process in the country where the expatriates were working. The strengths and weaknesses of the expatriate management process at Controls Inc The expatriate management process at Controls Inc possesses both weakness and strengths. In as far as the process contains vital aspects that equips the expatriate with much sought orientation process, on the other hand it there are existence of flaws or weak side of the process that requires much ironing out to make it as effective as possible. This paper embarks on discussing the weakness of the expatriate management process at Controls (Jinghua, 2002). In the first place the management process of expatriate commences with a psychological preparation of the suitable candidate about the encounters in the anticipated field of work. More importantly, before someone is given the opportunity to work as an expatriate they make sure the person is passionate about going to international duty of the cooperation. The hardship of working as an expatriate was explained to a potential expatriate so that he is not shocked with what he will encounter to the ground. It is important that the expatriate get the clear picture of working as an expatriate in a foreign country. The-would be expatriate are given time to interact with the expatriates returning from the foreign ground. Someone also with a vast experience working for the corporation was also chosen to make sure that he does not grow feint hearted in the new environment soon after settling. James had a vast experience and had worked for the company for a period of fifteen years (Deresky, 2008). After someone had been chosen to work as an expatriate, the offer was confirmed formally through the Personnel to the individual. This is important in giving the moral to the person so that he has confidence that he has been chosen for the position. This is also vital in giving the right attitude to the potential expatriate. The chosen person is taken through formal orientation training. This is conducted by Filtration Inc. International personnel function. The training was done exceptionally by experts who discussed pay, benefits, moving arrangements and other issues relating to the international assignment. An important part of the orientation involved a sightseeing trip to the international ground. This is important in bring the potential expatriate with the reality on the ground. He gets familiar of what to anticipate on the ground and adjust accordingly to enable being at peace psychologically. There is to be a reservation in a local hotel and provision of a rental car. On the trip the potential expatriate is taken around and shown around the potential city where he will in the near future have to interact with the native people. Another strong side was the orientation workshop being organized in the international headquarters of Control Inc Asia-Pacific. The orientation workshop is very extensive. Compensation policies and other issues of interest that included history, culture, business climate, political climate and other issues were the matters discussed. This brings to terms the expatriates with the actual reality on the ground. The tour trip also involved visiting the site of the factory and interacting with the people on the international ground. There was a considerable period between the time of reporting to duty on the international assignment and the time of one being chosen to be work on international assignment as an expatriate. A further two-day orientation was also conducted on working and living in China. This was done after confirmation that one was committed to the assignment awaiting him abroad. The many processes are meant to harden and thoroughly prepare the potential expatriate with what will be anticipated on the real ground. All efforts are done to make sure that the right person has been chosen. All efforts are made to avert cases of culture shock as the expatriate embark on the international duty. One was also taken through a work place orientation (Harvey & Novicevic, 2001). To enhance communication the expatriate is taken through language training programs to orient him to the official language in the foreign country. The expatriate was also entitled to a language translator who aided his communication. It was important and prudent for the corporation to send a survey team to ascertain the possibility of the Joint Venture. Despite the strength of expatriate management process, it also has some weakness that makes it to be flawed to a large extend. In the first place the picking of the potential expatriate was not well organized and there is no a well laid down procedure to be followed when choosing an expatriate. The first survey team did not complete the negotiations which could have hastened the process of sending an expatriate. Moreover when the second team was send they still did not complete negotiations and the negotiation went on during the Joint Venture operation that distracted maximized production. In the case of James he was not sure of the position having been short changed previously in the Tokyo venture (Jinghua, 2002). The trip to the international country was haphazardly done and there was a mix-up in some aspects. While the itinerary indicated that the expatriates were to be provided with a rental car and a reservation made in a local hotel, there were not such arrangements when the expatriate arrived on the ground. The consultant tour guide who showed the expatriate around the city was very in experienced. There was a big language barrier as the consultant was a wife of an expatriate who did not herself understand the local dialect which proved to be very inconvenient to the would-be expatriates. The trip was directed one step at a time leading to loss of time and rigidity (Anderson, 2001). The touring was disorderly and same spots were to be repeated as the ground made its way to other sites due to the inefficiencies of the consultant. The initial orientation process was also less polished as compared to the one done on the international ground. The expatriates were not aided in the process of acquiring an apartment and they acted on their on accord leading to unsettled life throughout the stay in the foreign land. The factories did not observe maintenance, dirty and scarce efforts were done concerning environmental controls. In the case of the Randolfs apart from their own individual motivation and passion to work in China, they would have given up a long time ago. The relocation to the international ground there was unplanned means of relocation and the potential expatriate did the bulk of the proceedings. Although the language school was present there was no official arrangement for one to attend the school and one had to look for his own time. The advantage of the Randolfs is that they new some local language owing to the origin of the Mrs. Randolf. One had to incur more by hiring a language tutor. The check-list of the things to achieve was outlined but the real roadmap to their achievement was not provided. The workers present on the factory were young and inexperienced. The expatriate got little cooperation and assistance from the Controls Inc. subsidiary in Asia-Pacific. The policies were nagging and obligatory paperwork bogged down the expatriates. Much support received by the expatriates was informal from mentors who had been sent on international duty before. The expatriate was provided with an incompetent translator at a low wage. Whenever a competent translator was hired, he was taken by other multinational companies which were able to pay a competitive wage. The changing from translators from time to time had an impact on effective communication. Highly-qualified translators were available but they could not be hired by the expatriates do to lack of funds. The head of departments had the huge task of bringing to the joint venture new technology associated with their departments. Existing systems were not up to date and irrelevant to the existing concepts. The Chinese workers were sometimes not cooperative to the expatriates. Accommodation on the island was rougher. The small rooms had intense heat and the mosquitoes were fierce at the guest house. The distance to the working place was laborious. There was also a misconception perceived by Controls Inc negotiating team concerning to the ease of getting the relevant government approval. This shows absence of thorough investigation before embarking on the international venture. Finally the way of withdrawing expatriates from the field of service was unfair and unplanned. One is just recalled spontaneously without enough preparation (Hutchings, 2003). Recommendations for the Controls Inc.’s expatriate management arrangement The Control Inc. expatriate management process has to experience some changes to enable it to be more efficient in the way they handle expatriates. There should be a written down procedure of how one is to be chosen to work as an expatriate. In the case of James he would not have felt short changed when he was denied an opportunity to work in Tokyo if at all there was a procedure that was known for picking the potential expatriates. According to Hutchings, K. (2003), the investigation team send to the ground should do thorough investigation and come up with a clear road map for attainment of the objectives of the international venture. If the investigation team had finalized their negotiation there would have no need of sending a second team to China and instead they would concentrated on production. The trip meant for sightseeing should be planned efficient. There should be confirmation of the reservation and securing of the rental car before the expatriate embarked on this trip. It is embarrassing to be promised something that cannot be delivered (Varner, 2002). The tour itself should be exceptionally planned. The consultant or the person in charge of the tour should be compete and understand the local language. Much time would be saved if the tour would have specific destinations before embarking on it. One would know where to go from one spot to the other. The tour guide should be a local who is conversant with everything in this new location. There should be a clear outline of the orientation process and it should be done in order and clear sequence. The expatriate should not feel inadequate after an orientation process. There should be official period and time of attending the language school. The corporation should have an environmental policy to charts its way of working in the international joint venture (Weech, 2001). Adequate funds should be provided for the expatriates to be able to hire highly-qualified translator. This will enhance communication and hence production. The new technology to be brought on board should be done with information technology experts in collaboration with the head of the relevant departments. Concerning accommodation the corporation should be involved in getting a comfortable apartment for the expatriates. The report by the expatriate to the head office should be continuous and not only to be done at the end of the term of assignment. Prior to one being withdrawn from the field of the assignment there should be enough ground preparation and preparation of the affected expatriate. References Deresky, H. (2008), International Management: Managing across borders and cultures, Text and Cases (6th ed.), New Jersey: Pearson Education. Latté, G. W. (2005). Addressing Pay Issues for Nontraditional Expatriate Assignments. Benefits & Compensation International. 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Retaining repatriates: The role of organizational support practices, Journal of World Business, 36(4), 389-401. Weech, W.A. (2001).Training across cultures. Training and Development, 55(1), 62. Varner, I. (2002). Successful expatriation and organization strategies. Review of Business, 23(2), 8-12. Schuler B. D.R & Claus, L.M. (2008). International Human Resource Management. New York: Taylor & Francis. Read More