Brain Drain: Inclination to Stay Abroad After Studies - Literature review Example

Review- Brain drain: Inclination to stay abroad after studies Introduction: This paper is primarily based on contemplating a globally acclaimed and thoroughly insightful article “Brain drain: Inclination to stay abroad after studies”. Black and Porter (1991, p. 99-100) stress that managerial behaviors vary hugely from country to country and if the managerial behaviors of some American expatriate managers in Hong Kong remains just the same as they were while they worked in US, problems can definitely occur due to greatly antagonizing business rules. Many American firms remain unsuccessful in preparing good mangers for tasks requiring sensitive cross-cultural management skills. Addressing this problem, Hofstede’s research (2009) presents a 5-D or five dimensions model which provides an insightful approach for perceiving differences in cultural thinking, behaviors, and feelings around the globe. Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), and Long-Term Orientation (LTO) are the five dimensions introduced by Hofstede (2009) through his model. Among these dimensions, IDV, UAI, and LTO significantly relate with the article which is to be reviewed in this paper. That is because the article to be reviewed identifies how social ties and perseverance on the part of the expatriate workers and how uncertainty on the part of the recruiting agencies affects the decisions made by expatriates to stay and work in the host countries or go back to their home countries. Uncertainty regarding cross-cultural differences and adjustment problems also influences expatriates and decisions made by them. Individualism (IDV) refers to how loose the social ties between individuals are. This issue also affects each society differently. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) refers to the extent to which a society tolerates uncertainty or indicates the extent to which a culture plans its members to be comfortable or uncomfortable in different business situations. Long-Term Orientation (LTO) indicates the level of values like thrift and perseverance among workers and by understanding this dimension, the expatriate workers can more easily assess the cultural thinking (Hofstede, 2009). According to (Osland and Bird, 2000, p. 65), cross-cultural management is majorly about avoiding flawed handling of cross-cultural differences which leads to originating cultural paradoxes and which are seldom mentioned in the management literature. The article to be reviewed in this paper lays stress on undermining the potential disasters produced by negative perception of cross-cultural differences within a workplace. The article to be reviewed in this paper discloses many facts for the benefit of the recruiting agencies. Literature review: The article “Brain drain: Inclination to stay abroad after studies” is basically about describing the phenomenon of brain drain along with discussing myriad reasons influencing the students to continue staying abroad after studies. Brain drain is actually an entire situation which results when intelligent people with phenomenally incredible skills tend to leave their home countries and immigrate to the developed countries in order to be employed there. For example, “the UNDP estimates that India loses $2 billion a year because of the emigration of computer experts to the U.S” (BBC News, 2001). The article is based on a research study done on the working expatriates in UK and USA and also focuses on the crucially important job which should be performed by managers of any organization. The authors thought that discussing this job and the phenomenon of brain drain is important since they are never much discussed in any management course despite many important implications presented by them. That crucially important job is to prevent the cross-cultural differences from transforming into cultural conflicts or paradoxes. The cross-cultural conflicts are a direct consequence of cross-cultural differences handled immaturely by the managers. In this age of excessive competitiveness, many American firms tend to rely on freshly graduated international expatriates so as to use their talents for the organization’s benefit and so they assign them international assignments but remain quite doubtful all the time like what may happen if the recruited expatriates tend to leave pre-maturely without completing certain international assignments assigned to them due to cross-cultural differences. The authors suggest in the article that there are myriad factors influencing the phenomenon of brain drain which can be divided in to two broad categories named “push” and “pull” factors (Baruch, Budhwar, & Khatri, 2007, p. 100). This push-pull model is identified as sharing a direct relationship with cultural diversity, cross-cultural differences, and students’ cross border or better yet, global movements. A wide range of personal, national, and organizational factors influence such cross border movements. For example, a brilliant yet unemployed student in an underdeveloped country would definitely try immigrating to a developed place like UK or USA in order to seek better and secure employment opportunities. The charm of labor markets in UK or USA forms a powerful factor in influencing the students’ global movements, as identified in the article. Not all the factors influence the students to immigrate to better developed countries, rather some force them to move back to their native countries as well, which presents the situation in which such expatriates leave pre-maturely and the recruiting agencies are left utterly paralyzed as a consequence. The factors forcing the students to engage in global movements are termed as push factors, while those making expatriates move back to their native countries are called pull factors. In addition to these personal factors, social and cultural factors also hugely influence many students’ decisions about making global movements. Socialization processes prove to produce a huge impact, which compel the students to encounter cross-cultural differences (Osland & Bird, cited in Baruch et al., 2007, p. 100). The adjustment process also influences expatriates in making decision about either staying in or leaving the host country. Cultural shock and the nature of university environment form two basic elements of that adjustment process which can be directly controlled by administration of the foreign universities (Lee & Mauer, cited in Baruch et al., 2007, p. 101). As mentioned before and identified in the article, the decision-making process of foreign students is heavily affected by the adjustment factor. In terms of adjustment, the research conducted by the authors shows that performance is directly affected by the rate at which a person develops adjustment with the cross-cultural and societal differences. The research shows that the decision to stay in the host country and adjust in it also depends on the strength of the bond created with the university and organizational support in addition to the support received by the fellow students of the host country, while if they receive greater level of support from their friends in the home country, they will feel more inclined to return and leave work pre-maturely (Baruch et al., 2007, p. 102). The research done on students and personal interviews conducted with them by the authors reveal that family ties also play a profoundly vital role in influencing one to return to his/her home country after completing studies since most of the affluent families have only two children at most and so the parents compel their children to come home right after completion of studies for emotional or financial support. “Instead of staying abroad after finishing studies, more Chinese students choose to come back after graduation” (Jia, 2011). So, the research predicts that if they have weak social bonds in the host country, they will be less likely to stay there after their studies complete and vice versa. The position of labor markets also affects the decisions made by expatriates in either a positive or negative manner. It is predicted in the article that a weak labor market in the home country and a solid and secure labor market in the host country will make the foreign students stay in the host country after their studies complete. The research contained in the article in terms of career perception of the students predicts that “high level of Protean Career approach will be associated with higher tendency to stay in the host country” (Baruch et al., 2007, p. 103). Protean career refers to students believing that they are the ones alone who should be monitoring their careers, which ultimately reduces their tendency to be influenced by pressures like showing loyalty to their home countries. Such a positive protean career approach forms the backbone of international assignments (Tung, cited in Baruch et al., 2007, p. 103). The article shows that the authors tested their above mentioned predictions through a questionnaire survey administered to the business management students studying in the UK and USA universities. For carrying out this study on students belonging from different countries, both conventional and widely-used measures were used. Responses options ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Student’s adjustment was tested by observing the overall rate of support received by them from universities and society along with scrutinizing strength of the bonds they shared with their friends in the host country. Career perspectives were tested by authors by examining what type of career approach was more fervently pursued by the students, either the traditional one or the more modern protean career approach and the rates of both types of career approaches were measured against each other. The influence produced by the factor of labor market was tested by asking the students themselves about the position of job markets both in UK/USA and their home countries. The validity of the fact that employment packages tend to be really huge for foreign students returning to their home countries was also tested by asking the students about this. Analysis: This much remains clear from the above discussion that this article revolves around the probability of the international students’ inclination to stay and work abroad even after completion of their studies. One of the most riveting and beneficial features of this articulate article is that it lays huge stress on identifying the influences of cross-cultural differences produced on students which holds primary importance for all types of businesses, once those students join different organizations abroad. The pressure of increased competitiveness presently presents the need to identify cross-cultural differences so that cross-cultural management aspects of different businesses could be improved. In my opinion, the research done by authors in this article helps in making the public able to judge the probability of the foreign students’ decisions to either stay or leave and if they will be able to complete international assignments given to them in a professional way or not. It is also identified that it is the job of the managers to handle such cross-cultural differences in a positive way so that no employee would think about retuning to his/her native country leaving many tasks unaddressed and unfinished. The aim of the authors’ research in this article is to make the public realize the fact that before assigning international assignments to foreigners, the recruiting agencies should properly analyze their inclination regarding if they have adjusted within the host country or they appear to be uncomfortable and can make sudden decision to leave for their home countries at any moment. The authors managed in finding out through their research work that perception of features like cultural differences, social ties, and labor markets vary from person to person as does the duration of adjustment process which depends on the expatriates themselves. Such features influence the expatriates to stay in or leave the foreign countries. Fast adjustment with the culture and society of the foreign country is critically important for the expatriates in order to run the international management smoothly. Moreover, family pressures back at home to transform back into the person the student was before going abroad also restricts many from going back and staying abroad after studies complete. “Many returnees describe feelings of alienation, and some say they feel pressure from family and friends to revert back to the person they were before study abroad” (Thebodo, 2011). Considering the logical and weighty facts presented on the basis of authentic research study done on expatriates working in UK and USA, this article appears to be quite relevant and even beneficial for nearly everyone connected to the business world. Still, this article appears to be reduced to being country-specific, while not going into much detail about the psychological perspectives which influence the cross-cultural management issues. Identifying cross-cultural differences should be very important for the expatriates since the importance of cultural values in cognitive processing, especially for addressing complex problem solving strategies, can never be denied (Guss, 2011). The article is not seen laying special focus on discussing the interactions between people belonging from different cultural backgrounds while working for the same organization by observing the psychological effects of culture. How cultural diversity influences the workers’ decisions to stay or leave and how it should be monitored when recruiting expatriates is also not much discussed. References: Baruch, Y, Budhwar, PS, & Khatri, N 2007, Brain drain: Inclination to stay abroad after studies, Journal of World Business, vol. 42, pp. 99-112. BBC News 2001, ‘Brain drain costs Asia billions’, bbc.co.uk, viewed 23 November 2011, < http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1432702.stm> Black, JS & Porter, LW 1991, Managerial Behaviors and Job Performance: A Successful Manager in Los Angeles May Not Succeed in Hong Kong, Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 22, pp. 99-113. Guss, DC 2011, Fire and Ice: Testing a Model on Culture and Complex Problem Solving, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, vol. 42, pp. 1279-1298. Hofstede, G 2009, What are the practical applications for Geert Hofstede’s research on cultural differences?, viewed 26 November 2011, Jia, C 2011, ‘Students go overseas in record numbers’, CHINADAILY USA, viewed 23 November 2011, < http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-04/18/content_12342187.htm> Osland, JS & Bird, A 2000, Beyond sophisticated stereotyping: Cultural sensemaking in context, Academy of Management Executive, vol. 14, pp. 65-77. Thebodo, SW 2011, Surviving Cross-Cultural Re-entry, viewed 23 November 2011, < http://www.abroadview.org/return/thebodo.htm> Read More