Expatriate Response Paper

“It has become a truism to state that we now live in a global economy and participate in a global marketplace. As transportation and telecommunication systems improve, our world becomes ever more connected in economic, political, organizational, and personal terms”. (Miller, 2015) Due to the globalization of our economy the need for employees who know how a business operates to move resources such as management talent to an emerging market has increased. When an employee accepts an assignment outside of their country of origin they are referred to as an “Expatriate”. Expatriate assignments can be challenging to the employee, family, co-workers and management. These assignments can also be costly endeavors for corporations. The reason most

This is after you have accepted the assignment but have not yet moved. This is typically the time where companies will have an expatriate go through cross cultural training to learn about their destination country. The training can vary depending on the benefits provided. For some companies this can be a two to three day program where the expatriate goes to a specialist and learns all of the cultural differences between their home and host countries. Another type of cross cultural training could be delivered online with the expatriate self-learning through various links provided. This is typically the approach most companies use because it is cost effective. The communication of the cultural differences can aid the expatriate during their first few interactions with those in the host

“Networking has become an integral part of the human condition. It helps us to feel like we belong and lets us know that there are others going through the same things that we are. Grouping together helps to ease anxiety and lets us ask questions in a “safe” environment that we do not feel silly or stupid for asking.” (Seskey, 2011) “There are some companies that are actively creating strategies to leverage social media to help foster employees’ assimilation into new countries, cultures, and communities. They have embraced this new media and integrated the different platforms into their global branding and mobility strategies, from Facebook to LinkedIn, and from Twitter to Googe+.”(Heineck, 2011) With the loss of the Baby Boomer generation and the Millennial generation entering the workforce the shift from traditional communication has begun. It was only a few years ago that companies discouraged workers from using social media sites while working. In today’s workplace it is known that a break can be used to catch up with friends via social media or to search blogs for information on how to perform a