Why International Assignments Fail
International assignments are the hub of international HR which makes the fact that they often fail a great concern to many corporations who make big investments in overseas assignments. As more U.S. companies expand their business overseas, the need to send employees on international assignments will increase, making the process of discovering the reasons for these failures increasingly important. Expatriate employees, meaning employees that are non-citizens of the country in which they are working, often find that unfamiliar surroundings and a new job can be particularly challenging, while family pressures also increase as everyone makes cultural adjustments. Another reason for these failures include lack of preparation from the employer. In a 2003 study of more than 700 expatriate workers around the world, nearly forty percent felt their employers did not do an adequate job preparing them for their international assignment.
One of the major steps an employer can take to reduce the uneasiness of going abroad is in selecting the right candidate for the assignment. Just having technical expertise or management skills does not make an employee right for international assignments. More important to this particular kind of job is an individual’s inherent cultural sensitivity, flexibility, adaptability, and interpersonal communication skills. Regardless of the method, the candidate selection process is the first critical step in an emp...
Contradiction in Another Country Another Country contradicts the age-old principle that the United States is a safeground for all people. James Baldwin compares living the life of a homosexual in Paris to living the life of a homosexual in the United States. The views of the French are much more liberal than the conservative views of the Americans. The life that Eric, the homosexual character in Baldwin's novel, leads in Paris is socially acceptable. Baldwin also depicts France as a haven for interracial relationships.
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Wood, E (2010, December). Enhancing Performance by Reducing Uncertainty in Expatriate Assignments. Retrieved from http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/rgbr/vol4iss1/RGBRVol4Iss1Art3.pdf
While there are many various global issues that affect the International Human Resource Management to run efficiently, there are two key concepts that play a major role in understanding how to approach them with cohesive and a well coherent strategy; they are the International Human Recourse Management Strategy and Understanding the Cultural Environment. In the International Resource Management strategy, many companies will do their research in finding companies that offer the following:
Companies should ensure that they are selecting employees with the necessary skills needed but also who can adapt well to living and working abroad. The use of global talent profiles can help identify individuals that have an interest in a global assignment and also their potential for the assignment. Global talent reviews can be used to classify individuals into talent groups and these classifications guide the succession planning for critical positions around the world (Ruddy & Anand, 2010). Top candidates are identified for each position and considered when a global position becomes available. Candidates can also be assessed in project assignments to determine if they are prepared for an assignment abroad.
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In the article “An (ESL) Student’s Perspective on Internationalizing the Canadian Campus” by Stephanie Hobbis (2013), the author experienced the problems caused by ESL students in Canadian universities’ class as an ESL student, and now strongly criticize the Friesen’s negative perspective about internationalizing in the Canadian campus as a current ESL instructor. Her main perspective is that ESL students could do better jobs in an academic environment than native students, and I fully agree with this. In fact, ESL students have greater advantages than native speakers because most of ESL students are trained on academic skills like research paper and essay writing which local students did not, before get into undergraduate classes. We have
International businesses are also finding new ways of increasing diversity abroad. Instead of using expatriate employees as management, they are starting to hire locals. Companies that operate abroad are realizing that using expatriate employees is not a permanent solution. They are often expensive, and are not capable of translating their skills into the new environment. In a company that operates globally, it is important that the company knows how to relate to the local markets, and a great way to do this is by hiring local talent. Hiring locally is cheaper, there is not a language barrier, and they are accustomed to the business environment in the area(5). They can also help the business by providing a new perspective into international markets, and offer ways that the company can improve their diversity abroa...
“In 2006 to 2007, according to the data compiled by the Institute of International Education, 582,984 students from all over the world were enrolled in American colleges and universities in a wide range of fields” (Carter, Paragraph 2, 2008). The United States has the highest number of students who are coming to study abroad than any other countries. Each year, the number of international students coming to the United States to obtain degrees is increasing by thousands, and home countries of these students are primarily India, China and Korea, all located in the whole different continent. But what are the motives of students who are crossing the sea to study? Their goal of studying abroad is to experience diversity and to adapt attitudes and perspectives that are helpful in understanding a new culture. It may seem nice to go to a different continent, and hear and see new things; however, students find that achieving their goal is an oppressive process. Due to the distinct cultural differences between the continents, most international students face problems in communication, academic and financial pressure, and cultural adjustment while studying abroad.
A major challenge of doing business internationally is to adapt effectively to different culture. Such adaptation requires an understanding of cultural diversity, perceptions, stereotypes, and values (Hodgett &Luthans, 2005). Doing business overseas has its challenges as well as it rewards.
In today's global business environment, managing diversity in human resources has become a very important and crucial issue. Human resources management has a lot to deal with managing workers/employees from different countries and nationalities. Managing multinational human resources becomes an issue not only in the multinational corporations, having their offices or plants in different countries, but also in the domestic companies, with domestic workforce becoming more and more diverse each day. Creating an HR that has the ability to recruit and select the right people and the ability to effectively socialize and train employees will allow multinational companies to excel in all business aspects.
International mobility is a term that has been adopted by LVMH to regard moving their employees on international duty (Mamende, 2008). This is however based on the how the same cannot be impended by other factors. The impediments can either be personal or systematic. While the former involves issues like physical and psychological ability of the person who intends to be mobilized, the latter is in regards to issues like finances, political atmosphere, laws, amongst others. It has been credited for being a steering factor towards innovation and creativity.
High turnover rate of expatriate: expatriate managers are frustrated with the performance and practices of local employees. And they do not have enough international experience and cross-cultural communication and sensitivity training.
In the present day organisations are expanding their operations to different countries of the world. They therefore need people to work there “expatriates”. Once the international assignment is completed, the expatriates have got to go back home, the process of repatriation begins. Even though most expatriates and managers presuppose that the repatriation process will be easy seeing as the employee is just returning home, research has substantiated that this is a tricky process. There is indication that it could be more difficult to adjust to the home environment as opposed to adjusting to life in a foreign nation. Therefore, repatriation process ought to be considered keenly (Baruch et al 2002).
Globalization is a term that is difficult to define, as it covers many broad topics in the global arena. However, it can typically be attributed to the advancement of economic, social, and cultural interactions among the companies, citizens, organizations, and governments of nations; globalization also focuses on the interactions and integration of countries (The Levin Institute 2012). Many in the Western world promote globalization as a positive concept that allows growth and participation in a global community. Conversely, the negative aspects rarely receive the same level of attention. Globalization appears to be advantageous for the privileged few, but the benefits are unevenly distributed. For example, the three richest people in the world possess assets that exceed the Gross National Product of all of the least developed countries and their 600 million citizens combined (Shawki and D’Amato 2000). Although globalization can provide positive results to some, it can also be a high price to pay for others. Furthermore, for all of those who profit or advance from the actions related to globalization, there are countless others who endure severe adverse effects.