Too Many U.S. Expatriate Managers Fail

663 Words2 Pages

It’s been shown that U.S expatriate managers have had a high rise in failure in their career. Therefore the foreign careers of U.S expatriate managers end up quickly or they are found to be ineffective by their seniors. The major factors contributing to the failure of U.S expatriate managers include family stress, emotional immaturity, cultural inflexibility, over work and physical breakdown. Let’s discuss the reasons of family stress and cultural inflexibility. Stress experienced within family has been perceived as a factor that leads to the failure of an expatriate manager. It takes a bit of time for managers and their families to adjust with their new lifestyles. Usually managers will be challenged and excited to begin their careers in another country. They will be aware of the fact that they need to spend more time on their work until they are accustomed to the new culture and atmosphere. Soon, they will realize that their responsibilities are a little harder than those they previously handed. In their effort to adjust with the new culture and extensive responsibilities, they feel mostly under pressure and tend to spend more time in workplaces to sort out things at the earliest. Consequently, their family life suffers and their spouses also will be experiencing a culture shock in the new country. An unhappy spouse will worsen the energy level of the already stressed expatriate manager. Accordingly, most expatriate postings are either terminated or their results get impaired in foreign countries. Cultural Inflexibility is another important factor that causes failure of expatriate managers. To be successful in a new workplace in a foreign country, the mangers need to be flexible to the cultural differences experienced there. It... ... middle of paper ... ... foreign countries. Cross-cultural training includes different organized experience planned for departing managers. Cross-cultural training helps managers to adjust with a foreign culture. Different organizations engage in different types of cross cultural training for their managers. The major difference between various programs is in the time spent and the expenses incurred. Depending on these two factors they can be easiest, moderate difficult or most difficult. In the easiest type of cross cultural training, the training is limited to informational materials such as books, lectures or Internet searches. Moderate difficult type involves experimental training and the most difficult type of cross-cultural training is a combination of the preceding methods and experimental training including language instruction and field experience in the target foreign culture.

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