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- Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
- Sprache: Englisch
Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2003 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,2 (A+), University of Applied Sciences Aalen (Business), course: Business English, language: English, abstract: This paper deals with the process of foreign assignments within the scope of IHRM. It will give a broad overview of the phases seen from the angle of reducing expatriate failure rates. The expatriation process can be divided into the following stages: personnel recruitment and selection, contractual conditions, preparation and support, as well as repatriation. An interview with a MNC compares theory and practice and points out possible reasons for failure.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2004
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Abbreviations
Col. Column e.g. exempli gratia HCN Home Country National HR Human Resource i.e. id est (that is) IHRM International Human Resource Management JC Japanese Company MNC Multinational Company PCN Parent Country National TCN Third Country National
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Abstract
This paper deals with the process of foreign assignments within the scope of IHRM. It will give a broad overview of the phases seen from the angle of reducing expatriate failure rates. The expatriation process can be divided into the following stages: personnel recruitment and selection, contractual conditions, preparation and support, as well as repatriation. An interview with a MNC compares theory and practice and points out possible reasons for failure.
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1. Introduction
Strategically designed international assignments can enhance the global competitiveness of firms by increasing coordination and control across units, transferring innovations across geographical boundaries, and developing future executives with global perspectives and local market responsiveness. To obtain these strategic results, firms are increasing the number of managers sent on international assignments as expatriates (Selmer, 1995). Although companies spend a significant amount of money on the expatriates and select the best people for their assignments, success is far from guaranteed. Studies conducted on US based companies have shown that: on average, 20% of expatriates return before the scheduled end of their assignments (Ioannou, 1994). Up to 50% of expatriates who remain in their positions until the end of their assignments operate on a low level of effectiveness (Black, Mendenhall, 1990). The statistics indicate that less than 40% of expatriates succeed in their mission abroad. A company invests 3 to 4 times a manager’s salary paid in Germany when sending him abroad. With a probability of success below 40% it is clear that expatriate assignments are a financial risk. Therefore, it is of major importance to cover the general activities for the sojourn abroad beforehand (selection, contractual conditions and preparation), the support during the longterm assignment, as well as a dynamic reintegration planning, to avoid failures. The expatriation process begins with the questions of who should be recruited and how can be assured that the best person possible will be selected to avoid mistakes already in the beginning.
Recruiting personnel externally is often used when no suitable candidate can be found within the company. But it often brings along the risk of insufficient commitment or corporate identity of the candidate (Scherm, 1999). The selection function provides the possibility to sort out the candidates. A detailed job
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description and person specification build the basis for a successful evaluation of the candidate’s required characteristics and qualifications. The most widespread general requirements for expatriates are professional competence, personal attributes, cultural open-mindedness and family-related criteria (Wagner, Zander, Hauke, 1992). The last mentioned criterion does not only refer to the recruitment, but to every other stage of the process as well. For closing the recruitment phase the contractual conditions have to be clarified. Within an employment abroad questions in accordance with industrial law represent an important problem area in forming contractual conditions that should not be neglected. The fundamental legal difficulty lies in the fact that an employee of a MNC is crossing the boarders of a territorial area in which one national system of laws is operative to work within another national system of laws (Oechsler, 2000). The finding of a proper compensation as part of the contractual conditions plays an important role within the personnel management’s fields of functions. Several models for adopting an international remuneration policy are thinkable which should go hand in hand with the company’s strategic corporate goals. With incentives a major possibility is given to control employees’ readiness for deployment and performance (Weber, Festing, Dowling, Schuler, 2001). To prepare the chosen candidate adequately for his new environment, training is of primary importance. Projects carried out abroad create special problems with managers in dealing with multiethnic workforces, operating with social, linguistic, political, economic and religious trades of the host country. Therefore, expatriates must have a broader and deeper training than that is required to perform the similar works in the familiar home environment (Choudhury, 2001). Literature indicates that socio - cultural mishaps affect the productivity of international projects (Datfar, Gustavsson, 1993). To make expatriates adjust more quickly to their host environment, to be more satisfied and effective and to protect them from premature return, various kinds of trainings can be made available to them.
