1. Resourcing in a Global Economy
Dr Cindy Wang-Cowham

2. Outline Global managers and expatriate managers
International Career Choice
Recruitment and selection: systems, purposes, challenges and criteria
The costs of expatriation and implications of expatriate failure

3. Global Managers and Expatriate Managers
Expatriate managers refer to people who work away from their home countries are assigned to work in the subsidiaries of MNCs or other types of international organisations.
Expatriate managers sometimes are referred as global managers or international managers (Brewster et al 2008)
MNCs such as HSBC have international managers programme to meet the demand of its business expansion.

4. Global Managers and Expatriate Managers
We also observe that there are different types of International assignments appointed and in various pattern and format.
Short-term assignment
Self-initiate assignment
Virtual assignment
Long-term assignment

5. Types of International Employees
Short-term Assignees – developing a specific task or project skills/technologies transfer, problem solving, management control/development
Flexpatriates – visiting foreign markets and/or clients, team supervising skills, technical transfer, problem solving
International Business Travellers – visiting foreign markets and/or clients, supervising units and/or projects, negotiation, meeting conferences
Global Virtual Team Members – flexibility of schedule
Source: Ozbilgin et al (2014) International Human Resource Management

6. Reading Activities
Read the article, The Expatriate Dilemma, and a short case on A Career in International Business, identify positives and negatives for expatriates to take on international assignments?

7. A Career as Expatriate Manager
Positives
international experience
learn a new language
extend network
career advancement
financial reward
travel
adaptive
wider career choices
live in a different cultural environment
Negatives
family
spouse career
children (+ and -)
travel
hardship
international exposure
adaptive
learn a new language
live in a different cultural environment

8. Recruitment and Selection
Both processes follow on logically from HR planning
The specifics differ vis-a-vis the domestic context
Distinguish between the definitions of applicants and candidates

9. Recruitment
Defined: including defining and searching for, attracting, obtaining potential job applicants of sufficient numbers and quality, to make an appropriate choice.
Information about potential candidates is already held in the organisation
Identified as
having potential
having prior international experience
This may require use of systematic HRIS
understanding where the knowledge lies within the organisation
People as ‘human capital’ or ‘assets’

10. Selection
Defined: the process of gathering information on candidates to evaluate and decide who should be employed in a given position, or deployed to the particular international assignment.
Selection criteria
Personal
performative
potential for successful international career
cultural sensitivity
Others?
Voluntary individuals
to align international assignments to career advancement/development

11. Recruitment Purposes Determine staffing needs (present & future)
Job analysis
HR planning
Increase the pool of applicants at minimum cost
Increase the success rate of the (subsequent) selection process:
Fewer will turnout to be over or under-qualified

12. Recruitment Purposes Increase the probability of subsequent retention
Encourage self-selection by means of a realistic job preview
Meet responsibilities, and legal and social obligations
Increase organisational and individual effectiveness
Evaluate the effectiveness of different labour pools.

13. Selection Purposes A linked but separate practice after recruitment
Identify the most suitable person from a pool of applicants
Obtain appropriate info to enable high-quality decisions
Jobs
Individuals
organisations
Transform information into a prediction about future behaviour
Ensure cost-benefit for the financial investment
Evaluate, hire and place job applicants in the best interests of organisation and individual

14. Figure 21 Recruitment Practices for Managers in Six Countries
Source Cranet data (2010), cited in Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon & Houldsworth (2011)

15. Figure 22 Selection Practices for Managers in Six Countries
Source Cranet data (2010), cited in Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon & Houldsworth (2011)

16. Recruitment Challenge
in establishing new international operations
Decisions as to best mix of local recruitment
How to use local job centres and local networks
Assess whether regionalised funding is available from government
Understand general employment law (implications and ramifications)
Establishment of legal entities to transfer employees
Understand specific legal frameworks
payroll details, salary
reward factors, e.g.
contractual benefits or the value of extra work hours
contractual agreement compliance
disciplinary arrangements
both in PCN and HCN, esp. specific sectors in PCN

17. Key Points - cultural and institutional context on recruitment and selection
Recruitment and selection (R&S) differences VS HRM policies and practices
Many R&S systems’ differences occur within countries
national cultures and institutions
people within particular cultures VS laws and institutional arrangements
Planning staffing needs VS the context of labour market
Spending on R&S VS national laws and tax regimes
Specific challenges and issues of R&S in each major region
Good practice in HRM differ from country to country

18. Key Points - cultural and institutional context on recruitment and selection
R&S systems are the first to have to cope with this new context.
In some sectors, labour markets are becoming more global
creating both new resourcing strategies
a need for many domestic organisations to become skilled in overseas recruitment
International graduate programmes ≠ ‘quick fix’
Cross-national advertising VS cultural appropriateness of the techniques and media used.
e-enablement of recruitment
Assessment centres
an effective tool for international resourcing
require careful modification for an international setting
an increase in cross-cultural assessment based on psychological testing.

19. Selection Criteria - Individual
Technical ability
though past performance may have little bearing on future performance
Cross-cultural suitability
empathy, diplomacy, language ability, emotional stability
Family requirements

20. Selection Criteria - Situational
Host country legislation
eg. EU Social Charter allows for free movement
HC context
ability to select females for Mid-east
some Asian postings – cultural, religious and political factors
MNE requirements:
relative mix of types of PCNs, HCNs etc
mode of operation
knowledge transfer required
language requirement
What is the most ‘widely’ spoken language?

21. Other Considerations Dual career couples Female expatriates
Increased incidence is posing a threat for employees and organisations
Implications for a diminishing selection pool
Provision of support facilities and family-friendly policies, e.g. job-hunting, intra-company employment, etc.
Female expatriates
Increasingly
Barriers remain within the organisation though
Acceptability in foreign destinations
The ‘trailing’ spouse
Traditional female
The trailing male spouse is becoming more evident

22. Activity
Read the case, Tel-Comm-Tek (TCT), and discuss in group the following:
Which candidate should the committee nominate for the assignment if TCT follows an ethnocentric approach to staffing? A polycentric approach to staffing? Which approach do you think makes the best sense for TCT? Why?
What challenges might each candidate encounter in the position?
How might TCT go about minimizing the challenges facing each candidate?
Should all candidates receive the same compensation package? If not, what factors should influence each package?
What recommendation can you offer to help a company facing this sort of decision that will enable it to balance professional and personal characteristics of the various candidates?

23. Expatriate Failure
Definition: premature return of an expatriate, ie return before completion of assignment
Underperformance
irrespective of time span
having failed to achieve the pre-set objectives
Retention failure upon assignment completion
the organization’s failure to retain (someone who might in fact have been quite successful)
Diagnosing failure
a selection error
a defective policy
poor training and preparation
personal adaptability problems
inability to deal with culture shock
The short and long term consequences
the individual
the organisation

24. U-curve of cross-cultural adjustment
Source: Lysgaard, 1955; Black and Mendenhall, 1990; Usunier, 1998; Liu and Lee, 2008)

25. Costs of failure Direct costs:
Financial costs of relocation, repatriation, salary, training
Expatriation financial costs ≤ 3* domestic costs
Costs run into billions within the context of international assignments globally. How can they be recouped, if at all?
Indirect costs (intangible but more important)
loss of goodwill in relations with HCN and host-government officials and clients
loss of market share, damaged reputation
The initial investment in time, resources, to build a relationship
Costs to the individual (failure is never easy)
Self-esteem, self-confidence, prestige, motivation and morale
Reluctance to take on future assignments for which one may be qualified
Effects on family

26. Factors affecting performance
Problems in adapting to a foreign culture
for the individual, spouse or both, or even children.
the issue of spouse remaining behind for career or personal reasons, eg. Japan: ‘tanshin funin’, i.e. bachelors-in-exile (Nakadaira et al 2006)
The process of adjustment
‘Honeymoon’ to ‘mastery’: ‘tourist’ →‘crisis’ →‘pulling up’ →‘adjustment’; or various combinations
organisational support is a crucial aspect
Length of assignment
full capacity tends to manifest itself into the 3rdyear
What does this say about shorter-term assignments?

27. Factors affecting performance
Willingness to move
spouse willingness and associated attitudes towards the move
what support is available?
Will providing a simple info-pack and some websites do?
Work-related factors
PCNs commitment to the local company
relations with HCNs etc
job autonomy, perceived support from HQ and locally
This is where the issue of expat-locals relations also becomes critical.

28. Success Factors Table: The Important Factors for Expatriate Success
I. Pre-departure, prior to the assignment
Choose employee wants to relocate to become expatriate
Keep policy simple and consistent and transparent
Give expatriate continuous support
Select the best expatriate
Give expatriate a realistic orientation
Give expatriate a pre-assignment trip
Give expatriate a continuous training programme
II. During Assignment
Knowledge of local language is a big bonus
Beware expatriate feeling homesick and burn out
Bring expatriate and local staff closer
III. After the assignment, Repatriation
Value international experience greatly
Discuss and manage career expectation of repatriates
As a summary note, here I present you a table highlight some of the success factors during the three assignment stages.
BUSI42652 HRMIO

29. References
Black, J.S. and Mendenhall, M. (1990) Cross-cultural training effectiveness: a review and a theoretical framework for future research, Academy of Management Review, 15(1): Brewster, C., Sparrow, P., Vernon, G. and Houldsworth E. (2011) International Human Resource Management, 3rd Ed., Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: London. Ching-Hsiang Liu, Hung-Wen Lee, (2008) A proposed model of expatriates in multinational corporations, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 15(2):176 – 193. Gregersen, H.B., Hite, J.M., and Black, J.S. (1996) Expatriate performance appraisal in US multinational firms. Journal of International Studies, 27(4), Harvey, M. and Moeller M. (2009) Expatriate Managers: a historical review. International Journal of Management Review, 11(3), Harzing, A-W and Pinnington, A.H. (2011) International Human Resource Management. 3rd Ed. London: Sage. Lysgaard, S. (1955) Adjustment in a foreign society: Norwegian Fulbright grantees visiting the United States, International Social Science Bulletin, Vol. 7, pp Nakadaira, H., Yamamoto, M. and Matsubara, T. (2006) Mental and physical effects of Tanshin funin, posting without family, on married male workers in Japan, Journal of Occupational Health, 48(2): Usunier, J. (1998) Oral pleasure and expatriate satisfaction: an empirical approach, International Business Review, Vol. 7, pp Armstrong, M. (2012) Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, London: KoganPage. Chapter 27.