chapter 12-14
Motivation Across Cultures
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Objectives
1. DEFINE motivation, and explain it as a
psychological process.
2. EXAMINE the hierarchy-of-needs, twofactor, and achievement motivation
theories, and assess their value to
international human resource
management
12-2
Motivation Across Cultures
3. DISCUSS how an understanding of employee
satisfaction can be useful in human resource
management throughout the world.
4. EXAMINE the value of process theories in motivating
employees worldwide.
5. RELATE the importance of job design, work
centrality, and rewards to understanding how to
motivate employees in an international context.
12-3
The Nature of Motivation
• Motivation is a psychological process
through which unsatisfied wants or
needs lead to drives that are aimed at
goals or incentives.
12-4
Motivation’s Two
Underlying Assumptions
1. The Universalist Assumption:
– Motivation process is universal; all people
are motivated to pursue goals they value
• Process is universal
• Culture influences specific content and
goals pursued
• Motivation differs across cultures
12-5
Motivation’s Two
Underlying Assumptions
2. The Assumption of Content and
Process
Content Theories of Motivation:
Theories that explain work motivation in
terms of what arouses, energizes, or
initiates employee behavior.
Process Theories of Motivation:
Theories that explain work motivation by
how employee behavior is initiated,
redirected, and halted
12-6
Theory X
• Management assumes employees are
inherently lazy and will avoid work if they
can
• Workers inherently dislike work. Because of
this, workers need to be closely supervised
and comprehensive systems of controls
developed.
12-7
Theory X
• The Theory X manager:
– tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she
–
–
–
–
thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves.
Usually feel the sole purpose of the employees interest in the job is money.
They will blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether
it may be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame.
cannot trust any employee, and they reveal this to their support staff via their
communications constantly.
can be said to be an impediment to employee morale and productivity.
Managers that subscribe to Theory X, tend to take a rather pessimistic view of
their employees.
believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would
rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work
and energize the employee.
• The result of this line of thought is that Theory X managers naturally adopt
a more authoritarian style based on the threat of punishment.
• One major flaw of this management style is it is much more likely to cause
Diseconomies of Scale in large businesses.
12-8
Theory Y
• management assumes employees may be
ambitious, self-motivated, anxious to accept greater
responsibility, and exercise self-control, selfdirection, autonomy and empowerment.
• It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and
physical work duties.
• It is also believed that if given the chance
employees have the desire to be creative and
forward thinking in the workplace.
• There is a chance for greater productivity by giving
employees the freedom to perform at the best of
their abilities without being bogged down by rules.
12-9
Theory Y
• Theory Y manager:
– believes that, given the right conditions, most people will
want to do well at work and that there is a pool of unused
creativity in the workforce.
– They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a
strong motivation in and of itself.
– Will try to remove the barriers that prevent workers from
fully actualizing themselves .
• McGregor simply argues for managers to be open to a more
positive view of workers and the possibilities that this
creates.
• Theory Z:
• A manager who believes that workers seek
opportunities to participate in management and are
motivated by teamwork and responsibility sharing.
12-10
Three Content Theories
1. Maslow’s theory
•
Rests on a number of assumptions:
• Lower-level needs must be satisfied
before higher-level needs become
motivators
• A need that is satisfied no longer
motivates
• More ways to satisfy higher-level than
there are ways to satisfy lower-level
needs
12-11
MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
12-12
Maslow’s Theory of Motivation
12-13
Maslow’s Motivation Theory
• International findings:
– Haire study indicated all needs important to
respondents across cultures
• International managers (not rank and file
employees) indicated upper-level needs of
particular importance to them
• Findings for select country clusters (Latin
Europe, U.S./U.K., Nordic Europe) indicated
autonomy and self-actualization were most
important and least satisfied needs for
respondents
12-14
Maslow’s Motivation Theory:
international Evidence
• Another study of East Asian managers in eight
countries found autonomy and selfactualization in most cases ranked high
• Some researchers have suggested
modification of Maslow’s Western-oriented
hierarchy by re-ranking needs.
• Asian culture emphasizes needs of society:
– Chinese hierarchy of needs might have four levels
ranked from lowest to highest: Belonging (social);
Physiological; Safety; Self-actualization (in service
of society)
12-15
Across Country Comparison
12-16
Goals Ranked by Occupation
12-17
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
of Motivation
• A theory that identifies two sets of factors that
influence job satisfaction:
– Motivators: Job content factors such as
achievement, recognition, responsibility,
advancement, and the work itself. Only when
motivators are present will there be satisfaction.
– Hygiene Factors: Job-context factors such as
salary, interpersonal relations, technical supervision,
working conditions, and company policies and
administration. If hygiene factors aren’t taken care
of there will be dissatisfaction.
12-18
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
12-19
Herzberg vs. Maslow:
12-20
Herzberg’s Theory
Generalized to International Context
• Research tends to support Herzberg’s
theory
• Hines: 218 middle managers and 196
salaried employees in New Zealand;
found validity across occupational levels
• Similar study conducted among 178
Greek managers; overall theory held true
12-21
Herzberg’s Motivation Factors
in Zambia
12-22
Herzberg’s Theory in
Selected Countries
12-23
Cross-Cultural Comparison
12-24
Achievement Motivation Theory
• Profile of high achievers:
– They like situations in which they take
personal responsibility for finding solutions
to problems
– Tend to be moderate risk-takers rather than
high or low risk-takers
– Want concrete feedback on performance
– Often tend to be loners and not team
players
12-25
Need for Achievement Theory
• How to Develop High Need for Achievement:
– Obtain feedback on performance and use
information to channel efforts into areas where
success is likely
– Emulate people who are successful achievers
– Develop internal desire for success and challenges
– Daydream in positive terms by picturing self as
successful in pursuit of important objectives
12-26
Achievement Motivation:
international Findings
• Polish industrialists were high achievers
scoring 6.58 (U.S. managers’ scored an
average 6.74)
• Some studies did not find high need for
achievement in Central European
countries (average score for Czech
managers was 3.32 – considerably lower
than for U.S.)
12-27
Country Comparisons
12-28
Achievement Motivation
International Findings (continued)
• Achievement motivation theory must be
modified to meet specific needs of local
culture
– Culture of many countries doesn’t support
high achievement
– Anglo cultures and those rewarding
entrepreneurial effort do support
achievement motivation and their human
resources should probably be managed
accordingly.
12-29
Process Theories of Motivation
• Equity Theory:
– When people perceive they are treated equitably, it
will have a positive effect on their job satisfaction.
– If people believe they aren’t being treated fairly
(especially relative to relevant others), they will be
dissatisfied leading to negative effect on job
performance; they will attempt to restore equity
– While considerable support for theory in Western
world, support is mixed on an international basis.
12-30
Process Theories of Motivation:
Equity Theory’s International Support
• Israeli kibbutz production unit, everyone treated same
but managers reported lower satisfaction levels than
workers
• Managers perceived contributions greater than other
groups in kibbutz and felt under-compensated for
value and effort.
• Employees in Asia and Middle East often readily
accept inequitable treatment in order to preserve
group harmony
• Japanese men and women (and in Latin America)
typically receive different pay for doing same work;
due to years of cultural conditioning women may not
feel treated inequitably
12-31
Equity Theory in
Western and Eastern Worlds
12-32
Process Theories:
Goal Setting
• Focuses on how individuals set goals and
respond to them and the overall impact of this
process on motivation
• Specific areas given attention in this theory:
–
–
–
–
–
Level of participation in goal setting
Goal difficulty
Goal specificity
Importance of objective
Timely feedback to progress toward goals
12-33
Goal Setting Theory
• Goal setting theory continually refined and
developed over time (unlike some of the other
theories)
• Considerable research evidence showing
employees perform extremely well when
assigned specific and challenging goals in
which they have a hand in setting
• Most studies have been conducted in US; few
in other cultures
12-34
Goal Setting Theory’s
International Evidence
• Norwegian employees shunned participation
and preferred to have union representative
work with management to determine work
goals
• Individual participation in goal setting was
inconsistent with prevailing Norwegian
philosophy of participation through union rep
• In U.S. employee participation in goal setting
is motivational; no value for Norwegian
employees in this study
12-35
Process Theories:
Expectancy Theory
• Process theory that postulates that
motivation is influenced by a person’s
belief that
– Effort will lead to performance
– Performance will lead to specific outcomes
– Outcomes will be of value to the individual
– High performance followed by high rewards
will lead to high satisfaction
12-36
Expectancy Theory:
International Generalizability?
• Eden: some support for it while studying
workers in an Israeli kibbutz
• Matsui and colleagues found it could be
successfully applied in Japan
• Theory could be culture-bound; theory is
based on employees having
considerable control over their
environment (which does not exist in
many cultures)
12-37
Applied Motivation:
Job Design, Work Centrality, Rewards
• Job Design:
– Quality of worklife (QWL) is same throughout world
• Assembly-line workers in Japan work at a rapid pace for
hours and have little control over their work activities
• Assembly-line workers in Sweden work at more relaxed
pace and have great deal of control over work activities
• U.S. assembly-line workers typically work somewhere in
between – at a pace less demanding than Japan’s but
more structured than Sweden’s
• QWL may be directly related to culture of the country
12-38
Quality of Life Across Cultures
12-39
Applied Motivation:
Job Design
• Socio-technical Job Designs:
– Objective of these designs to integrate new
technology into workplace so workers accept and
use it to increase overall productivity
• New technology often requires people learn new
methods and in some cases work faster
• Employee resistance is common
– Some firms introduced sociotechnical designs for
better blending of personnel and technology without
sacrificing efficiency
12-40
Applied Motivation:
Work Centrality
• Importance of work in an individual’s life can
provide important insights into how to motivate
human resources in different cultures
–
–
–
–
Japan has highest level of work centrality
Israel has moderately high levels
U.S. and Belgium have average levels
Netherlands and Germany have moderately low
levels
– Britain has low levels
12-41
Applied Motivation:
Work Centrality and Value of Work
• Work an important part of people’s lives in U.S.
and Japan
• Americans and Japanese work long hours
because cost of living is high
• Most Japanese managers expected salaried
employees who aren’t paid extra to stay late at
work; overtime has become a requirement of
the job
• Recent evidence Japanese workers may do
far less work in business day than outsiders
would suspect
12-42
Applied Motivation:
Work Centrality and Value of Work
• Impact of overwork on physical condition of
Japanese workers
• One-third of working-age population suffers
from chronic fatigue
– Japanese prime minister’s office found majority of
those surveyed complained of
– Chronic exhaustion
– Emotional stress
– Abusive conditions in workplace
• Karoshi (“overwork” or “job burnout”) is now
recognized as a real social problem
12-43
Applied Motivation:
Rewards
• Managers everywhere use rewards to motivate personnel
• Significant differences exist between reward systems that work
best in one country and those that are most effective in another.
• Many cultures base compensation on group membership
• Workers in many countries motivated by things other than
financial rewards
• Financial incentive systems vary in range
– Individual incentive-based pay systems in which workers paid directly
for output
– Systems in which employees earn individual bonuses based on
organizational performance goals
• Use of financial incentives to motivate employees is very common
– In countries with high individualism
– When companies attempt to link compensation to performance
12-44
Leadership Foundations
12-45
Leadership Foundations
• Leadership Behaviors and Styles:
– Authoritarian: use of work-centered
behavior designed to ensure task
accomplishment.
– Paternalistic: use of work-centered
behavior coupled with protective employee
centered concern
– Participative: use of both work or task
centered and people centered approaches
to leading subordinates.
12-46
Leadership in the
International Context
• How leaders in other countries attempt to
direct or influence their subordinates.
• International approaches to leadership
• Research shows there are both similarities
and differences. Most international research
has focused upon Europe, East Asia, the
Middle East, and developing countries such as
India, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
12-47
Leadership in the
International Context
European managers tend to use a participative
approach. Researchers investigated four areas
relevant to leadership:
1. Capacity for leadership and initiative (Theory X vs.
Theory Y)
2. Sharing information and objectives: general vs.
detailed, completed instructions for subordinates.
3. Participation: leadership support for participative
leadership
4. Internal control: leader control through external vs.
internal means
12-48
Leadership in the
International Context
• The role of level, size, and age on European
managers’ attitudes toward leadership:
– Higher level managers tend to express more
democratic values than lower-level managers in
some countries; in other countries the opposite is
true.
– Company size tends to influence the degree of
participative-autocratic attitudes
– Younger managers were more likely to have
democratic values in leadership and initiative,
information sharing and objectives
12-49
Leadership in the
International Context
• European Leadership Practices-- Conclusion
– Most European managers tend to reflect more
participative and democratic attitudes
– Organizational level, company size, and age greatly
influence attitudes toward leadership
– Many young people from the study are now middleaged-European managers who are highly likely to
be more participative than their older counterparts
of the 1960s and 1970s.
12-50
Leadership in the
International Context: Japanese
• Japan is well known for its paternalistic
approach to leadership
• Japanese culture promotes a high safety or
security need, which is present among home
country-based employees as well as MNC
expatriates
• Japanese managers have much greater belief
in the capacity of subordinates for leadership
and initiative than do managers in most other
countries. Only managers in Anglo-American
countries had stronger feelings in this area
12-51
International Leadership:
Japanese vs. American
• Except for internal control, large U.S. firms
tend to be more democratic than small ones;
profile is quite different in Japan.
• Younger U.S. managers express more
democratic attitudes than their older
counterparts on all four leadership dimensions
• Japanese and U.S. managers have different
philosophies of managing people. Ouchi’s
Theory Z combines Japanese and U.S.
assumptions and approaches.
12-52
International Leadership:
Japanese vs. American
• How senior managers process information and
learn:
– Variety amplification: Japanese executives are
taught and tend to use variety amplification-the
creation of uncertainty and the analysis of many
alternatives regarding future action.
– Variety reduction: U.S. executives tend to use
variety reduction—limiting uncertainty and focusing
action on a limited number of alternatives.
12-53
Leadership in China
• The “New Generation” group scored significantly
higher on individualism than did the current and older
generation groups
• They also scored significantly lower than the other two
groups on collectivism and Confucianism
• These values appear to reflect the period of relative
openness and freedom, often called the “Social
Reform Era,” in which these new managers grew up
• They have had greater exposure to Western societal
influences may result in leadership styles similar to
those of Western managers
12-54
Leadership in the Middle East
• There may be much greater similarity between Middle Eastern
leadership styles and those of Western countries
• Western management practices are evident in the Arabian Gulf
region due to close business ties between the West and this oilrich area as well as the increasing educational attainment, often
in Western universities, of Middle Eastern managers
• Organizational culture, level of technology, level of education, and
management responsibility were good predictors of decisionmaking styles in the United Arab Emirates
• There is a tendency toward participative leadership styles among
young Arab middle managers, as well as among highly educated
managers of all ages
12-55
Leadership in Other
Developing Countries
• Managerial attitudes in India are similar to
Anglo-Americans toward capacity for
leadership and initiative, participation, and
internal control, but different in sharing
information and objectives
• Leadership styles in Peru may be much closer
to those in the United States than previously
assumed
• Developing countries may be moving toward a
more participative leadership style
12-56
Recent Leadership Findings:
Transformational, Transactional,
Charismatic
•
•
•
•
•
Transformational leaders:
source of charisma; enjoy admiration of followers
Idealized influence: Enhance pride, loyalty, and
confidence in their people; align followers by providing
common purpose or vision that the latter willingly
accept
Inspirational motivation: Extremely effective in
articulating vision, mission, beliefs in clear-cut ways
Intellectual stimulation: able to get followers to
question old paradigms and accept new views of world
Individualized consideration: able to diagnose and
elevate needs of each follower in way that furthers
each one’s development
12-57
Recent Findings:
Transformational, Transactional,
Charismatic
• Four other types of leadership are less
effective than transformational:
– Contingent Reward: clarifies what needs to be
done; provides psychic and material rewards to
those who comply
– Active Management-by-Exception: monitors
follower performance and takes corrective action
when deviations from standards occur
– Passive Management-by-Exception: intervenes in
situations only when standards are met
– Laissez-Faire: avoids intervening or accepting
responsibility for follower actions
12-58
Review and Discuss
1. Do people throughout the world have needs
similar to those described in Maslow’s need
hierarchy?
2. Is Herzberg’s two-factor theory universally
applicable to human resource management,
or is its value limited to Anglo countries?
3. In managing operations in Europe, which
process theory– equity, goal-setting, or
expectancy – would be of most value to an
American manager? Why?
12-59
Culture Clusters and
Leadership Effectiveness
Important attributes that form a concept of outstanding
business leader
– Anglo mangers identify performance orientation, an
inspirational style, having a vision, being a team
integrator, and being decisive as being the top five
attributes
– Nordic managers ranked these same five attributes as
most important but not in same order
– Rankings of clusters in the North/West European region
were fairly similar
– Substantial differences exist within and between the
South/East European countries, countries from Eastern
Europe, and Russia and Georgia
12-60
Rankings of
Leadership Attributes
12-61
Recent Findings
• Leader Behavior, Leader Effectiveness, and
Leading Teams:
• One of the keys to successful global
leadership is knowing what style and behavior
works best in a given culture and adapting
appropriately
– In affective cultures, such as the United States,
leaders tend to exhibit their emotions
– In neutral cultures, such as Japan and China,
leaders do not tend to show their emotions
12-62
Doing Business in Affective and
Neutral Countries: Leadership Tips
12-63
Cross-Cultural Comparison
12-64
Positive Organizational Scholarship
and Leadership
•
•
•
•
Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS): Method that focuses on
positive outcomes, processes, and attributes of organizations and their
members.
Relates to leadership in that POS recognizes positive potential that
people have within.
Effective leaders seem to live by POS as constantly innovate, create
relationships, strive to bring organization to new heights, and work for
greater global good through self improvement.
Consists of three sub-units:
– Enablers: could be capabilities, processes or methods, and structure
of the environment, which are all external factors.
– Motivations: focus is inward (such as unselfish or altruistic).
– Outcomes or effects: accentuate vitality, meaningfulness, highquality relationships.
12-65
Authentic Leadership
• Authentic leaders defined by an all encompassing
package of traits, styles, behaviors, and credits.
• 4 Distinct Characteristics: (1) do not fake actions; true
to selves, do not adhere to external expectations; (2)
driven from internal forces not external rewards; (3)
unique and guide based on personal beliefs, not
others’ orders; (4) act based on individual passion and
values.
• Authentic leadership similar to traditional leadership,
but has higher awareness; authentic leadership can
create a better understanding within the organization.
12-66
Cross-Cultural Leadership:
Six Insights from the GLOBE Study
• Charismatic/Value Based: captures ability of
leaders to inspire, motivate, encourage high
performance outcomes from others based on
foundation of core values
• Team-oriented: emphasis on effective team
building and implementation of common goal
among team members
• Participative: extent to which leaders involve
others in decisions and decision
implementation
12-67
Cross-Cultural Leadership:
Six Insights from the GLOBE Study
• Humane-oriented: comprises supportive
and considerate leadership
• Autonomous: independent and
individualistic leadership behaviors
• Self-protective: ensures safety and
security of individual and group through
status enhancement and face-saving
12-68
Ethically Responsible
Global Leadership
• Linking leadership and corporate
responsibility through responsible global
leadership
– Values Based Leadership
– Ethical Decision Making
– Quality Stakeholder Relationships
12-69
Selection Criteria for International
Assignments: Managers

Adaptability

Education

Independence


Self-reliance
Knowledge of local
language

Motivation

Support of spouse &
children

Leadership



Physical & emotional
health
Age
Experience
12-70
Selection Criteria for International
Assignments
• Organizations examine a number of characteristics to
determine whether an individual is sufficiently adaptable.
– Work experiences with cultures other than
one’s own
– Previous overseas travel
– Knowledge of foreign languages
– Recent immigration background or heritage
– Ability to integrate with different people,
cultures, and types of business
organizations
12-71
Selection Criteria for International
Assignments
• Those who were best able to deal with their new
situation had developed coping strategies
characterized by socio-cultural and psychological
adjustments including:
– Feeling comfortable that their work challenges can
be met
– Being able to adjust to their new living conditions
– Learning how to interact well with host-country
nationals outside of work
– Feeling reasonably happy and being able to enjoy
day-to-day activities
12-72
Activities That Are Important for
Expatriate Spouses
12-73
Selection Criteria for
International Assignments
• Applicants better prepare themselves for
international assignments by carrying out the
following three phases:
 Phase 1: Focus on self-evaluation and general
awareness include the following questions:
Is an international assignment really for me?
Does my spouse and family support the decision to go
international?
Collect general information on available jobs
12-74
Selection Criteria for International
Assignments (continued)
 Phase 2:
 Conduct a technical skills assessment – Do I have the
technical skills required for the job?
 Start learning the language, customs, and etiquette of the
region you will be posted
 Develop an awareness of the culture and value systems of
the geographic area
 Inform your superior of your interest in the international
assignment
12-75
Selection Criteria for International
Assignments (continued)
 Phase 3:
 Attend training sessions provided by the company
 Confer with colleagues who have had experience in the
assigned region
 Speak with expatriates and foreign nationals about the
assigned country
 Visit the host country with your spouse before the
formally scheduled departure (if possible)
12-76
International Human Resource
Selection Procedures
• Anticipatory Adjustment
– Training
– Previous experience
• In-country Adjustment
– Individual’s ability to adjust effectively
– Ability to maintain a positive outlook, interact well with host
nationals, and to perceive and evaluate the host country’s
cultural values and norms correctly
– Clarity of expatriate’s role in the host management team
– Expatriate’s adjustment to the organizational culture
– Non-work matters
12-77
The Relocation Transition Curve
12-78
Common Elements of
Compensation Packages
• Compensating expatriates can be
difficult because there are many
variables to consider
• Most compensation packages are
designed around four common elements:
• Allowances
Taxes
•
Base Salary
Benefits
12-79
Common Elements of
Compensation Packages
• Base salary
– Amount of money that an expatriate normally receives in the home
country
• Benefits
– Should host-country legislation regarding termination of employment
affects employee benefits entitlements?
– Is the home or host country responsible for the expatriates’ social
security benefits?
– Should benefits be subject to the requirements of the home or host
country?
– Which country should pay for the benefits?
– Should other benefits be used to offset any shortfall in coverage?
– Should home-country benefits programs be available to local
nationals?
12-80
Common Elements of
Compensation Packages
• Allowances
– Cost-of-Living Allowance
• Payment for differences between the home country and the
overseas assignment.
• Designed to provide the expatriate the same standard of living
enjoyed in the home country
– May cover a variety of expenses, including relocation,
housing, education, and hardship
– Incentives
• A growing number of firms have replaced the ongoing premium
for overseas assignments with a one-time, lump-sum premium
12-81
Common Elements of
Compensation Packages
• Taxes
– Tax equalization
– An expatriate may have two tax bills for the same pay
• Host country
• U.S. Internal Revenue Service
– MNCs usually pay the extra tax burden
12-82
Tailoring the
Compensation Packages
• Balance-sheet approach
– Ensure the expatriate is does not lose money from the assignment
• Complementary approach
– Negotiate to work out an acceptable ad hoc arrangement
• Localization
– Pay the expatriate a salary comparable to local nationals
• Lump sum method
– Give expatriate a lump sum of money
• Cafeteria approach
– Compensation package that gives the individual a series of options
• Regional system
– Set a compensation system for all expatriates who are assigned to a
particular region
12-83
Individual and Host Country
Viewpoints
• Individual desires
– Why do individuals accept foreign assignments?
– Greater demand for their talents abroad than at home
• Host-country desires
– Whom would it like to see put in managerial positions?
– Accommodating the wishes of HCOs can be difficult:
• They are highly ethnocentric in orientation
• They want local managers to head subsidiaries
• They set such high levels of expectation regarding the desired
characteristics of expatriates that anyone sent by the MNC is
unlikely to measure up
12-84
Repatriation of Expatriates
• Reasons for returning to home country
– Most expatriates return home from overseas assignments
when their formally agreed-on tour of duty is over
– Some want their children educated in a home-country school
– Some are not happy in their overseas assignment
– Some return because they failed to do a good job
• Readjustment problems
– “Out of sight, out of mind” syndrome
– Organizational changes
– Technological advances
– Adjusting to the new job back home
12-85
Repatriation of Expatriates
• Transition strategies
– Repatriation Agreements
• Firm agrees with individual how long she or he will
be posted overseas and promises to give the
individual, on return, a job that is mutually acceptable
– Some of the main problems of repatriation include:
• Adjusting to life back home
• Facing a financial package that is not as good as that
overseas
• Having less autonomy in the stateside job than in the
overseas position
• Not receiving any career counseling from the
12-86
company
Cross-Cultural Training
• Field Experience
– Send participant to the country of assignment to
undergo some of the emotional stress of living
and working with people from a different culture
• Sensitivity Training
– Develop attitudinal flexibility
12-87
Cross-Cultural Training Programs
• Steps in cross-cultural training programs
– Local instructors and a translator observe the pilot training
program or examine written training materials
– Educational designer debriefs the observation with the
translator, curriculum writer, and local instructors
– The group examines the structure and sequence, ice breaker,
and other materials to be used in the training
– The group collectively identifies stories, metaphors,
experiences, and examples in the culture that fit into the new
training program
– The educational designer and curriculum writer make
necessary changes in training materials
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Cross-Cultural Training Programs
• A variety of other approaches can be
used to prepare managers for
international assignments including:
–
–
–
–
–
Visits to the host country
Briefings by host-country managers
In-house management programs
Training in local negotiation techniques
Analysis of behavioral practices that have proven most
effective
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Cross-Cultural Training Programs
• A variety of other approaches can be
used to prepare managers for
international assignments including:
–
–
–
–
–
Visits to the host country
Briefings by host-country managers
In-house management programs
Training in local negotiation techniques
Analysis of behavioral practices that have proven most
effective
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Types of Training Programs
• Global Leadership Development
• The Global Leadership Program (GLP)
– A consortium of leading U.S., European, and Japanese
firms, global faculty, and participating host countries
• Provide an intensive international experience
• Develop a global mindset
• Instill cross-cultural competency
• Provide an opportunity for global networking
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Review and Discuss
1.
2.
3.
What selection criteria are most important in choosing
people for an overseas assignment? Identify and describe
the four that you judge to be of most universal importance,
and defend your choice.
What are the major common elements in an expat’s
compensation package? Besides base pay, which would
be most important to you? Why?
What kinds of problems do expatriates face when
returning home? Identify and describe four of the most
important. What can MNCs do to deal with these
repatriation problems effectively?
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