International Human Resource Management
Managing people in a multinational context
Overview
• This case is presented to highlight the complex and dynamic relationship
between an international assignment and the selection of a qualified
expatriate manager for that assignment.
• The changing nature of the job – from a Plant Manager of a wholly owned
subsidiary to a Quality Compliance Officer in a ten year joint venture –
combines with a cast of three interesting and yet very different potential
assignees to show how potentially complex such global selection decisions
can be.
• The importance of personal and the ambiguity and unexpected timing of
these critical HR decisions are also dealt with in this case.
• One of the issues in the case is the trade off between the specifics of a
focal job description and the availability of candidates for the assignment.
IHRM Case 2 – Quality compliance at the Hawthorne Arms
Case 2 Activity
1. Consider the three candidates in Exhibit A. If forced to make a
decision tomorrow, which candidate should Alistair choose for
the job? What major factors should determine his choice?
IHRM Case 2 – Quality compliance at the Hawthorn Arms
3
Things To Consider
• Write (think up) a job description for the “Quality Compliance Officer” and
then look at how that job description relates to each of the three candidates
– there is no perfect candidate.
• A more sophisticated approach might be to step back and consider the best
of the three candidates overall and then revise the job description to that
candidate’s strengths and provide outside help from other managers on site
in Hungary or in the region in order to insure that critical activities outside
of the selected candidate’s background.
– This would give one an opportunity to manipulate variations between the
nature of a job and the nature of the abilities and experiences of close‐fitting
candidates.
IHRM Case 2 – Quality compliance at the Hawthorne Arms
Exhibit A
Alistair Mackay’s short list of possible candidates
First candidate. Marie Erten-Loiseau. Born in Prague, her family moved to Toulon when Marie was twelve
years old. Brought up in France, she was educated as an aeronautical engineer in France and Germany.
Marie worked for Trianon for 13 years, in two divisions within France and Germany with increasing levels
of project responsibility. Her leadership of two projects over the last three years in Lodz, Poland, and two
sites in the Czech Republic has been marked by remarkable success. Married, her husband is semi-retired.
They have one child in university.
Second candidate. Janos Gabor. Born in Gyor, Hungary, Janos was educated at University of Pecs, Hungary.
He has a good background in the production of cathode ray tube and display systems technologies,
albeit from the Central European perspective. He has worked at Trianon for nearly four years, and has just
been transferred into the cathode ray tube division as a Senior Engineer. His family is reportedly very well
connected with national government officials, particularly the old, ex-party members of multiple
ministerial bureaucracies. Janos is single.
Third candidate. Sinead Marrinan-McGuire, a production engineer on loan to Trianon’s London office for
joint venture analyzes and ‘due diligence’ reviews on technical and legal grounds. She has spent three
years in the R&D development team in Dublin and London, working on the very technologies to be applied
in this Hungarian joint venture project. Alistair met and talked with her today in Limerick and was
very impressed with her understanding of corporate level concerns and strategic issues. Most of her career
has been in Ireland and around London, with only short, tactical trips to France. Married, her husband
is a solicitor in Dublin. They have three children, ages 7, 9 and 13.
IHRM Case 2 – Quality compliance at the Hawthorne Arms
5
Important Factors
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The three candidates represent a balance of strengths and weaknesses.
Marie represents organizational and technical process abilities.
Janos represents local cultural understanding and some local product knowledge.
Sinead represents global product knowledge and organizational process abilities in the area of
joint ventures.
By weighting which of these abilities is most crucial to the success of this assignment, one can
determine the optimal if not perfect expatriate/local for the job.
Your sense of Sinead’s ability to negotiate the problems inherent with dual career couples is
critical in your choice process. She has both the greatest strengths and the greatest
weaknesses. Selecting Sinead is a riskier choice.
Marie is less risky, but she lacks specific joint venture skills.
Janos may be the most risky choice, given his short time frame with Trianon and a potential to
side with local managers in joint venture processes. If Janos is able to balance his perspective,
his contacts could provide Trianon with significant advantages in the long term.
IHRM Case 2 – Quality compliance at the Hawthorne Arms
Candidates
•
Marie Erten‐Loiseau
– May be the best match. She ranks high on technical ability, cultural suitability, family status, a
facility with languages and, perhaps most importantly, she will be able to represent the
interests of Trianon in the inevitable day to day negotiations required when starting up a joint
venture. She has a wealth of experience with the firm in a wide range of assignments. She has
never been involved in a joint venture and her experiences in Poland and Czechoslovakia may
not translate into success in Hungary.
•
Janos Gabor
– Has the advantages of cultural suitability, facility with languages and family status. He lacks
technical ability and, given his short tenure with the firm, may lack an in‐depth understanding
for and empathy for the Trianon position. His contacts with the political elite in Hungary will
only be of use if Janos is able to use these contacts for the long term good of Trianon. The
potential for a conflict of loyalties between these local contacts and Trianon is a potential
source of concern.
•
Sinead Marrinan‐McGuire
– Has the impressive strengths in technical ability – particularly in the complex field of joint
ventures, an understanding of the display systems technology that must be diffused to the
Hungarian operation and an in depth corporate level perspective. Her weaknesses are in the
areas of cultural suitability, having spent most of her career in Western Europe, language
concerns and family status. Her spouse has a culturally‐embedded career in Ireland and she has
three young children. Dual career couples issues and potentially “family friendly policies” (from
chapter 4) should be considered when contemplating her candidacy.
IHRM Case 2 – Quality compliance at the Hawthorne Arms