Staffing Policies & Expatriate
Selection
Session-19
Parent-country Nationals
Advantages
 Control and co-ordination by HQ
is maintained.
 Promising
managers
get
international experience.
 PCNs may be the best people for
the job.
 Assurance that the subsidiary
will
comply
with
company
objectives policies etc.
Disadvantages
 HCNs promotion opportunities
are limited.
 Adaptation to host country may
take a long time.
 PCNs
may
impose
an
inappropriate HQ style.
 Compensation
differences
between PCNs and HCNs may
cause problems.
Staffing & Selection
Host-country Nationals
Advantages
• No problems with language and
culture.
• Reduced hiring costs.
• No work permits required.
• Continuity of management
improves
since HCNs stay
longer in positions.
• Govt. policy may force hiring
of HCNs.
• Promotional opportunities not
limited - so higher morale
among HCNs.
Disadvantages
• HQ may have less control over
operations.
• HCNs may still have limited
career opportunities outside
the subsidiary.
• Hiring
HCNs
limits
opportunities for PCNs to gain
overseas experience.
• Hiring HCNs may encourage a
federation of disintegrated
national units rather than one
integrated global unit.
Staffing & Selection
Third-country Nationals
Advantages
• Salary and compensation
may be lower than for
PCNs.
• May be more familiar with
host country than the
PCNs.
Disadvantages
• Transfers must consider
national animosities.
• Host
government
may
resent TCNs as much as
PCNs.
• TCNs may not comply with
HQ style of management.
• TCNs may not want to
return after assignment.
Staffing & Selection
Staffing & Selection
1. Technical Ability
-Persons’ ability to perform a job
-Past experience has little or no bearing on the technical skills (or lack of it)
-Skills are critical but success depends on how individuals handle the situation
2. Cross-Cultural Suitability
-Country of posting & its culture influence the selection of the candidate
-Importance of cultural sensitivity in expat assignments
-Difficult to generate formal procedures for assessment
-AT&T Questionnaire to be answered by candidates & spouses
oCan you imagine living without TV?
oWhat is your tolerance for waiting for repairs?
oHow important is it for you to spend significant amount of time with people
of your own racial, ethnic & national background?
oHow do you feel if your client does not come on time?
Staffing & Selection
3. Family Requirements
-Contributions of the family to expatriate success are tremendous
-Place of family in “hardship postings” –remote areas far away from major
cities or major facilities with high physical risks
-Reluctance to select women for certain middle east or south east Asian
nations
4. Multinational Requirements
-Attitude of the MNE involved (ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric etc.)
-The mode of operation involved (IJVs require a great deal of local input)
-The duration of the assignment
-The amount of knowledge transfer inherent in the expatriate’s job in foreign
operation
Staffing & Selection
5. Language
-Language skills are critical for some expatriate positions but lesser in others
-Communication skills rather than specific language skills are important
-A Price –Waterhouse survey places language as the third most important
selection criterion
6. Country Requirements
-Companies require to provide the unavailability of HCNs before sending
expatriates
-Work permits & entry visas
-Spouse as a dependent in the host country creates an issue in expatriate
selection
Staffing & Selection
Staffing & Selection
1. Inability to adjust to a
Foreign Culture
-Spouse/partner dissatisfaction
-difficulties with family adjustment in
the new location
-difficulties associated with different
management styles
-culture & language difficulties
-issues associated with the spouse’s
career development
2. The process of adjustment
Staffing & Selection
3. Length of Assignment
-Length of Assignment does contribute to
adjustment & performance of expatriates
-Longer duration of assignment allows the
expatriate more time to adjust to the
foreign situation
-Company policy to expat adjustment
-Supportive
family
facilitates
expatriate movement
-British are far more internationally
mobile than the US managers
5. Work-Environment Related
Factors
4. Willingness to Move
-Job autonomy
-Org. Support for the expatriate
-Lack of Challenge at work
Staffing & Selection
6. The Employment
Relationship
-The nature of the employment relationship
1. Relational: broad, open-ended and longterm obligations
2. Transactional:
specific
short-term
monetized obligations
-The condition of the relationship
1. Intact: when employee considers there
has been fair treatment, reciprocal trust
2. Violated: provoked by belief organization
has not fulfilled its obligations
6. The Employment
Relationship
-Likelihood of exit
Why Consider the Psychological Contract?
1. Nature,
location
and
duration
of
an
international assignment may provoke intense,
individual reactions to perceived violations
2. Expatriates tend to have broad, elaborate,
employment relationships with greater emphasis
on relational nature
3. Expectations
and
promises
underpin
this
relationship
o Traditional Definition: Premature return of an expatriate
o Could be defined in terms of
-Poor Quality of Performance in Foreign Assignment
-Personal Dissatisfaction with experience (by expatriate or family)
-Lack of adjustment to local conditions
-No acceptance by local nationals
-Inability to identify/or train a local successor
Staffing & Selection
o Direct costs of failure: airfares, associated relocation
expenses, and salary and training
– Varies according to level of position concerned
– Country of destination
– Exchange rates
– Whether ‘failed’ manager is replaced by another expatriate
Staffing & Selection
o Indirect costs (invisible)
– Damaged relationships with key stakeholders in the foreign
location
– Negative effects on local staff
– Negative effects on expatriate concerned
– Family relationships may be affected
Staffing & Selection
1.
Dual Working Couple Challenge
Solutions to the Dual Working Couple Challenge
•
•
Alternative assignment arrangements
–
Short-term
–
Commuter
–
Other (eg. unaccompanied, virtual)
Family-friendly policies
–
Inter-company networking
–
Job-hunting assistance (fact finding trip)
–
Intra-company employment
Staffing & Selection
o Are Female Expatriates any Different?
-Barriers to Women taking up International Assignments
External Barriers
Self Imposed Barriers
• HR Managers reluctant to
select female candidates
• Some women have limited
willingness to relocate
• Culturally tough locations or
regions preclude female
expatriates
• The dual-career couple
• Those selecting expatriates
have stereotypes in their
minds that influence decisions
• Women are often a barrier to
their own careers by behaving
according to gender based role
models