Chapter 4
Recruiting and Selecting
Staff for International
Assignments
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Chapter Objectives
 In Part I, we demonstrated how people play
a central role in sustaining international
operations. As international assignments are
an important vehicle for staffing, it is critical
that they are managed effectively, and the
expatriates are supported so that
performance outcomes are achieved.
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Chapter Objectives (cont.)
 The focus of this chapter is on recruitment
and selection activities in an international
context. We will address the following issues:






The myth of the global manager
The debate surrounding expatriate failure
Factors moderating intent to stay or leave the
international assignment
Selection criteria for international assignments
Dual-career couples
Gender issues
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The global manager
Myth 1: There is a universal approach to
management.
Myth 2: People can acquire multicultural
adaptability and behaviors.
Myth 3: There are common characteristics
shared by successful international
managers.
Myth 4: There are no impediments to mobility.
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Current Expatriate Profile
Category
PCN (42%)
Gender
Age (Yrs)
Marital status
Male (82%)
30-49 (60%)
Married (65%)
Female (18%)
20-29 (17%)
Single (26%)
Partner (9%)
Accompanied by
Duration
Location
Primary reason
Prior international experience
Spouse (86%)
1-3 years (52%)
Europe (35%)
Fill a position
30%
Children (59%)
Short-term (9%)
Asia-Pacific (24%)
HCN (16%) TCN (42%)
Source: based on data from global Relocation Trends: 2002 Survey Report, GMAC Global Relocation Services,
National Foreign Trade Council and SHRM Global Forum, GMAC-GRS 2003.
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Expatriate Failure
 Definition: Premature return of an expatriate
 Under-performance during an international
assignment
 Retention upon completion
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Expatriate Failure Rates
Recall Rate Percent
Percent of Companies
US Multinationals
20 - 40%
10 - 20%
< 10
7%
69
24
European Multinationals
11 - 15%
3%
6 - 10
<5
38
59
Japanese Multinationals
11 - 19%
6 - 10
<5
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14%
10
76
Reason for Expatriate Failure
 US Firms
Inability of spouse to
adjust
Manager’s inability to
adjust
Other family problems
Manager’s personal or
emotional immaturity
Inability to cope with
larger overseas
responsibilities
 Japanese Firms





Inability to cope with
larger overseas
responsibilities
Difficulties with the new
environment
Personal or emotional
problems
Lack of technical
competence
Inability of spouse to
adjust
European Multinationals: Inability of spouse to adjust.
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Costs of Expatriate Failure
 Direct costs:
 Airfares
 Associated
relocation expenses
 Salary and benefits
 Training and
development
 Averaged $250,000
per early return
 Costs vary
according to:




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Level of position
Country of
destination
Exchange rates
Whether ‘failed’
manager is replaced
by another
expatriate
Indirect Cost of Expatriate Failure
 Damaged relationships with key
stakeholders in the foreign location
 Negative effects on local staff
 Poor labor relations
 Negative effects on expatriate
concerned
 Family relationships may be affected
 Loss of market share
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Factors Moderating Expatriate
Performance
 Inability to adjust to the foreign culture
 Length of assignment
 Willingness to move
 Work-related factors
 Psychological contract/employment
relationship
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The Employment Relationship
 The nature of the employment relationship


Relational: broad, open-ended and long-term
obligations
Transactional: specific short-term monetized
obligations
 The condition of the relationship


Intact: when employee considers there has
been fair treatment, reciprocal trust
Violated: provoked by belief organization has
not fulfilled its obligations
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The Dynamics of the Employment
Relationship
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Likelihood of Exit
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International Assignments: Factors
Moderating Performance
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The Phases of Cultural Adjustment
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The Phases of Adjustment
 The U-Curve is not normative
 The time period involved varies between
individuals
 The U-Curve does not explain how and why
people move through the various phases
 It may be more cyclical than a U-Curve
 Needs to consider repatriation
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Organizational Commitment
 Affective component

Employee’s attachment to, identification with
and involvement in, the organization
 Continuance component

Based on assessed costs associated with
exiting the organization
 Normative component

Employee’s feelings of obligation to remain
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Why consider the psychological
contract?
 Nature, location and duration of an
international assignment may provoke
intense, individual reactions to perceived
violations
 Expatriates tend to have broad, elaborate,
employment relationships with greater
emphasis on relational nature
 Expectations and promises underpin this
relationship
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Selection Criteria
 Technical ability
 Cross-cultural suitability
 Family requirements
 Country-cultural requirements
 MNE requirements
 Language
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Using Traits and Personality Tests to
Predict Expatriate Success
 Although some tests may be useful in
suggesting potential problems, there may be
little correlation between test scores and
performance
 Most of the tests have been devised in the
United States, thus culture-bound
 In some countries, there is controversy about
the use of psychological tests ( different
pattern of usage across countries)
 Use of personality traits to predict intercultural
competence is complicated by the fact that
personality traits are not defined and
evaluated in similar way in different cultures
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Factors in Expatriate Selection
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Mendenhall and Oddou’s Model
 Self-oriented dimension
 Perceptual dimension
 Others-oriented dimension
 Cultural-toughness dimension
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Harris and Brewster’s Selection Typology
Formal
Informal
Open
 Clearly defined criteria
 Less defined criteria
 Clearly defined measures
 Less defined measures
 Training for selectors
 Limited training for selectors
 Open advertising of vacancy
 Open advertising of vacancy
(internal/external)
 Panel discussions
 Recommendations
 No panel discussions
Closed
 Clearly defined criteria
 Selector’s individual preferences
 Clearly defined measures
determine selection criteria and measures
 No panel discussions
 Nominations only (networking/reputation)
 Training for selectors
 Panel discussions
 Nominations only (networking/reputation)
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Solutions to the Dual-career Challenge
 Alternative assignment arrangements
 Short-term
 Commuter
 Other (e.g. unaccompanied, business travel,
virtual assignments)
 Family-friendly policies
 Inter-company networking
 Job-hunting assistance
 Intra-company employment
 On-assignment career support
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Barriers to Females Taking
International Assignments
External Barrier
 HR managers reluctant to
Self-established Barriers
 Some women have limited
select female candidates
willingness to relocate
 Culturally tough locations or
 The dual-career couple
regions preclude female
 Women are often a barrier to
expatriates
their own careers by behaving
 Those selecting expatriates
according to gender based
have stereotypes in their
role models.
minds that influence decisions
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Equal Employment Opportunity Issues
 Cultural Variations



Law and enforcement
Social values
Corporate practices
 The United States


EEOA within the country
International approach
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Chapter Summary
This chapter has addressed key issues affecting
recruitment and selection for international
assignments. We have covered:
 Four myths related to the concept of a global
manager
 The debate surrounding the definition and
magnitude of expatriate failure.
(cont.)
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Chapter Summary (cont.)
 Cultural adjustment and other moderating factors
affecting expatriate intent to stay and
performance.
 Individual and situational factors to be considered
in the selection decision.
 Evaluation of the common criteria used revealed
the difficulty of selecting the right candidate for an
international assignment and the importance of
including family considerations in the selection
process.
(cont.)
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Chapter Summary (cont.)
 Dual-career couples as a barrier to staff mobility,
and the techniques that multinationals are utilizing
to overcome this constraint.
 Female expatriates and whether they face different
issues to their male counterparts.
It is clear that, while our appreciation of the issues surrounding
expatriate recruitment and selection has deepened in the past 20 years,
much remains to be explored.
The field is dominated by US research into predominantly US samples
of expatriates, although there has been an upsurge in interest from
European academics and practitioners.
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Chapter Summary
It is also apparent that staff selection remains critical.
Finding the right people to fill positions, particularly
key managers – whether PCN, TCN or HCN – can
determine international expansion.
However, effective recruitment and selection are only
the first step.
We will explore in the next chapter that maintaining
and retaining productive staff are equally important.
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Chapter Summary
 Corporate philosophy on recruiting and selection
 Selection criteria and issues of concern
 Local and home countries’ policies on foreign labor
 Variations in national labor law and labor markets
 Inter-company networking
 Intra-company arrangement
 Career assistance programs
 Training and continuous adaptation
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Chapter Summary (cont.)
Will the factors affecting the selection decision be similar for
multinationals emerging from countries such as China and India?
If more multinationals are to encourage subsidiary staff to
consider international assignments as part of an intra-organizational
network approach to management, we will need further
understanding of how valid the issues discussed in this chapter are
for all categories of staff from different country locations.
Another area that remains ignored is the selection of nonexpatriates, that is, the international business travelers we discussed
in Chapter 3. In our survey of current literature, there is a paucity
of recognition of this group.
(cont.)
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Chapter Summary (cont.)
The various consulting firm surveys conducted into
relocation trends in 2002 that we draw on in this
chapter indicate that more multinationals are
resorting to replacing traditional assignments with
business travel as a way of overcoming staff
immobility. Likewise, there is a need for further
work into the performance–selection link
surrounding non-standard assignments, including
commuter and virtual assignments.
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