Expatriate Failures

Competing in global markets entail many factors and centralization of its human resource practices is certainly vital to improve global competitiveness and empower employees for global assignments. To achieve success in global marketplace, the challenge of all businesses regardless of their size is to understand global corporate cultural differences and invest in human resources which includes selecting and retaining talented employee, training and development whilst encouraging employees to be innovative and creative. Employees selected to work in foreign locations should be prepared beforehand with adequate cross-cultural training. For an organization to be successful in the international marketplace, it must be concerned with this fit from both an internal and

A sudden change in one’s surroundings can result in culture shock. Culture shock refers to the anxiety and surprise a person feels when he or she is discontented with an unfamiliar setting. The majority of practices or customs are different from what a person is used to. One may experience withdrawal, homesickness, or a desire for old friends. For example, when a person goes to live in a different place with unfamiliar surroundings, they may experience culture shock. Sometimes it is the result of losing their identity. In the article “The Phases of Culture Shock”, Pamela J. Brink and Judith Saunders describe four phases of culture shock. They are: Honeymoon Phase, Disenchantment Phase, Beginning Resolution Phase, and Effective

Moving to a different country is a great adventure that can bring pleasure and distress being a new immigrant. Many would have difficulty dealing with the culture shock that goes along with moving into a foreign country. This is unavoidable because of the unknown surroundings, unfamiliar customs and different behavioral formalities and structure. The four stages of Culture Shock may stop it sooner once they notice the patters. The four stages of Culture Shock are: honeymoon, negotiation, depression and adjustment. The first stage of culture shock is often positive, during which immagrants become infatuated with the language, people and food in their new surroundings. The follow stage negotiation is probably the hardest stage, after sometime in the new enviroment you start to feel the cultural differences. The culture may seem confusing or frustrating. You may blame your frustrations on the new culture and

Productivity in the new culture is experienced to an extremely positive extent. Business dealings and negotiations become secondary nature to the expatriate, and the expatriate’s journey becomes a great success in the perspective of their employing company.

Pederson (7) explains that there are stages of culture shock, which he identifies as the honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation. In the honeymoon phase, a person is likely to get excited about being in a new place, meeting new people, tasting new foods, and acquiring new habits. However, as time passes by, they get into a phase of negotiation, where the differences between the culture one is used to and the one they find themselves in start to become apparent. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and frustrations start to take shape as unfavorable events perceived as strange come in the way of the person 's life, especially if a person does not feel accepted in the new culture (Mukherjee 273). Loneliness may set in, and the urge to go back to the familiar culture strongly comes into play. However, as time goes by, adjustment sets in, usually within six to twelve months, and one gets accustomed to the culture and also comes up with a routine. By this phase, one knows what is expected of them, and life once again becomes ‘normal.’

You feel confused about the differences, which you have never felt before in your life (Deborah Swallow). After the first few days of honeymoon phase passed, I started seeing the stressful stages of living abroad. For example, the routine life of people living in the United States, which I felt kind of disturbing and trouble going, was having dinner at 6 or 7 p.m. and going to bed by 9 p.m. In India, people have their dinner around 9:30 p.m. and go to bed around 12: am. Eventually, as time passed by the last phase came into play, the adjustment phase. It is the phase where one begins to feel more familiar with the surrounding environment and start adapting the differences (participate partners). Moreover, as I started working, my body initiated familiarizing the culture and the

Finally the last stage is referred as the “acceptance stage,” according to one foreign student. After some weeks or months we are noticing improvement within ourselves after have wrestling with the emotional stages. The final stage of cultural shock doesn’t mean that the new cultures and environments are completely understood, it signifies realization that complete understanding isn’t necessary to function and thrive in new surroundings. During this stage, travelers have the familiarity and are able to draw together the resources they need to feel at ease.

. A well-designed cultural awareness training program seeks to foster an appreciation of the host country's culture so that expatriates can behave accordingly, or at least develop appropriate coping patterns. A preliminary trip to the host country provides a preview to assess their

Today, as businesses hire white-collar workers abroad, similar opportunities will abound for those ready to change and grow. As in earlier eras, the capital accumulation made possible by the increased efficiency and specialization at American companies will fuel demand for employees with new skills, such as managers able to integrate a company's activities across countries and cultures.

Culture shock is one of the most significant factors that influence foreigner who they typically cut between the issues in their own nations and the loose of the identity in a completely new country.

People may not respond the way they did back home, transportation is different, and you have to learn a variety of new things, from how to set up a bank account, to figuring out how to act at work. Many people dealing with these new stressors feel some anxiety, which is normal and has been called "culture shock".

In summary, the home culture of an expatriate predisposes them to certain behaviors and situations. It allows them to operate efficiently in that environment. However, moving to the host-culture changes that operating environment and makes their 'mental software ' less efficient and effective. Culture is clearly a relevant variable when expatriating employees and their families for international business assignments. Training can be applied to ameliorate these effects. Also, training provides insight into the procedural, substantive and informational aspects of their work and personal life in the host location.

Face to those options and wide resource, the managers in global enterprises have particular concern about the employees’ ability to disseminate knowledge and innovation throughout their global operations . The use of expatriates has seemed to be a logical choice for staffing, while the use of parent-country nations seems to be most appropriate in some specific situation . Some other global enterprises also prefer integrate the expatriates and local human resource. Nevertheless, each procedure has both advantage and disadvantage.

In the case study “Kelly’s Assignment in Japan”, it is very apparent Kelly’s expatriation was extremely mismanaged. Both her family and company were ill-prepared for the transition.

This report examines and evaluates various topics concerning the difficulty of international staffing. We aim to provide a holistic guideline and report that can aid and assist Proton in their staffing selection of selecting either a Malaysian expatriate or a Chinese local to be operations manager for Proton’s new factory in China.