Question 1 - Would you grant any of the special requests of the four expat candidates? Provide your rationale. Solvay’s HR group wants to develop consistent policies for the International Mobility (IM) program and be more transparent about the expatriation process. Therefore, it is important to minimize the exceptions because exceptions require a deviation from standard protocol. However, HR must also remain flexible in order to meet the strategic needs of the company. As noted in the case (pg. 1), special requests are “not unusual for the expat process.” Standard protocols are essential when handling employees who work in similar environments, and who have similar roles. However, it is important to make exceptions when asking …show more content…
We took all of these objectives into consideration when developing our recommendations, and we are confident that our recommendations are consistent with the goals of Solvay’s IM program. Question 2 - How should Solvay Group quantify the costs and benefits of international mobility? In pure business terms, quantifying return on an investment is not a difficult task. Quantifying the impact of Solvay’s International Mobility (IM) program is, however, an arduous task. Lorent mentions that in his previous work, he was able to measure results with a Return On Investment (ROI) assessment. Unfortunately with this type of program, it can be difficult to determine an exact value for aspects of this program that contribute to the overall goals of the company. With that being said, Solvay may not be able to get an exact scientific number, but rather a close approximation which would provide an estimate and trends of some of the costs and benefits. The first step for quantifying expatriation experiences is to implement and maintain a tracking system. HR needs to make it a priority to create or find software that easily tracks the costs and ROI related to the expatriation program. Solvay admittedly had difficulty with the back office
* Examine the manner in which the firm’s decision to outsource offshore is impacted by foreign exchange. Determine whether or not it matters where the company outsources offshore. Provide a rationale for your response.
I agree with you that assessments in a group is essential to understand the functioning of the group members. Also, I believe that it is important to assess individual members as well as the group as a whole. As a group facilitator we must constantly gather pertinent information that will be used to achieve the individuals and groups goals. Assessing the group helps to make the group more cohesive and beneficially to the members. You made a great point that understanding the characteristics of the group members can help improve group participation. I do believe that if a member is not participating does not mean that they are not benefiting from the group. Also, having a member that monopolize the group does not they are
Performance criteria and goals are best established by combining the values and norms of each local environment with the home-office’s performance standards. An individual country profile should be developed and should take into account the foreign subsidiary’s environment. This profile should be used to review any factors that may have an effect on the expatriate employee’s performance. Such factors include language, culture, politics, labor relations, economy, government, control, and communication.
Please register as a student and use the following link to access the cases (only the questions for the first case are shown below):
2. What opportunities might current IMF lending policies to developing countries create for international businesses?
Muted Group Theory and Communication Privacy Management Theory in Sense and Sensibility Based on the beloved Jane Austen novel of the same name, Sense and Sensibility is a film that stays true to its original telling and critique of Victorian society. It is a true glimpse into the world of women and their place in society during this time period, while still championing love and loyalty to family. Communication privacy management theory offers a detailed explanation for the place of gossip communication amongst women and the upper class, while muted group theory explains why there is a differentiation in this private women’s sphere of influence over the male dominated public in which the female protagonists are never seen interacting Explanation
As people, when confronted with a problem where a solution must be found, our ideal situation is to come up with the best possible one. To do this, we ideally gather the most knowledgeable, intelligent individuals into a group and attempt to derive the best solution to the problem. With the collection of these people, one would think that finding the best possible answer to the problem would be a rather simple task. However, what has happened in many situations is the complete opposite. Rather than finding the best possible solutions, many ideal, cohesive groups arrive at the worst possible answer largely due to problems in communication within the group. This is what we call the radical theory of
Cheris Kramarae, professor of speech communication at the University of Illinois, would probably feel closer to satisfied if the summary section of this paper were not necessary, if the connotations and ideas that muted group theory entails came to mind automatically. Unfortunately though, I would confuse a great deal of people if I used the terms "muted group theory" in writing and conversation without further explanation. This demonstrates a fundamental concept in Kramarae's theory. Muted group theory was designed to explore the experience of a subordinate group, particularly women, and therefore, the majority of the general public does not recognize it. In order for the theory to become wide spread the dominant
"Women do two thirds of the world’s work...Yet they earn only one tenth of the world’s income and own less than one percent of the world’s property. They are among the poorest of the world’s poor." –Barber B. Conable Jr, President, World Bank
The Sadie Wagner case is laced with great opportunity that failed to bloom. What occurred in Germany was an instance of an excellent employee encountering a mismatch of work cultures and expectations. Much like planting a seed in an empty vase, there was little chance for success in the long term. For the sake of productivity, we must understand the conditions that lead to Sadie’s withdrawal from the position to avoid repeated mistakes in future expatriates assignments.
What is the business value of these global systems developments for the companies mentioned in the case?
International Capital mobility- the free flow of investment financing from one country to another is a hot topic in the world of economics. A common question that rises when discussing this matter is, does capital mobility benefit developing countries? As with most other subjects the answers tend to vary.
Unfortunately, there have been a lot of recorded expatriate failure according to Tung (1981) this could be because some companies select expatriates the same way they would select local employees and proper orientation is not given when sent to new countries. It is now general knowledge that culturally insensitive attitudes and behaviour’s stemming from ignorance and misguided beliefs for example using same policies in the home countries and host countries not only are inappropriate but lead international
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.
A very important role of IHR managers in every MNC is the management of expatriates. An expatriate is an employee who is assigned a position in another country which can either be headquarter countries or third countries. The most important role of the human resource is the selection, training, acculturation and finally the evaluation of the expatriates (Sepehri, 2011). However, the rate of attrition of expatriates is about double that of non-expatriates. Therefore the MNCs have to come up with a way of ensuring that they retain their expatriates. The paper will look at some of the ways through which MNCs increase their expatriate retention.it will also look at the three reasons for poor expatriate retention.