Too Many U.S. Expatriate Managers Fail Essay

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

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.

This report examines cultural and institutional factors of Mexico and how they can impact global HR management and practices. Specifically, by analyzing Mexican culture based on Hofstede’s dimensions, economy, labor legislation, union and employment tradition we reached the conclusion that the features of Mexican culture (high power distance, strong collectivism, high level of masculinity and uncertainty avoidance) and institutional factors have a strong impact on management styles and HR practices of business in Mexico and may arouse some challenges for global company and their expatriates, especially those from countries that bear different cultural features and institutional conditions. In order to minimize the potential conflict between Mexican local employees and expatriates, parent companies need to provide trainings (culture assimilation, country condition, etc.) before sending anybody to Mexico. Also, whether the expatriates should put more effort to disseminate home country (headquarter) culture or to adjust to local culture depends on the company’s strategy in terms of being localized or standardized around the globe.

Kreitner, R. (2009). International Management and Cross-Cultural competence. (11th ed.). Management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage

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.

MNC managers that are living abroad can sometimes deal with culture shock. After the initial jubilation of moving to a foreign country clears, it’s possible to be left with a feelings of drowning in change. What was at first exciting, things like looking for new shops or restaurants can become tedious and frustrating. Leaving behind all the friends and family that supported you can be hard. When you are surrounded by a culture that is unfamiliar to you, you may end up feeling large amounts of stress. “Successful expat managers develop highly effective and creative stress reduction techniques.” (Kottolli, 2006) It’s important to have the tools needed to deal with the stress that can be caused by culture

Upon reading about Kelly’s assignment and the problems that she faced while being chosen to work in Japan, it seems as though she along with her family had a difficult time adjusting to the different culture and customs that working overseas can bring. Kelly was selected by a process known as expatriate selection, which is the “selection of personnel for overseas assignments” (Deresky, 2014, p. 278). Her boss believed that due to her performance in her regular domestic setting, she would prove that she would do well while working abroad. However, it seems as though her boss may have overlooked certain cross-cultural factors that are important for international business matters.

Selection and performance management programs that are designed for organizations that have expanded their U.S. workplace to other countries must be designed to take in many other considerations that normally wouldn’t make a difference if all the employees were from the same origin. Expatriate employees and their families should be assisted to help with adjusting to their new culture. Performance management and selection programs should be designed to incorporate the differences in ethical and cultural backgrounds that match the employees and or applicants who are overseas. This paper further examines what is necessary for selection and performance management programs for a U.S. based organization that is expanding overseas to China.

Cultural differences between countries have strong effects on individual personality and behavior, as well as on organizational culture (Hofstede 2001). These differences can be a significant barrier for an international business leader. Failure to understand and adapt to these differences may

To succeed in the world today corporations must develop global strategies. An evolving evolution in the understanding of international organizational behavior and management of global human resource systems has developed and evolved rapidly in the twenty-first century. Focusing on global strategies, theories, and management approaches allow us to understand the influence of national and ethnic cultures on organizational functioning. Successful global firms competing under transitional dynamics need to understand their potential clients’ needs, no matter where in the world the clients

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.

Expatriation is when a company sends an employee overseas to work. Businesses needs to have a plan in place to insure a successful expatriation assignment. First, the business needs to make sure to choose the right person, who is open to new experiences and cultures. Second, the employer needs to prepare the expat and their family for what they will experience. Additionally, the business should have a program setup to prepare the expat with classes to teach about the culture the person will experience. If the area speaks a different language than the expat, the company should invest in a language tutor to help their employee. In this paper, I will discuss the person I selected for the expatriation assessment assignment. I will display

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.

According to the works of Chaney & Martin (2011) and Harris & Moran (2000), they agree that international management skills are in need for the increasing scope of international trades and investments. A large number of multinational companies have expanded their businesses through both developed and developing countries. Some of the business invest directly and others are partnership arrangements and strategic alliances with domestic operations. Their studies show that independent entrepreneurs and small businesses have started investing and competing in the world marketplace. Thus, to acquire corporations’ objectives, there is exceedingly a necessity for the development of strategic framework for cross-cultural management and communication in the current competitive global market. Chaney & Martin (2011) also noted that, cultural awareness and cultural differences are strongly important to the multinational corporations’ success. A good understanding of the culture where business is implemented can make international managers productive and effective.

Nonetheless, the increasing number of Filipinos choosing to work abroad is somewhat unusual since working abroad has been coupled with issues on abusive and hostile working conditions, and even familial problems like being distant to one another, and even infidelity issues among them is being common. As a result, this paper aims to look for the reasons as to why Filipinos choose to work abroad, despite the occurrences of abuses and the like.