Expatriates and the impact of cross-cultural training (original) (raw)

Ch 2. The Recruitment, Selection and Preparation of Expatriates

Global Mobility and the Management of Expatriates, 2020

For organizations and individuals, effective recruitment, selection, and preparation of new employees or employees in new circumstances are always important. This issue is exacerbated in the case of international assignments, where issues of cross-national adjustment complicate the picture. The objective of this chapter is to examine and summarise the extant research on expatriate recruitment, selection, and preparation. The chapter is structured as follow. First, we discuss expatriate recruitment sources, methods, and the expatriates' motivations to work abroad. Second, we examine expatriate selection criteria, methods, and how expatriates are selected in practice. Third, we present the variety of expatriate preparation methods, discuss expatriate training effectiveness and expatriate preparation in practice. We conclude by considering future avenues of research. Overall, there is good material for researchers to build on and a growing understanding of the key issues. Nevertheless, there remains here a rich field for exciting research in the future.

International HR Assignment in Recruiting and Selecting: Challenges, Failures and Best Practices

This study attempts to examine various issues pertaining to the complexities of international assignment, one of the major dimensions of International Human Resource Management (IHRM). It is our hope that by deep understanding of the uniqueness of international staffing policies, root causes of expatriate failure as well as the challenges encountered by expatriates; a more strategic IHRM approach can then be strategized by multinational corporations (MNCs) taking into consideration of some personalized best practices in effort to avoid or reduce the chances of international assignment failures in future.

Selection for international assignments

Human Resource Management Review, 2009

The selection of individuals to fill international assignments is particularly challenging because the content domain for assessing candidates focuses primary attention on job context rather than attempting to forecast the ability to perform specific tasks on the job or more generally, the elements listed in a technical job description. International assignment selection systems are centered on predicting to the environment in which the incumbents will need to work effectively rather than the technical or functional job they are being asked to do which in many cases is already assessed or assumed to be at an acceptable level of competence. Therefore, unlike predictors of success in the domestic context where knowledge, skills, and abilities may dominate the selection strategy, many psychological and biodata factors including personality characteristics, language fluency, and international experience take on increasing importance in predicting international assignee success. This article focuses on the predictors affecting the outcome of international assignments and the unique selection practices, which can be employed in selection for international assignments. In addition, this article discusses the practical challenges for implementing the suggestions for selecting international assignees.

Personnel Selection in International Context: Challenges and Recommendations

SIOP Conference, 2021

In this panel discussion, four selection and assessment practitioners will discuss their perspectives on and approaches to designing and implementing assessments internationally. They will discuss some of the key global selection-and-assessment topics such as cross-cultural equivalence, translation, international employment law, and technology.

You can take it with you: Individual differences and expatriate effectiveness

Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006

Currently, there is little consensus on the requisite individual differences, or the content of effectiveness criteria, for international assignees. This paper describes the collaborative efforts of two teams of researchers who were independently investigating the effects of stable personality traits and dynamic behavioral competencies on the same, three-dimensional structure of effectiveness: psychological (cultural, interaction, and work) adjustment, assignment withdrawal cognitions and (contextual and overall task) performance. Extending a model of cross-culturally relevant individual differences developed by Leiba-O'Sullivan (1999), we describe the results of model tests in three studies. Study 1, using multi-source data from a multinational sample of 182 expatriates stationed in Hong Kong, and matched pairs of their spouses and work colleagues, examined the predictiveness of the "Big Five" personality traits. Study 2 tested the outflow of four dynamic competencies (cultural flexibility, task and people leadership orientation, and ethnocentrism) with self-report data from a sample of 309 Korean expatriates posted around the world. Study 3 was a longitudinal replication of Study 2, using pre-departure and on-assignment data from Japanese expatriate managers sent to overseas positions. Results of correlation and regression analyses testing the direct and indirect effects of individual differences on effectiveness indicated that they had a widespread impact, in a pattern that is sharply divergent from the domestic selection literature. The importance of traits and competencies as differential predictors of adjustment, withdrawal, and performance has implications for both selection and training of expatriates. Managing international assignments is both challenging and complex for organizations, clearly more so than domestic selection or relocation (Sha ffer, Harrison, Gilley, & Luk, 2001). Adding to the complexity is a changing composition of the expatriate population. According to a recent survey by GMAC Global Relocation Services, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and SHRM Global Forum (2001), the number of first-time expatriates is increasing. In the past, 45% had previous assignment experience; today only 25% have been on a prior assignment. Also, the expatriate workforce is becoming more varied and global as multinational companies 3 (MNCs) rely more heavily on third country nationals and marginally cheaper intra-region transfers. Given these changes, it is not surprising that the major internationa l assignment challenge reported by companies participating in this survey was candidate selection. Despite its importance, many managers continue to base assignee selection decisions simply on technical expertise and employee (familial) willingness to go (1999). Results of this kind of selection strategy include not only failed expatriate adjustment, but also inadequate onthe-job performance (Caligiuri, 1997; Gregersen & Black, 1990; Shaffer & Harrison, 1998). When asked about the main causes of assignment failure, poor candidate selection was mentioned by 84% of companies participating in the GMAC GRS-NFTC-SHRM Global survey (2001). With estimates well above 150,000(U.S.)perpersonforadjustmentfailure(Briscoe,1995),inadditionto150,000 (U.S.) per person for adjustment failure (Briscoe, 1995), in addition to 150,000(U.S.)perpersonforadjustmentfailure(Briscoe,1995),inadditionto80,000 estimates for training, relocation, and compensation (Dowling, Schuler, & Welch, 1996), organizations can ill afford to continue making expatriate selection decisions based on heuristics. This selection paradox raises two key issues. One has to do with clarification of the qualities that determine an employee's suitability for an international assignment. Since the initial surge of research in the early 1960's surrounding the selection of Peace Corps volunteers (Mischel, 1965), several exhaustive lists of "essential" individual characteristics have appeared in the literature (Arthur & Bennett, 1995; Ones & Viswesvaran, 1999). Although some researchers (Kealey & Protheroe, 1996; Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985) have attempted to categorize these characteristics and de velop an ideal prototype, progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of theory and few predictive studies. In recent attempts to provide more structure and organization to this domain, researchers have begun to distinguish between stable personality traits and dynamic behavioral competencies (Jordan & Cartwright, 1998; Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1999). However, the few empirical studies that have been conducted are cross-* p < .05; ** p < .

EXPATRIATES SELECTION: AN ESSAY OF MODEL ANALYSIS

Journal of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, Vol. III, Issue 1, 2015

The business expansion to other geographical areas with different cultures from which organizations were created and developed leads to the expatriation of employees to these destinations. Recruitment and selection procedures of expatriates do not always have the intended success leading to an early return of these professionals with the consequent organizational disorders. In this study, several articles published in the last five years were analyzed in order to identify the most frequently mentioned dimensions in the selection of expatriates in terms of success and failure. The characteristics in the selection process that may increase prediction of adaptation of expatriates to new cultural contexts of the some organization were studied according to the KSAOs model. Few references were found concerning Knowledge, Skills and Abilities dimensions in the analyzed papers. There was a strong predominance on the evaluation of Other Characteristics, and was given more importance to dispositional factors than situational factors for promoting the integration of the expatriates.