INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

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INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• Week 3

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International Recruitment and Selection

• Recruitment Defined as searching for and
• obtaining potential job candidates in sufficient
• numbers for and quality so that the organization
• can select the most appropriate persons for its
  job
• needs
• Selection Defined as the process of gathering
• information for the purposes of evaluating and
• deciding whom should be employed in particular
• jobs

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (1)

• Advantages of the Ethnocentric Approach
• Perceived lack of qualified host country
  nationals (HCNs)
• The necessity to maintain and consolidate good
  communication, coordination and control links
  with the organizations headquarters
• The assurance that the foreign subsidiary or unit
  will comply with corporate objectives, policies,
  standards etc.
• PCNs may be most suitable because they have the
  requisite skills and experience
• Promising managers are given the opportunity of
  international experience

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (2)

• Disadvantages of the Ethnocentric Approach
• It limits the promotional opportunities of HCNs
• PCN expatriate managers may experience adjustment
  problems
• PCN expatriate managers may attempt to impose
  styles which are appropriate at the
  organizations headquarters but which may be
  deemed inappropriate in the host country
• The compensation packages of PCN expatriate
  managers may be at a level considered unjustified
  by the HCNs
• PCN expatriate managers are expensive

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (3)

• Advantages of the Polycentric Approach
• It eliminates language barriers, avoids
  adjustment problems of expatriate managers and
  their families, and removes the need for
  expensive cultural awareness training programmes
• Hiring costs are reduced
• No work permit required
• Motivation effect because HCNs see a career
  potential
• Lower organizational profile in sensitive
  political situations
• Continuity of management improves because the
  HCNs stay longer in the organization
• Local responsiveness and sensitivity, host
  government policy

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (4)

• Disadvantages of the Polycentric Approach
• More difficulty in bridging the gap (objectives,
  policies, standards, communication, coordination,
  control, culture and attitudes etc.) between the
  HCN unit and the organizations parent
  headquarters
• Tends to encourage too much decentralization
• HCN managers have limited career opportunities
  outside the subsidiary or unit
• Limits opportunities for PCN expatriate managers
  to gain foreign experience, adversely effecting
  their insight and hence strategic decision-making
  and resource allocation

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (5a)

• Advantages of the Geocentric Approach
• Facilitates the development of an international
  team
• Overcomes the decentralization effect of the
  polycentric approach

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (5b)

• For the geocentric approach to be successful, 5
  assumptions must be
• met
• Highly competent employees are available at
  headquarters and subsidiaries
• (2) International experience is a condition for
  success in top positions
• (3) Managers with high potential and ambition for
  promotion are constantly ready to be transferred
  from one country to another
• (4) Open disposition and high adaptability on the
  part of competent and mobile managers to
  different assignment conditions
• (5) Open disposition and high adaptability can be
  learned with more foreign experience

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (5c)

• Disadvantages of the Geocentric Approach
• Immigration controls and work permits for the
  foreign manager and his family
• Provision of extensive, time-consuming (and
  sometimes) expensive information and
  documentation for foreign nationals
• Large numbers of PCNs, HCNs and TCNs must be sent
  to foreign locations in order to create a
  successful geocentric staffing policy
• High Training and relocation cost
• Devising an appropriate compensation structure
• More centralized control over staffing and loss
  of autonomy by the subsidiary in HRM issues

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (6)

• Advantages of the Regiocentric Approach
• It allows interaction between managers of an
  organizations subsidiaries transferred to their
  organizations regional headquarters, and
  managers from the organizations headquarters
  posted to the regional headquarters
• More sensitivity to local conditions as
  subsidiaries are staffed mostly by HCNs
• TCNs from the region may be better informed about
  the host country environment than PCNs
• Lower salary and benefit requirements for TCNs
• Paves the way for adoption of a geocentric
  approach

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Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing
Approaches (6)

• Disadvantages of the Regiocentric Approach
• It can prevent the organization from taking a
  global stance
• Improves career opportunities at the regional,
  but not international level
• Factors such as political animosity between
  regional countries and work permit requirements
  must be taken into consideration

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Selecting Staff for International Assignments

• Selecting staff for international assignments is
  a complex
• undertaking for several reasons, including
• Identifying a suitable person for the assignment
• Predicting his or her performance in a new,
  culturally potentially very different environment
• Dealing with personal and family-related issues
  and problems
• Devising an appropriate compensation package
• Complying with host country regulations

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The Problem of Expatriate Failure

• Expatriate failure means the premature return of
  an expatriate manager before the completion of
  his or her international assignment due to the
  persons failure to attain the expected
  performance levels and due to the persons
  continuing inability to adjust to the new work
  and cultural environment in the host country

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The Cost of Expatriate Failure

• Expatriate failure has two cost components
• Direct Costs Can be easily measured in monetary
  terms (e.g. air fare, relocation expenses,
  salary and training) and varies according to the
  level of the position in question, the country of
  destination, the exchange rates and whether a new
  PCN takes over the assignment of the failed
  colleague
• Indirect Costs Cannot be measured easily in
  monetary terms but may be significantly higher
  than the direct costs. Examples include loss of
  the organizations reputation and market share,
  loss of morale and productivity in the local work
  force, complications with the host government,
  discreditation of the expatriate at the
  organizations headquarters and a future
  performance impact

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The Reasons for Expatriate Failure
Lack of technical competence
Personal or emotional problems
Difficulties with the new environment
Managers Personal or Emotional Maturity
Inability to Cope With Larger International Respo
nsibility
Spouses Inability to Adjust
Managers Inability to Adjust
Other Family Reasons
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Criteria for Selecting Staff for International
Assignments
Cross-Cultural Suitability
Technical Ability
Family Requirements
SELECTION DECISION
Organization-Specific Requirements
Country-Cultural Requirements
Language
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The Staff Selection Criteria(Technical Ability)

• Technical and managerial competencies of the
  person to perform the required tasks
• Research studies indicate that technical ability
  are the most important selection criteria for
  organizations
• Usually easy to evaluate on the basis of past
  performance

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Cross-Cultural
Suitability)

• Certain individual traits and characteristics can
  have an impact on the success or failure of an
  international assignment cultural empathy,
  adaptability, diplomacy, language ability,
  positive attitude, emotional stability, and
  maturity
• Ability to implement technical and managerial
  skills and feel reasonably comfortable in a in a
  foreign environment
• Sometimes difficult to determine

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Family Requirements)

• Spouse may not adjust to a foreign environment
• Adjustment level of spouse depends on several
  factors, such as the adjustment of the expatriate
  and the spouses own opinion of the international
  assignment
• A higher level of organizational support in the
  early stages of expatriation usually correlates
  with a higher level of adjustment by the spouse

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Country-Cultural
Requirements)

• Hardship Postings (Remoteness of job location,
  social upheavals, safety risks, very low standard
  of living and lack of recreational opportunities
  etc.)
• Pressure of living in repressive cultures and
  countries (e.g. China, Saudi Arabia and other
  totalitarian Islamic states in the Middle East)
• Denial of work permits to female expatriates

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Organization-Specifi
c Requirements)

• Situational Factors influence staff selection.
  Examples
• Organizations staffing approach may require
  sending more expatriates to work in certain
  regions and locations than otherwise
• Partner organizations may be involved in the
  selection of expatriate staff, for example, on
  international joint ventures
• Certain specific skills, for example, training,
  may be used as a selection criteria

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Language)

• Important situational factor. Knowledge of the
  host countrys language is considered critical
  for many senior-level positions along with the
  ability to communicate effectively
• Knowledge of the host countrys language helps
  expatriates and their families feel more
  comfortable in the new environment

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Other
Considerations 1)

• Time Unexpected international vacancies may
  arise for which positions have to be quickly
  filled by expatriates and which may preclude the
  use of screening tests
• Family - A potential expatriate may refuse the
  international assignment due to family
  considerations (childrens welfare and education,
  parental care, single parents)

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Other
Considerations 2)

• Dual-Career Couples Research studies
  undertaken reveal that many potential expatriates
  are reluctant or unwilling to take on
  international assignments because of the career
  implications for their spouses, e.g. loss of jobs
  and career opportunities, difficulty in finding
  new employment in the expatriates host country
• Some companies are now offering assistance
  programmes for the benefit of their expatriates
  spouses (employment hunting, networking,
  intra-company employment, commuter marriages and
  on-assignment career support)

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The Staff Selection Criteria(Other
Considerations 3)

• Female Managers Studies reveal that female
  expatriates make up a very small proportion (lt
  10 percent) of the total expatriate population.
  Possible reasons are
• Females are less desirous than males of
  international assignments
• Females are less likely to be offered
  international assignments
• There are a comparatively smaller number of
  females with the requisite skills to be sent on
  international assignments
• Many repressive cultures discourage the sending
  of female expatriates, and
• In many repressive cultures males do not like
  reporting to females

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Selection Tests

• Selection Tests entails the use of certain
  personal
• and other related criteria with a view to
  determining
• whether a person is suitable or not for an inter-
• national expatriate assignment
• Problems with such tests relate to their
• Reliability
• Culture-boundedness

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Alternative Model of Expatriate Selection

• Mendenhall and Oddou propose a four-dimensional
  approach
• linking specific behavoioural tendencies to
  probable inter-
• national performance
• Self-Orientedness adaptive concern for
  self-preservation, self-enjoyment and mental
  hygiene
• Perceptual expertise in accurately
  understanding the behavour of host country
  nationals
• Others-Orientedness Degree of concern about the
  host country nationals and the expoatriates
  desire to affiliate with them
• Cultural Toughness Difference between the
  expatriates country and the host countrys
  cultural, social, political, economic etc.
  environment and ist implication for the
  expatriate