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EXPATRIATES (INTERNATIONAL ADJUSTMENT (STRESS (ROLE STRESSORS
Role…
EXPATRIATES
INTERNATIONAL ADJUSTMENT
The expatriate's (or spouses') degree of psychological comfort & familiarity with different aspects of the foreign culture (Takeuchi, 2010)
FACETS OF EXPAT ADJUSTMENT (Black, 1988)
- Work-adaptation to the work role in the foreign subsidiary
- General-adjustment in the foreign country
- Adjustment to interactions with host country nationals.
TWO PHASES OF ADJUSTMENT
- Anticipatory adjustment
- induvidual(training, previous experience)
- organisational (selection mechanisms & criteria)
- In-country adjustment
THE SOCIALISATION & ROLE TRANSITIONS PERSPECTIVE (Lee & Larwood 1983, Mendenhall & Oddou 1985)
- Whether & How expats value host-country values
STRESS
ROLE STRESSORS
- Role ambiguity
- Role conflict
- Role Novelty
- Family support as a mediator between stressors & adjustment levels.
SITUATIONAL STRESSORS
- Lack of language fluency
- National culture novelty
- Lack of promotions
- Lack of free choice
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- Previous culture-specific work experience and core self-evaluations moderate the trajectory of work adjustment.
- Trajectory of adjustment predicts Month 9 career instrumentality and turnover intention, as well as career advancement (job promotion) 1.5 years further.
TRAINING
& SELECTION
Prior to 1980
- Focus on technical skills & Competence
- Limited cross-cultural training
1980+
- Broader selection criteria
- More effective cross-cultural training programs
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CONCEPTUAL MODELS
TAXONOMY OF THE DIMENSIONS that impact expat acculturation (Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985)
- self-orientation: attributes that strengthen one's self-esteem & confidence
- others-orientation: attributes that enhance expat's ability o interact with others
- perceptual orientation: the ability to understand why foreigners behave the way they do
- cultural toughness of the foreign country
ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE (Gertsen 1990)
the ability to function effectively in another culture
- affective, cognitive & bahavioural dimensions
Banai (1985)
Host country managers DID NOT have different selection criteria than HQ managers
- Proficiency in host country language
- expertise in work tasks
- knowledge of the host country "business world".
Black & Porter (1991)
The same managerial behaviours used back home may not be effective or appropriate when used abroad.
Arthur & Bennett (1995)
- technical skills
- host-country language
- intercultural competencies
- relational skills
- family support
- flexibility & adaptability
BIG FIVE as valid predictors of cultural adjustment & performance
- extroversion, emotional stability/neurotism, agreeableness & conscientiousness positively predicted job performance
- not openness: may depend on which measure is used
- However, small effect size.
-
CULTURAL COMPETENCE/INTELLIGENCE (CQ) (EARLEY & ANG 2003)
individuals' belief in their ability to be effective in culturally diverse environments & their interest in other cultures.
- cognitive: having specific knowledge of cultures
- metacognitive: one's understanding of cultures
- behavioural : how individuals conduct themselves in other cultures
- motivation: how determined an individual is to learn about, understand & act properly in other cultures
:!: positively related to expat performance, mediated by cultural adjustment & communication effectiveness
:!!:Motivational CQ is the most important predictor of expat success
Positively related to organisational outcomes:
- expat effectiveness
- teamwork
- negotiation success
- sales performance
- decision making quality
International Experience has been proposed as an important factor contributing to CQ development
- business organisations
- educational institutes
-
Experiential learning through intercultural contact is assumed to enhance CQ
- However, it may backfire, resulting in cultural avoidance.
TRAINING
BLACK & MENDENHALL (1989) A model of cross-cultural training practices based on social learning theory: the need to incorporate vicarious learning experiences into training programs.
- documentary & interpersonal training methods were equally effective of preparing the employees in terms of need for adjustment & job performance & were more effective than the no training condition.
- participants reported that they preferred the interpersonal method.
- the more expats perceive cross-cultural training as relevant to the country of assignment, the more expectations are met or positively exceeded once on the assignment.
- independent & additive
- success may be attributable to info about critica incidents
- Training should include both general & specific information
Cross-cultural training has a strong & positive correlation with cross-cultural skill development, cultural adjustment & job performance.
- Overwhelmed by a new culture
- cannot perform their duties effectively
- offend/alienate a foreign host & jeopardise long-term relations
FOUR KEY COMPONENTS
- Attend to basic needs -Logistics of foods etc
- Prepare family - Work visas/jobs, schooling, trips home
- Build individual CQ
- Social support
- From home organisations- constant communicarion
- In new culture - mentor, connect with other expats
Lee & Larwood(1983) expats will tend to adopt expected roles in a new culture so as to avoid role conflicts between the new & the home culture.
Intercultural training methods:
- area studies or documentary programs
- culture assimilator
- language preparation
- sensitivity training; self-awareness
- field experiences
- Methods should be complementary
- Ranging rigor
ROLE
Macro perspective- Organisational development strategy
- Socialising both expatriates & local managers into corporate culture
- Creation of an informal international communication network that provides linkes between subsidiaries & HQs
:!: expats are the key conduit for home-country managers to develop knowledge of each specific foreign operation's business world
- The combination of local knowledge flowing back to home-country managers & strategic control across subsidiaries allows corporations to develop an integrative global strategy.
- Control Strategy: Higher proportion of US expats were present in subsidiary managers when (Boyacigiller, 1990)
- jobs at subsidiaries were highly complex
- high interdependence between HQs & subsidiaries
- higher levels of cultural distance & political risk
- Knowledge transfer agents
- (Riusala & Suutari, 2004) expats serving as knowledge transfer agents & the responsibility was made explicit when selected
- related to management issues, cultural information, sales & marketing etc
- difficulty laid on the fact that knowledge was
- implict,
- regulatory & normative components of the institutional environments
- support for change and innovation
- lack of organisational commitment by local employees
HOW EXPATS EXERCISE CONTROL(HARZING, 2001)
- Bear control strategy:
- Bubble bee:
- Spider:
Fang et al 2010
The number of expats relative to the total number of subsidiary employees strengthened the positive effect of a parent firm's technological knowledge on subsidiary performance in the short term.
The expat influence on knowledge transfer eventually disappeared.
Chang et al 2012
Expatriates knowledge transfer competencies positively related to knowledge received by the subsidiary, which in turn positively related to subsidiary performance.
- Relationships were strengthened by local managers' perceptions of the absorptive capacity of subsidiary employees.
-
-
FAILURE
Tung (1981):
+ 7% of executives indicated that their expat failure was between 20-40%
- 69% of the executives indicated a failure rate between 10 & 20%.
TOP REASONS
- Family adjustment
- inability of the manager's spouse
- International Adjustment
- inability of the manager to adjust to a different cultural or physical environment
- Spill over effect from spouse adjustment & support to expat adjustment
- Crossover effects
-
COSTS
- up to $1 million per expat
- Loss of market share & relationships abroad
- Loss of self-esteem & confidence for the expat
- Disencourage other managers to accept overseas assignments
REPATRIATION
Adler(1981): Repatriation can be an even more difficult transition than was the move to the foreign country.
- Unmet expectations => quitting
- Feeling of being undervalued
- Feeling that career growth had stalled while overseas
BLACK MODEL FOR REPATRIATION ADJUSTMENT
- Anticipatory repatriation adjustment
- individual, job, organisational & nonwork variables
- In-country adjustment
- individual, job, organisational, & non work variables
Anticipatory adjustment will affect in-country adjustment & that repatriation adjustment & organisational commitment are important in understanding functional & dysfunctional turnover/retention among repatriates.
Age, total time overseas, social status upon repatriation & housing conditions related to all 3 dimensions of repatriation adjustment.
FINDINGS
- Repatriate's perceptions of organisational support is strongly related to their intentions to leave the organisation & the availability & perceived value of specific practices predicted POS.
- visible signs that the company values international experience & career planning sessions
- 68% received a promotion and/or higher salary (Suutari & Brewster, 2003)
:!!: 35 % of repatriated employees worked for new organisation
:!!: 59% of those with the same employee considered leaving.
:!!: increased turnover
- 38% voluntarily quit within the 1st year (Brookfield Global Relocation
(2010) Trends Report)
(Kraimer et al, 2012) Community embeddedness related to the expatriate's international employee role identity & this identity creates strain when a repatriates perceives job underutilisation relative to peers.
IDENTITY THEORY An individual's self-concept can be derived from his/her position in an organised structure of relationships such as social roles or social types.
- ongoing process of interactions with others through the enactment of various roles.
- expat & repatriate work role transitions are distinct from work role transitions that occur domestically.
- adapt to new working & living conditions.
- creation of situations in which individuals need to reflect on their identity.
NEW IDENTITY incorporated new meanings & aspirations in terms of how they approached their job responsibilities & careers.
- still meaningful after repatriation
- incorporation of characteristics of past roles as they experience role transitions
- true when people feel awarded for taking part in previous role
- new responsibilities & development of global competencies
+monetary incentives
- career implications with possible future selves
:!: identity strain: as a person’s feelings of tension associated with his or her international
employee identity being inconsistent with the current environment.
- the social environment does not reinforce one’s self-concept
- incompatibility between repatriate's current job role & previous role, a lack of current job fit to his/her skills, inability to identify a role in the organisation
HRM
- recognise the identity of expats
- tangible credentialing & rewards
- leverage of previous experience in a way that contributes to the performance
Job embeddedness as a process whereby employees become attached in social webs in organisations and communities.
- Fit : comfort with job & community
- Links : connections between a person & institutions or other people
- Sacrifices : cost of material or psychological benefits associated with job & community
:!: The properties of job embeddedness provide the mechanisms that allow expats to develop an international employee identity.
Organisational BENEFITS
- Greater coordination & control between operations
- Compliance with corporate objectives & policies
COSTS
- Higher Cost
- Lack of productivity during adjustment
- Hostility because of the discrepancy in treatment
BENEFITS to individuals
- Advancement in the company
- Learning & growth for self & family
- Opportunity to develop new skills
COST
- May not result in promotion upon return
- Culture shock
- Phychological symptoms
- Physical Symptoms
Expatriate Employees who are sent overseas on a temporary basis to complete a time-based task or accomplish an organisational goal (Harisson et al, 2004)