While 89 percent of companies formally assess a candidate's job skills
prior to a foreign posting, less than half go through the same process for cultural suitability. Even fewer gauge whether the family will cope.
Deciding on a staffing policy and selecting suitable managers are logical first steps but do not alone ensure success. When staffing overseas assignments with
expatriates, for example, many other reasons, besides poor selection, contribute to expatriate failure among U.S. multinationals. A large percentage of these failures can be attributed to poor preparation and planning for the entry and reentry transitions of the manager and his or her family. One important variable, for example, often given insufficient attention in Ihe selection, preparation, and support phases, is the suitability and adjustment of the spouse. The inability of the spouse to adjust to the new environment has been found to be a major - in fact, the most frequently cited - reason for expatriate failure in U.S. and European companies. Yet only about half of those companies studied had included the spouse in the interviewing process. In addition, although research shows that human relational skills are critical for overseas work (a fact acknowledged by the companies in a study by Tung), most of the U.S. firms surveyed failed to include this factor in their assessment of candidates. The following is a synthesis of the factors frequently mentioned by researchers and firms as the major causes of expatriate failure:
Selection based on headquarters criteria rather than assignment needs
• Inadequate preparation, training, and orientation prior to assignment
• Alienation or lack of support from headquarters
• Inability to adapt to local culture and working environment
Problems with spouse and children - poor adaptation, family unhappiness
• Insufficient compensation and financial support
Poor programs for career support and repatriation
After careful selection based on the specific assignment and the long-term plans both of the organization and the candidates, plans must be made for the preparation, training, and development of expatriate managers.
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