Some 81% of companies [around the world] said in 1998 that they expect to send an increasing number of people overseas through 2000. That
means more folks confounded by foreign cultures and customs. What's key? Preparation.
www.businessweek.com, MARCH 5, 2001.
It is clear that preparation and training for cross-cultural interactions is critical. In earlier discussions of the need for cultural sensitivity by expatriate managers, we noted that reports indicate that up to 40 percent of expatriate managers end their foreign assignments early because of poor performance or an inability to adjust to the local environment.26 Moreover, about half of those who do remain function at a low level of effectiveness. The direct cost alone of a failed expatriate assignment is estimated to be from $50,000 to $150,000. The indirect costs may be far greater, depending on the position held by the expatriate. Relations with the host-country government and customers may be damaged, resulting in a loss of market share and a poor reception for future PCNs.
Both cross-cultural adjustment problems and practical differences in everyday living present challenges for expatriates and their families. Examples are evident from a 1998 survey of expatriates when they ranked the countries which presented the most challenging assignments to them, along with some pet peeves from their experiences:
China A continuing problem for expatriates; one complained that at his welcome banquet he was served duck tongue and pigeon head.
Brazil Expatriates stress that cell phones are essential because home phones don't work.
India Returning executives complain that the pervasiveness of poverty and street children is overwhelming.
Indonesia Here you need to plan ahead financially because landlords typically demand rent two to three years in advance.
Japan Expatriates and their families remain concerned that although there is excellent medical care, the Japanese doctors reveal little to their patients.
After these five countries, expatriates rank Russia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and France also challenging.
Even though cross-cultural training has proved to be effective, less than a third of expatriates are given such training. In a 1997 study by Harvey of 332 U.S. expatriates (dual-career couples) the respondents stated that their MNCs had not provided them with sufficient training or social support during the international assignment.28 Much of the rationale for this lack of training is an assumption that managerial skills and processes are universal. In a simplistic way, a manager's domestic track record is used as the major selection criterion for an overseas assignment.
In most countries, however, the success of the expatriate is not left so much to chance. Foreign companies provide considerably more training and preparation
for expatriates than American companies. Therefore, it is not hard to understand why Japanese expatriates experience significantly fewer incidences of failure than their American counterparts, although this may be partially attributable to the lower incidence of families accompanying Japanese assignees. Japanese multinationals typically have recall rates of below 5 percent, signifying that they send abroad managers who are far better prepared and more adept at working and flourishing in a foreign environment.29 While this success is largely attributable to training programs, it is also a result of intelligent planning by the human resource management staff in most Japanese organizations, as reported in a study by Tung.3 This planning begins with a careful selection process for overseas assignments, based on the long-terry knowledge of executives and their families. An effective selection process, of course, will eliminate many potential “failures” from the start. Another factor is the longer duration of overseas assignments, averaging almost five years, which allows the Japanese expatriate more time to adjust initially and then to function at full capacity. In addition, Japanese expatriates receive considerable support from headquarters and sometimes even from local divisions set up for that purpose. At NEC Corporation, for example, part of the Japanese giant's globalization strategy is its permanent boot camp, with its elaborate training exercises to prepare NEC managers and their families for overseas battle.31
The demands on expatriate managers have always been as much a result in the multiple relationships that they have to maintain as they are of the differences in the host-country environment. Those relations include family relations, internal relations with people in the corporation, both locally and globally, especially with headquarters, external relations (suppliers, distributors, allies, customers, local community, etc.), and relations with the host government. It is important to pinpoint any potential problems that an expatriate may experience with those relationships so that these problems may be addressed during predeparture training. Problem recognition is the first stage in a comprehensive plan for developing expatriates shown in Exhibit 9-4. The three areas critical to preparation are cultural training, language instruction, and familiarity with everyday matters.32 In the model shown in Exhibit 9-4, various development methods are used to address these areas during predeparture training, post arrival training, and reentry training. These methods continue to be valid and used by many organizations. Two- way feedback between the executive and the trainers at each stage helps to tailor the level and kinds of training to the individual manager. The desired goal is the increased effectiveness of the expatriate as a result of familiarity with local conditions, cultural awareness, and an appreciation of his or her family's needs in the host country.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT : Developing a Global Management Cadre article from Global Human Resource Management Catagory TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
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