James Randolf was traveling back to his home state of Illinois from his assignment in China for the last time, lie and his wife were about three hours into the long flight when she fell asleep, her head propped up by the airline pillow against the cabin wall. James
was exhausted, but for the first time in many days he had the luxury of reflecting on what had just happened in their lives.
He was neither angry nor bitter, but the disruption of the last few weeks was certainly unanticipated and in many ways unfortunate. He had fully expected to complete his three-year assignment his the highest ranking U.S. manager of his company's joint venture (JV) near Shanghai. Now, after only 13 months, the assignment was over and a manager from the regional office in Singapore held the post. Sure, the JV will survive, he thought, but how far had the relationship that he had been nurturing between the two partnered companies been set back? His Chinese partners were perplexed by his company's actions and visibly affected by the departure of their friend and colleague.
Was this an error in judgment resulting from Controls relative inexperience as a multinational company and a partner in international joint ventures', James wondered? Or, had something else
caused the shift in policy that resulted in the earlier- than-planned recall of several of the corporation's expatriates from their assignments? There had always been plans to reduce the number of expatriates at any particular location over time, but recently the carefully planned timetables seemed to have been abandoned.
Next week, James had to turn in his report covering the entire work assignment. How frank should he he? What detail should he include in his report? To whom should he send copies? There had been rumors that many senior managers were being asked to
• take early retirement. James did not really want to retire but could hardly contain his dissatisfaction as to how things had turned out. Maybe it would be better to take the offer, if it was forthcoming, and try to find some consulting that would make the best use of his wide spectrum of technical and managerial experience, which now included an expatriate assignment in what was considered to be one of the most difficult locations in the world.
James reflected with satisfaction on his accomplishment of the initial primary objectives, which were to establish a manufacturing and marketing presence. In fact, he was quite pleased with his success at putting in place many things that -would allow the operation to prosper. The various departments within the joint venture were now cooperating and coordinating, and the relationships he had established were truly the evidence of this achievement. He would like to have seen the operations become more efficient, however.
The work life that awaited him upon his return was a matter of considerable concern. Reports from the expatriates who preceded him in the last few months indicated that there were no established plans to utilize their talents, and often early retirement was strongly encouraged by management. Beyond the obligatory physical examinations and debriefings, he had been told there was little for them to do. Many of the recalled expatriates found themselves occupying desks in Personnel waiting for responses about potential job opportunities.
He gazed at his wife, Lily, now settled into comfortable slumber. At least she had had a pretty good experience. She was born in Shanghai, but left China in 1949. The country was then in the middle of a revolution but, aside from her memory of her parents appearing extremely anxious to leave, she remembered little else about the issues surrounding their emigration to the United States. Most of her perceptions about “what it was like” in China came from U.S. television coverage, some fact, some fiction.
As the plane droned on into the night, James thought back to how this experience began.
THE LONG TRIP HOME : A First Time Expatriate is Experience in a Joint article from Business Technical Catagory THE LONG TRIP HOME
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