11.2 Managing international employees
IHRM policies and practices relate to the management of employees who may be working away from their home country for a specific period of time on assignment in another country which is known as the host country. The home country is often referred to as the parent country. Employees on overseas assignment are called expatriates , which is often colloquially shortened to expats. Expatriates may be either parent country nationals (PCNs) or third country nationals (TCNs). PCNs are those whom most people would identify as being expatriates. They are the employees from the parent (home) country who are sent overseas because of their managerial knowledge or specialist skills (Hill 2005).
Most research we will be examining when referring to expatriates usually refers to PCNs. Although TCNs are often overlooked in the literature they too are expatriates because they are moving on assignment from one country, which is not their home country, to another country.
With the help of Figure 2.2, an example may help clarify the above terms. An Australian MNE [Firm X] that has subsidiaries in Singapore [Country C - Firm X 1 ] and India [shown in the figure as 'any other country'] may send Australian employees (PCNs) to Singapore and transfer employees in the Indian subsidiary to the operations in Singapore (TCN). When the Australian MNE employs Singaporean citizens in the subsidiary in Singapore , then these employees are known as host country nationals (HCNs).
Figure 11.1 Movement of international employees in an MNE
Source: based on Briscoe 1995, p. 5.
Another term that is sometimes used is inpatriate . The inpatriate refers to an employee from an overseas subsidiary [Country C - Firm X 1 ] who is on assignment in the MNE home country headquarters of operations [Country A - Firm X]. As Briscoe (1995, p. 8) explains, inpatriates:
. could be local-country hires or third country hires from the firm's foreign operations who are either being developed by the firm for further management responsibilities or who have special skills or experiences that the firm needs in the home country.
Perhaps another definition will help. Hill (2005, p. 623) defines inpatriates as being 'expatriates who are citizens of a foreign country working in the home country of their multinational employer'.
If this still appears to be confusing, don't worry: it is a bit bewildering. However, it may be useful to read this particular section in conjunction with Figure 11.1 a couple of times because these terms are used constantly in the IHRM literature.
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