11.2.2 Expatriate managers
No matter which staffing policy a firm has adopted, it usually has some parent-country nationals (PCNs) who serve in foreign positions, generally at managerial level. The individual success of these expatriate managers is usually very important to the success of the company. To understand the importance of expatriate managers, consider the possible indirect costs of their failure to do a good job (adapted from Dowling and Welch 2004, p. 89):
- foreign governments may be alienated
- foreign suppliers, creditors and customers may be lost
- foreign contracts may be lost
- loss of market share
- foreign operators may be inefficient
- foreign employees, that is HCNs, may be alienated, resulting in industrial relations problems such as morale and productivity
- the company's international reputation may be damaged
- the manager's self esteem will be damaged, leading to adverse long-term consequences both for the manager and the company
- other potential expatriates and their families may be deterred from undertaking foreign assignments.
There has been considerable research into the selection and training of expatriate managers to avoid the consequences listed above.
Dowling and Welch (2004) suggest that because of the high costs associated with expatriate failure, which occurs when an expatriate returns early from an overseas assignment or is ineffective in the overseas posting, developing selection criteria that predict success is vital. Selecting potential expatriates is a more complex process than selecting domestic employees because, in addition to predicting successful job performance, the HR manager is also attempting to predict the expatriate's ability to adjust to a different cultural environment. An important point made by Dowling and Welch (2004) is that a person's ability to perform job tasks (technical ability) in the domestic business does not necessarily translate into that person performing well abroad because of the need for the expatriate to adapt to a different cultural environment. That is, domestic ability is not necessarily a valid predictor of international success.
Read now what Hill (2005) has to say about expatriate selection. Note Hill's (2005) emphasis on the ability or inability of the spouse to adjust to the overseas environment. Note also that Hill (2005) uses the phrase 'his or her spouse': so far we have not looked specifically at female expatriate managers, but that is touched on in the additional reading that also discusses the factors to consider when selecting expatriates.
In your text
Hill 2005, Chapter 18, pp. 623-628.
Reading 11.4
Dessler, G. 2003, Human Resource Management , 9 th edn, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River , New Jersey , pp. 471-473: 'Selecting international managers'.
Activity 11.1
Based on your textbook and readings, develop your own list of criteria that would broadly apply when selecting an international manager.
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