Challenge of expatriation acculturation
Failure situations during international assignments happen in nearly every multinational firm.
In fact, the acculturation process is based on several variables that the expatriate has to deal with, and during the same period of time (H.Hays, 1974): the local environment representing all the factors linked to the specific foreign environment, the task, representing all the factors linked to the specific job that have to be performed, and the individual, representing all factors associated with the personal situation of the assignee.
Local environment relates to cross-cultural adaptation: how to adapt with cultural differences and how to communicate and to interact with host nationals – eg. the ability …show more content…
The five key success personality factors are agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, emotional stability, and openness.
Agreeableness is an important factor to form reciprocal social associations. Expatriates who are agreeable, who deal with conflict collaboratively, help for mutual understanding and are less competitive, report greater cross-cultural adjustment – and a better adjustment during the international assignment (Caligiuri, 2000; Ones & Viswesvaran, 1997; Black, 1990; Tung, 1981).
Trusted and conscientious employees are more likely to manage people, and to lead. Studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between conscientious people and work performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Day & Silverman, 1989).
Extroversion mainly represents the interest of an individual toward the others or one´s environment rather than oneself: that specific state of being focused on the external environment report an effective cross-cultural …show more content…
As a consequence, they often spend a lot of time at work, and might be under pressure trying to adapt to the new culture. The combination of emotional depression and exhaustion (otherwise known as burn-out) because of a huge amount of stress or overwork is a common problem for new expatriates.
Unless lightened, the consequences can dramatically reduce effectiveness at work
Therefore, expatriates might face some unfamiliar issues but also the spouse of the expatriate.
In fact, Researchers have found that one of the main determinants of expatriate failure is the adaptability of the spouse (M. Janssens and J.M Hiltrop,1990, B. Winston and A.Winfred, 1995, C. Brewster, H. Scullion, 1991)
In fact spouse will spend a lot of time alone and are often far from their close friends and family. At the same time, the spouse is usually dealing with cultural adaptation problems for which they have no previous experience (eg. trying to find a work, trying to make social connection).
Therefore, expatriation acculturation is a multi-dimensional process (M. Mendenhall and G. Oddou, 1985) and several criteria have to be taken into account by the company and especially by the future expatriate and his
Failure situations during international assignments happen in nearly every multinational firm.
In fact, the acculturation process is based on several variables that the expatriate has to deal with, and during the same period of time (H.Hays, 1974): the local environment representing all the factors linked to the specific foreign environment, the task, representing all the factors linked to the specific job that have to be performed, and the individual, representing all factors associated with the personal situation of the assignee.
Local environment relates to cross-cultural adaptation: how to adapt with cultural differences and how to communicate and to interact with host nationals – eg. the ability …show more content…
The five key success personality factors are agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, emotional stability, and openness.
Agreeableness is an important factor to form reciprocal social associations. Expatriates who are agreeable, who deal with conflict collaboratively, help for mutual understanding and are less competitive, report greater cross-cultural adjustment – and a better adjustment during the international assignment (Caligiuri, 2000; Ones & Viswesvaran, 1997; Black, 1990; Tung, 1981).
Trusted and conscientious employees are more likely to manage people, and to lead. Studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between conscientious people and work performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Day & Silverman, 1989).
Extroversion mainly represents the interest of an individual toward the others or one´s environment rather than oneself: that specific state of being focused on the external environment report an effective cross-cultural …show more content…
As a consequence, they often spend a lot of time at work, and might be under pressure trying to adapt to the new culture. The combination of emotional depression and exhaustion (otherwise known as burn-out) because of a huge amount of stress or overwork is a common problem for new expatriates.
Unless lightened, the consequences can dramatically reduce effectiveness at work
Therefore, expatriates might face some unfamiliar issues but also the spouse of the expatriate.
In fact, Researchers have found that one of the main determinants of expatriate failure is the adaptability of the spouse (M. Janssens and J.M Hiltrop,1990, B. Winston and A.Winfred, 1995, C. Brewster, H. Scullion, 1991)
In fact spouse will spend a lot of time alone and are often far from their close friends and family. At the same time, the spouse is usually dealing with cultural adaptation problems for which they have no previous experience (eg. trying to find a work, trying to make social connection).
Therefore, expatriation acculturation is a multi-dimensional process (M. Mendenhall and G. Oddou, 1985) and several criteria have to be taken into account by the company and especially by the future expatriate and his