The recent globalisation of the economy has brought about significant changes in the way in which New Zealand organisations operate. (Enderwick & Hodgson, 1993) One of the most important changes that have occurred from internationalisation of businesses is the use of expatriates in overseas roles. With increasingly more firms entering the global marketplace, the challenge of managing human resources on a global scale is becoming a critical development in international business. The selection of suitable expatriates is the key strategic challenge for multinational corporations. The organisation must ensure that the expatriate will be effective in their offshore operations by using strict selection criteria; evaluating the candidate’s abilities,
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The level of training will be determined by the degree of differences between the culture of the local country and the host country. For example, a New Zealand expatriate embarking on an overseas assignment in Australia would most likely need less training than the same person going to India, as the cultures are extremely different. Some human resource management processes to do this could involve supplying rigorous cross-cultural training and language lessons, setting up a mentor in the international location, organise regular trips back to the expatriates’ home, finding job opportunities for the expatriates spouce and schools for children and offering councilling for the family or individual for the first few months of transitioning into the new lifestyle (Selmer, 1995). When family situation variables are assessed, there is a lower rate of premature return, a higher percentage of expatriates achieving the objectives of the organisation and a higher attainment of market share. This is further supported by Bowman & Meacheam (2000, p. 109) “the need for training expatriate employees and families to make the cultural adaption to the host family” is …show more content…
Research by (Enderwick & Hodgson, 1993) states that none of the surveyed organisations conducted official repatriation plans for expatriates upon their return from overseas assignments. “The majority of respondents felt that no such programmes were simply necessary.” Black, (1990) discovered that more than 60 per cent of expatriate managers experience major reverse culture shock when returning home from an international assignment. If the expatriate has been isolated from the company with a lack of feedback and no knowledge of changes that have occurred within the head office, they are unclear of their future career or they fear they will return to a demotion, this will cause a great amount of stress. Human resource management can prevent this from occurring by instilling a repatriation policy. The company can consider repatriation issues and career options with the expatriate at the time of selection before the assignment occurs, and assisting the expatriate’s return with effective repatriation policies such as team building exercises with the existing employees, counselling and coping techniques. “Effective repatriation will allow returned expatriates to be productive in the home environment more quickly” (Napier & Peterson,
The level of training will be determined by the degree of differences between the culture of the local country and the host country. For example, a New Zealand expatriate embarking on an overseas assignment in Australia would most likely need less training than the same person going to India, as the cultures are extremely different. Some human resource management processes to do this could involve supplying rigorous cross-cultural training and language lessons, setting up a mentor in the international location, organise regular trips back to the expatriates’ home, finding job opportunities for the expatriates spouce and schools for children and offering councilling for the family or individual for the first few months of transitioning into the new lifestyle (Selmer, 1995). When family situation variables are assessed, there is a lower rate of premature return, a higher percentage of expatriates achieving the objectives of the organisation and a higher attainment of market share. This is further supported by Bowman & Meacheam (2000, p. 109) “the need for training expatriate employees and families to make the cultural adaption to the host family” is …show more content…
Research by (Enderwick & Hodgson, 1993) states that none of the surveyed organisations conducted official repatriation plans for expatriates upon their return from overseas assignments. “The majority of respondents felt that no such programmes were simply necessary.” Black, (1990) discovered that more than 60 per cent of expatriate managers experience major reverse culture shock when returning home from an international assignment. If the expatriate has been isolated from the company with a lack of feedback and no knowledge of changes that have occurred within the head office, they are unclear of their future career or they fear they will return to a demotion, this will cause a great amount of stress. Human resource management can prevent this from occurring by instilling a repatriation policy. The company can consider repatriation issues and career options with the expatriate at the time of selection before the assignment occurs, and assisting the expatriate’s return with effective repatriation policies such as team building exercises with the existing employees, counselling and coping techniques. “Effective repatriation will allow returned expatriates to be productive in the home environment more quickly” (Napier & Peterson,