The Life Of Expatriate Case Study

Decent Essays
The life of expatriates working overseas
In the event that someone was to be selected to work in a country that is different from one’s own, there are several adjustments that are necessary to make prior to leaving, and even while residing in the country that differs from one’s own. While choosing the appropriate expatriates, it has been stated how “the selection process must include spouses, partners, and entire families” in order to be successful while working abroad (Deresky. 2014, p. 302). Likewise, sometimes working overseas can bring about more stress and chaos, however, there are steps that can be taken and decisions that organizations can make to help maximize the benefits of a company, regardless of economic concerns.
Upon analyzing
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It has been stated that companies have admitted that the money spent relocating families overseas “has been wasted due to either the employee’s family’s inability to adjust to the culture of the assignment” (Sussman, 2011, p. 394). This indicates that companies are prepared to spend the money that is needed in order to transition the employees to a different culture, however, lack of preparation and willingness to adjust may prove that the money is being wasted in return. In addition, it has also been mentioned how it is unclear if the workers were effective during their international assignments due to their lack of cultural understanding. In order to attempt to avoid issues pertaining to adjusting and the cultural differences that one may face upon working internationally, there are steps that may benefit the company and the workers. For instance, it has been indicated that “multinationals need to offer more incentives to persuade an individual to work overseas” (Wang, 2008, p. 867). The incentives may include a higher salary, additional well-being benefits, counseling for families, and cost-of-living budgets. According to Wang (2008), cross-cultural tendencies, family life, one’s personality, and communication all need to be amended when working …show more content…
If one were to neglect to carefully select the person for the assignment, unnecessary money may be wasted since the costs of overseas staffing is normally higher due to the necessities of the workers. For example, it has been mentioned that “the estimated cost of expatriates is three times that of a domestic staff, which leads to the situation that the enterprise attaches more importance to” (Wang, 2008, p. 867). In spite of economic hardships, if an organization selects the expatriates based on their work performance and their willingness to modify their cultural familiarities, the company may actually benefit even though the economy may not be at its best. Additionally, Wang (2008) cited how sometimes younger expatriates tend to adjust to working overseas better than older selections due to their absence of family ties and

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