Expatriate Success and Challenges

This assignment delves into the complexities of expatriate experiences. It requires a thorough examination of factors influencing both expatriate success and failure in foreign assignments. Students must analyze common challenges faced by expatriates, such as cultural adjustment, communication barriers, and family issues. Furthermore, the assignment encourages the exploration of effective strategies and programs to enhance expatriate success, including pre-departure training, cultural sensitivity programs, and ongoing support mechanisms.

International Human Resource Management A29501
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Factors to consider for the success of multinational organization..............................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
In the present day, many national organizations are steadily becoming global in a bid to look for
new markets to deliver their products and services. The organizations which have gone global to
must have expert and competent employees working for them in the global new markets to
succeed. However, a criterion has to be adopted to choose the best expatriates who are going to
represent the organization and bring a competitive advantage. However, despite the competency
of the selected individuals, the oversea jobs sometimes are challenging, and the employees may
not perform as per the organization's expectation. It is important to look at some factors that
should be considered to increase the success of these international expatriates.
Factors to consider for the success of multinational organization
Apart from the financial assets that an organization requires to go global, the human resource and
intellectual capitals are important too. However, in the present day, there are less qualified
managers than there are jobs (Quelch and Bloom, 1999) and the success of these multinational
organizations, highly depend on how skilled the expatriates are. A good human resource
manager(s) in a global organization is the one who can choose the right people to do the right job
in the right place and at the right time with the minimum possible cost (Quelch and Bloom,
1999).
If a multinational company through its managers is not able to communicate and coordinate the
corporation's activities in the international scenes, this could lead to its failure internationally
(Chew, 2004). The failure of MNCs globally could be caused by failed assignments among other
issues. The failures are caused by challenges faced by the expatriates who sometimes cause an

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early return to their home countries before their assigned job is done. Although the host country
can create some of these challenges faced by the expatriates, poor expatriate management is also
a cause.
Skill issue
Selection of managers who are less experienced or untalented when it comes to global human
management can create Poor expatriate management. This issue is very common in multi-natural
companies which are new to the global scene and getting an intelligent and trustworthy manager
to enhance the success of the company in the global markets is a big challenge. However, it is
wise for the new or unsuccessful multinational corporations to follow closely what other
successful MNCs like Unilever are doing when it comes to recruiting, training and retaining
good expatriates (Quelsh and Bloom, 1999).
One of the important factors that a multinational company should consider to increase the
success of expatriates is chosen qualified human resource manager(s) in terms of global
management. These HR managers will, however, be able to recruit and train the right personnel
for the global assignment and this is one of the reasons for the success of Unilever globally. For
a long time, its priority has been on human resources (Quelsh and Bloom, 1999). A human
resource manager in Unilever has priorities such that they even have a seat on the board's
executive committee.
Language and Family issues
Many expatriates are unable to perform their duties as expected by the multinational company
are because of the challenges they face. To increase their success in these assignments, it is,

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therefore, important that the responsible human resource has a sound knowledge and
understanding of these challenges. In this essay, to be able to identify the factors that could
improve the success of these expatriates, it is good to look at some of these challenges that are
faced abroad.
Culture and environment issue
One of these difficulties is the inability to adjust to the host country's culture and environment
(Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010). This particular issue affects negatively the expatriate's ability to
work effectively with the local people and can make them make wrong decisions regarding their
assignment. Another challenge is that the expatriates many not be having the required technical
competence to perform the job. Sometimes they can also have the necessary expertise but lack
motivation, and this will, however, affect them negatively (Briscoe and Schuler, 2004).
Emotional maturity is also important when it comes to international assignments, and many or
some expatriates may lack this particular skill (Hill, 2013). In the case of expatriates who move
to the foreign country with their families, it sometimes becomes difficult for one or all the family
members to adapt to the new environment (Black and Gregersen, 1991). It makes the expatriate
uncomfortable in the assigned job and increases the likelihood of failure. Apart from those
moving with their families to the foreign land, some expatriates also leave them behind which
could again cause another problem. Some family members and especially the wife may feel
neglected by the expatriate (husband), and if the spouse is continuously complaining of the
neglect, it can cause discomfort to the expatriate. Consequently, the individual will not perform
his duties as intended by the multinational company.

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The MNC can also be a contributor of challenges with could cause the failure of these
expatriates. For instance, if the MNC makes wrong decisions which could de-motivate the
expatriate for example cutting or reduce some previous allowances, this could impact negatively
the ability of the expatriate to perform the job. The MNC can also make a mistake if it happens
to provide little or no cross-cultural training to the expatriates and this could also increase the
possibility of occurrence of other challenges faced by the foreign employees.
The expatriate can be competent and experienced concerning the job assigned but the nature of
that job in the foreign country can have a different degree of difficulty which is challenging to
the expatriate (Cullen and Parboteeah). Such case can increase the likelihood of failure to
performing the task. However, there are other problems which are faced by the expatriates, and it
is the responsibility of Multinational Companies to try and solve most or all the problems to
increase the success of their access to the global market.
Asia multinational companies are the most successful ones in the world market. This is caused
by their strategies when it comes to management of international staff. Companies like Unilever
and Nestle are good examples of successful multinational corporations, and their success are
unmatched even by the American companies (Quelch and Blom, 1999). However, there are still
other multinational corporations in other parts of the world that are still very successful in the
international management of its expatriates. A good example is GE medical systems (Gregersen,
1999). Interview of expatriates from successful MNCs report that the job is satisfactory and the
result has increased the market. According to Gregersen (2009), GE Medical Systems through
better management of its expatriates saw its sales increase from 10% to 50% in a span of ten
years. Although there are many ranges of industries and they all have different approaches

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towards the success of their expatriates, there are some standard practices that all the successful
MNCs do.
When choosing the expatriates, the focus is on knowledge creation and global leadership
development (Gregersen, 1999). One of the most important reasons of recruiting new expatriates
is to fill a certain business need, but the goal of the successful MNCs is to develop the skills of
the expatriates and also to transfer knowledge from the expatriates to the local workers.
Another commonly practiced strategy by the successful MNCs is assigning the international jobs
to people whose technical skills match their cross-cultural abilities (Gregersen, 2009). This
method solves or reduces the problems associated with cultural differences and increase the
success of these individuals. It is, therefore, important to choose somebody who will be able to
live comfortably in the new environment and have the necessary skills as well.
Another common practice is coming up with a proper repatriation program/process that ensures
that the company does not lose the expatriates to other competitive industries and that they put
their international experience at work.
Multinational corporations should send these individuals for the right reasons to increase the
success of expatriates. Many businesses in the past have made the mistake of sending the right
people for the wrong reasons. The goal of sending expatriates should be a long-term goal, and it
should be business oriented for the future success of the MNC. However, some companies
overlook this, and you might find a company sending people to better places like London just to
reward them for the good work they have done at home. Some people are also sent to foreign
countries far away from home, just to punish them for something they might have done wrong

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back in the home country or just because of their average performance. So it's like dumping them
to a foreign country, and this is sending people for the wrong reason, and it could contribute to
the failure of these expatriates.
The expatriates should have two common goals. To be able to transfer their knowledge to the
people in the host country, as well as acquiring new leadership skills for the long-term benefit of
the company. Through learning of leadership competencies in the long-term international
assignments, future CEOs of multinational corporations is built. It is through these assignments
that a leader develops a better global perspective on the nature of the business and foreign
cultures compared to those who have worked their entire life back in the headquarters
(Gregersen, 1999).
Another factor that increases the success of expatriate assignments is choosing the right people.
It mostly happens when the selected people are selected based on their technical skills alone.
Consequently, the most chosen people end up not adapting to the foreign customs and business
practices (Gregersen, 1999). Gregersen also goes ahead and says that a particular manager who
used to work for a carmaker and was excellent in negotiating deals was sent to Korea to do the
same type of negotiation. Despite his experience, he was not able to handle the Koreans because
his style was confrontational which offended these people. However, the manager was not
willing to change his behavior, and the company was forced to recall him and replace him with
somebody who would be able to handle the Koreans. In this case, it was the wrong person for the
right job. To deal with the issue of bad people in the right job but at the wrong place, the
successful companies assess cultural sensitivity using different tools like observation and casual
testing.

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Another important factor that many companies pay little attention to is the repatriation issue. As
seen earlier, one of the goals of sending people abroad is for them to acquire knowledge that will
benefit the company in future. However, due to poor repatriation programs, many companies
lose a lot of returned staff just immediately after return. This issue could cause significant losses
to the MNCs because the knowledge acquired by the expatriates cannot help the company after
the employees have quitted. It is poor repatriation practices that lead to the loss of these
individuals. For instance, Gregersen (1999) narrates an example of a particular Asia company
that had sent an employee to work in Saudi Arabia for four years. In the course, the man gained
new technical skills, but upon returning home, the man didn’t get an excellent opportunity to
exercise what he had learned in Saudi Arabia. Consequently, the man left the company and got
employment from another company, and he was able to apply his new knowledge. The new
employer was a competitor of the company that had sent him to Saudi Arabia. If the company
gave the man an excellent opportunity after he repatriated, it would not have lost him to its
competitor. It is, therefore, important for a Multinational Company to have a better repatriation
program that ensures foreigners don't leave after they return home.
Conclusion
The above mentioned being only a few factors that MNCs could do to increase the success of
expatriates, and it is also clear that having the right managers who understand the challenges
faced abroad plays a key role. It is, therefore, the duty of all multinational companies seeking to
succeed overseas, to chose the right managers who will choose the right people for the for the
right job and send them for the right reasons. They can also come up with good repatriation
programs to help retain the employees for the long-term success of the company.

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