Repatriates in Cross-Cultural Management

The assignment examines the complex issue of employee repatriation within cross-cultural management. It delves into the specific challenges faced by returning employees, investigates effective retention strategies implemented by organizations, and highlights the importance of cultural adaptation during the reintegration process. The document utilizes Hofstede's cultural dimensions to provide context and analyze potential conflicts arising from diverse work environments.

Running head: CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
REPORT FOR SOLARCO PTY LTD
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
The report is presented to the CEO of the Solarco Company. The report analyses possible reasons why
repatriates leave the organization with one year of returning to the home country after completion of the
international assignment. The report also analyses the losses that Solarco Organization has to bear when an
employee leaves the organization. The strategies for retention of the repatriates are discussed. The
International Human resource strategies for the development of the international team and staffing of the
executives for international assignment of Solarco Organization are discussed in the report.

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Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................3
Discussion......................................................................................................................................................3
The possible reasons why repatriates leave an organization are as follows..................................................3
The apparent ‘losses’ organisations need to deal due to turnover of repatriates...........................................4
Based on research analysis, review recommendations to the organisation to better retain repatriates;........5
Recommendation of a suitable IHR Management strategy to successfully staffing; executives internationally
and developing the international executive team...........................................................................................7
Conclusion and way to go forward for the corporation.................................................................................9
Reference Lists.............................................................................................................................................10
Appendices...................................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Solarco is an international organization in the energy sector which is headquartered in Sydney. The
Company is setting up subsidiaries all over the globe and due to recent growth experience by the
organization the Company is adopting plans for expansion in international country. The Solarco Company
should adopt right strategies for the selection process, staffing of the candidates and the development of the
international team. A strong and unified corporate culture should be developed for the international team.
The repatriates leave an organization within one year of returning to their home country, the percentage can
go up to 20 % and organizations incur huge loss because of the turnover of the repatriates. Therefore, the
Solarco Pty Limited should adopt strategies to handle turnover of the repatriates, the retention strategies of
the repatriates should be developed well and the staffing process of the international team should follow
certain specific strategies to select the right candidates for the international assignment.
Discussion
The possible reasons why repatriates leave an organization are as follows
1) When employees are sent in a different country for work assignments, they get highly influenced
by the work culture of the host country. The new and different culture of the host country bring a lot of
change in the employees who start working overseas and often they discover a new identity within
themselves. The employees who have experience in working overseas feel that they are more valuable than
the employees of the organization who are working in their home country. The employees feel that working
abroad in an international environment has enhanced their knowledge, skills and abilities. However, when
these employees return to their home country, they feel that their organization do not give them their due
value and they start comparing themselves with their co-workers with no international experience. This is a
prime reason why employees chose to quit from the organization within one year of returning to the home
country (Tung and Verbeke 2010).
2) The repatriates perceive that after an international exposure, his job should contain more
responsibilities, challenges and respect. The reasons why repatriates leave an organization after returning to
their home country are because of several factors- they feel they do not have opportunities of career
planning, they perceive that they are not adequately paid in home country and they are not supported and
counselled well by their managers to stay with the organization((Bjerregaard, Lauring and Klitmøller 2009).

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3) When there is wide gap between the perception of the repatriates of the overall support they have
received from their organization and the level of commitment they have towards their organization, then
there is a high chance of turnover. The repatriates compare mentally the sacrifices they made while pursuing
the international assignment like staying away from family in home country, bearing the risks of working in
a completely different work culture and the rewards and recognition they have received from their present
organization after completion of the international assignment. The turnover of repatriates is higher when
there is an imbalance between the rewards they receive and the recognition they get ( Zhu and Bargiela-
Chiappini 2013).
The apparent ‘losses’ organisations need to deal due to turnover of repatriates
The losses that Solarco Company has to bear when repatriates leave the organization are as follows
1) The repatriates gain additional knowledge, skills and experiences while working on the
international assignment and they have all the technical know-how which will enable them to take up future
international assignment for the Solarco Company. If they leave the organization, the Solarco Company will
lose talented employees with international experience which the organization could have utilized effectively
(Thomas. and Peterson 2017).
2) The employees with international experience can play diverse role in the organization like they
can be a part of the cross-cultural training team of the organization and can train other employees who plan
to undertake an international assignment in future. These employees with international experience can also
be a part of global strategy team and can assist in new product development, Customer Relationship
management of the global team. So Solarco organization would lose valuable employees if repatriates leave
the organization (Mor, Morris and Joh 2013).
3) The Company would bear financial cost to train the employees for international assignment as
well as the employees would have a higher pay in a foreign country. If repatriates leave organization after
returning to home country, Solarco Organization would incur financial loss (Trevor, Lansford and Black
2004).
Based on research analysis, review recommendations to the organisation to better retain repatriates;
1) The career path of the repatriates should be tracked by the human resource department of the
organization once the repatriates return to their home country. There repatriates should be given opportunity
for counselling of career planning and career advancement once they return to their home country. The
managers who work on international assignment expect that they will be promoted to a senior level when

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they return to their home country after completion of the international assignment even though they are not
promised the same by the employer. There International Human resource department of the Solarco
Company should discuss with the repatriates their expectations and communicate to them the rewards and
opportunities that the Solarco Company can provide to the repatriates. Clear communication and open flow
of information will help in better retention of the repatriates (Stanley et al 2013).
2) The international experiences that the repatriates have gained should be appreciated. There should
be forums where the repatriates can share their experiences with their co-workers, Even if the employers
can’t promote the repatriates to a senior level immediately there should be enough recognition given to the
repatriates.
3) The creative potential of the repatriates should be utilized effectively by the organization when they
return to their home country. The repatriates should be allowed to handle different functional areas. For
example repatriates can be a part of the cross-cultural team or they can be involved in designing a product
developed for the international market.
4) There should be a mentor for the executives who work on international assignment who will not
only guide them during their overseas assignment but will also assist them to utilize their international
experience on returning to their home country. The mentors can play instrumental role on the retention
strategies of the repatriates once they return to their home country (Hancock et al 2013).
5) The Solarco Company should guide the expatriates throughout their international assignment by
providing them the safety and security in the foreign country, visa assistance, assistance with search of home
in the foreign country, assistance to cope up with the technical requirements of the international project,
assistance with handling of the challenges of the international assignment. This assistance from the
organization during the international project will create a psychological bonding with the overseas
employees and they will remain loyal to the organization even when they return to the home country ( Samuel
and Chipunza 2009).
6) The co-workers of the home country should remain in touch with the overseas employees and a
global communication plan should be developed for the overseas employees. The employees working on
international assignment should be informed about the progress in the home country through employee
newsletter, emails, chat messages and other formal mode of communication so that they stay connected with
their co-workers and work culture of the home country which will enable them to develop psychological
feelings of loyalty when they return to home country (Testa 2009).

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Recommendation of a suitable IHR Management strategy to successfully staffing; executives
internationally and developing the international executive team
The Solarco International Company should adopt specific strategies for developing a team of
international executives who will work on international assignments
The process of staffing and selection of candidates for the international team should follow the steps
like determination of the competencies required for the international assignment, recreation of job analysis
and job description which will be based on the skills and competencies required for the international
assignment, keeping a pool of applicants of the Solarco Company who will be interested in the international
assignment, reviewing the pool of these applicants and interview the interested candidates for staffing and
selection of the international team once an international assignment is open.
The candidates who will be suitable for an international assignment should have the following characteristics
1) While staffing executives for the international assignment, Solarco Company should select
candidates who have managerial competence. The executives of the international team should have the
knowledge required for the international operation, should have leadership and technical skills for the job.
2)Training – It is essential to culturally train the executives who will work on the international
assignment, the executives of the international team should be willing to receive training about the culture
and language of the host country.
3. Adaptability- The international assignment will pose new challenging situations to the executives of
the international team. While selecting the candidates for the international team, Solarco International should
ensure that the team members have capacity to handle new risks and challenges posed by the international
assignment.
4. While staffing the executives for the international assignment Solarco Company should check the
interest level of the executives of the international team to work on the international assignment. The
Company should maintain a spreadsheet of the interested executives with data like languages spoken by
them, cultural experience and skills. Once there is availability of an international assignment, the Solarco
Company can interview the interested candidates who meet the technical skills and expertise of the
international assignment.
5. The training of the executives of the international team provided by the Solarco Company can be both
in-house or it could be an external training. The international team should be trained on five key components
to develop their skills and competencies for the international assignment. These five components are
language spoken in the host country where the team will be deployed for the international assignment, the

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culture of the host country, an orientation and inclusion program should be conducted by the International
Human Resource Team of the Solarco Company for cultural induction of the international team, the
international team should be guided towards setting goal of the international assignment, they should receive
training of repatriation and they should be trained to manage stress of the family they leave behind in the
home country while working on international assignment.
6. The cultural training should include training on etiquette, the arts, geography, food, and management
style, aspects of logistics like the currency and transportation of the host country. The international team of
the Solarco Company should be trained to manage homesickness, stress and cultural shock of the foreign
country.
Conclusion and way to go forward for the corporation
It can be concluded that Solarco International Company is planning for expansion in the international
countries due to recent growth. It is of paramount importance to adopt the right strategies for the staffing,
selection and development of the international team. The cultural training and selection of the right
candidates based on the knowledge, experience, skills and competencies required for the international
assignment will enable Solarco Company to staff right candidates for the international assignment. The
Solarco Company will incur huge loss which is financial loss as well as loss of employees with better skills
and knowledge and exposure to international experience if the repatriates leave the job after returning to their
home country. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to be proactive and adopt strategies for retention of
the repatriates after they return to the home country. The reason due to which repatriates may quit from their
job after returning to the home country is because they perceive that their international experience, new skills
and competencies gained during the international experience is underutilized by the organization in their
home country. There is also lack of career planning, lucrative pay as compared to the international
assignment in a foreign country, and lack of counselling and motivation by managers in the home country
due to which the repatriates might consider quitting the job after returning to home country. The repatriates
can be given higher responsibility to be a part of cross-cultural team and their creative abilities should be
utilized effectively to retain them in the organization after they return to home country.

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Reference Lists
Bjerregaard, T., Lauring, J. and Klitmøller, A., 2009. A critical analysis of intercultural communication
research in cross-cultural management: Introducing newer developments in anthropology. Critical
perspectives on international business, 5(3), pp.207-228.
Zhu, Y. and Bargiela-Chiappini, F., 2013. Balancing emic and etic: Situated learning and ethnography of
communication in cross-cultural management education. Academy of Management Learning &
Education, 12(3), pp.380-395.
Mor, S., Morris, M.W. and Joh, J., 2013. Identifying and training adaptive cross-cultural management skills:
The crucial role of cultural metacognition. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), pp.453-
475.
Tung, R.L. and Verbeke, A., 2010. Beyond Hofstede and GLOBE: Improving the quality of cross-cultural
research.
Testa, M.R., 2009. National culture, leadership and citizenship: Implications for cross-cultural
management. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(1), pp.78-85.
Thomas, D.C. and Peterson, M.F., 2017. Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.
Trevor, CO., Lansford, B and Black, JW., 2004, ‘Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the
influences of salary growth and promotion’, Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol.113, no.1, pp56-64.
Samuel, M.O. and Chipunza, C., 2009. Employee retention and turnover: Using motivational variables as a
panacea. African journal of business management, 3(9), p.410.
Hancock, J.I., Allen, D.G., Bosco, F.A., McDaniel, K.R. and Pierce, C.A., 2013. Meta-analytic review of
employee turnover as a predictor of firm performance. Journal of Management, 39(3), pp.573-603.
Stanley, L., Vandenberghe, C., Vandenberg, R. and Bentein, K., 2013. Commitment profiles and employee
turnover. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 82(3), pp.176-187.

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APPENDICES
ANNOTAED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Trevor, CO., Lansford, B and Black, JW. ; 2004, ‘Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the
influences of salary growth and promotion’, Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol.113, no.1, pp56-64.
In this article, the author Trevor et al. discusses about the reasons of employee turnover in the
organization. The author states that employee motivation can be linked with the employee turnover rate. The
author also discusses in this article how the pay structure of the employees can affects the retention of
employees in the organization and the strategies that the organization can adopt to improve performance of
the employees and retain them. When an employee quits the organization, there is loss of a valuable resource
of the organization. The author discusses how the turnover rate of employees can be reduced in an
organization. The limitation of the article is that the author interviews only mid-level employees. The
employee turnover can adversely affect the performance of employees since an organization invests money
and time to train an employee for the organization. This article is not of direct help in my research but the
research conducted by the author has provided me with supplementary information for my research
conducted on cross-cultural management. Since the author has done his research only on mid-level
employees, there is scope of a further in depth research regarding the topic of the employee turnover and job
performance.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
This research has helped to enhance my knowledge on cross-cultural management. I was able to
draw meaningful insights on the employee retention strategies of the repatriates and I could gain knowledge
about the selection, staffing and development of the team of repatriates. The assignment has enabled me to
gain knowledge about the reasons why repatriates leave the organization. I could draw meaningful insights
from Hofseted’s Cultural pyramid and relate it to the business report. The knowledge of cross-cultural
management is of prime importance in the present era of globalization and this business report has enabled
me to gain the knowledge and skills to understand the nuances of working with a cross-cultural team.

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FIGURE: Diagram of Hofstedes Pyramid