Managing in international context Name of the student: Author note: Expatriates

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Managing in international context
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
MANAGEMENT
Expatriates
From the external research, I have gained knowledge that the persons residing in the
foreign countries instead of the native country are designated as expatriates. In the process of
research, I found the statements of the scientists regarding the concerns towards rise in the
global mobility. The major drive behind this are the supply and demand factors (Wang and
Varma 2019). I think international Assignments (IA) are beneficial ensuring that the
individuals get prospective employment opportunities in the foreign countries. I think
frequency needs to be maintained in the programs like fly in and fly out assignments for
catering to the specific needs, demands and requirements of the staffs from the overseas
countries.
According to my observations, indulging in strategic alliances with the universities
and brands would be fruitful in terms of introducing effective training and development
programs for the expatriates. Considering the arguments of Trembath (2016), I can state that
these initiatives would be something other than the usual traditional programs, policies and
practices, diversifying the operations. I also feel that that implementation of the strategies
need to be done in a rational manner for benefitting the expatriates.
Theoretical considerations
A model of Repatriation practice is to be practiced by the organizations in terms of
benefiting the expatriates. I have gained an insight into the fact that the main essence of this
theory lies in the preparation of the strategies for catering to the specific, needs, demands and
requirements of the expatriates. In case of the benefits, I can highlight the arguments of
Bader, Schuster and Bader (2016) regarding the activities of career enhancement plans and
programs, which would act as a planned and reasoned approach towards enhancing
professionalism. Along with this, I have gained an insight into the fact that adherence to the

2
MANAGEMENT
integrated structures is assistance for the companies and organizations to executing strategic
management of the expatriates. In this context, I affirm with the propositions of Kumarika et
al. (2017) about the four stages of strategy planning, which are:
 Planning for the repatriation
 Repatriate agreement
 Repatriate program
 Evaluation of the Repatriate strategy
Organizational perspectives to expatriation
From the external research, I have learnt that the management of the expatriates is a
time consuming and costly process. Criticality of the process is reflected from the integration
and coordination of the firms through the means of offshore management practices. In this
context, I can draw references to the assumptions of Yunlu et al. (2018) about expatriate
lifecycle, which sheds light on the management of the expatriates.
Fig: The expatriate lifecycle
Recruitment
Selection
Orientation
International
assignment
Debriefing
Repatriation
Re-
orientation
New
assignment

3
MANAGEMENT
(Source: Jonasson, Lauring and Guttormsen 2018)
My knowledge have been enriched in the field of the approaches towards staffing the
international operations. These approaches are: ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and
regiocentric. In case of ethnocentric approach, the recruitment and selection is directed
towards the expatriates. The operations are controlled from the head office. I have learnt that
polycentric approach is the case where subsidiary operations is considered as a separate
entity. In this case, the governance is practiced by the host country nationals. On the other
hand, geocentric approaches are applied to the selection of the candidates based on their skills
and efforts. Regiocentric approach is the selection and documentation of the candidates from
within the close proximity to the subsidiary regions (Kumarika et al. 2017).
International Work Assignment
After reviewing the case studies of the expatriates, I have found that overseas
experience, career advancement, promotion, skills development are some of the reasons for
which international assignment is considered. On the contrary, I affirm with the arguments of
Trembath (2016) about the reasons for rejecting International Assignments (IA) are location,
job, career, remuneration, lifestyle and others. I think these reasons are flexible in terms of
having an overseas experience of executing the assignments. In my case, I can state the
reasons of career, family, lifestyle and culture, governing my thought processes towards
accepting or rejecting the International Assignments. In this context, I would consider the
aspects of self-awareness, cognitive complexity and creativity in terms of developing the
employability skills.
Theoretical considerations
Transformational Leadership Theory can be applied in the context of accepting or
rejecting International Assignment (IA). Affirming with the arguments of Wang and Varma

4
MANAGEMENT
(2019), I think the aspects of self-awareness, complexities in cognitive learning and creative
thinking is apt in terms of transforming the personality through skill development.
Conclusion
Referring to researches on expatriates, I can infer that experiences of host cultural
national staffs is crucial for understanding the global mobility patterns. With the
understanding the approaches of the employees towards treating the expatriates, I can relate
the aspect of conducting risk assessment, which helps in gaining awareness about the
financial constraints in management of expatriates.

5
MANAGEMENT
References
Bader, B., Schuster, T. and Bader, A.K. eds., 2016. Expatriate Management: Transatlantic
Dialogues. Springer.
Jonasson, C., Lauring, J. and Guttormsen, D.S., 2018. Inclusive management in international
organizations: How does it affect local and expatriate academics?. Personnel Review, 47(2),
pp.458-473.
Kumarika Perera, H., Yin Teng Chew, E. and Nielsen, I., 2017. A psychological contract
perspective of expatriate failure. Human Resource Management, 56(3), pp.479-499.
Trembath, J.L., 2016. The professional lives of expatriate academics: Construct clarity and
implications for expatriate management in higher education. Journal of Global Mobility, 4(2),
pp.112-130.
Wang, C.H. and Varma, A., 2019. Cultural distance and expatriate failure rates: the
moderating role of expatriate management practices. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 30(15), pp.2211-2230.
Yunlu, D.G., Ren, H., Mohler Fodchuk, K. and Shaffer, M., 2018. Home away from home:
community embeddedness and expatriate retention cognitions. Journal of Global Mobility:
The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 6(2), pp.194-208.