Intercultural Management Challenges at AstraZeneca: A Case Study

This case study critically analyzes AstraZeneca's intercultural management practices, focusing on expatriate assignments and related challenges. The company, a global pharmaceutical giant, employs numerous expatriates on various projects and provides cultural training to mitigate culture shock. The analysis delves into the effectiveness of these policies, addressing issues such as work-life balance complaints and the impact of short-term assignments. It highlights the importance of proper selection processes, pre-assignment briefings, and support networks for expatriates. The study concludes that a well-managed expatriate system is crucial for project success, emphasizing the need for careful planning and employee selection. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Intercultural management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Critical Analysis..............................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The following assignment has critically analyzed a case study that has expatriated the
management issues occurring in the organizational structure of the business organization. The
company of focus is AstraZeneca, a global pharmaceutical company with accumulated revenues
of more than $30 billion and employs close to 70,000 employees (astrazeneca.com, 2019). The
company has appointed more than 350 different employees on various kinds of projects in long
term as well as short term to different kinds of international assignments. The management of the
company has provided different cultural training to help the employees cope up with the culture
shock (astrazeneca.com, 2019). The providence of language and cultural training to the
employees depending upon their potential expat has been possible to handle the issues in a
different culture. The following case study has been critically analyzed to get a clear view on the
policies of the pharmaceutical company.
Critical Analysis
Expatriate clearly defines the way by which the employees working for an organization
are send to other countries to manage the operations in that particular place. The expat therefore
can be said to be an employee who basically works and resides in a foreign country and carry out
the business operations. The policy of the company to handle the expatriate operations must
include the briefing of the business rationale in order to attain business success. According to,
Van Vianen, De Pater & Caligiuri (2017) the trainings especially the training to adapt to the
cultural shock is thus very much important before starting the business operations in a foreign
country. There are cases when the follow up workshops in the assigned country, the expats
stayed in touch with the manager of the host country. The company provides the necessary

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arrangements to the expats that are necessary for them to achieve a work life balance. However,
as said by Froese (2016) there are complaints on the other side from the expats regarding the
balances of work life. The management of the company is often blamed by the expat employees
on sending fewer people to manage international projects just because of the negative
performance of the economy. The absence of cost effectiveness and a scrutiny over the possible
selection of the expats is important for the organization. The company has also started the
process of short term assignments for the expats which is also one of the major reasons for the
rise in the particular issue.
According to, Kong & Wu (2016) the management of the company has however cleared
any doubt on their expatriate assignments as they have decided to not deploy international staffs.
The dealings with different kinds of international assignments are critical and therefore the
companies need to look at different kinds of factors to give their final nod on sending people to
such assignments. It is also important for the organization to follow a proper process in order to
select the employees for international assignments. Stoermer et al., (2018) has recommended that
the organization must introduce a legal system where the employee selected for the assignment
must be consented and then provided a form which ought to be filled up by him to give his
written consent to the selection. Van Vianen, De Pater & Caligiuri (2017) has further added that
the form must also mention about the possible relocation procedures and the place of choice. The
company has to mention other details like compensation, insurance, relocation fees and many
other such important aspects. Presence of a support network and proper communication is
necessary for the success of the following organization accordingly. The capabilities and the
competitiveness of the managers in charge of the expatiates is necessary for the organization to
ensure success.

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On the other hand according to, Wang & Varma (2018) informing the employees about
the assignment or briefing them on the assignment is crucial for the organization. This is done
mainly to make it clear to the employees about the nomadic lifestyle and the possible issues of
such a lifestyle. This helps the organization to settle down in an unknown country. The
management of AstraZeneca can also arrange a pre-assignment trip to give a realistic overview
of the assignment that the expatriates are expected to perform. Pre-assignment trip can be a key
factor as it will provide a realistic overview to the expatriates about the kind of challenges he
will have to face during the assignment.
Conclusion
The presence of a proper expat system is important for different type of projects that
involves great precision and detailed accuracy. The expatriate process followed by the
organization needs to be handled properly in order to ensure success. The organization has to
ensure success by means of proper planning as well as selection of the best employees who will
be fit for such a nomadic life.

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References
Astrazeneca.com. (2019). AstraZeneca - Research-Based BioPharmaceutical Company. [online]
Available at: https://www.astrazeneca.com/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019].
Froese, F. J. (2016). Expatriates in Context: Expanding Perspective on the Expatriate Situation.
S. Toh (Ed.). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Kong, X., & Wu, J. (2016). Expatriate management of Emerging Market Multinational
Enterprises: Influence of informal institutional environment on expatriate effectiveness
with the case of Chinese MNEs.
Stoermer, S., Haslberger, A., Froese, F. J., & Kraeh, A. L. (2018). Person–environment fit and
expatriate job satisfaction. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(6), 851-860.
Van Vianen, A. E., De Pater, I. E., & Caligiuri, P. M. (2017). Expatriate selection: A process
approach. The Blackwell Handbook of Personnel Selection, 458-475.
Wang, C. H., & Varma, A. (2018). A process model of how interpersonal interaction leads to
effectiveness of the expatriate-host country national relationship: An intergroup contact
perspective. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 25(4), 670-689.