Expatriate Selection Decisions: Key Factors in HRM Strategies

This report delves into the critical factors influencing the selection of expatriates for international assignments, a crucial aspect of Human Resource Management (HRM) in an increasingly globalized business environment. It examines the importance of technical ability, emphasizing both technical and managerial skills, and how multinational corporations (MNCs) often prioritize these competencies. The report also addresses the impact of family requirements on expatriate success, highlighting the need for family support and adaptability. Furthermore, it explores the significance of cross-cultural suitability, including language skills, cultural empathy, and emotional stability, as well as the challenges in accurately assessing these traits. The report also considers the impact of cultural and country-specific requirements, such as work permits and the suitability of certain locations, and the importance of language proficiency. Finally, it discusses the role of multinational enterprise (MNE) requirements, encompassing training, negotiation skills, and the duration of assignments. The report uses examples from HRM practices in Japan and China to highlight the importance of these factors.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1
Important factors in the selection decision of expatriates
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Introduction
The word Expatriate refers to the people who are residing in a nation apart from their own
country of citizenship, more regularly momentarily especially for the work factors. Furthermore,
a expatriate could be an individual that has relinquished their citizenship in their home nation to
be able to become the citizen of another (Bader, Berg & Holtbrügge, 2015). Expatriates can play
tremendously significance role especially during the globally assignments .As many
organizations internalize their business this has resulted to the increase in the use of the
expatriates by the organization in order to fulfill various functions particularly in the offshore
operations (Canhilal, Gabel & Dolan, 2015). An effective management for example the
personnel has been focusing their attention on the literature in regards to the Human Resource
Management.
For an organization to attain competitive advantage especially to the global economy, it needs to
view the selection management or even the criteria of the expatriates as an important part in their
international HRM strategy. When individual takes expatriates assignment that does not
guarantee an automatic promotion when they return back. People need to network and be
proactive when it comes to determining their own path (Canhilal, Gabel & Dolan, 2015). The
strategic positions as well as vision for the organization need to take the view in regards to the
international HRM and how it could be integrated to the firm.
Major characteristics of HRM in China and Japan
Japan
In Japan there are various characteristics which have been identified as the foundation for the
HRM these are follows;

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 Long term employment. Individuals get a life time employment.
 Seniority based wages system. The increases in the wages are usually determined by the
age as well as the length of the service of the employees within a company (Bader, Berg
& Holtbrügge, 2015).
 Enterprise labour unions
 The employer relates to the workers as parents and the organization is usually seen as the
family.
 The workers are recruited from the various levels of graduates.
 The training and the development are important to the people and organization in order to
fulfill the operational tasks both in the short term and the long term.
 Promotion is done based on the ability of the worker.
China
 Trade unions played the window dressing roles.
 There were narrow wage differentials which were raised as egalitarian.
 Life time employment of the seniority based on the wages was introduced.
 Many of the enterprises are state owned.
For the practitioners of the human resource who are in charge sometimes it could be challenging
when it comes to determining the selection criteria to utilize when selecting workers for the
international duties (DeNisi & Sonesh, 2016). The key factors which are involved in the
selection of expatriation are as follows:
 Technical ability
 Cross cultural Sustainability

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 Family Requirements
 Language
 Cultural requirements
 Multinational enterprise requirements
Discussion
These factors which have been highlighted above are all related, however, technical Ability,
family requirements and cross cultural suitability are related to individuals whereas culture
requirements, language and the MNE requirement are impacted by the working situations which
individuals encounters (Kang, Shen & Benson, 2017).
Figure 1: The diagram shows the key factors in the selection process of expatriate.
Technical Ability
Individual ability in undertaking the required task is a significant consideration. Both the
technical and managerial skills are important in the criteria (Kang, Shen & Benson, 2017). In

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accordance to the research findings it indicates that the multinationals usually place reliance
when it comes to the technical skills especially in the process of selecting expatriate (DeNisi &
Sonesh, 2016). Reinforcement of the technical expertise is the pertinent which the MNCs might
determine the prospective of a particular employee, as the competence of the manager and
technical could be determined based on the past performance (Naeem, Nadeem & Khan, 2015).
The recruiters could utilize personnel evaluations records in order to examine and also check the
candidate both past and present supervisors. The evaluation of the prospective candidate is
dependent on their earlier work experience, whether or not the statements as well as the
evaluation record of the employee superiors are available (Naeem, Nadeem & Khan, 2015).
When the employee solves a given problem in the new international business environment, it
needs to be noted down. The technical abilities are the vital knowledge which is required in order
to carry out a given task, as they are perceived as the working tool.
Requirements of the family
There has been documentation that family especially the spouse, they make success to the
oversee assignment and this has been documented well (Vaiman, Haslberger & Vance, 2015).
Based on the multinational perspective in relation to the performance of the expatriate, in the
host country is a significant factor (Nilsson & Nithenius, 2016). Further there has been
documentation of the various advancement experiences for the interaction between the expatriate
spouse or the family member (Bader, Berg & Holtbrügge, 2015). It should be noted that the
spouse who usually accompany their partner to the foreign country are sometimes a burden.
Upon arrival in the country where they are task with duties, the responsibility for settling in with
their family into their new homes falls to their partner, who could have left out a career, friends
along with support networks in their home country.

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When one analyzes at the developing nations the employment of the house servants is extremely
significantly common however this is an facet of the international living which most of the
Westerners from the developed nations for example the USA have the hard to adjust into
( Sarkiunaite & Rocke , 2015 ). It becomes hard for the spouse to operate in a country of
assignment particularly to the education of their children. Nevertheless, even though most of the
spouses usually are female, associated male partners encounter such similar issues when it comes
to adjustment.
Cross cultural Sustainability
When it comes to this factor the aspect to consider when assessing a particular candidate is
language skills, attitude towards the new cultures, culture empathy as well as the level of
personnel along with emotional stability (Vaiman, Haslberger & Vance, 2015). In practical
perspective it is not easy when it comes to evaluating the cross culture sustainability of the
employee since it is hard to know which elements to include (Tabor, Milfont & Ward, 2015).
The MNEs usually emphasize the significance of the expatriate ability for creating as well as
maintaining natural relationship. Therefore, the means of measuring such abilities is not accurate
enough.
It is important to note that the inter-cultural competences are recognized as significant, it is
difficult to define what it comprise about, let alone access to the sustainability of the individual.
it is important to an individual to consider various aspect such as personal personality, attitude to
the foreigners, ability in relating to individuals from a given cultural group (Kossek, Huang,
Piszczek, Fleenor & Ruderman, 2017). Multinational enterprises could indicate for instance, the

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relational ability is significant via the formal procedure such as the judgment by the senior
managers or even through the psychological test.
The cross cultural competences could also come in the perspective of management styles.
Expatriates soon will discover that the participative management might not be the best technique
to utilize with regards to the new setting. The difference may be profound regarding the
hierarchical societies, particularly in which asking for the input in front of the other colleagues
might be viewed with much suspicion (Shen & Jiang, 2015). Further, expats that are successful
usually accept their new host culture so they turn out to be less based on the differences in the
culture. These people become more comfortable when they are dealing with the unfamiliar
situations and they tend to be more tolerant to the cultural habits which could have disturbed
them previously.
Cultural/ country requirements
Multinationals are finding inadequacy of the partner to operate in the host nation which might
cause the selected workers reject the provide for given international assignment. In the event the
international assignment continues to be has been accepted, insufficient having a work permit for
the associated partner might cause complexities in regards the adjustment and lead to the failure
(Shortland, 2016). Moreover, the host nation could be significant determinant. Some of the
regions as well as countries might be regarded as hardship posting. Some of the areas could be
the remote one which might be away from the major cities or even the modern facilities. The
members of the family which are accompanying might be an additional responsibility which the
multinational might not want to bear (Kossek, Huang, Piszczek, Fleenor & Ruderman, 2017).
There could be some reluctance when it comes to the selection of the females to the various

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South East Asian areas for instance China, Saudi Arabia or perhaps the Islamic States especially
in the Middle East. In a few of these nations the work permit for a female expatriate may not be
issued (Ramaswami, Carter & Dreher, 2016).
Language
The language skill is a important factor, the knowledge of the host nation language could be
regarded as vital by the top management positions along with the aptitude to be able to
communicate well. The knowledge of the host nation foreign language might assist the
expatriated as well as their families to feel much contented when they are in the new
environment (McNulty & Brewster, 2017). When it comes to the adaptation of the corporate
language that could be different to that of the local expatriate language skills should be viewed as
the selection criteria.
Speaking the local language is an element which is linked to the cross cultural ability.
Nonetheless, language should be chosen to stress the situations that are determined in regards to
the significance aspect in the selection decision (McNulty & Brewster, 2017). The language is
regarded as the vital element to some of the expatriate positions. The variations in the language
are acknowledged to be barrier to an efficient cross cultural communication.
With regards to the selection criteria the language is set down the listing of the attributes which
are desirable. For example, the ORC Worldwide survey outcomes they have ranked the factor of
the language ability as the fifth in regards to importance in the selection criteria (Muenjohn &
Armstrong, 2015). Over the past, the multinational enterprises in the USA have placed a low
relativity when it comes to the foreign language skills.
Multinational enterprise requirements

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The Multinational requirements usually have enormous effects when it comes to decision and the
selection criteria to utilize (McNulty & Brewster, 2017). The training skills are significance
therefore; the expatriates could train the locals and at the same time emphasize on the
negotiations skills especially to the new international business environments. Another aspect
which might influence the family is the period of the assignment (Kinoshita, 2015). The
international managers usually have much similar features as those who are working in the
environments that are less complex (Vaiman, Haslberger & Vance, 2015). Nonetheless, these
individuals are in need of the additional skills to handle problems which could arise
internationally (McNulty & Brewster, 2017).
The technical abilities are significant elements when it comes to selecting international
employee, it offers them with the understanding on what is to be incorporated in their tasks as
well as what they believe they are capable of doing (Vaiman, Haslberger & Vance, 2015). The
MNEs view the experience of the expatriate as very crucial (Kinoshita, 2015). Having a
prolonged experience is important and needed to develop a successful company.
Multinational could consider a given portion of the expatriates to the local employees when they
are making the decision for selection majorly as the outcome of their staffing philosophy.
Nonetheless, the requirements of the MNEs are very different or they might require the use of
the PCN or even the TCNs and this would react to the selection decision for the Multinational
companies (Kinoshita, 2015). Other situational aspect which could be considered as the mode of
operation that is involved; such as selecting the workers to work in the international joint venture
which might involve various input from the local partner and be constrained through an
agreement which is negotiated when it comes to the selection processes. Another aspect is the
duration of the assignment (Kang, Shen & Benson, 2017). The family members usually tend to

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accompany the expatriate whenever a given assignment is only 3-6 months in the durations, thus
the requirements of the family could be a strong factor especially in the selection decision.
Other factors
Cultural shock
When the expatriate goes to another country they may have inability to adjust to a different
cultural environment. it is also a personal disorientation which an individual may feel when they
are experiencing unfamiliar way of life as a result of immigration or even a visit to a new country
(Kinoshita, 2015). The common causes of the culture shock involve a person to a foreign
environment. The culture shock could be described as consisting of at least one distinct phases
such as adjustment or even adaptation. The common issue associated to this aspect is information
overload, language barriers and even technology gap.
Schooling
The spouses and the children of the employee could also experience much stress that the
expatriate is feeling (Kinoshita, 2015). The children who are attending new schools and lack of
the social network, along with the sacrifice of the career of the spouse could negatively influence
the assignment.
Conclusion
The major purpose of this research study has been to gain an understanding as well as grasp
knowledge when it comes to the selection criteria particularly to selecting the international
employees to the international assignments. The criterion which is involved in selecting the
expatriated has been discussed in details, and it has been noted that there is no much different

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from that of the regular worker selection process. To permit an international company to function
effectively especially in the foreign country they should select a global technique when getting
into the international environment. As soon as the enterprise has entered the market they should
know the best staffing approach that is the ideal suitable to the approach they may be following.
In the event the business has established their approach along with strategy, they should take in
consideration on the criteria which they may utilize in selecting of the most effective expatriate
manager especially for the international assignments .There is need for the international
organizations in taking into the consideration each aspect when it comes to selecting on the best
staff, since any failure of selection the wrong expatriate could cost the business enormously.

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