IHRM Report: Challenges and Solutions for Australian MNE Takeover

This report addresses the challenges of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) faced by an Australian Multi-National Retailing Entity (MNE) during its takeover of Walmart in the USA. The report, prepared from the perspective of an HR Director, examines key issues such as IHRM standard processes, expatriate failure, and country-specific cultural challenges. It highlights the importance of comprehensive training programs, including pre-departure, in-country, and re-entry phases, as well as personal skills development to ensure expatriate success. The report also provides a briefing for employees, emphasizing the importance of understanding the new environment and offering recommendations for managing the assignment effectively, including cultural awareness, communication, and family support. The analysis underscores the significance of proactive HR strategies in facilitating a smooth transition and mitigating the risks associated with international assignments.

International Human Resource Management
4/9/2020

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Contents
Part a)...............................................................................................................................................3
Title: Report to the company...........................................................................................................3
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................4
IHRM – standard process........................................................................................................4
Expatriate failure.....................................................................................................................5
Country specific challenges.....................................................................................................6
Response to challenges................................................................................................................6
Training and learning...............................................................................................................6
Personal skills development....................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................9
Part b)...............................................................................................................................................9
Title: Briefing for the employees.....................................................................................................9
Introduction..................................................................................................................................9
Background................................................................................................................................10
Ways to manage the assignment in a different environment.....................................................12
Recommendations......................................................................................................................13

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Conclusion.................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15

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Part a)
Title: Report to the company
Executive summary
In the current business environment, there is a rise in the expatriates of the employees in which
they send the employees to work in abroad on the long-term job assignment which can be based
on their current needs. The purpose of report includes Australian MNE taking over Wal-Mart
Company. The findings of the report include the challenges which are required to be considered
before expatriate. The major challenges include IHRM standard process, failures of the
expatriates, country specific issues and many others. The responses of the issues include training
and learning as well as personal skills development.
Introduction
In this report, the role is considered as HR director for an Australian Multi-National Retailing
Entity (MNE) that has numerous overseas operations. This has been found that the new, as well
as the extremely vital assignment, has appeared as a result of the Australian MNE in which they
are taking over the Walmart company who is based In Bentonville, USA. It is expected from the
HR director to send two of the best staff members of the company from the Australia head office
along with their families in order to manage the takeover for more than 3 years. The two best
staff that is decided by the company has never worked in the US. It becomes the obligation for
the HR to ensure that the staff members have a smooth transition to the new international work

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environment and contribute in eliminating the likelihood that they will become get fail in thee
expatriates sending for the project.
The report is prepared on key challenges that the employees to address before sending all these
expatriates for the project in the US and to outline the responses related to all these challenges.
Background
Australian Multi-National Retailing Entity HR requests to consider the key challenges that they
need to acknowledge before sending these expatriates for the assignment of overtaking Walmart
in the US and also to outline the responses related to all these challenges.
IHRM – standard process
International human resource management is considered as one of the process through which
they can manage the business by making use of the proper standard recruitment and selection
process. Considering standard process of expatriate, the company needs to consider the few
elements on the basis of which they select the right person who will meet their assignment
(Armstrong and Taylor, 2020). When selecting an expatriate or a third-country nationals for the
job which assure that the candidate that might has the job factors, relational dimensions, situation
of the family, motivational state as well as the language skills which is considered as the key
considerations in providing the recruitment to the right member. It is essential while the selection
to look at some elements related to market and company Wal-Mart which are discussed below: -
Culture of Wal-Mart
Culture of the Wal-Mart is the foundation of everything that they do. The culture is the value of
Wal-Mart in action and the way they offer the superior customer service and also to form a great

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front-line work environment and also to enhance the performance in order to attain the purpose
of saving money for better life. The core value for the company is “Service to the Customer”,
“Respect for the Individual”, “Strive for Excellence” and “Act with Integrity” (Wal-Mart, 2020).
Hofstede’s comparison between dimensions
It has been found that U.S and Australia has the different sort of culture in terms of the family
focus. The degree of the independence a society maintains among its members. This dimension
of the individualist shows that the people are expected to look after themselves and also their
direct family (Hofstede Insight, 2020). The culture of the US reflects that the people look after
themselves as well as their immediate family and don’t rely on other. The same culture has been
adopted in the Australia which remains a positive symbol for the expatriates.
(Source: Hofstede Insight, 2020)
Expatriate failure
It has been found that expatriate managers find the challenges varying from the corporate
environmental transition, cross-culture adjustments, barriers of the communication, social

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integration, and many others (Haynes, 2018). This is the fact that expatriates want to deal with
the challenges and problems for which there is a need for learning. This learning is related to the
customs, nuances, mannerisms, as well as the expectations. Being the outsider, this will difficult
for the Australian MNE to taking over the Walmart Company.
Country specific challenges
Culture collide
The expatriate needs to understand country specific challenges that occurs between the US and
Australia which affects the working. It has been found that according the cultures collide the
companies of US and Australia has different cultures is opposing. The companies are usually
formed by the leaders in which the leadership is considered as individual, despotic or collective.
The leadership as well as communication of both the countries varies because of the cultural
challenges. Americans managers symbolize the vitality and audacity of the land with the free
enterprise. In organisations include rampant individualism in society of American which is
rigidly controlled within the business life through their strict procedures (Lewis, 2011). The
major difference between US and Australia is related to the dominating which is more in US
rather than in Australia. Thus, this is the reason that the leaders of the company need to be ruling
the country with full power. Coming to the communication, Australia lacks the clarity explained
on the basis of social and conversational map (Lewis, 2011). The society of Australia is complex
and they don’t trust people which make the differences in the leadership of Australia and US. In
US, the communication is not complicated as they are vocal and they don’t trust.

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Response to challenges
Training and learning
In the research, this has been found that HR of the company understands the fact that there is a
need for the proper training which will help them in dealing with the issues. The training offers
the learning to the employees that are related to the business culture, norms, decision making
ways, and many others (Conroy, McDonnell and Holzleitner, 2018). Furthermore, in the
research, this has been found that HR of the company understands that all the expatriate
assignment are considered as very costly and due to which it is not given the much of the
attention in entire of the stages. However, the HR needs to consider all the stages of the
expatriates which are divided into the three phases of the international assignment that include
pre-departure phase, post-departure phase as well as the re-entry phase. The training offers the
learning which is provided for the ever phase of the expatriate's assignment (Kang and Shen,
2017).
Pre-departure phase
The pre-departure phase is often considered as most vital but also the least understood and
considered as the most poorly managed phase in the process of repatriation. The training about
the pre-departure training for the expatriates is considered as the border term for a programme
that provides the brief soon to be expatriates on what to predict when the living as well as
working abroad (Desai, 2019). The well-delivered training provides the personnel with the
learning related to the personalised skills which are essential to anticipate and plan for the issues
they and their family might find when they get a move abroad. The pre-departure training for the
expatriates is beneficial as it provides different benefits which include: -

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 Clear understanding of the role of the employee in the US
 Better integration with the culture and business norms of the host country
 Improvement in languages skills (Gamble and Hawker, 2019)
 In-country coaching
 Happy families
Post-departure phase
It has been found that the pre-departure training is only the cultural general whereas on the other
hand the post-arrival training is considered as one of the most specific trainings for the host
culture. All these types of the training are considered as the more effective training for the
expatriate due to which there is need of the personal coach for doing the preparation and also at
the time of the expatriation (DeNisi and Sonesh, 2016). This training will make the HR of
Australian MNE to call for the external consultant who can provide help to expatriate with the
information related to the economic and social context of the country. The mentoring in such
kind of training is vital as this helps the expatriates to take the required steps. The major benefit
of this type of training is that it offers in-depth learning to the expatriates.
Re-entry phase
The phase of the re-entry shows that the expatriate completes their work and return to the home
country once the assignment is completed by them. This phase is considered as one of the most
difficult for the employees because this stage makes the employees to coming back to place from
where they have started all this (Zhang, Harzing and Fan, 2018). Most of the companies don’t
consider this stage due to which the employee gets affected. However, it is suggested that the

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company that they should provide the training to the employees while coming back to the
country.
Personal skills development
This has been found that the expatriate deals with the wide range of the challenges but the only
thing that leads to the success of the assignment is related to personal skills development. The
development of personal skills is dependent on the employees of the Australian MNE. If all these
employees will try to develop the personal skills according to the US workplace then they will be
able to eliminate the challenges related to the social integration, findings the ways, family
support, financial management and many others (Molinsky and Hahn, 2016).
Conclusion
At the end of the report, this is concluded that present the growing environment makes most of
the companies to expatriate their employees for the motive to attain the goals of the business.
The analysis shows that the HR of the company is the person who is responsible for the
expatriate and they need to take the required steps. The key challenges that are required to
acknowledge before sending these expatriates for Australian MNE taking over Walmart are
discussed with their responses.

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Part b)
Title: Briefing for the employees
Introduction
On the personal view, it is vital for the company to provide the briefing to the expatriates on the
challenges that deal and how they can effectively manage it in a diverse environment. These
challenges occur when they will actually visit US with their family.
Background
Australian Multi-National Retailing Entity HR ensures that they can provide the briefing to the
expatriate on the different issues that they will face in the different environment and the ways to
manage the same.
Briefing purpose of the assignment and the company expectations: - In my personal opinion,
the first and the foremost thing that is required to be done by the company is to provide the
briefing about the assignment and what the company is expecting from the expatriate (Okpara
and Kabongo, 2017). Australian Multi-National Retailing Entity provides the briefing about the
assignment that is to taking over the Walmart Company and they are expecting to complete the
assignment. The motive of the company is to form a strong image against the Walmart Company
in the market. The company from the expatriate expects that they apply the strategies effectively
in the US market for retailing which will grab the attention of the customers from Walmart to our
company and this made to attain the high profit.

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Cultural differences: - One of the major challenges whose briefing is required to the expatriate
is related to the difference in the culture of Australia and the US. I believe that the fact can’t be
denied that it becomes impossible for the company to expect that expatriates to acclimate
quickly. However, moving across the world makes the company adjust with the new culture,
environment of the work, social structure with no immediate system of support. The differences
that are present in the culture and the USA include trust formation is vital for the Australians
when it comes to the business. However, in the USA tend to be less focused when it comes to the
relationships of the business (Bryant, 2018). The culture of Australia is entirely different as they
consider the individual character but in the USA the importance is given to profit more.
According to the case of taking over Walmart, Australian has a strong sense of the fair play but
the US needs to be more open with the terms of running down their competitors.
Challenges for the family: - The expatriate who is going to the US are shifting with their family
due to which there is the presence of high challenges for the family which are required to be
taken care by the employees. I noticed that the major issues which are expected to face by the
employee consist of the job for the partner. The partner job will change as either they will search
for the same company’s branch transfer or partner will find the new job (Pinnington, Debrah,
Rees and Oseghale, 2018). If the employees have children then he/she need to find the
challenges related to the schooling. In addition to this, the major challenge which expatriate finds
at the US is linked with the formation of the network.
Support from parent company: - The research shows that most of the expatriate fails in the
assignment because of the lack of support from the parent company. The parent company needs
to understand the fact that they need to coordinate with expatriate for guiding them while making
the right decision. The communication from the parent company is possible with the help of