IHRM Strategies: Supporting South Korean Expatriates in India

This case study analyzes the challenges faced by South Korean expatriates in India, focusing on the experiences of Yeongjin Lee, who was assigned to the company’s Indian office. It highlights cultural barriers, family adjustment issues, and external factors impacting expatriate success. The report critically reviews how multinational corporations (MNCs) can ensure successful selection, training, adjustment, and completion of expatriate assignments within the Indian context. Key areas explored include the importance of cultural sensitivity, comprehensive pre-departure training, family support, and effective repatriation strategies. The study emphasizes the need for MNCs to adapt their HRM practices to the unique socio-cultural, political, and economic environment of India to enhance expatriate performance and retention. Recommendations are provided to improve the overall expatriate experience and align HR practices with global business objectives.

International and comparative Human Resources
Management
SHR081-6
Individual Case study
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Execute summary
While HRM is accountable for the quality of employee management, IHRM handles these
responsibilities as well as others, such as the management of human resources operations in
multinational corporations, the management of expatriate employees, and the HR policies and
practices in different countries or regions. With IHRM the ability of expatriates to detect and
comprehend the variability of local market circumstances in other regions broadens their
marketing viewpoint. In addition, they gain the interpersonal and leadership abilities
necessary to manage or work with ethnic teams. The essay analyses the case study of Yeong-
jin Lee who offered a promotion in the form of an expatriate assignment as a senior
operations manager in the company’s Indian office.
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Table of contents
1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................4
2 Case study analysis.............................................................................................................5
2.1 Critically discuss the challenges South Korean expatriates face in
India 5
2.2 Critically review how MNCs can try to ensure successful selection, training,
adjustment and completion of expatriate assignments in the Indian context.........................8
2.3 Selection......................................................................................................................9
2.4 Training.....................................................................................................................10
2.5 Preparation.................................................................................................................12
2.6 Completion................................................................................................................12
3 Conclusion........................................................................................................................13
4 Recommendations.............................................................................................................13
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1 Introduction
International Human Resource Management (IHRM) is the systematic management of people
in global and international organizations (Reiche, Harzing, and Tenzer, 2018). The success of
IHRM is contingent on human capability. Companies whose operations are limited to the
local market encounter no outside competition as their corporate operating environment, the
worldwide environment. A national business system describes their operating environment.
Moreover, it consists of a network of ties between government, capital, and labor. In addition
to its economic nature, it features political-institutional and legal characteristics. In modern
times, international barriers have dissolved, and multinational corporations have become
indispensable for economic growth.
Researchers must comprehend how HR practices evolve across countries. While embracing
international selection practices given to multinational organizations a number of
impediments attributed to legal constraints neglecting the traditions and cultural values of a
nation may result in system failure .This is why a global corporation exists must comprehend
the kind of recruiting and selection techniques are effective in the nation where it seeks to
expand to get in. In order to businesses to succeed in an increasingly competitive market, they
must have skilled global managers with skills that distinguish the company's strategic
decisions. International human resource management plays a vital part in global company.
Selecting a suitable candidate for a job helps to a company's success, however hiring the
incorrect candidate might result in failure and unanticipated expenses. The success of
expatriates in their overseas assignments is even more crucial given that they are among the
most costly workers. If the selection and training procedure is inadequate, time, resources,
and money are wasted. This report examines the critical evaluation of variables that moderate
the differences between domestic and international HRM with an example from the
Multinational Company with the use of case study “From South Korea to South Delhi”.
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2 Case study analysis
2.1 Critically discuss the challenges South Korean expatriates face in India, as in the case
of Yeong-jin Lee
The main challenges South Korean expatriates experience in India is cultural barriers or
difficulties. The case study indicates that Yeong-jin was ill-equipped to collaborate with
coworkers from varied cultural, national, and religious backgrounds. Of India, Yeong-jin was
anxious about avoiding misunderstandings and inadvertently upsetting the HCNs, particularly
due to his ignorance of the complexities of the many social, religious, and cultural norms in
India. His discomfort with Indian cultural and professional attitudes around demands of
devotion to time and project deadlines exemplified this worry, despite the fact that everything
seemed satisfactory at the time.
In inida, Indian culture is highly intricate. Immigrations, invasions, colonial control, and
modernity have all contributed to the influx of people. A few extraterrestrial elements were
partially incorporated into the primordial Indian perspectives (Varma and Budhwar, 2012)
Additionally, India is a multi-cultural culture, and the majority of multinational corporations
do not comprehend the variety and multi-plural character of the society and the many
stakeholders in this country that India has two major ethnic groups (Indo-Aryans, 72 percent,
and Dravidians, 25 percent) (the rest are Mongoloid and others), is home to four major
religions (80 percent of the population is Hindu, 12 percent Muslim, and the rest are
Mongoloid and others), and has two major languages (Hindi and Tamil).2.3% Christians and
2% Sikhs), it should be regarded as a multicultural culture. Though30 percent of
thepopulation speaks Hindi, the national language of India. English is the most widely
significant language for national, political, and commercial communications.
The manner in which an expatriate notices cultural differences, such as time zone, variances
in timeliness, and adaptability to work, affects the expatriate's attitude to their new
surroundings and the success of their integration. Pereira et al. (2005) reaffirm that no
expatriate cultural adaptation to the host country is required. Countries incur substantial
expenses in terms of managerial effectiveness and customer interactions, profitability and
operational effectiveness .With the ongoing rapid globalization of markets and usage actions,
it has become imperative that managers "develop understanding of decision making,
intercultural bargaining, and cross-cultural communication," let there be conflict when the
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company interacts with consumers from other cultures operates on a global scale (Mba,
2015). When multinational firms enter and operate in foreign new operational situations with
sometimes significantly different procedures than those of the business There is an
unavoidable clash between culture, social responsibility, and the host nation local workers'
methods of operation.(Hutnek, 2020).
Further with the moving to South Korea to India there were lot of personal issues occurred
wih family commitments. Case study shows that both Yeong-jin Lee and Soo Kyong were
anxious about their children's academic and social transition to their new school on the family
front. Since the local education system included a substantial percentage of international
students, it was inevitable that the children would encounter cultural adjustment challenges at
school whether their children could adapt to the new curriculum and establish new friends
how the children's absence would impact their educational possibilities upon their return to
South Korea at the conclusion of the three-year assignment. She was apprehensive about her
own personal adjustment to being away from work and feeling alone in a foreign location
without family or friends. She was also overwhelmed by the many changes in her new
surroundings, particularly the language and dietary issues.
The completion of a worldwide assignment poses a number of obstacles and challenges for
expatriate managers and their families. Foreign assignees regularly function in a culturally
diverse setting commercially, politically, and legally distinct from those encountered in their
own nation. Zwielewski (2009) emphasizes the need of family support due to the significance
of the family to expatriation. The author notes that the family is also facing obstacles that
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must be documented, since wives following their partners are required to give up their homes
professions and address concerns associated with loneliness. Children may have certain
difficulties and be unable to adjust effectively to their new educational setting. Not only do
Pereira et al. (2005) emphasize that the family of the expatriate plays a crucial role, but they
also note that the family has a significant impact on the expatriate.in the adaption, as well as
for the overall purpose. Additionally, these writers argued that the transfer initially, the
immigration of family members to the host nation may be advantageous, but when
misapplied, it is not. This may pose significant issues for the expatriate and, by extension, for
the business. Therefore, the author claims that people from nations with the greatest cultural
distance from their Gulf hosts will have the most difficulty adjusting their conduct to conform
to local norms and traditions. The connection may also impact acculturation between the
government of expatriates and the government of the host nation and nationality. With
respect to compensation, highly skilled individuals from western nations are paid the most,
yet are at a disadvantage while attempting to adapt to the work's culture-bound qualities and
environment such as the authoritarian style of administration.
External factors in India- Delhi also impacted for South Koreans. External factors play a
crucial role in the management of human resources because they are complex and include
uncertainty, requiring additional care and attention from managers. In addition to the
economic factors, there are also political, cultural, technological, and social considerations.
Due to the organisation's culture and need, domestic human resource management is able to
adapt to climate change in less time than international human resource management, which
has a much larger entity and therefore finds it more difficult to translate to changes in the
environment, such as those in economic, philosophical, cultural, empirical, and cultural
factors, in less time. In contrast to domestic human resource management, when work is
performed inside a single country, international human resource management demands
personnel to adapt to a range of cultural work settings, since it interacts with businesses and
people outside of a single country.
Design of company also challenging as it is the method of recognizing and implementing an
appropriate technique to organize the complete organization, integrating its human and non-
human elements so as to fulfil its mission and objectives in accordance with its strategies.
The organisational structure of domestic human resource management is less complicated and
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easier to design plans and strategies than that of international HRM, whose management
structure is very sophisticated owing to complex work initiatives. In India, the majority of
these studies emphasize the substantial impact of socio-cultural, political, and economic
issues on HRM policies and practices in Indian businesses. These indicate that on several
instances HRM choices like as promotion, compensation, and selection are based more on
socio-political or family ties than on skill. The individualized Indian businesses' connections
are impacted by their strong collectivism and individualism. A power distance that prioritizes
personal and family connections above professional results.
International relocation and orientation also challenges for South Koreans who move to inida.
It includes tasks such as imparting pre-departure training; giving immigration and travel
material; offering housing, shopping, medical treatment, entertainment, and educational
information; and finishing payment specifics such as tax forms, salary distribution overseas,
calculation of international allowances, and taxes treatment. The aforementioned concerns
may lead to complications if they are not given careful consideration and attention.
2.2 Critically review how MNCs can try to ensure successful selection, training, adjustment
and completion of expatriate assignments in the Indian context
In today’s dynamic world, globalization and the emergence of multinational firms (MNCs)
have slightly changed trading activities and the character of activities in each market
(Mathew and Jain, 2008).MNCs introduced their own organizational culture to India, and
they quickly realized the need to modify their management approaches to Indian contexts.
Consequently, with an emphasis on creating a they swiftly assimilated elements of the work
culture in a high-performance environment. Typically defined by hierarchy, in-group focus,
and individualization, India relationships and professional faithfulness. According to Dowling
and Schuler (1990), staffing is the most prevalent IHRM method utilized by multinational
corporations to coordinate human resource management and manage their extensive
worldwide operations. With considerable growth in the number of international corporations
operating in India. It becomes essential for HR professionals to have comprehensive local
staffing patterns will enable them to implement staffing methods effectively (Bhattacharya,
2015).
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2.3 Selection
Training and development, performance evaluations, and staff suggestion programs are
among the human resource management (HRM) techniques that Indian managers use with
expatriate assignments. In inida, HRM procedures continue to be less formal and less
organized than in the United Kingdom. This is the case contributed to by the intricacies of
India's labor relations and the significance of caste, networks, and political connections
.Indian companies often have high turnover rates and demand for highly trained labor exceed
supply, resulting in a labor shortage. Retention costs and a heightened emphasis on talent
management development (Kundu et al., 2015).Due to substantial impact, it has been
determined that the HR function in local Indian businesses resembles conventional personnel
management in local administration techniques (Saini & Budhwar, 2008).
They stated that relatively few businesses in India have formalized structured processes like
psychometric exams and evaluation centers. However sometimes India businesses put a
premium on efficiency practice of impartiality in selection criteria and therefore more
emphasis on written examinations, interviews, and psychometric testing to what degree
(Wickramasinghe, 2007). Snyder and Shahni Dennings' (2012) research on Indian
professionals demonstrates the different ways for selecting employees, interviews and
resumes were seen as the most advantageous approaches, including graphology and honesty
tests the least desirable strategies. It appears candidates’ in India favor strategies that
concentrate on their personal attributes above work-related characteristics.
In selection, the demands of the business are aligned with its objectives. Then, the external
market conditions and the employee's compatibility with the value system of top management
are evaluated. In multinational corporations, high-potential employees are often nominated
for overseas assignments by their direct supervisors and then evaluated by senior managers
from the employee's current workplace and the parent company's coaching and mentoring
department (Cui, Meyer and Hu, 2014). In selection, researchers advised practitioners to add
knowledge of the host country's language and certain personal characteristics as selection
factors in order to maximize future expatriate performance, even if this does not occur in
practice.
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The selection of personnel for overseas assignments is largely task-dependent. Research and
development expats are often assigned creative work, whilst manufacturing expatriates do
more coordinated duties. During selection, expatriates must be able to operate in unfamiliar
environments, and their cross-cultural compatibility must be examined. Important cross-
cultural suitability characteristics include cultural sensitivity, linguistic abilities, and an
openness to different cultures, emotional stability, and degree of personal maturity of
incidents in practice. Regardless, according to a Brookfield (2015) study, one of the most
often utilized selection factors by businesses is Because of someone's readiness to migrate, it
has been included in the present research. Knowledge of the local language in a foreign place
assists newcomers in developing connections with multinational companies and better
understanding the characteristics of an unfamiliar culture. Furthermore, language skills help
immigrants to get access to critical information for their jobs day-to-day life and work As a
consequence, language skills might assist expatriates in better adjusting to their new
environment in India.
2.4 Training
Training must be offered for the chosen staff. It is vital to prepare persons to work with folks
from diverse nations and cultures. With increased FDI inflows and domestic economic
expansion, international companies in India are expanding at a rapid pace. To keep up with
rapid expansion, it becomes essential to enterprises in India and abroad to find competent
professionals. Cross-cultural training (CCT) is one of the organizational strategies that may
be utilized throughout the preparatory phase as pre-departure training and as a support during
the assignment as post-arrival training on-site (Caligiuri and Tarique, 2016) .CCT is defined
as any intervention aimed at providing expatriates with the information and skills required to
function well in a foreign culture.
CCT seeks to improve expatriates' intercultural competency so that they may communicate
properly and engage with individuals from other cultures, acclimatize to unfamiliar
situations, and provide a good job performance in a foreign workplace (Ditchburn and
Brook, 2015).Performing commercial tasks in overseas environments necessitates a set of
culturally unique skills. CCT may help you learn and develop new talents. The degree of
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contact necessary in the host culture and the distance between the expatriate's home culture
and the host culture should be considered while choosing CCT. The most suitable training
approach is determined by a variety of employment
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characteristics, including the nature of the worldwide operation, the host-country location, the
assignment's aim, the type of the job, and the degree of organizational maturity and assistance
on one side, and depending on specific factors such as the expatriate's profile and spouse
factors on the opposing side Furthermore, the preparatory possibilities, namely as a show of
trust in professionalism and strategic thinking, the majority of businesses in India have
allocated money to training. Trainers at organizations use a variety of training methodologies.
The developer of a training program must being capable of matching the optimal training
strategy to the desired training outcomes.
Within Indian business world, a number of illustrious businesses have used contemporary
training methods and have achieved remarkable strides in their training initiative,
culminating in increased competition, especially as a consequence of the open entrance of
MNCs into India (Lee and Qomariyah, 2016). The majority of training programs have
consisted of tales, management games, and other movies depicting fish being thrown at
coworkers, which are humorous and stimulating but fail to engage the participants. The
majority of the information is not likely to hold the participants unrelated to the main work
duties although many multinational businesses adhere to the training needs-based based on
the training Need Identification process, however the program's content varies. Their
nominations were predicated on a candidate who has a tenuous link to the position in
question identifying training needs (TNI).
The importance of human capital (skills, abilities, and knowledge of people) as a critical
resource of a company's fundamental competitive advantage is a focal point for worldwide
market firms, particularly competitive and successful ones.(Sultana and Devi, 2014) As a
rule, multinational corporations utilize a kind of global training program to give their staff
with training on a worldwide scale. Moreover, the authors claimed that the primary purpose
of multinational firms' global training is to provide an advanced principle applicable to each
division of multinational corporations in distinct nations. In the literature, the necessity for
cross-cultural training to promote cross-cultural awareness has been widely emphasized. This
is shown in Harris and Kumra's (2000) research, which lists essential cross-cultural abilities
such as the ability to convey respect, be non-judgmental, and understand the value of other
cultures the relativity of one's own knowledge and perspectives, empathy, adaptability, and
the ability to Turn-taking (allowing each participant to have a turn during conversations) and
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