Expatriate Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Expatriates are a distinct form of cross-cultural traveler, principally characterized by the duration and purpose of their presence in the host country. An expatriate can be defined as an individual who lives temporarily outside their home country in order to undertake a specific job, project, or assignment. This distinguishes them in particular from tourists, who generally travel for a short period of time to engage in leisure activities, and immigrants who intend to remain in a host country indefinitely. This essay focuses on expatriation in a business context, where it is evident that expatriates are used for a variety of purposes including sales, technology transfer, control of business units, and coordination and integration. The following discussion examines selected issues associated with the management of expatriate staff, including selection, cross-cultural training, and cross-cultural adjustment.

In an increasingly international environment, there are a growing number of opportunities for people to travel to other countries. Naturally, such travel is undertaken for a variety of reasons and for different durations. Consequently, it is possible to distinguish between four different types of cross-cultural traveler: tourists, sojourners, refugees, and immigrants. Tourists travel for leisure purposes, usually for a relatively short period of time. Sojourners travel for a longer, but finite, period of time in order to undertake some form of work or educational activity. Refugees’ travel is involuntary, and the duration of their time in the host country can vary widely, although they typically intend to return home as soon as conditions allow. Immigrants travel in order to establish a new life, and intend to remain in the host country indefinitely.

Through common usage, the term expatriate usually refers specifically to sojourns undertaken in an organizational context. Expatriates, then, live in a host country for an extended, but finite, period of time in order to fulfill a specific work assignment and are therefore distinguished from other categories of cross-cultural traveler by the purpose and duration of their presence in the host country.

Businesses use expatriates for a variety of reasons. The stages in a company’s internationalization enable us to identify different approaches to the use of expatriate staff. With a domestic company, expatriates are used on an ad hoc basis. Visits to other countries

will often be quite short, and may be used to reward staff. Individuals are unlikely to be carefully selected, although professional skills and company knowledge must be considered important attributes. It is unlikely that cross-cultural training will be provided. As a company develops its international presence, expatriate assignments begin to increase in frequency and importance. Candidates are again selected on professional competence, but adjustment and language skills are also considered. At this stage expatriates are used for sales roles, to transfer technology, or to exert control. Nevertheless, cross-cultural training is likely to be rather limited.

When a company becomes multinational, the frequency of expatriate assignments may decrease as host-country nationals are appointed to management posts as a result of their local knowledge. Allied to this, the value placed on international experience increases, and therefore expatriates are likely to undertake multiple postings. The desire to build the skills of the individual means that cross-cultural training is likely to be more comprehensive at this stage. As a company becomes global, the emphasis is on integration and coordination between business units, with expatriates being used to facilitate this. High-performing individuals are selected based on professional competence and cross-cultural capabilities. These individuals are likely to receive ongoing cross-cultural training and support in order that they can interact effectively with host nationals.

Using expatriates is expensive, some claim up to $1 million per year per expatriate, and sending organizations are therefore concerned with minimizing the risk of failure. The traditional view of expatriate failure is of premature return to the home country. However, an inability to adjust effectively to the host culture can result in poor job performance without the individual returning home early. This can be especially damaging for the sending organization, with effects including sub-optimal productivity and damage to client relations and organizational reputation. As a result, sending organizations are well advised to apply comprehensive selection and cross-cultural training processes in order to mitigate against the risk of failure.

Early approaches to expatriate selection were based on technical competence, whereby it was believed that the key to international success was an ability to perform a specific job role effectively. However, technical competence is not associated with effective cross-cultural adjustment, and is therefore best considered as a prerequisite for continuation of the selection process. Another approach has been to rely upon previous international experience, based on the argument that the individual has proven themselves capable of operating effectively overseas. This criterion continues to be widely used, and indeed there is evidence to suggest that longer overseas experience is linked to more effective cross-cultural adjustment. More recent approaches focus on personality traits on the basis that certain traits can be associated with an ability to adjust effectively to the host culture. For example, studies have linked higher levels of extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability with a desire to stay in post. Similarly, studies have found evidence that problem-focused coping strategies, a learning-focused goal orientation, and higher levels of self-efficacy are associated with more effective adjustment.

Regardless of the selection criteria employed, it is generally agreed that some form of cross-cultural training should be provided. Cross-cultural training aims to facilitate effective adjustment by developing the necessary skills and by creating accurate pre-departure expectations. Content-based models distinguish between information-, awareness-, and skills-based training inputs. Information-based training is the most commonly provided form of cross-cultural training. It tends to take place before departure, and principally aims to support anticipatory adjustment by creating accurate pre-departure expectations. Information is typically provided through written documents, lectures, and audio-visual materials, covering issues related to the job role and host country contexts. Awareness based training often takes place before departure, and seeks to personalize the host culture by exposing trainees to various scenarios through the use of a cultural assimilator. Through this mechanism, trainees are able to rehearse culturally appropriate behaviors in a safe and controlled environment.

While information and awareness-based training is specific to the host culture, skills-based training focuses on transferable adjustment skills. This training is more likely to take place in the host country during an orientation period, as it relies upon interaction with host nationals, using behavior modeling, video playback, and role play to develop the skills necessary to engage in culturally-appropriate behaviors.

Upon entering the host country, cross-cultural adjustment becomes a key issue. One model distinguishes between psychological and socio-cultural components of adjustment. Psychological adjustment has an internal focus and is rooted in the concepts of stress and coping. Socio-cultural adjustment has an external focus based on the ability to interact effectively with host nationals. In addition to personality traits, various factors have been associated with more effective adjustment including lower levels of host culture contact and limited cultural distance between home and host cultures.

Bibliography:

“Expatriate Taxation—America’s Berlin Wall,” Economist (v.387/8584, 2008);
“Expatriate Workers and Taxes: The Tithes That Bind,” Economist (v.8483/12, June 24, 2006);
Michael M. Harris, Handbook of Research in International Human Resource Management (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007);
Anne-Wil Harzing and Joris Van Ruysseveldt, eds., International Human Resource Management, 2nd ed. (Sage, 2005);
Roger Herod, Expatriate Compensation: A Balance Sheet Approach (Society for Human Resource Management, 2008);
Jonathan Reuvid, The Corporate Guide to Expatriate Employment: An Employer’s Guide to Deploying and Managing Internationally Mobile Staff (Kogan Page, 2008);
Coleen Ward, Stephen Bochner, and Adrian Furnham, The Psychology of Culture Shock, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2001).

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