Maximizing the success of retention in international assignees

Week 14: Unit 14: Maximizing the success of retention in international assignees

Chapter 14: Maximizing the success of retention in international assignees
Textbook: Going Global by Lundby, Kyle, (Ed.). (2010)

Summary by Rochelle I Alvarado Miller, MBA, and current student of Master in Science with Specialization in Training and Development.

Organizations are using international assignees as strategic resource. The HR department is managing the international assignee to do an excellent job by preparing these employees through the beginning of the process: selection, preparing, training and assignee performance management.

The benefits and challenges of international assignments for individuals and organizations:

International or overseas positions are positions challenge to fill out. Edström and Galbraith (1977) identified three principal motives for the global transfer of managers; the first is a position that can not be filled locally because of lack of technical or managerial skills. The second reason is support the organizational development with refer to coordinate and controlling the international operations through social and informal networks. And the third reason is to support management development by enabling high-potential individuals to acquire international experience. These are benefits of international assignees clearly.

According by Caligiuri’s taxonomy (1999), all international assignments vary along two dimensions: 1. the extent to which the assignment will require intercultural competence, and 2. the extent to which the assignment is intended to be developmental, enhancing skills for the employee and, in turn, the organization. The international assignment fall into four major categories: technical assignments, functional-tactical assignments, developmental-high-potential assignments, strategic-executive assignments.

Some challenges that may be facing organization with international assignments include cross-cultural adjustment, underperformance, career derailment, and high cost to the company due to an unsuccessful assignee or mismanaged repatriation.

It is very important when selecting the right candidate to be assessment correctly in order to avoid a failed assignment, poor job performance, early repatriation, and emotional problems including in some case personal problems like with the family adaptability. Some of these practice to select international assignees, are emerged in two areas, one include the individual level antecedents of international assignee success including personality characteristics, language skills, prior experience of living in a different country, and the family situation. The second includes the practice for effectively selecting international assignees, such as realistic previews, self-selection, and assessment.

In the individual antecedents including the personality characteristics, researchers found that this individuals share similar personality traits. The research has found that five factors are: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness or intellect. In language skills is depending of the position, some are more critical than others. The cross-cultural adjustment also is easy for those that have prior international experience.

Compensation of international assignees is very important. Traditionally the compensation was primarily “a mechanism to calculate differentials and bonuses aimed at promoting international mobility and guaranteeing equity.” (Bonache & Fernandez, 1997) The discourse about it was to use the compensation as instrument that guide behavior in order to achieve corporate objectives.

In other instance, nationals from the host-country received lower levels of compensation than expatriates working alongside them, even if they are similarly qualified and working in similar or identical jobs. (Bonache et al., 2009)

A frustration in local employees is obvious when these types of differences are noticed. The perception in these large pay gaps lead to perception of injustice. The results are impacted in the local employees with low performance, attitude, low morale, absenteeism, and turnover.

Employees in career progression upon repatriation are subject to large investment to develop, maintain, and transfer by the company as international assignees. Loosing them are resulting a large cost and can affect the firm’s bottom line. Perhaps, by loosing one of these employees is providing an advantage to direct competitors, because is providing the competence with valuable human assets.

Perhaps, the organizations today are facing the challenge of ways to predict repatriate retention and lower their turnover. The facts that can affect these employees repatriate are placed them in unchallenging jobs, lack of promotion opportunities, loss of status and autonomy, lack of career planning and counseling, lack of support on behalf of managers and colleagues, and sluggish career advancement. How ever, the most important factor is how the firms managed their repatriation process according by Feldman & Thompson, 1993.

The future of strategic alignment and expatriated management practices is based on Adler and Ghadar, 1990; “international assignee management practices, namely who the firm considers as possible international assignees, how the firm selects and trains them, what criteria the firms uses to assess their performance, and what impact the international experience has on the careers of international assignees, should all fit the external environment in which the firm operates, as well as its strategic intent.”

In Conclusion: For the next generation of broader leadership development and talent management, HR will face the international assignee management practices where they will performance and development employees on international assignee assignments to ensure that the organization have the right people, in the right place at the right time.

This field of international assignee management is changing rapidly, perhaps, more industrial/organizational psychologist are becoming involved with the selection, training, development, and succession of international assignees. The time is right for the involvement of the science and practice of I/O psychologist and their integration with strategic international mobility because it is helping the speed of globalization to put these professionals of psychology in the Global work to integrate their professionalism strategically with HR partners.