Module 3 Ihrm

• Approaches of staffing
• Recruitment and Selection Procedures of

Expatriates
• Expatriate’s Success and failure factors
• Women Expatriate
• Non – expatriates their roles
• Issues in staff selection
International recruitment have 3
important questions -
•From what country/ies to recruit (home,
host or third)?
•What Techniques to be used when
recruitment is planned out side home
country?
•Whether to centralized recruitment
activities in home country or
decentralize in foreign subsidiaries?
Different sources of employees
• First, the company can send employees from
its
, which are referred to as
expatriates, expats or home country nationals.
• Second, it can recruit

(natives of the host country),
• Third, it can hire who

are natives of a country other than the home
country or the host country.
Challenging aspects
• First, the initial cost of airfare, living expenses and
transportation in the host country.
• The second expense incurred with bringing expatriates

in to the international operation is the training involved
in making sure the people going to the host country are
familiar with, laws, rules, culture, languages and
expectations in the new country.
International employee selection based on
four issues in the context of staffing
global business:
•Linking staffing plans with the evolution of
the MNC.
• Staffing orientation/ approach of staffing
• Managing expatriates
• Female expatriates
Linking staffing plans with the
evolution of the MNC:
Staffing strategies differ based on the life cycle of the
MNCs like:
• Setting up the host unit
•Establishing the technology team to begin core operational
activities.
•Full blown operations of the host unit with significant role in
establishing global objectives and targets,
•Strong operational leadership at the unit level while globally
consolidating with parents.
Approaches to staffing
• Ethnocentric policy
• Polycentric policy
• Geocentric policy
• Regiocentric policy
Ethnocentric policy
“ Home country’s culture is to be imposed on subsidiaries”
MNC’s exports its HR Policy from Home country to foreign
location.
• Strategic decisions are made at headquarters
• Key positions in domestic and foreign operations are

hold by headquarters’ personnel
Three factors are to be
considered in the
staff:
•Should be able to adjust in family, cultures and
personality problems to avoid failure.
•To succeed, should enjoy local entertainment,
develop local relationships and communicate
with locals.
•To achieve success, expatriates to have open
attitude and take training towards host – country.
Under ethnocentric, lines of communication are

one
– directional, i.e. advice from headquarters. In
fact, home country attitude and culture dominates.
Polycentric
“MNC’s seeks to adapt to the local cultural needs
subsidiaries ” of
• Each subsidiary is a distinct national entity with

some decision-making autonomy
• Host-country nationals manage subsidiaries who

are seldom promoted to HQ positions
• Parent company nationals hold key

headquarter
positions
Poly – centric: Here primary positions are
filled by nationals from host country( HCNs)y.
Advantages of this are:
• It eliminate the high cost of relocating expatriate manager
and families.
• Offer a great degree of autonomy in decision making to subsidiary heads.
• Host country nationals are less expensive than parent country used and Training
Host country’s nationals results in low cost.
• Better local knowledge

• Reduce personal problems
• Host country managers can protect a MNC from hostile treatment by host
Government.
• Here subsidiary is allowed some autonomy but financial controls are kept.
• Top people are limited to subsidiary and not for corporate position.
For example, in international manufacturing and
processing facilities in Mexico, companies recruit
with a sign announcing job openings outside the
facility or by employees introducing family
members who are looking for jobs.
Another example is Hungary, where government
attempts to combat unemployment have led to the
requirement that an organization must get
permission from the Ministry of Labor before hiring
an expatriate
Geocentric
• A global approach - worldwide integration
• View that each part of the organization makes a unique
contribution
• Nationality is ignored in favor of ability:
– Best person for the job
– Color of passport does not matter when it comes to rewards,
promotion and development.
Regiocentric
• Reflects a regional strategy and structure;
• Regional autonomy in decision making;
• Staff move within the designated region, rather

than globally.
Nationals Advantages Disadvantages
PCN Org. control and The promotional opportunities of

coordination are HCNs are limited.
maintained & facilitated Adaptation to host country may
Promising managers are take a long time.
given international Exp
HCN Language and other Control and coordination of HQ
barriers are eliminated. may be
Hiring costs are impeded
reduced and no work HCNs have limited career
permit is required opportunity
outside the subsidiary
TCN Salary and benefits Transfer must consider possible

requirements may be national animosities (e.g. India
lower than for PCNs. and Pakistan) The host
TCNs may be better government may Present hiring
informed than PCNs of TCNs.
about the host country
environment.
Choosing an Approach to IHRM
• Political and legal concerns
• Level of development in foreign locations
• Technology and the nature of the product
• Organizational life cycle
• Age and history of the subsidiary
• Organizational and national cultural
differences
Issues in Employee Selection
Staffing
Orientation
(Ethnocentric,
Polycentric
etc.)
Linkage between
Staffing Managing
Staffing and
growth /lifecycle
of MNC Expatriate
MNC’s HCN, TCN,
PCN
Female
Expatriate
Selection criteria for
International Staffing
International selection is a two way process between the individual and the
organization. A prospective candidate may reject the expatriate assignment either for
personal reasons, such as family considerations, or for situational factors.
However, after an extensive review of literatures on the selection of expats, the

researcher identified 18 variables and grouped them into four categories
• Technical Competency
• Relational Skills
• Ability to cope with variables and
• Family Situation
Individual Criteria Family Support
Expatriate
• An expatriate is an employee who is
working and temporarily residing in a
foreign country.
• Expatriate work as an agent between

two countries.
• Also known as “International Assignees”

Selection techniques of
expatriates:
 Interview – structured interview
 The monitoring and targeting
of disadvantaged group – (staffing practices
 are strongly influenced by norms
and values that are not covered by the law)
 Psychological Testing- mentally fit
for international assignment
 Assessment centre – Competency
assessment
Selection Techniques in General, important
steps are-:
• Screening the applicant’s background on the basis of work
experience with cultures other than one’s own,
previous overseas travel, knowledge of foreign
language and overall Performance.
• Testing the candidate's ability to adapt to the new culture
and environment.
• Testing the ability of the spouse and family members of the
candidates to the foreign culture and environment.
• Predicting the adjustment of the candidate
• Testing the skill of adjustment with the host nationals.
• Job duties and responsibilities
Therefore expatriate must
meet 6 basic criteria:
• They must be willing and motivated to
go overseas
• They must be technically able to do the job
• They must be adaptable
• They must have good inter personal skills and
able to form relationship
• They must have good communication
ability and
• They must have supportive families
Expatriate’s Success factors:
Rosalie Tung studied the factors that contributed to expatriate
success and
identify different variables that affect success. She groups them
into 4 general
categories:
1. Job competence
2. Personality traits
3. Relational abilities
4. Environmental variables and family variables
Which are further divided into two heads: general factors
and specific ones
General Factors Specific Attributes
JOB Competence Technical skills: knowledge of HQ and host country

operations, general managerial skills, administrative
competence and creativity
Relational Traits Social Skill: Ability to tolerate ambiguity, Courtesy

and tact
Respect, kindness and behavioral flexibility
Cultural empathy and ethnocentrism
Integrity confidence and emotional stability
Personality Traits Diplomatic Skill: Believe in the mission

Congruence of assignment with career path
Interest in overseas experience
Willingness to acquire new behavior patterns and
attitudes
Interest to learn Host country language and practice
Adopting attitude of Non – verbal communication
Ability to interact with business associates
Environmental and Motivational Skill: Willingness of the spouse to live

Family variables overseas
Adaptability and supportiveness of spouse
Stability of marriage
Expatriate problem
Expatriate failure: premature return of
the expatriate manager to his/her home country
Cost of failure is high:
Estimate = 3X the expatriate’s annual salary plus

the cost of relocation (impacted by currency
exchange rates and assignment location)
Reasons for early return
1. Family concerns
2.Accepted new position in the company
3.Completed assignment early
4.Cultural adjustment challenges
5.Security concerns
6.Career concerns
7.Quality of life
8.Remuneration
Reducing Expatriate failure
• Reduce expatriate failure rates by improving
selection procedures
• An executive’s domestic performance does not

(necessarily) equate his/her overseas
performance potential
• Employees need to be selected not solely on

technical expertise but also on cross-cultural
fluency
4 dimensions for successful
expatriate selection
1. Self-oriented
Expresses adaptive concern for self-preservation, self-
enjoyment, mental hygiene.
2. Perceptual
Accurately understands why host nationals behave the
way they do.
3. Others-oriented
Cares about host national co-workers and affiliates
with them.
4. Cultural-toughness
Able to handle the degree to which the culture of the
host country is incongruent with that of the home
country.
Family-friendly policies
• Inter-company networking
• Job-hunting assistance
• Intra-company employment
• On-assignment career support

Adaptability to culture change
Adaptability of Adaptability of
men expatriate women expatriates:
 Faster adjustment after  Slow adjustment after
first year when the age first year when the age
group is 30-35 and group is 30-35 and
higher level of lower level of
satisfaction. satisfaction .
 Gradual adjustment  Faster adjustment after
after third and forth third and forth year
year when the age when the age group is
group is 25-30 and 25-30 and medium
medium level of level of satisfaction
Roles of Non-expatriates
• People who travel internationally yet are not
considered expatriates as they do not relocate to
another country
– Road warriors, globetrotters, frequent fliers
• Much of international business involves visits

to foreign locations, e.g.
– Sales staff attending trade fairs
– Periodic visits to foreign operations
Non-expatriates enjoy
positives as:
– A Glamorous life
– Excitement and thrills of conducting business
deals in foreign locations
– Life style (top duty-free shopping,
hotels, business class
travel)
– General exotic nature
Female Expatriate
?
Barriers to females taking international
assignments
Causes of low representation of
Females
Stereotyping
Host country
attitude Capabilities
Barrier of
female
expatriate
Sexual Family
harassment constraints
Male dominant
society
Advantages of Female Expatriate
• Better at Relationship skills
• Novelty – foreign clients believe that those
who are expatriated are the best.
• Role Models
Recent trends in International
Staffing
Workforce
diversity
Dual career
couples
O
f
f
-
s
h
o
r
Recruiting i
Background
sources n
check
g
Trends
Current Expatriate profile:
Global Staffing
Japan China
Hire young people out of school Most hired from school, fewer from other
companies
Slow promotion through the ranks Slow but regular alary increase
Performance Appraisal once or Performance review usually once a year
twice a year
Loyalty to the company Lack of loyalty to both company and
profession
Appraisal of long term performance 5 years plan; short term target
Promotions based on long term Promotion based on Performance,

performance and other criteria. Potential ability, and Education
but family ties / good relations
with top managers are important
Training and development Training program available, state exam

considered a long term investment administered for managers.
Life time employment common in Job Security – virtually life time

companies employment.

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• Approaches of staffing

• Recruitment and Selection Procedures of

• Second, it can recruit

• Third, it can hire who

• The second expense incurred with bringing expatriates

• Strategic decisions are made at headquarters

• Key positions in domestic and foreign operations are

Under ethnocentric, lines of communication are

• Each subsidiary is a distinct national entity with

• Host-country nationals manage subsidiaries who

• Parent company nationals hold key

• Better local knowledge

• Regional autonomy in decision making;

• Staff move within the designated region, rather

PCN Org. control and The promotional opportunities of

TCN Salary and benefits Transfer must consider possible

However, after an extensive review of literatures on the selection of expats, the

• Expatriate work as an agent between

• Also known as “International Assignees”

JOB Competence Technical skills: knowledge of HQ and host country

Relational Traits Social Skill: Ability to tolerate ambiguity, Courtesy

Personality Traits Diplomatic Skill: Believe in the mission

Environmental and Motivational Skill: Willingness of the spouse to live

Cost of failure is high:

Estimate = 3X the expatriate’s annual salary plus

• An executive’s domestic performance does not

• Employees need to be selected not solely on

• On-assignment career support

• Much of international business involves visits

Promotions based on long term Promotion based on Performance,

Training and development Training program available, state exam

Life time employment common in Job Security – virtually life time

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