Page 93 - DMGT548_GLOBAL_HRM

Global HRM

Notes 3. Family Requirements: The contribution that the family, particularly the spouse, makes to
the success of the international assignment.

Example: U.S. expatriates and their spouses working in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong
found that a favourable opinion about the international assignment by the spouse is positively
related to the spouse’s adjustment. The adjustment of the spouse was found to be highly correlated
to the adjustment of the expatriate manager. Reluctance on the part of Australian firms to
include spouses in the formal selection process because it was considered to be outside their
domain, and could evoke civil liberties concerns.

4. Country/Cultural Requirements: Some regions and countries are considered ‘hardship
postings’ – remote areas away from major cities or modern facilities, or war-torn regions
with high physical risk. Accompanying family members may be an additional
responsibility that the MNC does not want to bear. There may be a reluctance to select
females for certain Middle East or South East Asian regions. Indeed, some countries will
not issue a work permit for a female. These aspects may result in the selection of HCNs
rather than expatriates.
5. MNC Requirements: The multinational may consider the proportion of expatriates to local
staff when making selection decisions, mainly as an outcome of its staffing philosophy.
Operations in particular countries may require the use of more PCNs and TCNs than
would normally be the case, as multinational operating in parts of Eastern Europe and
China are discovering. Other situational factors include:
(a) The mode of operation involved
(b) The duration of the assignment

(c) The amount of knowledge transfer inherent in the expatriate’s job in the foreign
operation.
6. Language: The ability to speak a second language is an aspect often linked with cross-
cultural ability. Language skills may be regarded as of critical importance for some
expatriate positions. Some would argue that knowledge of the host-country’s language is
an important aspect of expatriate performance.
Another component to language as a situation factor in the selection decision is the role of the
common corporate language. Most multinationals whether consciously or not, adopt a common
corporate language as a way of standardising reporting systems and procedures. This is not an
issue for PCN selection within multinationals from the United States, the United Kingdom,
Canada, and Australia, where the chosen company language remains the same as that of the
home country. It becomes a PCN selection factor for multinationals from non-English speaking
countries that adopt English as the corporate language, unless the posting is to a country with a
shared language.

Example: A Spanish multinational, using Spanish as the corporate language, selecting a
manager to head a new subsidiary in Mexico, does not face the same language issue as a Spanish
multinational, with English as its corporate language, selecting a manager to its U.S. facility. For
the latter, fluency in English is important.

Task You are the corporate HR manager of IT Company. Design the model for selecting
the expatriates for the international assignments.

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