April 8, 2023 1

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Recruitment & Selection

April 8, 2023 2

International Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment – Defined as searching for and obtaining potential job candidates in sufficient numbers for and quality so that the organization can select the most appropriate persons for its job needs

Selection – Defined as the process of gathering information for the purposes of evaluating and deciding whom should be employed in particular jobs

April 8, 2023 3

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (1)

Advantages of the Ethnocentric Approach

Perceived lack of qualified host country nationals (HCNs) The necessity to maintain and consolidate good

communication, coordination and control links with the organization’s headquarters

The assurance that the foreign subsidiary or unit will comply with corporate objectives, policies, standards etc.

PCNs may be most suitable because they have the requisite skills and experience

Promising managers are given the opportunity of international experience

April 8, 2023 4

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (2)

Disadvantages of the Ethnocentric Approach

• It limits the promotional opportunities of HCNs• PCN expatriate managers may experience adjustment

problems• PCN expatriate managers may attempt to impose styles

which are appropriate at the organization’s headquarters but which may be deemed inappropriate in the host country

• The compensation packages of PCN expatriate managers may be at a level considered unjustified by the HCNs

• PCN expatriate managers are expensive

April 8, 2023 5

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (3)

Advantages of the Polycentric Approach

• It eliminates language barriers, avoids adjustment problems of expatriate managers and their families, and removes the need for expensive cultural awareness training programmes

• Hiring costs are reduced • No work permit required• Motivation effect because HCNs see a career potential • Lower organizational profile in sensitive political situations• Continuity of management improves because the HCNs stay

longer in the organization• Local responsiveness and sensitivity, host government policy

April 8, 2023 6

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (4)

Disadvantages of the Polycentric Approach

• More difficulty in bridging the gap (objectives, policies, standards, communication, coordination, control, culture and attitudes etc.) between the HCN unit and the organization’s parent headquarters

• Tends to encourage too much decentralization• HCN managers have limited career opportunities outside

the subsidiary or unit• Limits opportunities for PCN expatriate managers to gain

foreign experience, adversely effecting their insight and hence strategic decision-making and resource allocation

April 8, 2023 7

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (5a)

Advantages of the Geocentric Approach

Facilitates the development of an international team

Overcomes the decentralization effect of the polycentric approach

April 8, 2023 8

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (5b)

For the geocentric approach to be successful, 5 assumptions must be

met:

(1) Highly competent employees are available at headquarters and subsidiaries

(2) International experience is a condition for success in top positions

(3) Managers with high potential and ambition for promotion are constantly ready to be transferred from one country to another

(4) Open disposition and high adaptability on the part of competent and mobile managers to different assignment conditions

(5) Open disposition and high adaptability can be learned with more foreign experience

April 8, 2023 9

Disadvantages of the Geocentric Approach

• Immigration controls and work permits for the foreign manager and his family

• Provision of extensive, time-consuming (and sometimes) expensive information and documentation for foreign nationals

• Large numbers of PCNs, HCNs and TCNs must be sent to foreign locations in order to create a successful geocentric staffing policy

• High Training and relocation cost• Devising an appropriate compensation structure• More centralized control over staffing and loss of

autonomy by the subsidiary in HRM issues

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (5c)

April 8, 2023 10

Advantages of the Regiocentric Approach

• It allows interaction between managers of an organization’s subsidiaries transferred to their organization’s regional headquarters, and managers from the organization’s headquarters posted to the regional headquarters

• More sensitivity to local conditions as subsidiaries are staffed mostly by HCNs

• TCNs from the region may be better informed about the host country environment than PCNs

• Lower salary and benefit requirements for TCNs• Paves the way for adoption of a geocentric approach

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (6)

April 8, 2023 11

Disadvantages of the Regiocentric Approach

• It can prevent the organization from taking a global stance

• Improves career opportunities at the regional, but not international level

• Factors such as political animosity between regional countries and work permit requirements must be taken into consideration

Pros and Cons of the Four International Staffing Approaches (6)

April 8, 2023 12

Selecting Staff for International Assignments

Selecting staff for international assignments is a complex

undertaking for several reasons, including:

• Identifying a suitable person for the assignment• Predicting his or her performance in a new, culturally

potentially very different environment• Dealing with personal and family-related issues and

problems • Devising an appropriate compensation package• Complying with host country regulations

April 8, 2023 13

The Problem of “Expatriate Failure”

Expatriate failure means the premature return of an expatriate manager before the

completion of his or her international assignment due to the person’s failure to attain the expected performance levels

and due to the persons continuing inability to adjust to the new work and cultural

environment in the host country

April 8, 2023 14

The Cost of “Expatriate Failure”Expatriate failure has two cost components:

Direct Costs – Can be easily measured in monetary terms (e.g.: air fare, relocation expenses, salary and training) and varies according to the level of the position in question, the country of destination, the exchange rates and whether a new PCN takes over the assignment of the “failed” colleague

Indirect Costs – Cannot be measured easily in monetary terms but may be significantly higher than the direct costs. Examples include loss of the organization’s reputation and market share, loss of morale and productivity in the local work force, complications with the host government, discreditation of the expatriate at the organization’s headquarters and a future performance impact

April 8, 2023 15

The Reasons for “Expatriate Failure”

Inability to Cope With Larger International

Responsibility

Manager’s Personal orEmotional Maturity

Manager’s Inabilityto Adjust

Other Family Reasons

Spouse’s Inability to Adjust

Difficulties with thenew environment

Personal or emotionalproblems

Lack of technical competence

April 8, 2023 16

Criteria for Selecting Staff for International Assignments

SELECTION DECISION

Technical Ability

Cross-Cultural Suitability

Family Requirements

Country-CulturalRequirements

Language

Organization-SpecificRequirements

April 8, 2023 17

The Staff Selection Criteria(Technical Ability)

• Technical and managerial competencies of the

person to perform the required tasks

• Research studies indicate that technical ability

are the most important selection criteria for

organizations

• Usually easy to evaluate on the basis of past

performance

April 8, 2023 18

The Staff Selection Criteria(Cross-Cultural Suitability)

• Certain individual traits and characteristics can have an

impact on the success or failure of an international

assignment – cultural empathy, adaptability, diplomacy,

language ability, positive attitude, emotional stability, and

maturity

• Ability to implement technical and managerial skills and

feel reasonably comfortable in a in a foreign environment

• Sometimes difficult to determine

April 8, 2023 19

The Staff Selection Criteria(Family Requirements)

• Spouse may not adjust to a foreign environment

• Adjustment level of spouse depends on several factors,

such as the adjustment of the expatriate and the

spouse’s own opinion of the international assignment

• A higher level of organizational support in the early

stages of expatriation usually correlates with a higher

level of adjustment by the spouse

April 8, 2023 20

The Staff Selection Criteria(Country-Cultural Requirements)

• “Hardship Postings” (Remoteness of job location, social

upheavals, safety risks, very low standard of living and

lack of recreational opportunities etc.)

• Pressure of living in repressive cultures and countries

(e.g. China, Saudi Arabia and other totalitarian Islamic

states in the Middle East)

• Denial of work permits to female expatriates

April 8, 2023 21

The Staff Selection Criteria(Organization-Specific Requirements)

Situational Factors influence staff selection. Examples:

• Organization’s staffing approach may require sending more expatriates to work in certain regions and locations than otherwise

• Partner organizations may be involved in the selection of expatriate staff, for example, on international joint ventures

• Certain specific skills, for example, training, may be used as a selection criteria

April 8, 2023 22

The Staff Selection Criteria(Language)

• Important situational factor. Knowledge of the host

country’s language is considered critical for many senior-

level positions along with the ability to communicate

effectively

• Knowledge of the host country’s language helps

expatriates and their families feel more comfortable in

the new environment

April 8, 2023 23

The Staff Selection Criteria(Other Considerations 1)

Time – Unexpected international vacancies may arise

for which positions have to be quickly filled by

expatriates and which may preclude the use of

screening tests

Family - A potential expatriate may refuse the

international assignment due to family considerations

(children’s welfare and education, parental care, single

parents)

April 8, 2023 24

The Staff Selection Criteria(Other Considerations 2)

Dual-Career Couples – Research studies undertaken reveal that many potential expatriates are reluctant or unwilling to take on international assignments because of the career implications for their spouses, e.g. loss of jobs and career opportunities, difficulty in finding new employment in the expatriate’s host country

Some companies are now offering assistance programmes for the benefit of their expatriates’ spouses (employment hunting, networking, intra-company employment, commuter marriages and on-assignment career support)

April 8, 2023 25

The Staff Selection Criteria(Other Considerations 3)

Female Managers – Studies reveal that female expatriates make up a very small proportion (< 10% percent) of the total expatriate population. Possible reasons are:

Females are less desirous than males of international assignments

Females are less likely to be offered international assignments There are a comparatively smaller number of females with the

requisite skills to be sent on international assignments Many repressive cultures discourage the sending of female

expatriates, and In many repressive cultures males do not like reporting to

females

April 8, 2023 26

Selection Tests

Selection Tests entails the use of certain personal and other related criteria with a view to determining whether a person is suitable or not for an inter-national expatriate assignment

Problems with such tests relate to their:

• Reliability• Culture-boundedness

April 8, 2023 27

Alternative Model of Expatriate Selection

Mendenhall and Oddou propose a four-dimensional approach linking specific behavoioural tendencies to probable inter- national performance:

Self-Orientedness – adaptive concern for self-preservation, self-enjoyment and mental hygiene

Perceptual – expertise in accurately understanding the behavour of host country nationals

Others-Orientedness – Degree of concern about the host country nationals and the expoatriate‘s desire to affiliate with them

Cultural Toughness – Difference between the expatriate‘s country and the host country‘s cultural, social, political, economic etc. environment and ist implication for the expatriate