Expatriate Training Please Transfer This Order to Research Paper

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Expatriate Training

please transfer this order to "heatherk13." THANKS.. It a research paper regard HR DEVELOPMENT. Subject: Expatriate training. -> You mention; -Cultural issues -Social issues -Family issues expatriate training.

Expatriate training

Expatriates face many challenges when they move to a foreign country. They need to be prepared both psychologically and mentally to ensure they will manage to handle the challenges they will encounter on their foreign assignment. Many employers nowadays will provide some form of training to their expatriates to inform and prepare them on what to expect in regards to culture, social, and environment.

Research conducted on expatriates has shown that cultural issues affect expatriates the most. Some cultural issues discussed in the paper include male dominated societies for female expatriates, media restrictions, social life restrictions and language barriers. These issues are dependent on the country an expatriate is posted.

There are also social issues that expatriates are faced with like how employees address each other, colleagues socializing after work (may not be acceptable in other countries), loneliness, and lateness. These social issues may impact the expatriate's ability to perform their assignment. Loneliness comes about because the expatriate will not have any friends and they will start to miss their home country.

Migrating with family members will allow an expatriate to avoid loneliness, but this move might take its toll on the family members. The spouse who will most likely be left at home during the day will get lonely, and they might not adjust to the foreign country.

There are different ways that expatriates are impacted by cultural issues. The paper discusses the cultural differences between German managers and American managers. German managers are not concerned with the financial figures as much as the American managers. A German manager will know all the processes of their production lines and will have a cordial relationship with their production workers. This relationship ensures that the product developed is of high quality.

To overcome these issues the expatriate needs to have training to prepare them for the foreign country's culture. This training provides the expatriate with knowledge regarding the foreign country and how to handle themselves. Training or preparing the expatriate for the foreign assignment gives them an opportunity to adapt and understand the foreign environment. This training should be extended to the expatriate's family in case they will be moving with the expatriate to the foreign country.

Introduction

The world has become increasingly international. It is a reality and no longer a perception that we all live in one global village. Supply chains have extended, there has been growth of corporate networks, and channels for distribution have spread across national borders. To ensure commercial success in today's business world, one needs to understand and possess cross-cultural skills. Global managers working for multinational corporations are interested in intercultural and cross-cultural management.

There is need for an organization to have effective expatriate managers and workers. The success of the organization will be dependent on the competence and cultural adaptability of these managers and workers. There are many benefits a company can gain from having expatriate workers and managers. For example, expatriates who are running foreign companies are more likely to understand and be familiar with the organization's culture, and control systems than the manager from the host country. This results in effective communication and better coordination within the organization. Using expatriates in developing countries where the local talent is limited provides managerial talent within the organization, and the global mind-set of the organization is enhanced. Having short-term international visits may be insufficient for growing the organization in the target country. Using expatriates instead of local managers will be a better option for this scenario. Expatriate workers are always prepared for unknown situations and they easily adjust to these situations. This makes them highly productive and successful. Motivation for expatriate workers comes from learning a new culture, travelling to a new country, and discovering new things while they are working. These factors keep the expatriate motivated and productive.

However, using expatriates has its downside. The rate of failure (this is the rate of expatriates returning from foreign assignments prematurely) for expatriates has been arguably noted to be high. The resulting turnover is noted to be expensive financially. Some of the negative organizational outcomes that come with a failed expatriate effort include poor relations, delayed productivity, ineffective repatriation, negative perceptions of the organization, and there is difficulty for the expatriate successors. These negative outcomes are in addition to the monetary costs the organization has already incurred.

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Important client, local business, and local government relationships are adversely affected by a failed expatriate effort. The major cause for expatriate failure is considered to be the lack of training and cultural preparedness, yet there are few companies with adequate processes for training and selecting their expatriates. Interestingly, research has shown there are companies that believe training cannot resolve the issues associated with expatriate assignments. Failure to provide training to the spouse is also a contributor to failed expatriate efforts. If the spouse does not adapt well to the foreign culture, this will affect the other partner and leads to a premature return.

Lately, majority of the organizations are providing some form of training or workshop to their expatriates. For employees going for expatriate assignments, 70% of organizations have reported they provide training, even though the training might be for one day. This training has had positive effects on the expatriate's performance and it has been widely accepted. Having cross-cultural training, allows the expatriates to become more sensitive to the cultural differences of the foreign country, and how people socialize. This knowledge will ensure the expatriate understands and adapts to the foreign country. The training will tackle any challenges that the expatriate will be faced with in their new assignment.

Cultural issues

Expatriates face various cultural challenges. These challenges are dependent on the country the expatriate is posted, the expatriate's gender and age. In male dominated countries, female expatriates will be faced with cultural differences, especially if they come from a non-male dominated country. This cultural difference will have a negative impact on their performance in international assignments. For the female expatriates to overcome this cultural challenge, they will need to understand the cross-cultural setting difference and apply it in their assignment role as an expatriate. Understanding and applying this difference will assist in better expatriate adjustment and they will gain acceptance from the local employees. According to the study performed by Tung (1998)

on 409 expatriates who were on assignments in 51 countries across the world, it took majority of the expatriates six to twelve months for them to get comfortable living in the foreign setting.

During cross-cultural transitions, the changes expatriates encounter are stressful. Adjustments consume money, time and effort. The expatriates will have to be patient, and interested in making the required adjustments. Some expatriates have been influenced to reconsider their decision leading them to return home sooner than expected because of the challenges they faced. Expatriation literature shows that individuals may not be able to comprehend another individual's culture, especially if the individual comes from a different culture. This might lead to a cultural clash between the individuals. A major challenge for expatriates is workplace cultural clashes. Expatriates to Malaysia commented that some of the common challenges they faced include cleanliness, local media restrictions, issues with local public services, and environmental awareness.

To ensure that the expatriate is not shocked when they get to the foreign country, they need to conduct some research regarding the country. This research will provide them with knowledge of how the country is governed, its laws, its mode of dressing for the different genders, and any other information the expatriate might deem necessary.

Adjusting to the foreign country's culture will be difficult for the expatriate. This is because they have been used to their culture and making adjustments night not come naturally or as fast. The expatriate will need to be patient and learn from his/her own mistakes. This will be the only way to adapt and make the necessary adjustments.

Social issues

Every culture has its own social principles. Expatriates going for foreign assignments need to learn the social principles of the foreign country and apply them. The social issue that expatriates face includes how colleagues address each other in the workplace, the differentiation between work life and social life, and proper office etiquette. There are countries like Germany where colleagues do not use first names when addressing an individual and they believe that the workplace is for working and a person's private life is not for colleagues but for friends Rabotin, 2011()

If the expatriate is coming from America, this will be a huge culture shock, considering that employees can hang out with each other after work or even over the weekends, and they can address each other using the first names. An expatriate will need to understand and apply the social principles of the foreign country to avoid looking arrogant.

Language though has not been….....

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