International Career Management Case: Catskill Roads

Prof. Ruth V. Aguilera

College of Business & ILIR University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana November 1st, 2006

Definitions of International Assignments

Expatriates - Managers from headquarters sent abroad Inpatriates - Host country managers sent to headquarters Transpatriates - Managers from different countries
sent to any other country
International assignments do not come cheap: on average, expatriates cost a company two or three times what they would cost in equivalent positions back home.

Business Strategy & Nature of Global Assignments

Domestic Global Assignment Who sent None No One Multidomestic Expatriates Average performers Multinational Expatriates & Inpatriates Good performers Global E, I, & T High potential managers & top executives Project, career, organizational development Essential for executive suite Easy Extensive

Purpose

---

To get a job done Project & abroad career dvt Negative for domestic career Extremely difficult None Good for global career Somewhat difficult Limited

Career Impact Professional Reentry Global Organizational Learning

Adler (2002), p. 260

----None

Cross-Cultural Entry
Culture Shock - the frustration and confusion that
results from being bombarded by too many new and uninterpretable cues, p. 263.

Mood

Time in new culture

Cross-Cultural Entry (cont.)

Stress - caused by change and manifested by
psychological responses such as anxiety and impatience physiological responses such as headaches

Managing stress through

stability zones stress management mechanisms

Cross-Cultural Entry (cont.)

Adjustment - after 3 to 6 months in new culture
problem solving decisions made under uncertainty tendency to blame others finding reliable information role of the spouse SEE VIDEO!

Patience and creativity remain essential. Effective global managers know that they dont know.

Home Country Reentry and Professional Reentry

Many firms often underestimate this stage and do not have explicit repatriation mechanisms. Returnees come back neither to the world they left nor to the world they are anticipating (p. 272).

Problems:
organizational cultural shock effectiveness xenophobic response use of learned skills

Reentry Transition Strategies

Oriented toward home country

Re-socialized Returnees

Proactive Returnees

Alienated Returnees
Oriented toward foreign country
Adler (2002), p. 280

Transition Strategies
Managing reentry through:
Communication: keep in touch with home office. Extent of validation: recognizing and valuing global experiences.

Underutilized Global Managers

Anemic returns on their expat investments.

Coaching Women for Global Managerial Success

In 2000, 13% of expats are women (10% married). In 2005, 21 % women expats. (WSJ 2001). Myths: 1. Global experience is not that important. 2. Given my family commitments, I cannot take a global assignment. 3. For global managers, being a woman is a disadvantage. 4. Certain cultures make it impossible for woman executives to succeed. 5. Public is public, and private is private: To be taken seriously, a woman executive must hide her role as a wife and mother/grandmother

How to measure expat failure?

Return home early Finish assignment but dont perform as well as expected (many) leave their companies within a year of repatriation

Most common reason for failure:

Partner dissatisfaction

Reasons for Expatriate Failure

by Tung, California Management Review
US Multinationals
1. 2. 3. 4.
5.

Japanese Firms
1. Inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities 2. Difficulties with the new environment 3. Personal or emotional problems 4. Lack of technical competence 5. Inability of spouse to adjust

Inability of spouse to adjust Managers inability to adjust Other family problems Managers personal or emotional maturity Inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities

European Firms Only one consistent reason: Inability of managers

spouse to adapt to new environment

Reasons Young Managers Would Accept International Assignments

Percent of MBAs citing reason (N 1129): 52 Cross-cultural experience and personal growth 40 Job 28 Money 21 Career Advancement 16 Good Location 11 Satisfying Life 4 Spouse and Family 3 Short Term; Other

Reasons Young Managers Would Reject International Assignments

Percent of MBAs citing reason (N 1129): 59 Location 35 Job and Career 33 Spouse and Family 23 Money 19 Unpleasant Life Abroad 14 Disruption of Home Country Life 6 Contract Too Long; Other

The Right Way to Manage Expats

Black & Gregersen (1999) Harvard Business Review

Three General Practices from successful companies: 1. When they send people abroad, the goal is not just to put out fires. Once expats have doused the flames, they are expected to generate new knowledge for the organization or to acquire skills that will help them become leaders.

The Right Way to Manage Expats

2. They assign overseas posts to people whose technical skills are matched or exceeded by their cross-cultural skills.
3. They recognize that repatriation is a time of upheaval for most expats, and they use a variety of programs to help their people readjust.

Hofstedes Model
Differences across countries in work-related values. Sampled over 100,000 IBM employees across 40 countries. Four dimensions:
POWER DISTANCE INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS COLLECTIVISM UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE MASCULINITY VERSUS FEMININITY

Power distance:
Focuses on how a society deals with the fact that people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities. High power distance cultures are countries that let inequalities grow over time into inequalities of power and wealth (e.g. China). Low power distance cultures are societies that tried to play down such inequalities as much as possible (e.g. Denmark).

Individualism vs. Collectivism:

Focuses on the relationship btw the individual and his or her fellows. In individualistic societies, the ties btw individuals were loose and individual achievement and freedom were highly valued (e.g. U.S. & Australia). In collectivist societies, the ties btw individuals were tight and the collective interests is above the individual interest (e.g. China, Japan, Turkey, Indonesia)

Uncertainty Avoidance:
Measures the extent to which different cultures accept ambiguous situations and tolerate uncertainty. High uncertainty avoidance cultures place a premium on job security, internal career patterns, retirement benefits, and so on. They also have a strong need for rules and regulations; managers are expected to issue clear instructions, and subordinate initiatives are tightly controlled (e.g. Japan, France, Spain). Lower uncertainty avoidance cultures are characterized by greater readiness to take risks and less emotional resistance to change (Sweden).

Masculinity vs. Femininity:

Looked at the relationship between gender and work roles. In masculine cultures, sex roles are sharply differentiated and traditional masculine values, such as achievement and the effective exercise of power (e.g. Hungary, Iraq, Venezuela). In feminine cultures, sex roles are less sharply distinguished, and little differentiation is made btw men and women in the same job (e.g. Finland, Netherlands).

Country Hofstede Code Power Arab_World (ARA) Argentina (ARG) Australia (AUL) Austria (AUT) Belgium (BEL) Brazil (BRA) Canada (CAN) Chile (CHL) Colombia (COL) Costa_Rica (COS) Denmark (DEN) East_Africa (EAF) Ecuador (ECA) El_SalvadorSAL) ( Finland (FIN) France (FRA) Germany (GER) Great_Britain (GBR) Greece (GRE)

Distance Individualism Masculinity Uncertainty Avoidance 80 38 52 68 49 46 56 86 36 90 61 51 11 55 79 70 65 75 54 94 69 38 49 76 39 80 52 48 63 23 28 86 67 13 64 80 35 15 21 86 18 74 16 23 64 27 41 52 78 8 63 67 66 19 40 94 33 63 26 59 68 71 43 86 35 97 66 65 35 89 66 35 60 35 57 112

Hofstede, Cultures Consequences

Country Power Distance Indiv idualism Guatemala 95 6 Hong_Kong 68 25 India 77 48 Indonesia 78 14 Iran 58 41 Ireland 28 70 Japan 54 46 South_Korea 60 18 Malaysia 104 26 Mexico 81 30 Netherlands 38 80 New_Zealand 22 79 Norway 31 69 Pakistan 55 14 Panama 95 11 Peru 64 16 Philippines 94 32 Portugal 63 27 Singapore 74 20 South_Africa 49 65 Spain 57 51 Sweden 31 71 Switzerland 34 68 Taiwan 58 17 Thailand 64 20 Turkey 66 37 United_States 40 91 Uruguay 61 36

Masculinity 37 57 56 46 43 68 95 39 50 69 14 58 8 50 44 42 64 31 48 63 42 5 70 45 34 45 62 38

Uncertainty Av oidance 101 29 40 48 59 35 92 85 36 82 53 49 50 70 86 87 44 104 8 49 86 29 58 69 64 85 46 100

Hofstede, Cultures Consequences

Country Power Distance Individualism Uncertainty Masculinity Uruguay 61 36 38 100 Venezuela 81 12 73 76 West_Africa 77 20 46 54 Albania 90 20 80 70 Baltic_Republics 40 60 30 50 Bulgaria 70 50 50 80 Bhutan 94 52 32 28 Burkina_Faso 70 15 50 55 Caucasus 70 20 50 60 China 80 15 55 40 Croatia 72 33 40 80 Czech_Republic 35 60 45 60 Dominican_Rep 65 30 65 45 Egypt 70 25 45 80 Ethiopia 70 20 65 55
Hofstede, Cultures Consequences

Country Power Distance Individualism Masculinity Uncertainty A Fiji 78 14 46 48 Ghana 80 15 40 65 Hungary 19 55 79 83 Iraq 95 30 70 85 Jordan 70 30 45 65 Kenya 70 25 60 50 Lebanon 75 40 65 55 Luxemburg 55 70 60 70 Malawi 70 30 40 50 Namibia 65 30 40 45 Nepal 65 30 40 40 Nigeria 80 30 60 55 Poland 50 60 70 55 Romania 90 20 40 95 Russia 95 47 40 75 Saudi_Arabia 95 25 60 80 Serbia 86 25 43 92 Sierra_Leone 70 20 40 50 Slovenia 71 27 19 88 Sri_Lanka 80 35 10 45 Surinam 80 48 35 80 Syria 80 35 52 60 Tanzania 70 25 40 50 Zambia 60 35 40 50 Isreal 13 54 47 81 Italy 50 76 70 75 Jamaica 45 39 68 13

Hofstede, Cultures Consequences

Individualism/Collectivism Collective
PAK TAI CHI

TUR BRA ARG JAP SPA IND

ISR

FIN

DEN

NZL GBR AUL

FRA CAN ITA BEL

USA

Individual Small Power Distance Large

Catskills Roads
Issues: - Argentina, - Mexico, - New Jersey - Job changes