Training and Preparing Expatriates
MGT 555
Melvinne Kitillya

Executive Summary Globalization has created opportunities for employers to find the skilled professionals they desire, whether they are in their own national market or elsewhere. These professionals that are being recruited from other nations are called expatriates, and they are chosen to live in another country either temporarily or permanently. There has been an increase of expatriates starting at the end of the 20th century due to the variety employers are now capable of finding. In fact, globalization has actually doubled the number of expatriates within only a matter of a few years (worldatwork.org). Now, expatriates are recruited based on desired skill and income level. Companies tend to require training for this role in order to ease the transition of both the employee and the family members involved. This training tends to be quite extensive as this is a great undertaking for everyone involved in the move. Though some employees are chosen directly by management to go and others simply volunteer, much is at stake emotionally and mentally. I will discuss the various problems that are encountered by uprooting the lives of the employees and moving to another country, and more importantly another culture. The largest transitional issue encountered is culture shock. Other concerns include missing family and friends back home, losing out on other employment opportunities, not completing projects due to distractions, and some employees even have to leave their immediate family home, further creating lack of focus. There is an assortment of solutions to these dilemmas, which is why the training programs are so extensive. Training topics include family adjustment, cultural/language, daily life, city specifics, and business life. The training programs will be customized accordingly for the family members that will be joining the expatriate, if that is an option. Bringing family along will also provide another solution to help keep the expatriate focused on the task at hand. Other solutions include monetary bonuses; accommodations, both with housing and with communication to family and friends back home; acclamation period, in which expatriates arrive one week before starting to become adjusted to daily life; and bonding with other expatriates in your company. The amount of solutions to the main concerns revolving around expatriate training is vast and will always cater to the professionals that seek this opportunity.

Statement of the Problem A clear understanding about the issues surrounding expatriates and the importance of solving these issues is a topic that needs attention. As previously stated, some of the issues surrounding expatriates include: culture shock, family issues, loss of employment opportunities, and stress. In this section a more in-depth look at the issues that expatriates face and the benefits to solving these problems will be addressed. Culture shock is inevitable when moving to a new country. “Expatriates can lead a high-pressure lifestyle. Stress, a poor work-life-balance and being away from their home comforts can cause all manner of health problems.” (Barrett, 2009) The effects of culture shock may range from mild uneasiness or temporary homesickness, unhappiness or even, in extreme case; panic, irritability, hypersensitivity and loss of perspective are common symptoms. When one feels the effects of culture shock it is bound to be apparent in the way they perform at their job. This issue needs to be addressed so that companies can take preventative measures to help their employees adapt to the new country they are living in. Companies need to realize that there is a need for culture training and ways to acclimate to their new surroundings before they leave. The way one’s family copes with either the new country they are living in, or with the long distance relationship they are now getting used to, is also a problem that expatriates face on a daily basis. “Multinational corporations (MNCs) are having difficulty retaining expatriates for their global operations. It is estimated that 10-80% of expatriates sent on foreign assignments return home prematurely. One of the reasons for expatriates' failure has been cited as the inability of these managers and/or their spouses to adapt to the host-country's culture.” (Okpara, 2011) This is a major change on more than just the employees. Finding a balance that works for everyone involved is an issue that is going to take both trial and error as well as counseling before one leaves. Solving this issue would be beneficial to not only the employee and their families, but also to the company. If employees have the security of knowing that their families stand behind them and support their decision to relocate to a different country, they are more likely to be focused at work, turn out performances and finish projects on time. “Stress is a central element of international relocation. Stress is defined as a psychological state that develops when an individual faces a situation that taxes or exceeds internal or external resources available to deal with that situation. There are three major components of stress: uncertainty concerning outcomes; lack of control over situations; and ambiguity concerning expectations. By their very nature, overseas assignments are characterized by uncertainty, lack of control, and ambiguity.” (Wilkinson, 2010) Stress can manifest itself in a number of ways, whether it is physically, emotionally, or behaviorally. This can cause both positive and negative reactions. The two problems stated above (culture shock and family issues) are also factors that are centralized around stress. The way that each person deals with stress is different, though there are preventative measures that companies can take in hopes to reduce the amount of negative stress their employees feel before and during their relocation. A few of the benefits of dealing with this major issue would include increased sense of happiness, ease of relocation, and a more open to the new experience they are encountering. After understanding the issues that expatriates face when they move overseas and the possible benefits for the individual to solve these issues, one must think of the organizational benefits this would have. By being able to properly predict some problems that their employees are going to face, companies can allow for the acclimation period of their expatriates in both their attitudes and work they produce. Companies will be able to set up the proper training programs needed and know when to implement them in order to get the best results.

Potential (or Actual) Causes of the Problem There are many potential and actual causes of expatriate problems. They include lack of financial stability, lack of family/marriage strength, lack of planning, greed, inability to reincorporate oneself back into the company when moving back, lack of foreign language skills, clashes with the new workforce due to different cultural values, and sometimes a lack of respect for women. One possible large cause of problems expatriates face is having lack of financial stability. This is not usually the case if an employee has already secured a stable job with a company and they are offered the option to move overseas. (Hemmasi, 2010) Oftentimes those employees are offered a handsome wage at their new job overseas and the company will cover moving costs, living, and travel expenses. This is usually one thing that makes being an expatriate an attractive option to begin with. But a person, who of their own free will decides to move abroad, with no job already secured, will face many budgetary changes. These people will have to deal with moving costs, new living costs, making adjustments to wages in the area—cheaper living also means smaller wages—losses on selling and repurchasing cars, housing, etc., rent deposits, monthly bills, new local taxes, travelling back home for visits or emergencies, expatriate health insurance costs, education fees, and other unexpected expenses. Planning for all of these expenses can be difficult if you do not have a job in place. This also causes much stress on a person as their basic needs are at stake. Another cause of expatriate problems is an unsteady marriage. According to Ali, A., Van der Zee, K., & Sanders, G. (2003), the ability for the expatriate’s host family to adapt to the host country seems crucial to the successful fulfillment of an assignment. Married couples need to be on the same page about big decisions in their lives or they will likely face huge amounts of stress and anxiety. Moving to a foreign country is a major life decision because you are leaving the country you were living in and leaving friends and family behind for certain periods of time. Relocating these life relationships can be scary and distasteful. If the spouse of the expatriate does not agree with the move, failure rates soar through the roof. Unplanned occurrences are another reason for failures of expatriates. It can be quite difficult to know exactly how you and your family will respond to a change like moving to another country if you have never done anything like that before. People may respond emotionally in ways they had not expected. It may be more difficult to make friends in the new area than you expected. Losing someone’s social network can cause unhappiness and stress. They also may contract a disease or illness from the new country and unexpectedly not be able to work right away which would cause stress and financial strain. As mentioned early, many expatriates are offered large sums of money in exchange for all the sacrifices they make. Greed can cause a person to accept this job offer even if it may not be a good fit for them. Many people are money-motivated and will do anything to get it. But if they go into the situation that they are not suited for just to get the money, they are more likely to fail because even though they are motivated, they are still lacking the appropriate skills. Many expatriates face difficulty when it comes time to move back to their home country. This is caused because the company goes on about its business and in a sense, replaces the position that is left empty when the expat leaves. The longer the expatriate is gone, the more it is like starting over in a new company for them when they come back. They then have to face the challenges of being a new employee, and possibly ill feelings about their position being changed or replaced. (Aida Hafitah Mohd Tahir and Maimunah Ismail, 2007) Incorporating oneself with the new culture is challenge that expatriates face. According to Froese, 2011, expatriates show lower job satisfaction under their host-country’s supervision than in their home country. This problem is caused by many reasons. If the expatriate is in a country where they do not speak the native language, this creates an obvious problem. People currently at the company there may have a lack of respect for you because you do not communicate in their language. It’s also more difficult when carrying out everyday activities because communication is difficult. They also may clash with the new workforce due to differing culture and values. Geert Hofstede (Hofstede, 2012) did intensive research on the differing cultural dimensions of different countries. These cultural dimensions are power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence versus restraint. Power distance is the degree to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. Individualism versus collectivism is a determination of how loosely knit or tightly bound a social framework the individuals of the society are. Masculinity versus femininity represents a preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material reward for success. Uncertainty avoidance is how likely they are to take on uncertainty and ambiguity. Long term versus short term orientation deals with the search for virtue. Short term countries focus on traditions and immediate gratification. Long term believe that the truth depends on the situation and adapt and change their traditions. Indulgence versus restraint has to do with how acceptable it is to gratify a humans basic and natural drives to enjoy life and have fun. All of these cultural dimensions can hugely affect how a business is run. Managers from the new country may have very different views than the expatriate and therefore make different judgment calls and decisions. This can lead to a butting of heads. Also if the country has a culture of not respecting women in high positions in the workplace, females may have trouble being expatriates in this situation. It may cause the woman to quickly move back home where she is respected and listened to in her position.
Solution Implementation Although there are many problems and causes to these problems, there are also many ways that can help avoid these issues. These solutions will be able to help the expatriates the most are cross-cultural training, higher requirements on the expatriate selection and evaluation process, having an employee assistance program, and repatriation training and debriefing program. “Research has shown that the inability to adapt to the host culture is amongst the most cited reasons for relocation failure.”(Kwintessential) Cross cultural training is one way to help prevent culture shock and help make the process of transitioning from one region to another smooth. In cross cultural training, participants are taught the important skills necessary to succeed in the global marketplace. They teach you the cultures norms and taboos. Many times expatriates will be misleading by the American lifestyle; they forget that some of our hand gestures here although friendly, might mean something different in a new region. They will also learn how to bring up issues and make a change. In different cultures there are different ways up approaching people to get the most effective response back, with this knowledge they gain from this program, they will have most chances of receiving positive feedback. Learn how to communicate effectively with your group and their culture. Here in the United States we dwell on individualism and strive for our own personal benefits, in many other areas of the globe, countries value collectivism and holds groups as primary over individuals. Thus, they will expect everyone to help one another out instead of splitting roles or jobs. Also learn how to leverage cultural intelligence to your advantage. In every culture, there is information that everyone knows and will need to know. If you go to a region and you know nothing about their culture, you might put yourself out as the black sheep and lose the respect from others due to you knowing nothing about the people and region you are working with. Lastly, this program will show you the differences in communication styles. Like trust, agreements, negotiations, conflict management and mutual understanding. Every culture has their own way to gain trust, some easier than others. This will help you get a decent idea of what you must do in order to get the trust of your group and people making you more credible of a person and more respectable. Learning about how to negotiate what the strengths and weaknesses are of this culture, and knowing there are always words and actions you can do to help make people in your favor will come in handy when trying to prove a point. Conflict management and mutual understanding is also necessary. There is bound to be conflict when working amongst people, whether big or small. This will enable you to make the best of every situation and how to resolve issues in the most orderly manner. Using mutual understanding, you can get both sides to understand your part and what is best for the company. “The Cross-Cultural Training program is highly interactive. Simulation, case studies, self-assessments, and small group activities engage the participants in an accelerated learning experience.”(Global Dynamics Inc.) With the cross cultural training, there will be an online site that’s sole purpose is to provide 24 hour access to cultural education. This will include cultural terms, concepts, and cultural competencies. This website will be available to the expatriates when nobody else is available, it will be able to answer most questions that any face to face meeting could resolve. Another way to help avoid having problems as an expatriate is to be cautious on the selection and evaluation process. Before choosing who to become an expatriate, you must evaluate them with tests that test their skills, and physical and mental strength. Choosing someone with a good background and good resume is not enough, although they are skillfully qualified, they might lack the mental stability that is required to go to a different region. Surveys and doing real life situation tests can help provide a better idea of how this person would react to a whole new environment. Another thing necessary is family history and background, if someone is a newlywed or married, this will require them to be a bit harder to work with due to family issues that will come with this duty. “If a marriage is shaky before a move, it is even less likely to survive on assignment.”(Parfitt, 2003)With this strict new evaluation process, it will help improve the chances of finding an ideal person for the job who won’t bail out after a few weeks on the job. An employee assistance program should also be available to help the expatriates during their job. Most of the time, expatriates try to avoid meeting new people and taking on the challenge by surrounding themselves with other expatriates. “Expatriates who all band together in a tight circle abroad will find that they can develop a very insular and distorted view of the new country that they live in.”(Spyrou, 2008) This will be a program that helps support international assignees and their families with confidential support. Licensed therapists and counselors, with experience in international relocation and culture shock issues will be available to help consult with the new expatriates. With these counselors, the expatriates and their families will always have someone to talk to that will be able to understand them and cope with their stress and problems. Marriage issues and family issues will always come up and with these highly trained professionals, they can help tone down the stress and tension between couples and families. These highly trained counselors will be able to give the knowledge and guide the expatriates in the right direction for the better of them. Repatriation training and debriefing program is required in order for these expatriates to return home to a steady and livable surrounding. “Statistics indicate that more than 40 percent of international assignees who do not go through a formal repatriation program leave the company within 2 years after returning.”(Global Dynamics Inc.) The purpose of this program will be to debrief the expatriate experience and examine the reentry back to their location. This program will help let the expatriated know the skills and knowledge that they have learned and how to use it for the better in their professional and personal lives. This will be highly interactive with simulations, case studies, self-assessments, and group activities to help accelerate the learning experience. Although all these solutions have proven to be very effective, they are also very costly. Many workers and employees will be needed to help run these programs effectively along with professionals that can lead the way. Being able to get licensed and the skill and knowledge to perform these tasks will take time and money, the company has to be willing to take these risks for the better of the expatriates.
Conclusion
Expatriates are professionals that will start being increasingly more visible in the near future. Society as a whole needs to recognize this as it will be more widespread. They also need to understand the chances that they or another family member may be involved in this process, and it is not necessarily an easy process to undertake. Thus training is considered to be definitely vital before even considering uprooting an employee and sending them to a foreign country to reside for an unknown time frame. Whether that employee is traveling alone or with family members, this entire process definitely requires determination, devotion and flexibility from an employee in order to succeed both personally and professionally, all of which are heightened through vigorous selection and training programs. International relocation not only causes culture shock, but also can effect various other aspects of an expatriate’s life; physically, emotionally, and behaviorally. Family issues resulting from time away from the family or lack of communication due to the new high-pressure lifestyle being experienced can cause problems for the employee and be an ultimate distraction that can make or break a project. Time away from the headquartered location can also lead to lost employment opportunities. All of these examples lead to the eventual problem with expatriates, which is stress. This new lifestyle is definitely difficult, but if done correctly, can skyrocket the employee and the company’s growth opportunities. In order to overcome the above state issues, there is quite a bit of training necessary. First off, in order to overcome the initial culture shock, which is inevitable in an international relocation situation, there needs to be cross-cultural training. This will allow the employee to know the relevant information regarding gestures, phrases, and other essential information that differs from their home country. The most common way to offend someone in another country is through mistaken nonverbal cues.. Also, to further ensure success both on the part of the employee and the organization, the requirements on the expatriate selection and evaluation process need to be very high. There also must be an employee assistance program available at all times regardless of the concern of the moment. Lastly, a repatriation training and debriefing program needs to happen in order to identify “levels of global competencies, … how these competencies have been utilized within the organization following repatriation [, and] … helps repatriates to maintain their global competency levels and to create an appropriate fit between their competency levels and the organization`s strategic goal” (www.igbnetwork.com). The expatriate program can be a risky undertaking for a company, but as long as it is done carefully with appropriate training and much regard for the employee and the foreign country, it can be extremely successful.

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