International HR Strategies for Global Talent Mobility

Three Perspectives of SHRM

• Universalistic: The "best practices" approach
• Contingency: Consistency with other aspects
• Configurational: Ideal types and patterns of HRM

The resourcing of international assignees is more complex than resourcing in a domestic context due to a number of factors:

• Cost and performance of an expatriate
• Difficulty in characterizing an international manager
• Resourcing international assignments tends to be overly focused on technical competence
• Alternative forms of international working

Complexity in Resourcing International Assignees

• Rapid growth of emerging markets:
  • Growing demand for expatriate employees with the specific competencies needed to manage in these markets.
• Increasing demand for expatriate employees in a far wider range of organizations than traditional large MNCs:
  • Rapid growth of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization and international joint ventures (IJVs).

Cost and Performance of Expatriates

• Direct Costs:
  • Family relocation expenses, accommodation, healthcare, educational and social benefits, administration costs, expatriation failures, and repatriation costs.
• Indirect Costs:
  • Poor performance or mistakes due to ignorance of local business practices.
  • Frustration felt by local managers and increased turnover.
  • Cross-cultural tensions.
• Host Country Nationals Costs:
  • Recruitment and training costs.

The Practice of International Selection

• In practice, selection heavily relies on technical skills and past performance:
  • The majority of international assignments are concerned with filling a specific position.
  • It is easy to quantify the past performance of those employed in the organization.
  • Difficulty in identifying and measuring relevant interpersonal and cross-cultural skills.
  • A desire to minimize the risk involved by selecting a candidate who is unlikely to fail for technical reasons.

Soft Skills Are Critical for International Success

• The emphasis in international recruitment should be on softer skills, such as:
  • Personality characteristics.
  • Cross-cultural and language competencies.
  • Family situation.
• Family issues are identified as a key factor in explaining expatriate success in global assignments.

Alternative Forms of International Working

• International commuters and employees utilized on extended business trips.
• Self-initiated movers who live abroad but are willing to work for a Multinational Organization (MNO).
• Immigrants actively or passively attracted.
• International employees active in virtual, cross-border teams.
• Skilled individuals working in remote centers.
• Teleconferencing.

International Approaches to Career Management

• Purposes of expatriation:
  1. Inability to fill a position using local skills.
  2. Control and coordination of foreign subsidiaries.
  3. Expatriate learning.
• Only purposes 2 and 3 are considered strategic:
  • Expatriation is a part of the organization's career management strategy.
• A key concern is the management of individuals' careers:
  • Organizations may include expatriation in their career planning.
  • Individuals may need to complete at least one expatriation in order to advance.
• However, not all organizations integrate expatriation to the same extent.

Four Classic International HR Approaches

• Ethnocentric Approaches:
  • Recruit employees from the parent country for international positions.
• Polycentric Approaches:
  • Focus on developing the competencies of local employees.
  • Expatriation is not central to career planning.
• Geocentric Approaches:
  • Skills take precedence over nationality.
  • Employs a transnational approach for global leaders and regional approaches for lower-ranking leaders.
• Regiocentric Approaches