International HR Management: Staffing, Compensation, and Teams
International Staffing Orientations
There are four international staffing orientations:
- Ethnocentric: Complex at headquarters (HQ), simple in subsidiaries; high at HQ; home standards applied; rules and information from HQ; expatriates used for key positions worldwide; high at home, low in subsidiaries.
- Polycentric: Subsidiary independent; low in HQ; determined locally; little communication between HQ and subsidiaries; locals used for key positions locally; wide variation.
- Regiocentric: Regional subsidiaries depend on each other; close regional collaboration; determined regionally; communication between subsidiaries on a regional level; regional people used regionally; based on contribution to regional objectives.
- Geocentric: Complex, HQ and subsidiaries globally depend on each other; global collaboration; globally integrated; mutual, global communication; best people used anywhere; based on contribution to local and global goals.
GLOBE Study
GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) was initiated by Robert J. House. It is a multi-phase project in which investigators worldwide are examining the interrelationships between societal culture, organizational culture, and organizational leadership (1992-1997). GLOBE studies these:
- Power distance
- Uncertainty avoidance
- Human orientation
- Assertiveness
- Collectivism I
- Collectivism II
- Gender egalitarianism
- Future orientation
- Performance orientation
Leadership Dimensions
- Charismatic Leadership
- Team-oriented Leadership
- Participative Leadership
- Human-Oriented Leadership
- Autonomous Leadership
- Self-Protective Leadership
Implementing Successful CSR Programs
What recommendations would you give IHR managers for implementing successful CSR programs?
- Develop a global CSR policy
- Obtain a high level of support
- Install reporting and advice mechanisms
- Communicate
- Provide training
- Create a CSR culture
- Lead by example
- Include CSR in management’s performance
Challenges of Expatriate’s Return
What is challenging about an expatriate’s return?
The return is more difficult than many people think. People leave the issue forward and do not see it as a priority, but you should start planning ahead. Resigning is one of the keys: resigning the company level, status, money. In addition, one of the risks that employees run with expatriation is leaving the center of the scene, so it is recommended to maintain good communication with the bosses and the HR sector.
Expatriate Failure
When do companies speak of expatriate failure?
- Poor quality of performance in foreign assignment
- Employee not fully utilized during assignment
- Personal dissatisfaction with experience (by expatriate or family)
- Lack of adjustment to local conditions
- No acceptance by local nationals
International Assignment Compensation Policy
What are the objectives of an international assignment compensation policy, and how can these objectives be reached?
- Provide an incentive to leave home: comparable net income & inducement/hardship premium
- Maintain a given standard of living: comparable net income & COLA (cost of living adjustment)
- Take into account career and family needs: education, home leave, and similar allowance
- Facilitate re-entry into the home country at the end of the foreign assignment: relocation allowance
Challenges of Global Remuneration
What are the challenges of global remuneration?
The firm’s compensation approach can be to lead, lag, or be at market equivalency compared with the competition in the industry and/or geographic location. This decision will mainly depend on its corporate culture and values regarding employee rewards. The specific national context in which the employee works will determine a number of compensation issues such as: comparability, perception of the value of various rewards, salary-benefit ratio, tax laws, sunshine rules, and how to express salaries.
Expatriate Success
How is expatriate success defined, and how can companies support it?
1) Typically, expatriate success is defined as:
- Completion of foreign assignment (achieving the original goals and objectives)
- Cross-cultural adjustment
- Good performance on assignment
2) Best practices to support expatriate success:
- Be honest about the job and location when recruiting candidates for foreign assignments
- Involve spouse/partner/family at the outset of the expatriation process
- Provide pre-assignment site visit for the whole family
- Provide language and cultural training for IA and family
- Provide adequate lead time for repatriation
- Don’t neglect repatriation issues
Challenges of Virtual and Global Teams
Describe the challenges of virtual and global teams and how they can be overcome.
To build collaboration among diverse and virtual teams, best practices include (challenges):
- Invest in “signature relationships”
- Have executives model collaboration among themselves
- Establish a “gift culture” in which managers support employees through daily mentoring
- Ensure that the needed relationship skills are fostered through training
- Support a strong sense of community through HR-sponsored activities
- Assign ambidextrous leaders to teams
- Build on heritage relationships by assigning some people who know each other on teams
- Understand role clarity while allowing for task ambiguity
Training and Preparation for Expatriates
What topics should training and preparation programs for expatriates at least cover?
At a minimum, training and preparing international assignees should cover the following topics:
- Culture shock management (what to expect and how to deal with the stress)
- Repatriation planning (how to stay in touch with the home office)
- Language learning strategies (before leaving for the new assignment as well as after arrival)
- Host-country daily living issues (any unfamiliar problems with water or electricity)
- Lifestyle adjustment (how to deal with different shopping and transport systems)
- Local customs and etiquette (what to wear)
- Intercultural business skills (negotiation styles)
High- and Low-Context Cultures
What is the difference between high- and low-context cultures?
High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other. Low context refers to societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behavior and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural environment know how to behave.
Assessment Center Exercises
What are typical exercises of an assessment center?
Typical exercises include interviews, written reports, presentations, role-plays, group exercises, structured discussions, in-tray exercises, and psychological tests.
Designing a Worldwide Compensation System
What are the alternatives for designing a worldwide compensation system?
- Use of the headquarters scale: worldwide salary levels are established at headquarters with differentials for each affiliate subsidiary according to their differing cost of living
- Base the salary scale on local geography
- Determine a global base per position, possibly with affiliate differentials