From ancient times through the colonial era, expatriation was a means of enhancing political and economic influence to dominate new frontiers. Today, business expatriates are performing similar functions. A business expatriate is a citizen of the country in which the parent corporation is located but works in a foreign country at a subsidiary or branch office of the parent company. Expatriating parent country nationals has become a significant means for the transfer of the philosophy and strategy of an organization’s headquarters from the parent to the foreign operations. By linking the use of expatriates to a corporate strategy of globalization, expatriation could be seen as a way to establish control and coordination, at the same time creating international informal personal networks between managers in the corporate organizational structure. By assigning trusted managers from the parent organization to the foreign operations, greater control is made possible. Through a process of organizational acculturation, the expatriate, who identifies with the policies of the headquarters, transfers the culture of the parent organization to the foreign subsidiary. The parent company greatly benefits from such internationally mobile managers, who have proven themselves successful in handling relationships with the head office, host country relations, and the management of foreign operations.
The development of the careers of expatriate managers is crucial for many organizations. Without world-class managers in the global marketplace, many international firms would not be able to effectively compete against major global competitors. Expatriation leads to a competitive advantage in creating a pool of cosmopolitan executives sensitive to international opportunities and threats, representing an international education that cannot be replicated in any classroom.
Five broad categories of attributes of expatriate success have been identified: job factors, relational dimensions, motivational state, family situation, and language skills. These attributes can be potentially enhanced by career development activities available to international corporations for assisting expatriate careers.
Job factors have traditionally been considered as important components for expatriate success, and an overwhelming majority of firms use technical expertise as their main criterion in selecting expatriates. Although functional competency is a relevant initial requirement, other job factors such as managerial skills and administrative competence are also important considerations in selection. Relational dimensions include a number of factors associated with individual characteristics, such as personality, more-transient socialized value systems, and more-incidental traits and behaviors that might result from an individual’s interaction with immediate environmental conditions. This category most often accounts for the expatriate’s success or failure. Relational attributes are especially important for expatriates, such as top management and sales executives, who have many contacts with host country nationals. Motivational states encompass a number of factors that may operate as expatriation incentives. Family situations involve critical characteristics of the expatriate’s spouse and children and the nature of the family relationship. A mutually supportive family is necessary for living overseas, and it provides the resilience that the expatriate needs during a time of stress and daily life challenges. Finally, language skills include factors essential for effective communication by the expatriate in the host country.
Among the career development activities for expatriates, job postings allow expatriates to remain aware of internal job vacancies elsewhere within the parent company’s operations. Corporate online job-posting systems can often be accessed through intranet sites. Career path information provided by the organization offers expatriates the opportunity to assess their own plans against those reflected in the corporate career paths. Annual performance reviews can serve developmental, evaluative, and administrative purposes for the expatriate. It is evident that domestic performance appraisal systems must be customized to become effective for expatriate situations. Fast-track programs make expatriates aware of proposed organizational plans for them, often involving rotation through different divisions or areas of the corporation. Information on career planning provided by the organization simply means the organization reveals its specific plans to the expatriate, which is the general case for fast-trackers. Professional career specialists can help expatriates manage their own careers and also provide individual career counseling. Such services can be offered face-to-face, over the telephone, or online. Career testing might include the use of interest inventories, personality profiles, and aptitude tests. The results of such tests are assumed to help the expatriate understand and articulate important personal determinants of career direction and satisfaction.
Expatriates can often benefit from coaching and/or mentoring. Mentoring can be undertaken by senior peers or superiors or simply a person the expatriate trusts. A good mentor is not there to provide the answers but to assist an individual in developing his or her skills in resolving career-related complications. Assessment centers include multiple independent evaluations, often providing a conclusive indicator of a participant’s potential for success in a range of alternative careers and leaving little doubt for the individual as to what future options are available or possible. However, assessment centers could also be used for developmental purposes and are, as such, a very versatile tool in helping expatriates with career management. Career-planning workshops are purposeful learning experiences emphasizing self-assessment and development of planning skills. Effective workshops help expatriates analyze their interests, values, goals, and capabilities; consider their options; make decisions related to their present jobs; and establish personal development plans.
Not much academic research has been undertaken on expatriate career development, but studies suggest that the availability of corporate career development activities seems to be low, indicating little interest on the part of parent organizations to assist in the development of their expatriate managers’ careers. As indicated above, this contradicts the best interests of globalizing firms, which are dependent on a pool of cosmopolitan managers for their business expansions.
Large parent organizations with substantial interests in international business operations generally assist their expatriates’ career development more than other firms. This is intuitively justifiable and, indeed, serves their best interests. However, it poses a problem with regard to small- and medium-sized enterprises with less resources and little experience to cater to their expatriates’ career-development needs.
Experienced expatriate managers generally use more of the available corporate career-development activities than do less experienced managers. Such a tendency might complicate the procurement and advancement of new generations of expatriate managers. Since expatriate careers could take shape at an early stage, it is most unfortunate if junior managers do not make much use of available means to guide their international careers. Maintaining a sufficient corporate pool of cosmopolitan managers over time helps compensate for resignations and managers choosing to settle down in foreign locations. Developing international expertise this way is a long-term undertaking, and a company must invest substantial resources and efforts to develop such a group of cosmopolitan managers.
Regarding gender differences, corporate career development seems less available to female than to male business expatriates. This may demonstrate a gender bias in corporate support for expatriates. For reasons of talent maximization, international firms cannot afford to limit their pool of talented human resources by excluding particular groups of employees. Business firms may unintentionally create a considerable disadvantage for women in their struggles to internationalize, since women may not be attracted to or motivated for international careers to the same extent as men.
See also:
- Globalization and careers
- International careers
- Job rotation
- Multinational organization
- Virtual expatriates
References:
- Edstrom, A. and Galbraith, J. R. 1977. “Transfers of Managers as a Coordination and Control Strategy in Multinational Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly 22: 248-263.
- Feldman, D. C. and Thomas, D. C. 1992. “Career Management Issues Facing Expatriates.” Journal of International Business Studies 23:271-293.
- Selmer, J., ed. 1995. Expatriate Management: New Ideas for International Business. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
- Selmer, J., ed. “Corporate Expatriate Career Development.” Journal of International Management 5:55-71.
- Selmer, J. and Leung, A. 2003. “Are Corporate Career Development Activities Less Available to Female than to Male Expatriates?” Journal of Business Ethics 43:125-136.