Global Careers: Personal and Organizational Challenges and Rewards

1. Global Careers: Personal and Organizational Challenges and Rewards Dr. Margaret Shaffer University of Wisconsin Milwaukee WERC September 19, 2012

2. Agenda • Global careers in perspective • Global career alternatives • Personal challenges and rewards • Organizational challenges and rewards • Research trends and opportunities

3. Global Bingo Exercise

4. Global Bingo • Goals: Assess global knowledge; create awareness of global complexities; emphasize the importance of shared knowledge in global settings; get to know each other better; have fun; and win prizes • To win, have five correct answers down, across, or diagonally • You may not answer the questions on your own bingo board • Find someone who can answer a question, have him/her initial the box and fill in the answer without stating the answer aloud • Obtain no more than two answers from any one person • When you have five down, across, or diagonally, yell “Global Bingo!”

5. Global Careers Flex- patriates Global Domestics Frequent Flyers Alternatives to Corporate Expatriates Short-term Assignees Commuters Self-initiated Expatriates Virtual Team Members

6. Comparison of Expatriates

7. Comparison of Global Travelers and Global Domestics

8. Comparison of Global Travelers and Global Domestics

9. Assignment Policies Currently in Place Brookfield Global Relocation Services 2012

10. Future Assignment Policies under Consideration Brookfield Global Relocation Services 2012

11. Who and Where International Assignments

12. Profile of International Assignees • 80% are male • Ages • 13% are 20-29 years old • 31% are 30-39 years old • 34% are 40-49 years old • 19% are 50-59 years old • 3 % are 60+ • 79% have not had any expatriate experience • 89% were already employed by the company • 60% are married • 43% took children on the assignment • 81% of those married had spouse/partner accompany them on assignment

13. Assignment Destinations

14. Global Careers and the Individual Challenges and Rewards

15. Major Personal Challenge:Cross-Cultural Adjustment • Anticipatory adjustment influenced by pre-departure training, previous experience with same country or similar culture • In-country adjustment affected by ability to maintain a positive outlook under high pressure, interact well with HCN’s, understand cultural values and norms, handle job responsibilities, adapt to organizational culture, self and family’s ability to handle new culture, and expat’s ability to “get along” in organization

16. Expatriate Challenges High • Adjustment • Work • Interaction • Cultural • Spouse adjustment • Global knowledge, skills and abilities Mood Low 1 2 3 4 5 6 Months in a New Culture

17. Expatriate Failure • Failure • Return home early • Poor performance • Poor adjustment • Cost of failure can be quite high – relocation and replacement costs, damage to reputation, lost business, etc.

18. Causes of Assignment Failure • Spouse/partner dissatisfaction • Other family concerns • Job does not meet expectations • Inability to adapt • Inadequate job performance • Poor candidate selection

19. Expatriate Re-Entry • Reverse culture shock • Readjustment problems • New position constitutes a demotion • Lack of opportunity to use skills learned abroad • Salary and benefits may decrease • Others do not relate to foreign perspective • Up to 25% of returning expats leave the company within one year after returning

20. Transition Strategies • To facilitate adjustment • Individual and firm agree upon the length of the tour of duty • Mutually agreeable job identified for expatriate return • Keep expatriate involved in home office communication and projects while s/he is abroad • Proactive strategy that provides an effective support system to allay concerns about career issues

21. Global Careers:Personal Rewards • Personal growth and development • Greater self-confidence • Increased autonomy and responsibilities • Global mindset • Transferable skills • Faster promotions

22. Global Careers and the Organization Challenges and Rewards

23. Purposes of Expatriate Assignments • Fill a skills gap (technical or managerial) • Build global relationships • Craft a common corporate identity and culture • Market products • Transfer technology to foreign subsidiaries • Provide managers with international experience • Reward long-time employees • Provide better on-site control of foreign operations

24. Organizational Challenges • Broader and more flexible perspective • More involvement in employees’ lives • Greater exposure to problems and difficulties • Greater exposure to external influences • Greater complexities in all areas of human resource management

25. Female Expatriates • Less than 20% of expatriates are female • Female expatriates have lower failure rates than males • Males: 10-40% • Females: 3% • More difficult to get the job than to do the job • Female expatriates are seen as foreigners first and as women second • Treated with the same respect as male expatriates • Being a female can sometimes be an advantage

26. Dual-Career Couples • More employees are refusing int’l assignments because of spouse employment • Loss of spouse’s income • Derailment of spouse’s career • MNCs have to select from a diminishing pool of qualified applicants

27. Strategic Responses for Dealing with Dual-Career Challenges • Intercompany networking • Job-hunting assistance • Intracompany employment • Support for commuter marriages • On-assignment career support

28. Critical Assignment Management Challenges

29. Initiatives to Improve Expatriate ROI Brookfield Global Relocation Services 2012

30. Organizational Rewards • Pool of experienced international employees • Accumulation of international knowledge, skills and abilities • Global mindset among management team • Control over subsidiaries • Transfer of knowledge and competence to subsidiaries

31. The Global Employee Mobility (GEM) Project Global Work Experiences – Research and Practice

32. The Global Employee Mobility Project • Aim is to improve the success of global employees • Consortium of academics from around the world • Research on all forms of global work experiences • Expatriates/repatriates • Short-term assignees • Flexpatriates • International Business Travelers (IBTs) • Global virtual team members • Global domestics

33. Global Virtual Team Members Taxonomy of Global Work Experiences Flexpatriates High Degree of Boundary Integration Corporate Expatriates Low High Self-Initiated Expatriates Degree of Cognitive Mobility Global Work Experiences International Business Travelers Global Domestics Short-term Assignees Low Low High Degree of Physical Mobility

34. Dimensions of Global Work • We define global work experiences along three dimensions that identify unique requirements of the different types of global work experiences: • Physical mobility - degree to which the work role requires the global employee to travel, or relocate, internationally • Cognitive flexibility - the degree to which the global work requires role incumbents to adjust their thought patterns and scripts to effectively interact with people and adapt to situational demands across cultures. • Non-work disruption – the degree to which the work role requirements disrupt or interfere with the employee’s normal activities and routines outside of work.

35. Choices, Challenges, and Consequences of Global Work Choices Challenges Consequences • Country and family considerations • Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators • Personal characteristics • Safety concerns • Adjustment and coping with stress • Work and nonwork demands • Inter-cultural relationships • Identity transformation • Satisfaction • Well-being • Career progression • Development of global competencies Personal • Selection criteria • Fit between employee and global work experience type • Incentive plans • Preparing employees for global work • Support resources for employees and families • Transition management • Career management • Employee engagement • Performance • Retention • Utilization of global competencies • Work goal attainment Organizational

36. Firm Participation • Provide survey access to • Global employees • Spouses/partners and colleagues (if possible) • Benefits • Summary of survey results • Suggestions for improving global work experiences