Chapter 17

Balance Sheet Approach

A method of formulating expatriate pay based on equalizing purchasing power across countries.

How can organizations improve profitability by 1 to 4 percent?

By making workforce mobility management a strategic priority and by managing mobility programs in a more integrated way.

Why is managing the HR functions in multinational companies complicated?

Due to the need to adapt HR policies and procedures mot the differences among countries in which each subsidiary is based.

Expatriate Assignment Failure

Early return of an expatriate from a global assignment.

Expatriates

Employees who are citizens of the country where the parent company is based who are sent to work in another country.

Ethnocentric Staffing Policy

Policies that align with the attitude that home-country managers are superior to those in the host country.

Polycentric Staffing Policy

Policies that align with the belief that only host-country managers can understand the culture and behaviour of the host-country market.

Geocentric Staffing Policy

Policies that align with the belief that the best manager for any specific position anywhere on the globe may be found in any of the countries in which the firm operates.

What is a fear after an expatriate returns?

That he or she has been "out of sight, out of mind" during an extended foreign stay and has thus lost touch with the parent firm's culture, top executives, and those responsible for the firm's management selection processes.

Power Distance

The extent to which the less powerful members of institutions accept and expect that power will be distributed unequally (high in countries like Mexico & Japan).

Repatriation

The process of moving the expatriate and his or her family back home from the foreign assignment.

The company often undervalues the cross-cultural skills acquired abroad, and the international posting becomes:

a career-limiting, rather than career-enhancing move.

The one-child policy in China has resulted in:

a younger generation that is much more individualistic, known for job-hopping and lack of company loyalty.

What is the "hassle" factor?

an 11-factor composite measure of travel inconveniences by country.

In more collectivist countries, such as China and Pakistan:

an individual's identity is strongly linked to their extended family group, and sometimes even to their work group.

Why is cross-cultural training important?

creates realistic expectations

What does Germany's rule "co-determination" mean?

employees have the legal right to a voice in setting company policies.

Global nomads

employees who continuously move from country to country on multiple assignments.

The most common approach to formulating expatriate pay is to:

equalize purchasing power across countries

Canada is also increasingly influenced by _______ within our borders.

globalization

In more individualistic countries, such as Canada and the United States:

individuals look out for themselves and their immediate families.

What is "PLAR"?

is a system meant to aide in the recognition of the learning adults acquire outside of formal Canadian education; it attempts to standardize recognition of skills and abilities in a meaningful way.

Most managerial positions are filled by_____ rather than expatriates in both headquarters and foreign subsidiary operations.

locals

What is a solution to cost-of-living differences?

pay a similar base salary company-wide and then add on various allowances according to individual market condition.

Workforce Mobility

programs focus on managing the recruitment, relocation, and retention of employees who complete work-related tasks and activities outside of the core or primary head office or region of the company.

A major reason for using expatriates for staffing subsidiaries is:

technical competence (employers may be unable to find local candidates with the required technical qualifications).

A challenge in the unemployment level of immigrant integration in Canada is:

the underutilization of immigrant skills because they are being hired for positions that they are overqualified to perform.

What is the main concern people have when considering expatriate assignments?

their family

Almost _______ new immigrants fail to find employment in the same field in which they were employed in their native country.

two in every three