Online Mid Semester Examination – Winter 2020 - Semester III – 750 & 805

Date: 06/11/2020
Total Marks: 30 Time: 90 Minutes
Managing Talent Globally (MTG) - (4539283) Class: Functional_ Elective
Instructions:
1. Attempt all questions.
2. Make suitable assumptions wherever necessary.
3. Figures to the right indicate full marks.

Q. 1 Answer the following questions in short. (2 Marks Each) (08)

1. What is an Expatriate?
2. List down the dimensions of Hofstede study for understanding the country’s national culture.
3. Describe in brief hardship posting in global staffing.
4. Mention the three types of the cross cultural training approaches from The Mendenhall,
Dunbar and Oddou cross-cultural training model.
Q. 2 Answer the following questions. (7 Mark Each) (14)
A. Assume that you have been appointed as a head of HR department in an MNC. Which are
the different staffing strategies/approaches you would consider for making global staffing
decision with its pros and cons?
B. Differentiate between domestic HRM and GHRM along with suitable example.
OR
A. Explain the International Human Resource Management (IHRM) model developed by the
P. V. Morgan.
B. Suppose you have been appointed as a head of Training & Development department in an
MNC. Discuss various components of effective pre-departure training with example that
you would consider under components of effective pre-departure training.
Q. 3 Attempt any one set of A + B from the following information. (08)
The Role of Non-Expatriates
‘Non-expatriates’: people who travel internationally but are not considered expatriates, as they
do not relocate to another country. These non-expatriates have been called international business
travelers – employees who spend a large proportion of their time in visiting the foreign markets,
visiting subsidiary units and in the international projects. Popular terms for these employees
include ‘road warriors’, ‘globetrotters’, ‘frequent fliers’ and ‘flexpatriates’. International travel is
an essential component of their work, such as international sales staff whose job is almost totally
comprised of international travel; and managers whose job entails numerous visits to
international operations. International sales representatives attend trade fairs, visit foreign agents
and distributors, demonstrate new products to potential clients, and negotiate sales contracts.
Various staff will visit foreign locations to deal with host-country government officials, alliance
partners, subcontracting firms, and foreign suppliers.
Apart from the resource implications, there are issues relating to the management of
international business travelers. DeFrank et al. identify the following factors as stressors. Home
and family issue, work arrangement, travel logistics, health concern and host culture issue.
Non-expatriate business travelers also perform many of the roles of expatriates – in terms of
being agents for socialization, network-builders, boundary spanners and language nodes. From
the limited evidence available, however, it would seem that the management of staff using these
forms of arrangements falls to the functional or line managers involved rather than the HR
department as such. Possible HR strategies that could better meet the demand of flexpatriates
have been suggested by Demel and Mayrhofer. They suggest that the specific situation of
flexpatriates should be included in job descriptions and working contracts and could be part of
specific HRM policies for this target group. For example, selection criteria should go beyond
technical knowledge and cross-cultural skills and include, for example, health issues such as
physical fitness. The issue of working and traveling time must also be addressed with respect to
recognizing the need for the employee to recover from international travel (adjustment to jetlag,
changes in diet, etc.). If these concerns are taken into consideration, flexpatriates can be an even
more valuable alternative solution to international mobility.

(A) What are the different tasks of non-expatriates employees highlighted in the case? (4)
(B) Identify and explain the various issues/problems face by non-expatriates employees related (4)
to the management of international business travelers.
OR
(A) Discuss various other popular terms use for non-expatriates employees given in the above (4)
case.
(B) Which are the roles of expatriates also perform by Non-expatriate business travelers? (4)
Identify the additional criteria use for selection of Non-expatriate business travelers
advocated by Demel and Mayrhofer.