Expatriate Employees

Training Programme
Why training for Expatriates ?

 Pre – Departure Cross Cultural training programmes are effective.

 Expatriates can successfully interact with people from various cultures and
can effectively live and work in foreign countries.
 Success of MNC’s is linked to its expatriate multicultural behavioural
adjustment.
Culture Shock

 It is a psychosocial selective perception of an expatriate's reaction to an

unpredictable, novel, odd & unfamiliar situation in an environment.
 People discover that many behaviours which were acceptable in the home
culture are not acceptable in the host country and that behaviors which were
offensive in home country are allowed in the host country.
 Culture Shock occurs due to lack of comprehensive pre-departure training.
 Factors that tend to reduce uncertainty of what to do or not to do or when to
do it- in the host country can facilitate adjustment
Stages of Culture Shock

 Honeymoon : When positive attitude, expectations, excitement & tourism

feelings prevail for few weeks.
 Irritation & hostility : When cultural differences result in problems at work, at
home & in daily life, expatriates & family members feel homesick &
disoriented, lashing out to everyone for few months.
 Gradual adjustment : Period of recovery in which expatriate gradually
becomes able to understand & predict patterns of behavior, language & deal
with daily activities, family starts accepting new lives . It takes few years.
 Biculturalism : Expatriate & his family accepts & appreciates local people &
their cultural value systems and they will function effectively in two cultures
for lifetime.
Sojourners
 Sojourn is a temporary stay at a new place other than either the birthplace,
workplace, and permanent residence.
 A Sojourner is a person who lives in a new and unfamiliar environment.
 They are also people who travel to different places for different purposes.
 Types of Sojourners :
 Professional experts : Doctors, Professors, Researchers
 Businessmen
 Diplomats
 Students
 Expatriate managers
 Workers
 Tourists
 Religious Pilgrims
 Patients for treatment
 Family members of above categories.
Problems/Issues of Sojourners
 Language deficiency  Hostage taking
 Dietary orientation  Carjacking
 Assimilation hardship  Rape
 Accommodation difficulties  Riots
 Racial discrimination  SOCIOECOLOGICAL problems
 Sexual orientation  Climate adjustment
 Career choice restrictions  Dress codes
 Financial stress  Religious practices
 Misunderstanding & mistrust  Family affairs
 Dependency on alcohol, drugs & gambling  Courtship & marriage
 Loneliness  Housing & education for children
 Terrorism  Health & medical services
 Robbery  Alternative transportation system
 Fears of being shot  Rigidity in taxation
The W – shape curve process of Training
 International employees from the time of expatriation to repatriation go through
series of phases .
 This process is described in W-shaped curve process
 Steps are :
 1. PCNE’s & TCNE’s recruitments
 2.Home country professional training
 3. Pre-departure training
 4. Foreign country assignment
 5. In host country briefing & mentoring
 6. Adjustment
 7.Assessment
 8. Adaptation
 9.Integration or Separation
 10. Debriefing
 11. Repatriation training or returning
 The W – shape curve process of Training

1 PCNE's Expatriate Assignment 1 TCNE's Expatriate Recruitment 11 Repatriation Training 11 Returning

10 Debriefing
2 Parent Company Orientation

9 Integration
3 Pre Departure Training 9 Separation

8 Adaptation
4 Foreign Country Assignment

7 Situational Assessment 8 Rejection

5 In-Host country Assignment

6 Adjustment
The W – shape curve process of Training

 In initial phase, expatriates are excited to go to foreign assignments. Taken

care of very well.
 MNC’s recruit potential expatriates either PCNE’s or TCNE’s.
 Recruits decide to join foreign assignment.
Pre-departure Training Programs

 It covers ecological briefing, cultural sensitivity, critical incidents & cases,

family adaptability & hardship tolerance.
 Trainees become familiar with certain procedural information concerning
leaving the home country
 Trainees need to be provided with sufficient information about host country.
Pre-departure information
 Its geographical location
 Which part companies located
 Co’s market share & position
 Country’s rules regarding travel.
 How to get visa, types of Visa, work
permit rules, family visa
 Medical tests & Certificates
 Family clothing, vaccination, health
insurance & hygiene
 Language – local to know
 Whether English popular ?
 Familiarity with general vocabulary
for doing daily routines.
 Types of currencies, credit &
phone cards
 How to transport family goods
 Education of children in host
country
 Persons to be contacted in case of
emergency.
Language efficiency :

 It is a critical factor for expatriates

 Content & skills that will improve interactions with host country individuals
will improve interactions with host country & will reduce misunderstanding.
 There is close link between language and behavioural cultural orientation.
In – Host country Briefing & Mentoring

 Once expatriate employee arrives in host country, there is a ‘honeymoon

period’ before adjustment.
 This phase occurs from few weeks to 2 months from arrival
 This is because expatriate & his family have not yet faced serious day to day
life issues.
 MNC’s need to provide on-site briefing & mentoring program.
 Expatriates become familiar with early arrival in host country.
 Mentoring program will maximize adjustment of expatriates to host country’s
cultural value systems through learning.
Adjustment to the Host Culture

 Expatriates will be familiar with actual behavioral experiences.

 It is an adaptive phase to the host country’s culture & climate.
 Expatriates will learn gradually what is important & crucial to survive in the
country.
 Expatriates learn about idiosyncratic or biased behavior of host people.
 They experience their day to day life through trial & error.
 It teaches them how to get along with people with careful consideration.
 A stressful symptom among expatriates spouses & children is complaining
about new lifestyle.
Host Country’s Situational Assessment

 It begins with thinking about conditional life fitness with psychosocial

symptoms & economic gains at workplace in host country.
 It is a result of many months of understanding the real situation.
 Successful expatriates recognize many problems & solutions. They develop
tolerance, patience.
 Unsuccessful expatriates face unresolved problems & they don’t want to
make any concession. This results into frustration, disappointment, fear,.
 Expatriates are confused to stay or leave ?
Adaptation to the Host Culture

 There is friction between expatriates and host country’s cultural value

systems,
 Some expatriates stay. They rely on patience, creativity in finding solutions
and persistence to complete assignment.
 Adaptation of expatriates to host cultures depends on multicultural
sensitization training program.
 Expatriates learn how to accept differences between home & host countries
as a fact.
Factors for Adaptability

 Ability to get along well with people

 Awareness of cultural differences
 Open mindedness
 Tolerance to foreign cultures
 Adaptability to new cultures, ideas & challenges
 Ability to adjust quickly to new conditions
 An interest in facts , not in blind assumptions
 Previous business experiences
 Previous experiences with foreign cultures
 Ability to learn foreign language
Integration to host culture

 In cultural integration behavioural changes may occur in individual’s personality.

 Individuals expose themselves to host culture & transplant host culture system into their
own daily behaviours.
 It can happen when exaptriates during long term social contacts with another culture, can
be absorbed to such an extent that they forget their original culture value system &
expected behaviours.
 This personality change occurs when expatriates find that second culture has higher status
and more meaningful to their own beliefs. e.g Indians in US/EU
 Secondly some people possess ability to synthesise both home & host cultural behaviours.
 These people adapt second cultural value systems into their behavior as long as they are
living in that culture.
 They acquire bi-cultural or multicultural personalities while they are associated with
foreign culture.
Separation from Host country /Company
 Expatriates usually face 2 types of life events in host countries-Personal &
Organisational.
 Personal life events could be positive if they include better opportunities for
employment in domestic or internationally. So he quits job & returns home.
 Personal life events could be negative if they are unpleasant experiences that
motivates expatriate to leave their jobs.
 Primary reasons for expatriates failure are :
 Unprofessional recruitment & selection process
 Lack of predeparture training
 Inability to adjust to new environment & new culture
 People not suitable or ready to go to foreign countries
 Cultural toughness of environment. Larger the cultural difference , more difficult
the adaptation process.
Personal & Organisation Negative Life
events
 Death of family member
 Marital separation
 Personal illness/injury
 Quit job
 Pregnancy
 Climate allergies/Incompatibility
 Change in eating habits
 Trouble with boss
 Homesickness
 Boredom
 Feel unsafe & insecure
 Isolation
 War & revolution
 Terrorism & political instability
 Sociopolitical repression
 Foreign contracts may be lost
 Company’s international reputation
may be damaged
 Foreign operations may be inefficient
 Manager’s self esteem may be
damaged
 Foreign govt contract may be
terminated.
Repatriation to Home Country
 Repatriation is transitional process of an expatriate to return to the home
country.
 Return to home country causes readjustment.
 Most expatriates restart their normal lives without experiencing culture shock.
 However some expatriates find themselves between home & host country’s
cultures.
 They experience changes in their behavior & perception, their companies, peers
and laypeople at home experience changes.
 They find their re-entry more difficult than initial departure.
 Hence expatriates need professional guidance & readjustment.
 Repatriation training & readjustment is as important as expatriate training
programme.
 It should include adaptability to and acceptance of changes taken place during
expatriates absence.