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Credit: Muir Vidler Expatriate postings Management
Making relocation
a success
Despite their obvious benefits for any executive pursuing a global career,
expatriate postings all too often end in failure. So what can be done
to help ensure a successful assignment?
• By David Balchover
Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that
a significant proportion of expatriate
placements end in failure, with workers
returning earlier than planned to their home
country, thus giving their company an
organizational headache and creating further
costs. So what causes these placements to end in
disappointment for both worker and employer?
And, more practically, what can be done to help
expatriates overcome these difficulties and
thrive in their new role in a distant land?
Many expatriate postings might actually be
doomed to failure before they have even begun,
To avoid potential conflict or
failure, companies need to test for
cultural sensitivity
simply because the particular employee is poorly
suited to living and working abroad. Nearly
three-quarters (73%) of respondents (all of them
current or recent expatriates, or those who had
overall responsibility for assignments) to a 2010
Economist Intelligence Unit survey cited “cultural
sensitivity” as the most important attribute in a
Summary
Despite the obvious
benefits to both
employees and the
firms they work for, a
significant proportion
of foreign placements
end in failure. But
various measures can
help ensure a greater
likelihood of success,
from better initial
planning through to
better support for the
expatriate’s family.
successful expatriate. If you
don’t have the ability to
perceive cultural differences,
you are destined to struggle in
both the workplace and your
wider social life in a foreign
environment.
“Managers who struggle are
the ones who aren’t sufficiently
flexible to adjust their
management style; what has
been successful in their home
country for years suddenly
doesn't work any more, and they find it difficult
to adapt to the new situation,” says Thomas
Efkemann, an Executive Director for Assignment
Services at Ernst & Young. “You need to have
different managerial approaches available, and
then you select the best one according to the
circumstances.”
Several management thinkers, most notably
Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars, have
sought to measure cultural differences in the
workplace, comparing attitudes across the world
to various concepts such as teamwork, hierarchy
and risk. Any expatriate who ignores the intricate
subtleties of national culture will soon pay the
penalty.
35%
The proportion of spouses
working during an assignment,
down from 89% that were
working prior to the placement,
according to the Permits
Foundation.
Ernst & Young Issue 07 T Magazine 31