International Human Resource Management Essay

The rapid globalisation has made the process of expatriation quite common which involves selection, training, preparation and monitoring performance of managers. MNC’s are securing their interest in the market with an effective international human resource management. Therefore, selecting an appropriate and skilled manger for abroad assignment is very important. But, doing work overseas is not an easy task because of the chances of incompatibility of the company’s human resource policies. Most of the MNC’s are deputing employees outside from their home country which alerts the need of human resource management to have a correct approach towards their employees from different cultures and backgrounds which also brings certain challenges and

International human resource management comes into limelight when companies face shortage of local skilled employees (Kaye and Taylor, 1997) or when they want to broaden the manager’s experience by entering into new ventures overseas (Torbiorn, 1994). One such issue faced by the human resource while sending employees on international assignments is the lack of training. The working life of the manager relocated from another country is greatly affected by the challenge faced by him of meeting demands of the host country and local company and of the headquarters simultaneously. An expatriated manger faces issues of team work, relationships, power, and difference in cultures of the expatriates and

The level of adjustment is determined with the level of absence of stress and comfort degree of being an expatriate. The adjustment has been identified in three categories work adjustment in terms of supervision and responsibility; interaction adjustment in terms of interaction with members of Host Company and general adjustment with the conditions of foreign environment. Organisational tenure, role clarity, language barrier, job level, previous overseas experience, cross-cultural training and spouse adjustment are some of the important factors influencing the level of adjustment of the expatriate. The adjustment problems faced by the spouse and family members, plays an important role in the adjustment process of the manager. In fact, problem of spouse adjustment is significantly related to all fields of adjustments and is primarily the main reason of expatriate’s failure which is reflected through manager’s job satisfaction, performance, intention to return and organisational commitment. The satisfaction of the expatriate relates to his job satisfaction and satisfaction with the life in foreign environment (Li and Tse, 1998). The life satisfaction states his satisfaction with the social, economic and cultural environment. There has not been any significant study on the relationship between job and life satisfaction as most of the studies are focused on the