Preparation, support and training requirements of South African expatriates

Abstract

A major issue in international human resource management is the failure of expatriates. The failure rate of expatriates has been reported to range anywhere between 10 and 80 percent, costing multinational enterprises (MNEs) between US$40 000 and US$1 million for each failed assignment. In order to address the problem it is recommended that MNEs provide sufficient preparation, support and training to not only the expatriate but also to their trailing spouses and children. This research has, however, proven that not only are South African MNEs not providing the preparation, support and training required by their expatriates, they are also falling short in the preparation, support and training provided to expatriate’s trailing spouses and children. The research does, however, provide guidelines on the preparation, support and training that can be offered to expatriates, their trailing spouses and children.

Exploring the role of the spouse in expatriate failure: a grounded theory-based investigation of expatriate' spouse adjustment issues from India

“…The view that the trailing spouse should be given separate training to adjust to the foreign conditions has also been supported by other researchers (Caligiuri et al 1998;Mendenhall and Stahl 2000;Vögel et al 2008). Adler (2002) emphasized about creating a meaningful life for the spouses in the new and strange host country environment.…”

“…The importance of spouse support in the adjustment of married expatriates has started receiving importance from researchers in recent times (Huckerby and Toulson 2001;Konopaske et al 2005). One primary concern in this arena is that expatriates who are accompanied by spouses and other members of family may have special requirements from their organizations to provide support for their trailing companions (Bauer and Taylor 2001;Vögel et al 2008). Andreason (2008) suggested that relocation experience of the expatriate and spouse differ by varying degrees.…”

“…A survey on expatriate/expat failure has revealed that a huge cost is incurred by the company if the expatriate fails in his/her assignment due to any reason, approximately US $250,000 -$1 Million (Vögel, Millard and Vuuren 2008). Indirect costs are also incurred like 'damaged relation with host country' and 'negative impact on employee morale'.…”

“…Indirect costs are also incurred like 'damaged relation with host country' and 'negative impact on employee morale'. Most of these failures happen because of non-adjustment of the expatriates in the new country due to several reasons like culture shock, family issues, spouse problems, personal dissatisfaction and lack of organizational commitment (Arthur and Bennett 1995;Vögel et al 2008). Partner resistance to expatriate assignments has been found to be a key factor behind expatriate failure as per the 2011 Global Relocation Trends Survey (GRTS) data provided by the Brookfield Global Relocations Services (http://www.…”

A Research on Expatriate Cross- Cultural Adjustment and Job Performance in MNCs

“…The cost of failure expatriate assignments of the project ranges between $250,000 and $1,000,000 [3]. Hereby, the effective expatriation management became an increasingly important task for the international HR department in MNC's.…”