The role of inpatriation in global staffing

Abstract

The probability of a global organization developing a competitive advantage will be dramatically diminished without a suf® cient supply of quali® ed managers. The expatriate manager has played a central role in the organizational evolution from an international to multinational perspective. As the era of the global organization evolves, the need for increased diversity and multiculturalism in the global workforce is heightened. This paper explores a complementary model of global staf® ng based upon inpatriation of host-country and third-country nationals to serve as `linking pins' between the organization' s headquarters and foreign subsidiaries. The ultimate goal and value in inpatriation lies in its ability to facilitate competitive advantage through an increased emphasis on developing multiple strategic perspectives through multiculturalism.

Global talent management and inpatriate social capital building: a status inconsistency perspective

“…The process of building cognitive social capital has been found to have a distinct impact on an inpatriate manager's 'frame of reference' (Harvey, 1997;Harvey & Buckley, 1997;Harvey, Speier, & Novicevic, 1999a, 1999bNovicevic, Buckley, Harvey, Halbesleben, & Rosiers, 2003), feelings of ascribed and achieved status (Harvey & Buckley, 1997;Harvey, Hartnell, & Novicevic, 2004;Harvey & Miceli, 1999), perception of foreignness as a liability rather than an asset (Moeller & Harvey, 2011b) and cultural reference points Moeller, Harvey, Griffith, & Richey, 2013;. The idea is to create a shared cognitive social capital environment, whereby an understanding of differences in culture and language are not only encouraged, but cultivated.…”

“…Accordingly, these higher adjustment problems expose the inpatriate manager to a greater risk of status inconsistency and reduce their proper adjustment to and role execution at HQ. The more complex the adjustment impediments the more it triggers the need for a diverse organizational support infrastructure for this staffing option (Harvey et al, 1999b(Harvey et al, , 1999c. These special support requirements will be examined later in the paper.…”

“…Third, inpatriation furthers cultural and cognitive diversity, thus the inpatriate does not only face acculturation difficulties concerning a new environmental/national culture, but the inpatriate also needs to be socialized into the corporate culture of the HQ (Harvey, Speier, & Novicevic, 1999b, 1999c. Accordingly, these higher adjustment problems expose the inpatriate manager to a greater risk of status inconsistency and reduce their proper adjustment to and role execution at HQ.…”

Managing talent across advanced and emerging economies: HR issues and challenges in a Sino-German strategic collaboration

“…Use of inpatriates is an 12 increasing trend within international talent management (Reiche, 2006). Farndale et al(2010) suggested a number of drivers for this including issues relating to the non-blanket usage of expatriates and engagement within a targeted variety of international marketplaces.However, the value of engaging host country national inpatriates is often underestimated by some MNCs (Harvey, Speier, and Novicevic, 1999). Inpatriates bring with them a number of evident advantages including: an awareness of their own culture and national environment; an ability to contextualise the company's operations to that environment; possession of their own network in the given country; and, providing an important and useful interface between the home country headquarters and the country branch (Harvey et al, 2010).…”

Career Mobility in a Global Era: Advances in Managing Expatriation and Repatriation

“…SIEs have become an important feature of the E&R scene (Howe-Walsh & Schyns, 2010) and, at the same time, there is a move in the corporate world to shorten the duration of expatriate assignments from the 2-3 years' norm popular among Western-based multinationals (5 years in the case of Japan) (Tung, 1984). Shorter variants appeared, including flexpatriation (an overseas posting not necessitating relocation) (Mayerhofer et al, 2004), globetrotting (Allard, 1996, as well as movement in a reverse direction, from the subsidiaries to the mother company (inpatriates) or other subsidiaries (Harvey, Speier & Novicevic, 1999).…”