Analyse the critical HR actions multinational corporations should take Essay

Analyse the critical HR actions multinational corporations should take to facilitate expatriate adjustmen - Essay Example Whenever a company grows from national to multinational (MNC) to global it has to face new challenges such as organizational culture, workforce diversity, expatriates etc. These issues are unavoidable, inevitable in fact they need to be welcomed and handled properly and effectively for the overall growth and benefit of the company. This paper aims at exploring who exactly are expatriates? Are they really unavoidable and irreplaceable with the local talent? What difficulties expatriates face in acclimatizing and proving their worth? What are the chances of success? How enticing and lucrative it is to take expatriate assignment? Do the benefits outweigh the difficulties? Do only expatriates need adjustment or their fellow local colleagues as well? Why many multinational companies opt for Expatriates instead of hiring new staff in the foreign country? What steps the HR department can take in order to help facilitate the expats adjustment to the new culture, country and way of life. What is the role and responsibilities of HR in making this adjustment as quick efficient and effective as possible? It also includes a study of expatriate cycle which typically includes selection, assignment and repatriation, remuneration and evaluation of their success and failure. Expatriates why are they needed? Whenever a company decides to operate in foreign lands some very obvious differences arise between domestic HRM and International HRM. One very important aspect of international HRM is moving staff across national boundaries with international assignments in various roles to firm’s foreign operations. Such foreign employees are called expatriates. An expatriate can be defined as a individual residing and working momentarily in a country other than their resident nation, employees who have been shifted out of their home base into some other area of firm’s foreign operations. There are three categories of employees in international firms: Host country nationals (H CNs) Parent country nationals (PCNs) Third country nationals (TCNs) PCNs are always expatriates and TCNs are also expatriates but HCNs can become expatriates if they are transferred into parent company operations outside their home country. 1(Peter J 2008) International Assignment creates expatriates HCNs HCNs National border PCNs PCNs TCNs National border The need for expatriates is not questionable for most of the MNE’s . Expatriate have the required technical skill, knowledge and expertise to supervise, assist and monitor local operations. Most of the negativity associated with expatriates is because of the high cost involved. Still most of the MNE’s believe in the cadre of high performance expatriates and are in search of people who are ready for an international business career. What they need to do is to motivate these people to perform well and while capitalizing on their skills improve their outlook and prepare them for their foreign assignment. 2(Daniels, 2007 ) Foreign assignments can be beneficial both for the person and the company. For the individual the following benefits can be seen. 3(K. Aswathappa, 2008) Increased experience of working with different cultures, personnel and work / life styles, this will make the employee more marketable and will improve his outlook. The expatriate is most likely to benefit from tax reductions. Most organizations offer their employees an expat package which