With the growing business needs at international level, organisations have started recognising the criticality of International Human Resource Management. One of the main aspects of IHRM supporting the growing needs of global organisations is “Expatriate Selection”. Selection of key resources for the global assignments has always been a key issue faced by global organisations. This paper focuses at the core competencies required by the HR professionals/managers for expatriate selection and how they make use these competencies. By and large, this paper is divided into three parts, first part is about what is required, second part will cover the operational aspects, and third part will focus on the impact and differences involved in expatriate selection.
WHAT IS REQUIRED?
As an HR professional / manager, there is huge responsibility involved when it comes to selecting resources or candidates for global assignments. In order to select the right fit for the global assignments, HR manager needs to cover the factors (Scullion, Collings, 2006) like Strategic contribution (HR manager should possess capabilities for managing culture, facilitate change, get involved in the strategic decision making and should have up to date market information), Personal credibility (This factor involves the networking skills and being result oriented. Apart from these, HR manager should have effective communication skills), HR Delivery (HR manager should be able to frame developmental programmes, foster internal communication process, and provide career planning advice and counselling. Restructuring, measuring the global implications of HR practices are also vital. Delivery also involves staffing and performance management), Business Knowledge (HR manager should have understanding of the integrated value chain and the firm’s value proposition), HR Technology (Use of technology is a key element when it comes to global staff selection and management. HR mangers should use technology to deliver value added results). These are the primary competencies which an HR Manager should possess. Apart from these there can be few other skills also which can add more value to the selection of expatriates.
HR manager should be very clear and well aware of the assignment for which he/she will select the best resources available. HR manager should be aware of the requirements in the Host country and also should be aware of the legislation details. HR manager need to have high analytical skills for planning the selection process and also to carry out the cost related analyses. Prior experience in expatriate selection adds more value to skill-set. Awareness of the cross-cultural and behavioural challenges is highly required, as based on this you can plan for the required pre-departure expatriate trainings.
OPERATIONS
Having known the competencies required for selecting expatriates, it is also very important to know the methodology to be used in selection process. Prior to selecting the various selection techniques for the selection process, HR manager has to keep few aspects in mind like setting up the legal entities to transfer employees, understand the implications and ramifications of general employment law, for example understand specific legal frameworks related to payroll and reward system etc (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007, p 98).
The process of selecting expatriates for global assignments starts with identifying right fit for the role. Mostly the eligible candidates for such assignments will be internal and their selection can be linked to transfer or promotion (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007). As a HR manager, you should be aware of the top competencies required by any candidate to be eligible for the global assignment and these can be classified[1] as Professional and technical competence and experience on the job, personality traits and relational abilities, perceptual dimensions and life strategies, self-maintenance factors, leadership and motivational factors, cultural awareness and family situations. Having these factors in mind and by strategic thinking, HR manager should also be able to trace out the capitals people need when they are on global assignments. These can be grouped as Social capital (involving trust), Political capital (leads to legitimacy), Human capital (linking to competencies) and Cultural capital (social inclusion and acceptance) (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007, p 245).
HR manager should be having understanding of technical and managerial qualifications but at the same time, manager should also keep non-technical factors in mind such as family situations. One major hurdle in the selection process is the use of informal selection processes, which Harris and Brewster (1999) called ‘coffee machine system’. This leads to selection from a small pool of candidates who are known to managers personally or come out through personal references. Such practices may lead to some serious failures. As a key person for selection of resources for global assignments, HR manager should key in more elements for formal expatriate selection systems and avoidance of such items can be extremely costly for the organisation. HR manager should have understanding of well-known selection techniques and practices such as psychometric assessments of competencies. Sparrow (1999) has outlined one such approach which consists of cultural adaptability assessment developed by Kaisen Consulting (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007). Understanding of this approach helps in finding the psychological adaptations that should occur in a global assignment but there is one potential demerit of this as candidates sometimes will not reveal actual facts related to family situations because such assignments may be critical for their progress.
HR manager should have value addition to the selection process such as to obtain appropriate information about jobs, individuals and organisation in order to enable high-quality decisions, to contribute to the most productive and effective production, to make sure cost-benefit for the investment made in an employee selected for the assignment etc. In order to meet such expectations, HR manager should adapt some good selection techniques and the most common ones are Interviews, assessment centres, psychological testing, and Reference checks. For all these techniques, it requires to have a wide range of skills so as to make a strategic decision of selecting the right fit for the role. When it comes to interviews, HR manager should be aware of the possible outcomes of using structure and unstructured interviews. Also significant cross-cultural issues can arise in face-to-face interviews (Sparrow, 1999). Behaviours of candidates vary from country to country and as an International HR professional one must encompass the knowledge of identifying such differences. One is also required to have knowledge of how to collect and analyse the data gathered from various selection techniques used in order to make a better selection.
IMPACT AND DIFFERENCES
When it comes to the selection of resources for global assignments, HR managers should be aware of the different practices and methodologies followed in different countries and these vary with different cultures as well. The selection of expatriates is subject to the various different practices followed in the respective countries. Processes are different in Europe than followed in India or Arab and Asian countries. There are different legal implications involved and HR managers have to understand the respective country law as it affects the use of employment exchanges and job centres, Fixed-term contracts, Hours of work, Time off work, Termination of employment, Redundancy, Maternity leave, Health and safety, Use of psychological testing, Disclosure of information, Discrimination and equal opportunities (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007).
It’s very important which selection technique is used in selection process as few techniques and methods are common in some countries but may not be used at all in others. For instance, empirical predictive model is common in UK and in contrast, in France, clinical assessment is more popular. Similarly Graphology is more famous in France and Switzerland, but hardly used elsewhere (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007). A study shows that how much organisations use different selection methods in different countries (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007 p103).
Techniques like Interviews may involve different cultural aspects when it comes to conducting interviews for host or parent or third country nationals. US interview styles are different from that of Korean (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007). Again using Psychometric tests can be difficult in most of the countries due to the cross-cultural differences. There has to be culture-free, culture-reduced and culture-fair psychological testing in place in order to avoid cultural differences affecting the selection process. This adds to the cost factor involved in selection process and HR managers should judge whether this extra cost is valid or not. ‘Countries also differ greatly in terms of the practices related to user qualification, legal and statutory constraints on test use and the consequences for those tested, and controls exercised over the use of tests’ (Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007 p106).
CONCLUSION
Overall, there is great amount of effort required from HR Managers when it comes to selecting resources for global assignments. They need to have the core competencies for selecting right fit for the role, they should know what techniques and methods can be used for selection process and also should be aware how things change from country to country. Managers should be able to foresee risks involved in selection process and should encompass skills to overcome such difficulties and risks, providing better results linked to the organisation’s business objectives. The selection process is also subject to the dominant cultural viewpoint or approach adopted by the organisations (Leopold, Harris, 2009). HR Managers should also keep their organisation’s viewpoint (polycentric, ethnocentric, geocentric or regiocentric) in mind while framing the selection process.
References:
Scullion, H., Collings, G. David., 2006. Global Staffing. Oxon: Routledge.
Brewster, C., Sparrow, P., Vernon, G. 2007. International Human Resource Management. 2nd ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Leopold, J., Harris, L., 2009. The Strategic Management of Human Resources. 2nd ed. UK: Pearson Education Limited
[1] Brewster, Sparrow, Vernon, 2007, p 242 (Aycan, 1997; Pucik, 1998; Yamazaki and Kayes, 2004; and Stroh, Black, Mendenhall and Gregersen, 2005)
