Human resource management (HRM) is tasked with the challenging undertaking of hiring and assigning individuals to roles that they can perform efficiently. In this context, having high knowledge on the effective strategies and policies for recruiting and training employees becomes mandatory. This is practical with the recruitment and management of expatriate managers due to the sophisticated nature of their work. Recruitment entails searching and getting potential job candidates in adequate numbers and quality to appoint the most suitable individuals to fill the desired positions. The selection includes the procedure for collecting information to inform the decision of deciding the candidate who should be selected to fill particular jobs. International staffing differs extensively with domestic staffing, thus requires to be undertaken in a unique manner. For example, global staffing is often influenced by the fact that some organizations have guidelines on individuals who should hold central positions in headquarters and their branches. Furthermore, guidelines set by the host governments affect the recruitment process extensively.
When recruiting expatriate managers, the subsequent strategies and policies should be considered. Initially, there is the need of considering the cross-cultural suitability of the candidate. Candidates that can easily integrate or get along easily with the Hong Kong culture should be selected in preference to others. According to Carr (2010), the cultural environment that an employee is working is an essential aspect for determining successful performance. Expatriate needs cross-cultural competence to operate in the new environment. Cultural competence includes having attributes such as diplomacy, emotional stability, cultural empathy, positive attitude, language ability and adaptability among others. Language, in particular, is a key aspect to account for at this stage. Language expertise will determine the manager’s ability to communicate and interact effectively with the foreigners. With the language barrier, the manager is likely to achieve less as one faces severe communication and expression challenges that affect performance. However, it is worthwhile noting that examining the candidate’s inter-cultural competence might be a challenging undertaking. Trent & Roberts (2010) provides a guide to an approach that can enhance the selection of the appropriate candidate. The scholar emphasizes the need of considering elements such as the candidate’s personality, ability to interact with individuals from other cultures and attitude to foreigners among others.
Furthermore, considering the issue of family requirements is essential. Studies have comprehensively documented the vital role of the family in defining the performance of expatriate managers in the oversee assignments (Ahlstrom & Bruton, 2010). It is evident that the accompanying spouse affects the performance of an expatriate directly. For example, the spouse assumes an important role in setting the family into the new environment. It is important to remember that such the family has left behind friends and other close relatives in their mother country. Adjusting to the new environment and social support are important aspects that have the potential of affecting the manager’s performance (KUMAR, 1995, p. 146). In this context, the selection procedure should comprehensively include the manager’s spouse/partner.
Country/cultural requirement is also an important aspect to consider when recruiting expatriate managers. It is obvious that any selected candidate should meet the criteria for the working terms and policies set by the Hong Kong government. The host government may create the challenge of transfer block even besides the candidate’s suitability to a task. It, therefore, becomes indisputable that considering the legislations and immigration policies for the host government becomes a mandatory requirement to avoid conflicts. Such policies have the potential of affecting other aspects that affect expert rate recruitment. For instance, the HRM team may wish to include spouse consideration in the recruitment procedure, but the host government may fail to permit the spouse to shift or work in the host country (Harorimana, 2010).
Technicality ability is also a crucial factor to consider in the recruitment of expatriate managers. This entails the candidate’s ability and adaptability to execute the required task. Studies assert that multinational often accord high attention to this aspect. Technically ability is a broad perspective that includes the candidate’s ability to work efficiently with the machines, technologies and procedures prevailing in the host country. This presents a relatively easy approach through which the HRM team can easily access the suitability of the candidate since technical and managerial expertise can easily be established from past performance.
In training expatriate managers, one first needs to consider the pre-task examination and exploration. This entails examining the expatriate’s and family member’s profile prior to international experience. It also includes establishing the host’s culture, personal attitude, and objectives. The training should utilize this information to a customized training package that would comprehensively address the candidate’s needs. This should be followed by the expatriate and family training package. The training here should focus on enhancing the candidate’s knowledge regarding the host country’s business culture, lifestyle, and societal values among others. The primary aim should including reducing issues of cultural conflicts and promoting cross-cultural experience.
The training should also include the team culture training. This should focus on host manager and a team that the expatriate manager will be working with. The training should provide information on the working culture, values and practices. Furthermore, the difference in communication and management approaches should be established including different expectations. This necessarily needs to an in-person training plan. There is also the need of offering alignment project training. Facilitate a discussion on the cultural differences and other aspects that might challenge the success of the assignment. Identify and describe tools and strategies to avoid conflicts and fostering mutual expectations. It should also include discussions regarding the appointment’s time, reporting procedures and defining milestones (MDCHK 1996).
Lastly, there is the need for including the in-country coaching and knowledge management strategies. Coaching should monitor the manager’s undertakings and tap experiences and best practices. This is with the aim of identifying any discrepancies to make essential recommendations for improvement. Knowledge management should include an organized and continuous capture and dissemination of critical documentation and lessons learned from the assignment to propose improvement. The strategy is essential in enabling organizations to prevent a repetitive occurrence of know problems and in the establishment of best practices (Payne, 1982; Mead & Andrews, 2009).
The identified strategies will enhance the manager’s integration into the workforce by addressing all the challenges that characterize foreign assignments. In particular, the strategies will ensure the selection of the most adapted and skills managers who are at an upper edge of succeeding in their activities. The assertion is in coherence with emphasize made by studies that identify the need for matching tasks with the right candidates (Burkholder, Edwards, & Sartain, 2004; Sengupta, & Bhattacharya, 2007). Furthermore, the strategies will ensure that the selected candidates are empowered with the essential knowledge and skills for dealing with the situation that characterizes their assignments. This includes having necessary competence on how to avoid cultural and social conflicts, problem solving and emotional management skills among others.
Reference List
Ahlstrom, D., & Bruton, G. D. 2010. International management: strategy and culture in the emerging world. Australia, South-Western Cengage Learning.
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Carr, S. C. 2010. The psychology of global mobility. New York, Springer.
Harorimana, D. 2010. Cultural implications of knowledge sharing, management and transfer: identifying competitive advantage. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference.
Kumar, B. 1995. Euro-Asian management and business I cross-border issues. Wiesbaden, Gabler. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/37479765.html.
Management Development Centre Of Hong Kong. (MDCHK).1996. Hong Kong management cases in hotel management. Hong Kong, Chinese University Press.
Mead, R., & Andrews, T. G. 2009. International management culture and beyond. Chichester, England, John Wiley & Sons. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=470310.
Payne, R. G. 1982. The Asian manager: recruiting, training, and retaining executives. Hong Kong, Business International Asia/Pacific Ltd.
Sengupta, N., & Bhattacharya, M. S. 2007. International human resource management. New Delhi, Excel Books.
Trent, R. J., & Roberts, L. R. 2010. Managing global supply and risk: best practices, concepts, and strategies. Fort Lauderdale, FL, J. Ross Pub.
