International Human Resource ManagementManaging people in a multinational context

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We focus on the ‘managing the people’ aspect of IHRM:• Issues relating to staffing foreign operations• The reasons for using international assignments:

filling positions and developing managers and organizations.• Various types of international assignments:

short term, extended and longer term;• Various non-standard arrangements:

commuter, rotator, contractual and virtual• The role of expatriates and non-expatriates in supporting

international business activities• Return on investment of international assignments• The role of the corporate HR function in MNEs

Chapter Objectives

Terms

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Expatriate roles:

agent of direct controlagent of socializationlanguage nodenetwork builderboundary spanner

Approaches to staffing:inpatriatesexpatriates

flexpatriates

Assignments: short-termextendedtraditionalcommuterrotationalcontractualvirtual

ethnocentricpolycentricgeocentricregiocentric

ROI approach

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Table4-1a

The advantages and disadvantages of using PCNs

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Table4-1b

The advantages and disadvantages of using TCNs

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Table4-1c

The advantages and disadvantages of using HCNs

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Determinants of staffing choicesFigure4-1

Reasons for International Assignments

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1. Position filling2. Management development3. Organization development

Types of international assignments

9IHRM Chapter 4

• Short term up to 3months• Extended up to 1year• Long term (traditional expatriate assignment)

1 to 5 yearsSome non-standard assignments:• Commuter go home every one to two weeks• Rotational commute for set period followed by

break in home country• Contractual specific skills employees hired for

6 to 12 months on specific projects• Virtual employee manages international

responsibilities from home country base

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Table4-2

Differences betweentraditional and short-term assignments

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The roles of an expatriateFigure4-2

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ROI indicators for calculating international assignmentsFigure4-3

4-steps to calculate expatriate ROI

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1. Identify financial and non-financial costs and benefits.

2. Link the costs and benefits to the purpose of the long-term assignment.

3. Identify the appropriate antecedents from a system’s perspective.

4. Conduct the calculation at an appropriate time within the context of the assignment’s purpose.

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Table4-3

Various roles of corporate HR