trailing family

8/12/2019 Trailing Family

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Trailing

familySophia Alissa BenteleGianmarco Bonaita

Alessandro BorzumatiPeifeng Gao

Floriana GuardiniFederica Leotta


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Around 60%of the expats areaccompanied by partners, and

50%by children

The inability of a manager'sspouse to adjust is a major

problem for US and Europeanmultinational companies(Tung, 1982)

Indeed, the success of theexpatriate depends also on thewell beingof his family, whichin turns influences hisexperience abroad


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1. Family influence

Adjustment: spillover(from the work domain to thefamily domain and vice-versa) and crossover(betweenindividuals) effects

The relationship between spillovers and crossovers isthe key point in understanding the influences from thefamily: they are mutually related

For example: the failure of the expatriate's partnerinadapting to the social environment, even if it initiallyis limited to her, will later affectthe expatriate himselfand consequently his productivity


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2. Problems, opportunities, and

resources of the expat familyThe FAAR MODEL:

Need to balancebetween demandsof the family (stressors, strains, anddaily hassles) and its capabilities(resources and coping behaviors) to deal

with these demands

This balancing is influenced by the meaningsthe family attributes to thesituation

Some statistics: top reasonscited by candidates to turn down assignmentsare by 35% family concerns, by 17% spouses' career.

For example, problems may stem from the change in social environment,which is a stressor; this issue can become an opportunity if the wholefamily can deal with it and use it as a source of personal growth; family-based resources can be adaptability, cohesion, and structure


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Consequently, the family can beboth aresource or a source of problemsdepending on the resources andcapabilities that stem from the cohesionand internal quality of the family

The company can ease the adaptation

and adjustmentprocess of the expatriateand his family


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3. The company role

The company looking for the perfect expatriatehas to assessnot only the candidate'sbackground, but also his family situation, andprovide the instruments for the assessment

72% of companies support partners withlanguage training programs, 29%offer careerplanningassistance, and 27%offeremployment searchor job-finding fees, and26% sponsor a work-permit


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Expatriate and family Company

Pre-departure

Assess managerialcapabilities, cross-

cultural experience,but also family's

adaptability

Support for social

(school, health care)and logistic aspects

Post-departure

Family's open attitude

towards the newculture, and supportfor the expatriate for

his work success

Assistance and

socialization(matching) with

experienced expatsand their family

Quick reference guide


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BibliographyZ. Aycan (1997) "Expatriate adjustment as amultifaceted phenomenon: individual andorganizational level predictors", The international

journal of human resource management, Vol. 8 No. 4'

pp. 434-456

C. Brewster, A. Haslberger (2008) "The expatriatefamily: an international perspective", Journal ofmanagerial psychology, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 324-346

Brookfield Global Relocation Services (2013) "GlobalRelocation Trends: 2013 Survey Report", Brookfield

trailing family

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