International Human Resource Term Paper Proposal

Introduction

The increased levels of competition, as well as the hunger for success in business and organizations, have led business owners to think beyond borders and seek for the best talents available as employees. Also, the challenges experienced by businesses and organizations have become complex meaning that there is a need to find solutions for such problems. Business challenges are facing a new set of challenges with the current technological advancement and globalization. Because of this, local businesses and business owners are continually thinking international and seeking for international employees. Foreign competition has pushed the boundaries high raising the bar of standards of business operations. Most businesses have found the need to have or acquire foreign technology, foreign labor, business partners, suppliers, customers, and foreign competition. This mindset has led to the increasing need to train internationally, attend the best business institutions, and be part of the international market place. The global sense of business has underlined the reason for survival following the notion that businesses should go global lest they risk dying (Vance & Paik, 2014). Whether for-profit or non-profit, businesses that can attract, plan for, develop, and retain the best employees from abroad are the ones that cut the edge of success at the expense of other local ones. Countries like China are continually striving to attract foreign workforce to improve their productivity, quality and also survive the global business challenges and make a profit. This is the reason why the country, as well as other globally conscious nations, is sending students abroad to study and bring in new knowledge that the country can use to augment its status in the current era. Sending young professionals away and attracting the best has to be topnotch; thus, the reason why prospective human resource professionals must attract the best and also attend the best schools. This paper seeks to explore factors that can help determine the best country for international training and development in the area of human resource.

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International assignments refer to the practice of sending employees on different project assignments in various countries overseas to study and learn ways that can improve their parent organizations. This trend has been increasing over the years due to the benefits that have been realized, especially in benchmarking. However, it is a very costly and challenging meaning without identification of the right goals and needs for it, and it can result in irrecoverable losses (Waxin & Panaccio, 2005). Before identifying the location for international assignments for human resource professionals, the reasons need to be well articulated. The selection process of selecting candidates for conducting these assignments has to incorporate the purpose, goals, and individual attributes. The major criteria that have been traditionally used to select these employees include the job-related and technical skills of the individuals. Also, their ability to influence others, leadership, and global mindsets have been highly considered. So before the expatriates leave, comprehensive criteria and metrics have to be followed and evaluated before the journey begins.

The Institution

The US tops the charts are the best destination for studying business, followed by the UK. American universities occupy the majority of the top ten best Universities in the world, and the same can be observed in the top 100 universities globally. This means that the quality of education is high as compared to most destinations and thus the reason behind its ability to attract most expatriates who conduct research while attached to these educational institutions. One core example is the Motorola University which offers Motorola education which every employee has to take per year. As a worldwide system, Motorola University trains professionals in every corner of the world (delivery centers), and countless numbers of expatriates has gone through the system (Vance & Paik, 2014). As a multinational corporation (MNC), Motorola leads in training expatriates while they are also on the job learning. While learning should be a natural process in the workplace environment, it has to be well-planned to target specific learning outcomes. This aspect is crucial in human resource development as far as training and development are concerned. When the right institutions for education and training are sourced, the expats can learn quality and customer satisfaction means of minimizing costs, knowledge management, organizational learning, global alignment as well as how to build global talent.

Culture and Business Institutions

Culture plays a crucial role in the training of international expatriates. The culture of a place is central in teaching the individual how to relate with people, interact, and influence them. This allows the expatriates to adjust well to their environment and positions. The US, as a training and development destination, is a fast-paced nation with varied cultures. The cultural diversity in the US can be experienced differently depending on each individual and their cross-cultural abilities. The business culture in America has been described as straightforward, with some sources claiming that formality is a trait very well-observed by a considerable number of professionals (Stewart-Allen, 2003). Understanding business the American way means that the economics of abundance, as a game, has to come to play. Stewart-Allen (2003) has observed that while interacting with American employees, it is easy to notice that competition is high, and everyone believes in win-win situations. The adjustment to life in the US suggests that one has to learn and adjust certain aspects like driving and rules of the road while driving to work or taking the train. The expatriates are considered as tourists when they first land in the US. Culture shock is also expected before one begins the adjustment process, and later improving their performances. The mastery of international culture is the last stage of adjusting to culture in a foreign country.

Training Elements

Before leaving for the international assignment, the objectives of the assignment have to be outlined for the expat to understand the elements of training. Apart from the basic elements like customer satisfaction, knowledge management, and organizational learning, other components should be part of that list. Such include cross-cultural training, foreign-language training, and training on security matters, global human resource planning, and leadership. These extra training elements are meant to add indispensable value to the expat and later improving their competence and awareness in international human resource development (Princess, Agwu, Agumadu & Ohaegbu, 2015). The same elements can result in improved scores when evaluating the performances of international employees. For instance, the performance in sales can be made better when presented in more than one language to fit international audiences. The job design has to be definite and meet organizational goals. There should be agreement on job-performance goals, with detailed direction, feedback, and coaching in the process of evaluating employee performance.

The Big Issues to Conquer

Some of the biggest issues that need to be conquered by the expat include challenges like cultural, security, and cosmopolitan orientation. The expatriate must become culturally flexible to acclimatize because the culture is wide, and its elements form part of everyday life, including cuisines, customs, habits, and more. Cosmopolitan orientation intuitively set the minds of the expat to understand that cultural practices are valuable to those who practice them. The capability to integrate cultural flexibility into the business space is the epitome of acclimatization for the expatriate (Stewart & Gregersen, 1999). In terms of negotiation, an expatriate has to develop a collaborative negotiation skill when dealing with foreigners because conflicts and disagreements are prone to arise (Vance & Paik, 2014). Finally, international assignments cannot be labeled as successful without a repatriation plan that brings the individual back home and safe.

Since the US is the preferred choice proposed for this international assignment, the language barrier will not be a major problem because the English language is used in every aspect. However, sometimes the accent might be so heavy to grasp for some individuals and the best way to make things work is to socialize with people and get used to their accent (Vance & Paik, 2014). Getting used to the accent will aid in the negotiation process as language is the major form of communication and interaction among people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, international human resource development has gone global, and institutions are increasingly sending expatriates overseas on international assignments and educational institutions to go and learn. The experience gathered while on such activities is indispensable and contains the tools of benchmarking. For this proposed international assignment, certain aspects have been discussed to aid in determining the right country in which to attend the exercise. On focus have been the institution, culture, business institutions, training elements, and the issues that must be conquered to acclimatize fully.

References

Princess, H., Agwu, E., Agumadu, M., & Ohaegbu, A. (2015). Impact of Cross-Cultural Factors on Expatriatess Effective Execution of International Assignments. SSRN Electronic Journal, 4(12), 70-78. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3129930

Stewart-Allen, A. (2003). Doing Business the American Way. Business Strategy Review, 14(1), 53-57. doi: 10.1111/1467-8616.t01-1-00244

Stewart, J., & Gregersen, B. (1999). The Right Way to Manage Expats. Retrieved 9 September 2019, from https://hbr.org/1999/03/the-right-way-to-manage-expats

Vance, C., & Paik, Y. (2014). Managing a global workforce (pp. 41-361). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

Waxin, M., & Panaccio, A. (2005). Crosscultural training to facilitate expatriate adjustment: it works!. Personnel Review, 34(1), 51-67. doi: 10.1108/00483480510571879