ADMN 417 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Cultural Assimilation, Human Resource Management, Sensitivity Training
27 May 2018
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Lesson 9 - Chapter 16 - International Human Resource Management
1. In which of the following ways does international human resource management differ from
human resource management in a domestic setting?
a. managing compensation
b. accommodating expatriates
c. providing training and development
d. all of the above
2. An important advantage of polycentric staffing is:
a. the recreation of local operations in the image of home-country operations.
b. the elimination of the high cost of relocating expatriate managers and families.
c. the development of global managers who can easily adjust to any business environment.
d. the opa’s feelig that aagers set fro hoe ill look out for the opa’s
interests.
3. What is expatriate failure? How can it be avoided?
Expatriate failure is the early return by an employee from an international assignment because
of inadequate job performance—often results from cultural stress. Many companies invest in
cultural-training programs for employees sent abroad in order to prevent expatriate failure.
4. Identify and explain any four of the international assignment preparation methods.
ENVIRONMENTAL BRIEFINGS AND CULTURAL ORIENTATIONS: Environmental (area) briefings
constitute the most basic level of training—often the starting point for studying other cultures.
Briefings include information on local housing, health care, transportation, schools, and climate.
Such knowledge is normally obtained from books, films, and lectures. Cultural orientations offer
insight into social, political, legal, and economic institutions. Their purpose is to add depth and
substance to environmental briefings.
CULTURAL ASSIMILATION AND SENSITIVITY TRAINING: Cultural assimilation teaches the
ulture’s alues, attitudes, aers, ad ustos. “o-called guerrilla linguistics, which involves
learning some phrases in the local language, is often used at this stage. It also typically includes
role-play exercises: the trainee responds to a specific situation to be evaluated by a team of
judges. This method is often used when someone is given little notice of a short stay abroad and
wishes to take a crash course in social and business etiquette and communication. Sensitivity
traiig teahes people to e osiderate ad uderstadig of other people’s feeligs ad
emotions. It gets the traiee uder the ski of the loal people.
LANGUAGE TRAINING: The need for more thorough cultural preparedness brings us to intensive
language training. This level of training entails more than memorizing phrases for ordering dinner or
asking directios. It gets a traiee ito the id of loal people. The traiee lears ore aout h
local people behave as they do. This is perhaps the most critical part of cultural
as they do. This is perhaps the most critical part of cultural training for long-term assignments.
A survey of top executives found that foreign-language skills topped the list of skills needed to
maintain a competitive edge. According to the survey, 31 percent of male employees and 27
percent of female employees lacked foreign-language skills. To remedy this situation, many
companies either employ outside agencies that specialize in language training or they develop
their own programs. Employees at 3M Corporation (www.3m.com) developed a third way. They
created an all-oluteer Laguage “oiet oposed of urret ad retired eploees ad
family members. About 1,000 people are members, and the group offers classes in 17 languages
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lesson 9 - chapter 16 - international human resource management. Expatriate failure is the early return by an employee from an international assignment because of inadequate job performance often results from cultural stress. Many companies invest in cultural-training programs for employees sent abroad in order to prevent expatriate failure. Identify and explain any four of the international assignment preparation methods. Environmental briefings and cultural orientations: environmental (area) briefings constitute the most basic level of training often the starting point for studying other cultures. Briefings include information on local housing, health care, transportation, schools, and climate. Such knowledge is normally obtained from books, films, and lectures. Cultural orientations offer insight into social, political, legal, and economic institutions. Their purpose is to add depth and substance to environmental briefings. Cultural assimilation and sensitivity training: cultural assimilation teaches the (cid:272)ulture"s (cid:448)alues, attitudes, (cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:374)ers, a(cid:374)d (cid:272)usto(cid:373)s. o-called guerrilla linguistics, which involves learning some phrases in the local language, is often used at this stage.
