Repatriation of Expatriates:
Overcoming barriers and understanding issues for the HR Practitioner

Christian Bengtsson
2566276
Griffith Business School – Postgraduate Studies
International Human Resource Management
Att: Dr Alan Burton Jones
IHRM
Word Count: 2075

Table of Content

1.0 Introduction 3
2.0 Repatriation 4
3.0 Consideration of Issues with Repatriation 5 3.1 Financial 6 3.2 Family Problems 6 3.3 Organizational issues 7 3.4 Future Career Issues 7
4.0 Three Face Model of Repatriation Training 8 4.1 Pre Departure Training 8 4.2 Expatriation Phase 9 4.3 Repatriation Phase 10
5.0 Recommendation 10
6.0 Conclusion of report 10
7.0 List of Reference 11

Repatriation of Expatriates: overcoming barriers and understanding issues for the HR Practitioner

1.0 Introduction

An increasing trend of MNC’s is taking part in an International context. According to a recent survey of MNC’s, there are over 850.000 subsidiaries of MNC’s operating worldwide, currently managing over 150.000 expatriates (Colakoglu & Caligiuri, 2008). According to Harvey & Moeller (2009), MNC’s must develop a pool of managers that has an increasing global mindset to cater for the increase of competition in an International context. Desired outcomes of expatriation can vary. One of the outcomes is the transfer of knowledge. Lazarova and Cerdin (2007) stresses that transfer of knowledge can assist the MNC to determine how their business unit is performing in the host country and identify needs associated with increasing performance and transfer of knowledge therein. This “transfer of knowledge may fail if the repatriation process is not being considered before; during and after the International assignment has taken place. The purpose of the following report is to discuss and contrast the concept of repatriation and will serve as a guide for looking at the issue of repatriation from a manager’s perspective. Firstly, the term repatriation will be developed, emphasising its importance to IHRM. Second, the issues associated with repatriation will be examined out of 4 perspectives relating to a model of repatriation. Third, a three-step training model will illustrated to help prevent and overcome some of these issues. Last, a conclusion and a set of recommendations for future effort will be put forward.

2.0 Repatriation

Before embarking on the journey of examining the repatriation process, it is important to understand what repatriation means in this context. Generally, looking at the straight opposite of expatriation, repatriation in this context would be returning to country of origin after being expatriated, or the process of returning from an international assignment. Considering repatriation is of great importance to IHRM, as individual psychological and organizational issues must be tackled to ensure the process of transition is feasible (Scullion and Linehan, 2002).

For many organisations, it is crucial that the process is considered, as if it would fail, it could demolish all organizational benefits associated with the process of expatriation and international staffing (McCaughey and Brunning, 2005). As there are great costs involved with the process of expatriation, there is an increase of emphasis on the repatriation process serving as a key for retention of repatriates and their newly acquired set of skills and competencies (Pattie et al, 2009).

Commonly interpreted by many MNC’s is that the repatriation process should only be considered when deciding to bring the expatriate home. This is proven to be a major delusion and has lead to that many international assignments have failed to deliver its true purpose of (Lazarova and Ibraiz, 2005). The process of repatriation is considered for many to be a course of practise that is even harder than the expatriation process. These can manifest in taking the issues of repatriation into account, such as; financial issues. Family issues, issues for the individual expatriate manager, organizational issues, future career issues and most significant in some cases the issue of reverse culture shock (Claus et al, 2011) These issues will be further developed in the coming sections

3.0 Consideration of Issues with Repatriation

There are a vast amount issues that is crucial to consider in when repatriating expatriates managers and their families (Harvey and Moeller, 2009). In order to gain a critical insight into what repatriation issues entail, this report will draw on a model (figure 1.0 below) almost 22 years old but still illustrates issues that are critical to consider in today’s business context.

Figure 1.0 Repatriation problems for expatriates and their families

(Harvey, 1989)

The model shows the different factors that cause the expatriate being under a vast amount of stress in the repatriation process. It is also expected that this stress can be reflected upon the organization. This relates to the importance of organizations having to consider to the repatriation process before, during and after expatriation as explained in section 4.0 when discussing a 3-phase model of repatriation. To fully understand the huge amount of issues associated with the process, each of them is considered in the next section

3.1 Financial

According to Barach and Altman (2002), there are a number of finically related factors that will have an impact and create issues when for expatriates upon arriving home from their international assignment. Following are the main issues being considered in this context

* Withdrawal of allowances such as; * Housing * Travel expense * Educational transportation * Hazardous duty pay * Household assistance * Personal aids

Loose of these allowances will as seen in figure 1.0 cause financial pressure for the expatriate and in turn place a burden on the family as repatriation also include starting a new life which in commonly known to be rather expensive, involving costs such as new car, housing etc. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (?), having financial security is important as a predecessor for the expatriate to obtain esteem and a sense of belonging.

3.2 Family Problems

Returning from to the host country, a great burden can be put on the family. According to Harvey and Novicevic (2006), the first issue is going to be with the children’s readjustment to the to the home culture as the majority of expatriation takes place when children are in their junior years of school. Harvey and Novicevic (2006), also stresses that the fact of children having a hard time to cope with the change, puts further stress on the family and the expatriate. Hyder and Lovblad (2005), argues that another factor resulting in family problems is the relocation of the spouse. For the spouse, repatriation often involves in them again giving up a job in order to move to the home country. These career issues can in turn put stress on the expatriate and their family as illustrated in figure 1.0 above.

3.3 Organizational issues

Lee and Liu (2006) stresses the issue of that an organization is being confronted with problems if not adequately considering the process of repatriation in detail. The literature discuss that the process of returning to the home country is often delayed as finding a substitute can be an issue for the parent county. On the one hand, this puts stress on the expatriate as the motivation goes down to conduct the tasks and objectives. On the other hand, the time it takes for the organization to find a replacement will increase the cost of having the expatriate and their family remain in the host country. According to McCaughey and Brunning (2005) an unsuccessful assignment can have a major impact on future consideration of assignments for the expatriate. This creates an issue for the organization in terms of losing the opportunity of sending a successful expatriate on future assignment. A major issue is according to Moeller and Harvey (2009) that of the replacement of expatriate as it on the one hand it cost money to have an expatriate remain in the country at the same time as having expense for training a new employee for expatriation. This shows that organizational issues is the most crucial to consider for future operations.

3.4 Future Career Issues

Not having a well-expressed and articulated plan for a career path considered in the process of planning for the repatriation of employees can create major issues for both the organization and for the repatriate. According to Duoto (2002), a repatriation program, lacking the consideration of a future career path will diminish the applications for international assignment and in turn affect the pool of applicants which primary purpose is to select the most skilled and suitable person to perform the task or job. Harvey and Moeller (2009) argue that HRM professionals does not recognise the critical need of constructing a well-designed career path and repatriation program. This comes down to two arguments from the organizations point of view. One being that “when budgets are tight, the first issue is to spend money on repatriating managers” The other being “without a fully articulated repatriation program, it will be difficult to integrate repatriated managers into the organization. To overcome these issues, the report will know draw on a three step model for considering aspects of before, during and after the expatriation/repatriation process.

4.0 Three Face Model of Repatriation Training

The following model illustrates a three-step model for successfully integrating a well-articulated repatriation-training program into the expatriation face.

Figure 2.0

4.1 Pre Departure Training

Pre departure training is an important aspect to consider of the expat/repat process. The majority of MNC’s that fail with their international assignees do so because they fail to consider this important step. Caliguri & Philips (2003) has developed certain points to consider in the pre; during and post process of repatriation/expatriation. During Pre departure training, they entail 5 steps or areas to consider * Determine the level of cultural differences / difficulty of task to evaluate the strategic fit between the expatriate and his/her family and host destination.

* Greater cultural difference/ difficulty of task = less probability of success

Pre departure training continued…. * Performance Management system of expatriate must be designed prior to departure to communicate objectives and give a “real job description”.

* Communicating objectives and giving a real job preview will assist in the expectation communicated to the expatriate and so the expatriate will not be met with any great surprise when going overseas.

* A real description of what can happen when returning to the home country must also be communicated to the expatriate and his family.

* Knowing the factors that will result in stress and issues upon returning to the parent country will prepare the expatriate and family to deal with these problems and constantly communicate with the parent MNC to avoid as mentioned in previous sections; financial, family, and career issues. According to Stroh (1999), communicating constantly, both pre and during expatriate assignment about future career options will assist the MNC is diminishing the stress that the expatriate is under and so the repatriation process can be executed in a smoother manner.

4.2 Expatriation Phase

Hyder and Lovblad (2007), identified a crucial step within the expatriation phase that will ease the stress of the expatriate an in turn increase performance as focus does not lye on worrying about going home. * Create a communications link between the expatriate MNC * In order to; 1. Provides update of organizational changes 2. Repatriation tips can be communicated to a self entry strategy can be
Established
3. Have discussion about the repatriation process incorporated in the performance review 4.3 Repatriation Phase

According to Harvey (1989). There is one major aspect to consider in the repatriation process; that are still relevant in todays business context. The aspect is time. By time, Harvey (1989) stresses the fact that if enough time is given to the process of repatriation, it can help facilitate the career path upon returning to the home country. At the very least, future career options should be taken into account and a well articulated program at involving the former to process should ease the process of the latter phase, that of repatriation.
5.0 Recommendation

By carefully considering all aspects of the repatriation process, managers will be more likely to respond to the potential issues that might arise. It is recommended to not always put equal weight on all issues as situation differs on every International assignment, rather, du a situational analysis and see what factors to consider in that particular case. By doing so, negative effects can be diminished and the positive effects of the transfer of knowledge can be enforced.
6.0 Conclusion of report

In an increasingly global business context, there is a growing trend of international staffing and expatriation of MNC’s managers to overseas assignments. It has for a long time existed a great delusion that the repatriation process has not been considered until repatriation take place. Not considering the process during the pre departure face of expatriation will only worsen the repatriation process. There are several issues that can arise from the repatriation process including; financial issues, family issues, career development issues and reverse culture shock. In utilising a three-step process that considers training and communication about objectives, hold constant discussion about the repatriation process and communicate ongoing organizational changes will help the expatriate in the process of returning to his/her home country. Managing these processes will ensure that the true purpose of expatriation will be accomplished and that future assignment can be carried out in a feasible manner focusing on the retention of acquired skills and future knowledge.
7.0 List of Reference

Colakoglu, S. & Caligiuri, P. (2008). Cultural distance, expatriate staffing and subsidiary performance: the case of US subsidiaries of multinational corporations. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19, 223–239.

Harvey, M. & Moeller, M. (2009). Expatriate Managers: A Historical Review. International Journal of Management Review, 11 (3). 275-296.

Lazarova, M. & Cerdin, J. (2007). Revisiting repatriation concerns: organizational support versus career and contextual influences. Journal of International Business Studies, 38, 404-429.

Linehan, M. and Scullion, H. (2002). Repatriation of European female corporate executives: an empirical study. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13, 254–267.
McCaugehey, D. & Bruning, N. S. 2005. Enhancing Opportunities for Expatriate Job Satisfaction: HR Strategies for Foreign Assignment Success. People and Strategy, 28, 21-29

Pattie, M., White, M. M. & Tansky, J. (2009). The homecoming: a review of support practices for repatriates. Career Development International, 15, 359-377.

Lazarova, M. & Ibraitz, T. (2005). Knowledge transfer upon repatriation. Journal of World Business, 40, 361-373.

Claus, L., Adelaida, P. L. & Sutapa, B. 2011. The Effects of Individual, Organizational and Societal Variables on the Job Performance of Expatriate Managers. International Journal of Management, 28, 249-394.

Harvey, M. (1989). Repatriation of corporate executives: an empirical study. Journal of International Business Studies, 20, 131–144.
Baruch, Y. and Altman, Y. (2002). Expatriation and repatriation in MNCs: a taxonomy. Human Resource Management, 42, 239–259.
Maslow Heirachy of needs.
Hyder, A. S. & Lovblad, M. 2005. The repatriation process: a realistic approach. Career Development International, 12, 264-281

Harvey, M. and Novicevic, M. (2006). The transition from MNC to global organizations: the evolution from repatriation to ‘patriation’. International Human Resource Management. 9, 323–343

Lee, H.W. and Liu, C.H. (2006b). The determinants of repatriate turnover intentions: an empirical analysis.
International Journal of Management, 23(4), 751– 762

Duoto, M. (2002). Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction of Repatriated Managers. San Diego, CA: University of San Diego, p. 97.

Caligiuri, P.M. and Lazarova, M. (2001). Strategic repatriation policies to enhance global leadership development. Working Paper Series in Human Resource Management, Center for HR Studies, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ.

Caligiuri, P.M. and Phillips, J.M. (2003). An applica- tion of self-assessment realistic job previews to expatriate assignments. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14, 1102–1116.
Stroh, L.K. (1999). Does relocation still benefit corporations and employees? An overview of the literature. Human Resource Management Review, 9, 279–309.