International HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International HRM - Essay Example It is a given fact that different forms of expatriate assignments are very important to any corporation that has presence in different nations for functional success (Adler, 1983). Incorporating any expatriate to the functional as well as the developmental environment of an organization is also necessary to ensure that expatriate has a healthy working atmosphere around him or her. Many researchers and HR professionals are interested in understanding how to facilitate expatriate adjustment in order to make sure that the global projects that invariably involved a considerable amount of investment prove to be successful. Many different factors are involved in expatriate adjustment and it is the responsibility of the human resources management to facilitate this process. This study aims to explore the various actions that the HR can take to facilitate expatriate adjustment in a smooth manner. Many researches from consultancies (GMAC, 2006) have shown a consistent and substantial growth i n the number of people who have been sent abroad by their employee. In light of this, it is necessary to understand the different ways in which an organization can ease the process and make it comfortable for the employees to adjust to a different country and organizational set up. According to the model of international adjustment developed by Black, Mendenhall and Oddou (1991), expatriate adjustment has three inherent domains; one is adjustment to an overseas workplace, adjustment to interacting with the host nationals and adjustment to the overseas work atmosphere. As per the research done by Navas et al (2007), there are six domains that are crucial in expatriate adjustment, and they are politics and government, work, economics, social relations, family relations and ideology. According to Navas, the domains are listed based on the increasing resistance to change. For example, employees would easily adjust to the government rules, work, economics and so on, but they would not ea sily adjust the belief, value systems and ideology of the host country. The Human Resources department can decide on working on each of these aspects based on the tenure as well as the previous experience of the employees. Expatriate adjustment has a good influence on the performance of the employees and if there are, some issues related to adjustment there are high chances that the performance may get affected in various degrees. In this study, the various factors that need to be addressed by the HR in order to ensure a smooth a transition. Choice of the Right Person Before the decision related to selecting an employee for an expatriate assignment is made, it is necessary to explore different aspects. One such aspect is flexibility. It is necessary to understand the level of flexibility that an employee brings in to the organization (Feldman and Thompson, 1993). If an employee finds it difficult to work in different groups or teams within the same organization in the same location, there are chances that he or she may find it even more difficult to adjust in a foreign location. Hence, the HR personnel should ensure that the person has displayed a good amount of flexibility in their current roles before sending them for an overseas assignment. It is also important to understand the manner in which employee responds to change in the organization. In addition, it is also necessary to test the aptitude of the person to live abroad. The employee should be open to the idea of living in another country for the fixed tenure. In