INTERNATIONAL HUMAN

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
INE3023

SOURCING HUMAN RESOURCES FOR

GLOBAL MARKETS – STAFFING
RECRUITMENT & SELECTION

Mai Anh
Lecturer, International School-VNU
anhmd@isvnu.vn
SESSIONS 5 & 6 - INTRODUCTION
OVERVIEW
o Various approaches to international staffing
o Global workforce planning and forecasting
o Pivotal role of international assignments
o Selection criteria and procedures for
international assignments
o Nature and causes of expatriate failure
o Gender in international HRM
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ACRONYMS USED IN TODAY’S SEMINAR

HCNs – Host Country Nationals

HQ – Headquarters
MGNT – Management
MNEs – Multinational Enterprises
PCNs – Parent Country Nationals
R&S – Recruitment and Selection
TCNs – Third-Country Nationals

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STAFFING
RESPONSIBILITIES OF INTERNATIONAL STAFFING
Deciding on which staffing approaches and IHR policies and
practices are most effective
 HCN, PCN or TCN

Relocation of employees from one country to another

 Expatriation & Repatriation

Managing the acquisition and retention of global talent

 Ethnocentric, Polycentric, Geocentric & Regiocentric

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STAFFING
APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL STAFFING
Ethnocentric
 Few foreign subsidiaries have any autonomy and strategic decisions are made at
HQ, managed by staff from PCN’s.
Polycentric
 Each subsidiary is treated as a distinct national entity with some decision-making
autonomy, usually managed my HCNs.
Geocentric
 MNE takes a global approach to its operations, recognizing that each part (subsid
& HQ) makes a unique contribution with its unique competence.
Regiocentric
 Utilises a wider pool of managers (similar to geocentric) but in a limited region.

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ACTIVITY 1 – ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
OF PCNS, HCNS & TCNS

Breaking into 3 groups, each will be given

either PCNs, HCNs or TCNs to identify the
advantages and disadvantages of placing/using
these staff. You will mainly need to revise
seminar 1 materials for this.

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ACTIVITY 1 – ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF PCNS, HCNS & TCNS

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ACTIVITY 1 – ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF PCNS, HCNS & TCNS

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ACTIVITY 1 – ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF PCNS, HCNS & TCNS

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STAFFING
FIGURE 5.1 DETERMINANTS OF STAFFING CHOICES

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QUESTION:

WHAT IS TALENT
MANAGEMENT?

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STAFFING TALENT MANAGEMENT
Talent management defined
Process of anticipating workforce needs, managing current
workers, and attracting highly skilled workers and integrating
and developing them to achieve maximum workforce
productivity.

Why it is important
o The shift to the knowledge economy
o Demographic changes
o Brain drain and job exporting
o Globalisation of talent
o Increasing individual mobility

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STAFFING
BRAIN DRAIN

• Why are so many countries bothered by their “brain drain”?

• What are the top drivers of brain drain?

• What can countries do to tackle the brain drain.

• What industries and countries are most susceptible to brain

drain?

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STAFFING BRAIN DRAIN

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STAFFING
BRAIN DRAIN

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STAFFING BRAIN DRAIN IN AUSTRALIA
• Research & Development • Professionals
• Information & Technology • Manager/Admin

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STAFFING
TALENT MANAGEMENT KEY CHALLENGES

• Creating a talent management mindset

• Requiring a high degree of attention from internal
stakeholders
• Line managers are not adequately committed to people
development

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STAFFING
TALENT MANAGEMENT RETENTION FACTORS

1. Flexible work arrangements

2. Interesting and challenging work
3. Good manager/supervisor
4. Reasonable pay/salary
5. Autonomy and empowerment

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STAFFING
GLOBAL WORKFORCE PLANNING AND
FORECASTING
Purpose: to estimate employment needs of the MNE and to
develop plans for meeting those needs.

Implications for IHRM

 Broad scope of the MNE operations leads them to search

within a large and diverse labor pool.
 Find staff in locations where MNEs operate, therefore learn
to recruit and hire in multiple locations and cultures
 Deploy staff where it makes most sense for the MNE,
therefore relocate the staff to locations where required

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STAFFING
REASONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS

Position filling
-lack of available skills PCN works abroad

Management development
- training & development, common corporate values

Organisation development
- transfer of knowledge, competence, practices
- exploit global market opportunities

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STAFFING
TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
Short-term up to 3 months
Extended up to 1year
Long-term 1 to 5 years
(traditional expatriate assignment)

Some non-standard assignments:

Commuter go home every one to two weeks
Rotational commute for set period followed by break in
home country
Contractual specific skills employees hired for
6-12 months on specific projects
Virtual employee manages international
responsibilities from base in
home country
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STAFFING
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE EFFECTIVENESS
OF INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
• Knowledge/info travels freely between expatriate, host
country, & parent country

• Consideration for personal networks

• Some knowledge transfer requires longer assignments

• Expatriate’s ability & motivation to act as an agent of

knowledge transfer

• Abilities, motivations, relationships of locals

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
KEY DEFINITIONS
Recruitment: searching for and obtaining potential job
candidates in sufficient numbers and quality so that the
organisation can select the most appropriate people to fill its job
needs

Selection: the process of gathering information for the

purposes of evaluating and deciding who should be employed
in particular jobs.

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
Compared to domestic R&S, International has a:
Smaller number of external recruitment
o~8% overall being successfully recruited

Preference for internal recruitment

oTo reduce selection risk
oTo secure present & past human capital
investments
oFinancial investment
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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL SELECTION

Employer’s perspective
o Maturity of candidate
o Ability to handle foreign language
o Positive attitude and outlook on international
assignment
o Personal characteristics
Employee’s perspective
o Personal interest
o Career opportunities
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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
ALIGNMENT OF SELECTION DECISIONS

We must take into account:

o Global staffing decisions to global business goals
o The location and receiving manager to ensure a:
oconsistent understanding of objectives of the
assignment
osimilar level of management competency

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QUESTION:

WHAT WAS EXPATRIATE

FAILURE? AND WHY MIGHT IT
OCCUR?

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
DEFINITION OF EXPATRIATE FAILURES

“Early return home” or “termination”

• Poor overall performance in the foreign

assignment
• Personal dissatisfaction with the experience
• Lack of adjustment to local conditions
• Lack of acceptance by local nationals
• The inability to identify and train a local
successor
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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
REASONS FOR EXPATRIATE FAILURE
o Family concerns
o Accepted new position in the company
o Completed assignment early
o Cultural adjustment challenges
o Security concerns
o Lack of technical skills
o Lack of motivation to work overseas
o Career concerns

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
THE PHASES OF CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
FACTORS IN EXPATRIATE SELECTION

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
FACTORS IN EXPATRIATE SELECTION

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNEE SELECTION METHODS

Interviews Self-Selection

Formal Assessment Job Posting and Bid

Selection Methods

Committee Decision Recommendations

Career Planning Assessment Center

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
THE BROOKFIELD GLOBAL RELOCATION
TREND SURVEY (2010)
o Language and cultural difficulties may inhibit
employment
o Plus, the challenges of immigration may make
potential employers unwilling to consider an
expatriate, because their spouse would need
immigration support.

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
DUAL CAREER COUPLES
Support programs and services
oPersonal adjustment programs
oCareer maintenance programs
oOffset of loss income
IHRM solutions for dual career couples
o Inter-firm networking
oJob-hunting assistance
oIntra-firm employment
oLanguage training, educational assistance
oEmployer-sponsored work permits
oCareer planning assistance
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QUESTION:

WHAT DIVERSITY
MANAGEMENT?

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
SELECTION AND DIVERSITY MGNT

What selection practices decrease diversity?

oSecrecy and confidentiality around selection

oAbsence of clear selection practices
oAn informal culture
oNominations for appointments by HQ or senior
management

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
FEMALE EXPATRIATES

o Increasing but still limited o Internal development and

o Acceptance by foreign promotion
counterparts o Cost of international
o Home country stereotyping assignments

o Unwilling to relocate o Age

o Attitudinal o Family

o Lifestyle

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
FEMALES BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING

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RECRUITMENT
& SELECTION
STRATEGIES
FOR THE
FEMALE
EXPAT

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RECRUITMENT & SELECTION
INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES
1. Involve HR in global strategic planning
2. Link each assignment to corporate strategies
3. Involve HR in assignment decisions and support services
4. Help assignees and their families make a smooth
transition into and out of their assignments
5. Utilise an assessment process that promotes the
selection of the best employees (avoid the ‘coffee
machine system’ approach)
6. Administer comprehensive programs that cover each
step from design of the assignment to the repatriation of
the employee and family
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Outline the main characteristic of the four approaches to
international staffing.
2. If you are given the opportunity in your next job to go on an
extended foreign assignment, what types of support programs
would you expect or ask for?
3. If you ever have the responsibility to select an associate for a
foreign assignment, how would you go about doing that and
what characteristics would you look for to ensure success?
4. What do you think is the most significant challenge for IHR in
managing international assignees? Why?
5. What are the most important factors involved in the selection
decision?
(To be completed in groups)
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