Selecting Managers for Foreign Assignments
International assignments are the heart of international HR, and it is therefore disconcerting to see how often such assignments fail. U.S. expatriates assignments that end early (the failure rate) range from 16% to 50%, and the direct costs of each failure can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. The exact number of failure is hard to quantify, in part because “failure” means different things to different people. An early return rate is perhaps the most obvious indicator. However, some expatriates may fail less conspicuously, quietly running up the hidden costs of reduced productivity and poisoned customer and staff relations. The processes firms use to select managers for their foreign assignments and domestic operations obviously have many similarities. For either assignment, the candidate should have the technical knowledge and skills to do the job, and the intelligence and skills to be a successful manager. However, it is seen that Continue reading