Talent management changing

Is Talent Management Changing the Way in Which International Assignments Are Understood?

Dr Sophie Cranston

Loughborough University 1

The ‘War for Talent,’ developed by management consultants McKinsey in the late 1990s, refers to the global shortage of highly skilled workers and the subsequent challenge that transnational organizations face to attract, develop and retain the workforces that they will require— this is seen to be where the future successes of organizations will lie. Talent management can be argued to be the global mobility buzzword of the 21st century.

International assignments are seen as part of talent management.

“Previously assignments were about skills shortages, now with talent management, international assignments are seen as a way to retain and develop talent” (Relocation Manager)

Doing an international assignment is a way in which to develop a ‘global mindset,’ the ability to transcend cultural differences to work anywhere in the world. With an increasingly globalized economy and workforce, a global mindset is seen as a prerequisite skill for global leaders. This means that talent management

has the potential to present a ‘sea-change’ in how international assignments are understood.

This report questions whether there is a ‘sea-change’ in how international assignments are understood within multinational organizations by presenting two models of international assignments: the traditional expatriate and the talented employee. Focusing on understandings of place, it shows that the ‘sea-change’ has not happened.

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Traditional Expatriate Model • The expatriate is abroad primarily to set up or run overseas subsidiaries, transfer corporate culture or fill skill or knowledge gaps.

• Being abroad is seen as a hardship In early discussions about the management of expatriate, being abroad was framed as a ‘barrage’ of ‘obstacles.’ These obstacles are the differences in almost every aspect of everyday life of living in a different country.

Talked about in war-like terms, the expatriate’s life abroad is seen as a hardship.

“Expatriates confront numerous obstacles, both in the overseas workplace and in the foreign society in which they reside: culture shock, differences in work-related norms, isolation, homesickness, differences in healthcare, housing, schooling, cuisine, language, customs, sex roles, and the cost of living, to name but a few. Given the barrage of cross-cultural obstacles that every expatriate must confront, it is not surprising that may expatriates fail to complete the full term of their overseas international assignment.”

(Mark Mendenhall, Edward Dunbar, Gary Oddou’s seminal 1987 International Human Resource Management Article)

A portrayal of hardship runs through the balance sheet approach of expatriate compensation. This approach is where the wage of the assignee, paid on home terms, is supplemented with additional benefits, such as housing, a car, servants, education, healthcare and club membership—the expatriate package.

• The package is the incentive to compensate the expatriate for the difficult position they are placing themselves and their family in.

• The package would in effect protect the expatriate from the abroad by giving them the means not to engage with the local.

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Talented Employee • As a training tool associated with talent management, engaging with the local population is seen as an opportunity.

One of the skills of the talented employee is the global mindset.

The individual with a global mindset is seen to travel the world with ease, unhindered by any cultural differences.

“It is an awareness of how individuals and organisations work and factors that influence decision making around the world. So it is that phrase work global and think local, so being aware of the differences that exist between people” Senior Global Mobility Manager

One of the ways in which a global mindset is developed is through overseas work experience- an international assignment. Being abroad then is an opportunity, not a hardship. Assignees then do not need to be compensated in the same way.

• Local packages or the going-rate approach places locals and assignees on equal terms instead of producing difference between them.

• The assignee is actively encouraged to adapt and engage with the abroad.

“They can’t just export, they have to adapt, rather than seeing everything from their own perspective” Senior Global Mobility Manager

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Is there change?

The discussions about a global mindset have the potential for ‘a sea-change’ in the way in which international assignments are practised. Yet, this sea-change has not happened.

Many people who worked with international assignees talked of the paternalistic expectations that their assignees have while abroad.

We call it secondment-itis. People go on secondment and they just lose all sense of being rational human beings able to take care of themselves.”

Senior IHR Mobility Manager

These expectations exist because doing an international assignment is still portrayed as being a hardship rather than an opportunity. Assignees want to be protected from what they perceive are the difficulties abroad.

Evidence shows that people increasingly want to work abroad. Yet, simply working abroad cannot be seen as the development of a global mindset. Developing a global mindset presupposes a meaningful engagement with different cultures—this needs to be encouraged by organizations. We need a change in rhetoric within

organizations about how the abroad is portrayed.

Being abroad needs to become seen as an opportunity.

• The support that organisations offer should focus on supporting the development of the employee rather than acting as shield.

• We need to stop focusing on the difficulties of being abroad and rather focus on the many positives: the adventure, seeing the world, finding out about oneself, new language skills, and new friends, to name but a few.

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The research presented here is based upon qualitative research that looked both at management discussions of expatriates in the UK and how British migrants in Singapore responded to these. This includes 23 interviews with people who work in expatriate management, and 36 interviews with 39 British migrants in Singapore.

This ESRC project entitled ‘Following the Expatriate: Producing, Practising and Performing British Expatriate Identities in Singapore’ was carried out between 2010 and 2014 by Dr Sophie Cranston. For more information please see www.sophiecranston.com.

Source: Mendenhall, M. E., E. Dunbar, and G. R. Oddou. 1987. Expatriate Selection, Trainingand Career-Pathing: A Review and Critique. Human Resource Management 26 (3):331–345.

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