International Human Resource Management (IHRM) — Winter 2018

[A] Why is a greater degree of involvement in employees’ personal lives inevitable in many IHRM activities? [B] Explain the important criteria MNCs should use while selecting expatriates.

[B] Discuss the predictors of repatriation adjustment problems. What is the Ucurve of expatriate adjustment process? Explain.

[A] What are the effective ways to manage repatriation process? [B] What are the types of cross-cultural training? Is it necessary that such a training to be given to family members? Why?

[A] Define compensation. Briefly explain the various allowances paid by an organization to the expatriate. [B] Write a brief note on retaining, developing and retrenching local staff

[A] What criteria are used for performance appraisal of international employees? [B] In what ways can trade unions constrain the strategic choices of multinationals?

[A] What is ‘social dumping’ and why should unions be concerned about it? [B] “Performance Management is the most important responsibility of HR executives”. Comment1

[A] Accordingly to you, what should the management do now to address the problems of high attrition and cost in international operations? [B] Do you think current PMS is appropriate? Justify and suggest if any changes are required to make in PMS.

Siyana Software Limited is a fast growing software company in India. It defines designs and delivers technology-enabled business solutions to its clients. It has a global presence through strategic alliance with leading technology providers located in different parts of the world. In fact, it conducts its global operations through its 22 overseas offices located in countries like the USA, UK, Australia, China, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines and Argentina. The company has 15000 employees, of which 3200 are expatriates on an international assignment at any point of time. It has an international HR division as part of the well-developed HR department to prepare, expatriate and repatriate the employees linked to foreign assignments. The HR department of this company is managed by Mr. Pranav Kumar, director, (HR). The International Human Resource (THR) division, headed by AGM (IHR) Mr. Malhar Patel, is responsible for identifying; training, orienting and compensating the expatriate employees. It is also responsible for evaluating the performance of the expatriate on overseas missions. Since Siyana Software gets a sizeable portion of its income from overseas operations, it has spent a considerable amount of time and resources to develop a global HR system. Yet, the international division of this company faces a few specific problems like high employee attrition among expatriates and a high cost of maintaining them on international assignments. An employee satisfaction survey conducted among the expatriates revealed employee dissatisfaction over performance evaluation and pay differences. Some of the expatriates complained that the IHR division was ignoring the dissimilarity in the expatriate assignments and foreign situation while evaluating the performance of the expatriate employees in the same positions posted to different countries. As such the international performance management tools have failed to recognize the country-or region- specific difficulties in job performance. Another major problem associated with the expatriate assignment is the high cost of maintaining expatriates on overseas jobs. Siyana Software estimated that the cost of using expatriates sent from the parent company is usually far greater than the cost of using local employees. The management also felt that the expatriates often overemphasized short-term results rather than the necessary long-term results since they were aware that they would be working in the foreign assignment only for a few years. The management sought the view of the HR department about the expatriate problems and instructed it to develop strategies to surmount them. The HR department forwarded the letter to IHR division for its views and responses. Mr. Patel, in his reply, defended both the performance evaluation system for expatriates and the practice of deputing parent-country employees. Regarding performance evaluation, he maintained that a cross-section of the employees, including expatriates, was consulted while designing the international performance standards and evaluation techniques. Thus, the international performance management system2 was objective and comprehensive. As regards, the high cost associated with the expatriate employees, he wanted the present system to continue in the future despite managerial vacancies. According to him, the expatriate system enabled the company to have a better and direct control over the foreign branches. When his response was placed before the management, there was a sense of disappointment among the top managers. This was because the response from IHR division was devoid of any concrete solution. Understandably, the management was seriously pondering its next move. [A] What is your understanding of the seriousness of the problem faced by Siyana Software Limited in its overseas operations? [B] What is your opinion about the response of the IHR division to the queries raised by the management?