International Human Resource Management Mark

International Human Resource Management

Mark could have done many things to avoid his current professional and personal unhappiness with repatriation to Singapore. This paper outlines recommendations for planning, understanding repatriation challenges and forming realistic career expectations that could have helped to avert Mark's dissatisfaction.

Plan for the Future

The catalyst for wanting to return to Singapore was the death of his wife's father and her desire to help take care of her mother. The family was also concerned about the ongoing education of their young children. However, these were all foreseeable events and Mark should have thought about his long-term future both from a personal and a business perspective when moving forward with working internationally.

Specifically, Mark should have done much more to ensure successful reentry to Singapore since that seemed to be what he initially wanted. He should have communicated his future plans to his company and sought a "reentry guarantee." "Expatriates are often equipped with a so called "reentry guarantee" in their foreign service contract, stating that the relocating department or division guarantees a reentry position at least the same level as the one they are leaving or -- in some companies -- the one that they previously held in the foreign country." (Andreas Weber's reward for success in an international assignment)

Given that Mark lacked a reentry agreement, he should have started networking with hiring managers and colleagues at headquarters as soon as he arrived in England. He had complained that someone who was less qualified than he was had gotten a position that he had interviewed for, but didn't factor the importance of personal relationships in obtaining senior executive positions.

Better Understand Repatriation Challenges

Clearly, Mark and his family had become accustomed to the English lifestyle and Mark had enjoyed his assignment in England, and, as such, should have reviewed research in the repatriation area and thought about the challenges it could bring to their own lives. "Immersion in a foreign culture is a profoundly transforming experience, and it should not be surprising to find that the person who comes home is not the same person who left." (Longatan, 2009) in fact, many studies show that adjusting to one's home culture can be even more difficult than adapting to a foreign culture (Adler, 2002; Stroh et al., 1998). Problems of repatriation stem from reabsorption, both professionally and personally (Tung, 1988). Adler (2002) summarizes the results of a number of studies that show the impact of repatriation on careers:

the majority of expatriate managers experience some degree of culture shock during repatriation, one out of every five employees who completes an overseas assignment wants to leave the company when they return, less than half of returned expatriates receive promotions upon return,

two-thirds of returning expatriates feel their overseas assignment had a negative impact on their careers, at least half of returning employees feel their reentry position is less satisfying than their overseas assignment.

These statistics could have served as a wake up call for Mark that he needed to think a lot more about what the repatriation would imply for his own career.

Form Realistic Career Expectations

Mark's expectations for his career were naive and he could have formed my realistic hopes by doing research into the issue as well as looking at the situation at his company. Research suggests that one of the most devastating experiences of the repatriate is being placed in a "holding pattern" on return from the foreign assignment (Murray, 1978). Yet, Mark thought that his situation would be only temporary and that he would soon be back on track for a senior management position in Singapore. He had not factored in the business conditions back home or that fact that few new openings ever materialize there. He also knew from his earlier rejection for a job he had applied for in Singapore, that the best person doesn't necessarily get the job in the world of corporate politics in a large organization. At the very least, many executives experience disillusionment due to other executives, who did not take foreign assignments, being promoted above them (Henry and Lusch, 1982). Perhaps, in Mark's case, he just didn't want to face the obvious; a senior executive position at his company would not be available for some time, if ever.