MODULE 10:
RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION OF
INTERNATIONAL MANAGERS
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KEY AIMS:
Outline the factors that influence the recruitment and
selection of international managers;
Consider how the recruitment and selection of
international managers differ from that of more locally
based managers;
Examine issues of gender, ethnicity, cross-cultural variation
and economic development in the recruitment and
selection of international managers;
Consider how the global recession has affected patterns of
recruitment and selection for international managers.
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INTRODUCTION
Recruitment is a significant issue in International Human Resource
Management, for the simple reason that a failed international
assignment can be a serious waste of money and time for both the
manager and MNC in question. Unfortunately, many MNCs still tend
to use an informal or generic recruitment and selection program and
ignore its impact.
This chapter builds upon the issues raised in the previous chapters
to consider what is involved in the successful hiring of international
managers in theory and in practice, and to discuss ways of setting up
recruitment and selection programs which enable firms to find the
right people for the job, before examining broader issues of diversity
in international recruitment and selection and the changing needs of
businesses following the global recession.
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KEY CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
RECRUITMENT - the practice of deciding what the company needs
in a candidate and instigating procedures to attract the most
appropriate person for the job. It involves identifying the needs of
the company regarding the position to be filled, and attracting
suitable candidates for the job.
SELECTION - choosing the right candidate for the position from the
ones who have been recruited. It involves testing and evaluating the
skills and attributes of these individuals to determine which are the
best ones for the job at hand.
INTERNATIONAL MANAGER - a manager on an assignment which
requires working and/or living for a time outside of their home
country.
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CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT
International Recruitment involves defining what
the assignment entails and what sort of person is needed
for it, and then considering how to attract that person.
To the point where Dowling and Welch (2004)
identify four myths which have grown up surrounding the
recruitment of international managers, which shape
managers’ expectations:
▸ There is a universal approach to management.
▸ People can acquire multicultural behaviors without
outside help.
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CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT
▸ There are common characteristics shared by all
successful international managers.
▸ There are no impediments to mobility.
Both managers and assignments can vary widely in
terms of what they need and the characteristics required.
To this, we can also add a fifth myth:
▸ The differences between national cultures and legal
regimes are ultimately superficial and have little to no
impact on international assignments.
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The Company
FACTORS
AFFECTING The Nature of the Assignment
THE CRITERIA
FOR The Person
RECRUITMENT
Legal Issues
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FACTORS AFFECTING THE CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT
THE COMPANY
Companies have different needs in the international
sphere, and different relationships to the global and the
local. When recruiting international managers, these
considerations are arguably the first thing which should be
taken into account, with particular regard to what sort of
international manager would best fit with the company’s
strategy.
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FACTORS AFFECTING THE CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT
THE NATURE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The Nature and length of the assignment must be
considered. An overseas assignment lasting only a few
months, for instance, requires less preparation and less of a
disruption to the lifestyle of a manager than one lasting
three years. Similarly, an assignment involving travel to a
variety of countries requires a different sort of preparation
to one involving moving to a single other country.
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FACTORS AFFECTING THE CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT
One would need different skills and capabilities for
each of the following common reasons for seeking an
international manager:
▸ teaching a new process;
▸ helping a branch through a matrix integration;
▸ setting up a new branch or representative office;
▸ assisting with a joint venture;
▸ facilitating knowledge transfer between a subsidiary and
its head office.
When recruiting candidates, HR managers must
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consider the following questions:
WHAT
are the needs of
head office from WHAT
the manager?
sort of role does
the manager need
to play in the HOW
assignment?
long will they be
required to play it?
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FACTORS AFFECTING THE CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT
THE PERSON
It is equally crucial to consider the nature and motivations
of the sort of person whom the company requires for the
international assignment. Managers do not always take
international positions for the same reasons, but may do so from a
combination of motivating factors, including:
Career Advancement
Financial Statements
Interest in the area
Interest in travel
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FACTORS AFFECTING THE CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT
LEGAL ISSUES
Managers should consider what the hiring
regulations are in the home country and the host country,
especially whether there exist regulations forbidding
companies from hiring non-local staff unless they can prove
that they are essential. It is also worth considering how long
a person can legally work in the country of assignment, and
whether it has any legal impediments to the immigration of
certain groups.
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SELECTION
INFORMAL METHODS
Traditionally, despite the abundance of literature on
the subject, little consideration has gone into the specific
requirements of an international assignment, and instead
candidates have been selected informally, based on
personal contacts.
A senior line manager is standing by the coffee
machine when he (usually a man) is joined by a colleague:
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SELECTION
‘How’s it going?’
‘Oh, you know, overworked and underpaid.’
‘Tell me about it. As well as all the usual stuff,
Jimmy in Mombai [sic] has just fallen ill and is being flown
home. I’ve got no idea who we can get over there to pick up
the pieces at such short notice. It’s driving me crazy.’
‘Have you met that Simon on the fifth floor? He’s in
the same line of work. Very bright and looks like going a
long way. He was telling me that he and his wife had a great
holiday in Goa a couple of years ago. He seems to like India.
Could be worth a chat.’...
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SELECTION
FORMAL METHODS
Formal methods, while more reliable, are not entirely
problem-free. Selection on the basis of past experience, for
instance, is often deemed a reliable guide to future performance.
As Bartlett and Ghoshal note:
One problem is that profiles that have been generated
often include an inventory of personality traits, individual beliefs,
acquired skills and other personal attributes and behaviors
assembled ... with little logical linkage to bind them. Furthermore,
these profiles are often developed based on surveys of current
managers or analysis of the most successful individual performers
in the existing context.
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SELECTION
TESTS AND EXAMINATIONS
In theory, at least, formal tests and assessments
are more objective than the selection methods we have
considered above, in that they are less based on
advantageous friendships or on formal criteria which may or
may not be good indicators of future performance.
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SELECTION
Some of the means of selection will be familiar to
most readers, such as:
▸ Interviews
▸ References/resumes
▸ Selection tests
▸ Assessment centres
▸ Specific monitoring of disadvantaged groups
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SELECTION
THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS
As some more globally integrated companies are now
beginning to recruit cross-nationally rather than simply look for an
applicant at the head office, more complex and specific criteria for
selection are needed. Such individuals are known as third-country
nationals (TCNs), as opposed to being from the home or host country
of the MNC.
SELECTING FOR SPECIFIC ABILITIES AND COMPETENCIES
MNCs will want to select candidates with specific abilities and
competencies which might prove useful in the assignment. However,
this can be a mixed blessing: on the one hand, it saves the cost of
training, but, on the other hand, it might mean that a better performer in
other areas is passed over.
DIVERSITY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT
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AND SELECTION
This is a problem for many companies, both because of the
pervasiveness of equal opportunities legislation in many countries, and
because MNCs are increasingly concerned to hire the best candidate
for the job. Furthermore, this belief is not supported by research:
(Sinangil and Ones (2003) ) found no differences in performance
between male and female expatriates.
THE PROBLEM
This is despite the fact that demographics in the home
countries of these firms have been changing. In the first place, to try
and ignore gender and race is to deny the real fact that discrimination
exists.
DIVERSITY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT
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AND SELECTION
Second, this approach ignores the advantages that
gender and race may bring to the assignment, particularly as
these are situations in which intangible assets may count, and
in which an innovative approach may be necessary. To be
‘colour-blind’ is thus not to grant everyone an equal chance, but
to ignore workplace realities. Finally, different countries have
different regulations and traditions regarding discrimination,
equal opportunities and positive discrimination. When engaging
in the selection of international managers, it is thus advisable to
be aware of the regulations in the home and the host country
regarding the hiring of disadvantaged groups, and to take these
into account.
DIVERSITY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT
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AND SELECTION
HIRING WOMEN AND ETHNIC MINORITIES: THE PROS AND CONS
PROS:
• Woman was seen as a novelty or curiosity, and so her contacts were
better able to remember her than more conventional male
expatriates. It may also be the case that, in a male-dominated
business culture, businessmen may not see a female manager as a
potential rival, and thus may be more open with her than with male
managers.
• Managers come to realize that relational skills and inter-cultural
competencies may be worth more than technical skills as success
factors in the international business arena.
DIVERSITY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT
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AND SELECTION
• The stereotype of women as better relators and facilitators than
technicians may come to work.
• Worth considering that many of the key skills associated with
international assignments are stereotypically ‘feminine’.
CONS:
• Discrimination can be a source of stress, particularly when a woman
or minority manager moves from a more egalitarian business culture
to a more hierarchical one.
• Discrimination may go beyond simple bias and stereotyping; in some
countries, for instance, women may not be allowed to travel without
a male escort, and there are also countries in which homosexuality
is illegal, putting gay and lesbian international managers at serious
risk.
DIVERSITY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT
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AND SELECTION
FAMILY
• Both genders, the happiness of a spouse and children can have a
strong impact on their morale and adaptability. Focuses on the role
of wives in the traditional male-centred expatriate assignment,
demonstrating that the wife’s happiness had a measurable impact
on that of the expatriate himself.
• HR managers must be particularly careful in the case of international
assignments to ensure that the recruitment and selection process is
egalitarian, and takes into account the particular strengths and
weaknesses of women and minorities in the assignment in question,
as well as considering the impact of the move on the international
manager's family.
DIVERSITY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT
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AND SELECTION
THE DEVELOPING WORLD
• Issues of relative power can lead to problematic relations
between the international manager and his or her local
contacts; there may also be a greater danger of resorting to
damaging stereotypes, and/or misunderstanding the local
culture and the social qualities necessary for the assignment.
• Care must be taken to select a manager with particularly
good skills in the areas of communication and sensitivity, as
well as, in some cases, an understanding of local norms and
values.
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THE CHANGING INTERNATIONAL MANAGER
It has been suggested in the past that the increasing recognition of
international management as a distinct case within recruitment and
selection is furthering the emergence of the ‘international manager’.
And before the international managers were only exclusively
focused on selecting less for practical or technical skills, and more
for such things as ‘inter-cultural ability’ and ‘global awareness’, but in
fact the multinational national company’s are developing programs
for those who are really specialized in international management
and on the context of MNC the recruitment and selection should
focus less on the context of national assignments and more in the
development and improving the abilities of international managers.
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THE CHANGING INTERNATIONAL MANAGER
And the new managerial class is emerging according with
the article telling the myth of international managers. That
says that the most successful international managers, he
notes, are not the ones who keep on moving, but the ones
who like their assignment so much they opt to stay in the
country and as a international managers it’s really important
to be familiarized with the culture and practices from
different countries to be able to understand the issues from a
variety of complicated perspectives, and through the
globalization, a globalized managerial elite is emerging and
its not defined in terms of people’s international assignments,
but more in terms of their attitudes and activities
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CONCLUSION
The one certain thing in international recruitment
and selection would seem to be the lack of certainty. It was
being said that it is impossible to identify hard-and-fast
criteria for all international managers, or for that matter all
international assignments. Each situation must therefore be
taken on its own merits; the strategy of the company, the
MNC’s relationship with home and host country cultures, the
tension between global and local interests within the MNC
and the agendas of the candidate and their family need to
be taken into account, and the recruitment and selection
program designed accordingly.
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CONCLUSION
Recruitment and selection in the international sphere
are very much context-dependent, and it is consequently
very difficult to predict who will do well. However, with
care and consideration, it may be possible to
significantly reduce the risk of failure and produce
successful international managers.
As Bartlett and Ghoshal put it, ‘Instead of forcing the
individual to conform to the company’s policies and
practices, the overall objective is to capture and
leverage the knowledge and expertise that each
organizational member brings to the company’
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THANKS!