Challenges To Effective Selection

By Author: Lance Tavares
Total Articles: 4
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The global staffing problem becomes more complex the more you examine it. Imagine a beleaguered HR manager mired in the administrative detail of a job. He informs an equally busy line manager that the Japanese candidate who has distinguished himself as a team player in Tokyo is too passive and deferential to succeed in the aggressive corporate culture. To further complicate things, the corporate culture of the U.S. organization dictates that the best-and-the-brightest be rewarded, and the Japanese candidate isjust that. You can predict the line manager’s reaction: The candidate will remain at the top of the list. This isn’t the case because the line manager is stubborn, but because there is a dearth of qualified candidates who are culturally adept.
Even if we could introduce a selection instrument that could predict success, we’d still have to contend with the limited pool from which candidates can be selected. Some of the challenges that make selection difficult will be discussed in this article.
Scarcity of qualified candidates
Indeed, one of the major underlying problems is the lack of personnel ...
... qualified to handle an overseas assignment. One enormous challenge is dealing with the growing demand for expatriates among companies that have no history or background in the global business arena. While many corporations --the Shell Oils, IBMs and Goldman Sachs of the world -- are well known for their global positions, and anyone joining such an organization knows from Day One that an expatriate assignment may be in the cards), there are plenty of firms where overseas assignments have only recently begun to enter into the equation. The idea of living outside one's native country is, quite literally, a foreign concept. That’s especially true for small companies that are just beginning to forge global links. In many instances, employees must obtain passports and shots, and learn the lay of the new land. These individuals often have nobody to turn to within the company for information and support.
Moreover, in today’s rapidly expanding global business environment, many organizations are sending expatriates to remote locales that have no history or tradition of accepting foreign nationals. And, even when a company has a pool of talent to choose from, these locations can sometimes prove vexing. Even the most experienced or cultural adept individuals have a difficult time adapting.
Spouse career and other family issues
We not only have to deal with the employee’s ability to adapt to another culture, but now add another variable -- the spouse and family. It has been documented by countless researchers that spouses are the most important aspect of a successful expatriate experience. HR managers around the world will tell you the more eager and willing a partner is when it comes to accepting an assignment, the more likely the employee will fulfill the business mission. Yet, only 37 percent of all companies involve the spouse in selection discussion . In addition, two-income families (which constitute the majority of families in the candidate pool) present an additional problem. They encounter visa and work permit problems on expatriate assignment, and therefore face the loss of the spouse’s income and career opportunities.
Perhaps the most frequently mentioned obstacle for a dual career family (discussed more fully in other articles) -- is having one partner abandon a promising career to follow the other. Not only can such a move create resentment and anger, it can compromise the effectiveness of the entire assignment. But other issues exist as well: the impact on finances when a family must adjust to the reality of living off a single salary; the difficulty that children face trying to speak another language and coping with an entirely different set of social customs; and the loss of one's support system, including parents and friends. All these factors contribute to a narrowing field of potential candidates, and make line managers edgy about selecting expatriates from an already meager list.
Need to make rapid deployment decisions
The absence of time is one of the most frequently cited reasons for not providing vital services and programs. When a business requirement in Singapore demands that a manager be sent immediately, filling that opening as quickly as possible becomes the only objective. So, what happens in the real world is that the candidate with the needed technical skills winds up on route to Singapore almost before the global HR manager knows that an opening exists. In order to be effective, selection must take place well in advance of an opening. The company must be prepared; it must have a process or mechanism in place to ensure that a pool of candidates is available at any given moment.
Look for more on identifying successful managers