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Institute of Management
Nirma University

International Human Resource Management

Individual Assignment
Documenting and Analysing Experiences of Expatriates

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Aravind Puduval Prof. Shreshtha Dabral
Roll Number: 181207

Date of Submission: February 24, 2020

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ABSTRACT
Business operations across national borders are becoming the trend in the current era, and
this trend continuously grows because of globalization and multinational operation. In response to
this globalization issue, multinational corporations like Walmart tend operate in other countries to
have excellent advantage. According to Amponsah (2001), globalization and the eagerness of a
certain business organization to operate across borders involves two dimensions i.e. change in
economic operations of various countries, and change in the participants of global economic
operations. And for the same expatriates are the most key people who need to be managed with
the right HR practices at the international and national level. Thus, here are two such expatriates
who have actually gone through the phase and lot more which has been covered under various
headings in this assignment.

Keywords: Expatriates, IHRM, Experiences, Areas of HR, HRM, Expatriation and

Repatriation Management
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Contents
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................... 2

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT- INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................................... 4

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 4

METHODOLOGY UNDERTAKEN ................................................................................... 10

INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPATRIATES .............................................................................12

INTERVIEW.......................................................................................................................... 16

Responses.................................................................................................................. 18

ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 23

Analysis and Findings Drawn from Expatriate 1- Mr. Manish ‘s Interview ................ 23

Analysis and Findings Drawn from Expatriate 2- Mr. Kunal Kotak ‘s Interview ........ 29

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 33

ANNEXURES .............................................................................................................. 34

Annexure 1: ............................................................................................................... 34

Annexure 2 ................................................................................................................ 36
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INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT- INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
About Today’s IHRM

It is a truism to point out that the world is becoming more international. This applies to our
technology, our travel, our economies and our communications – if not always obviously to our
understanding. The growth of global enterprises leads to increased permeability in the traditional
business boundaries, which in turn leads to high rates of economic change, a growing number and
diversity of participants, rising complexity and uncertainty.

Traditionally, much of our understanding about IHRM has been based on the study of
multinational corporations (MNCs). A multinational corporation is defined as an enterprise that
operates in several countries but is managed from one home country. In practice, once an enterprise
derives more than one quarter of its revenues from outside its home country, it is considered an
MNC.

MNCs may take any of four forms: a decentralized corporation that has a strong home-
country presence; a global and centralized corporation that can acquire a cost advantage through
centralized production; an international company that builds on the parent company‘s technology
or research and development; or a transnational enterprise that combines all three of these
approaches. In general, an MNC may not have coordinated product offerings in each country,
because it is more focused on adapting its products and service to each individual local market.
Some people pr efer to use the term multi nat i onal en t er pr i se (MNE) because the word
corporation implies business organizations, whereas many other forms of organization – such as
non-governmental bodies or charities – might be deemed to have multinational characteristics.

The term transnational corporation (TNC) is typically used to describe much more complex
organizations that have invested in foreign operations, have a central corporate facility, but give
decision-making, R&D and marketing powers to each individual foreign market. We shall
generally use the abbreviation MNCs throughout the report for the sake of convenience
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and simplicity. Its World Investment Report focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI)
worldwide and at the regional and country levels. As of publication the latest data for non- financial
organizations relates to 2008. Based on an average of three ratios (the ratio of foreign assets to total
assets, foreign sales to total sales, and foreign employment to total the Trans nationality Index often
paints a surprising picture. Acer of Taiwan would rate 12th, Tata Steel of India 18th, and Samsung
41st.

Using one of the three measures of geographic spread; some more familiar names appear
in the list of all financial organizations. However, these FDI prospects were considered to be
fraught with risks and uncertainties. These risk factors included the slow global economic recovery,
investment protectionism, rising sovereign debt and continued volatility in the currency markets –
all likely to slow down the pace of FDI across the globe in 2011. The United States, the epicenter
of the global economic meltdown in 2008, gradually recovered from the crisis, with FDI flows
increasing by 40 per cent in 2010 to US $186.1 billion from US $129.9 billion in 2009. Developing
and transition economies attracted half of global FDI inflows, and invested one quarter of global
FDI outflows.

There was a sharp increase in global FDI flows to East and South-East Asian countries and
Latin American nations in 2010. This marked the first time that developing countries outpaced rich
nations in attracting foreign investments. And thus, there have been a great growth in terms of
expatriation and repatriation in respect to the part where the companies send their employees to
work in these MNCs and other companies.

How Expatriation gets linked to all of this?

Expatriation is ―the process of sending managers to another country to run a subsidiary of

a multinational organization. Before departure, the process should include an extensive period of
training and preparation to ensure that the managers are familiar with cultural differences and to
reduce the likelihood of culture shockǁ (Dictionary of Human Resource Management 2001, p. 120).
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An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing,

as an immigrant, in a country other than that of their citizenship. The word comes from the Latin
terms ex ("out of") and patria ("country, fatherland").

Requirements for Expatriation

• Knowledge of the language

• Socio-cultural and economic differences
• The family aspect: the integration of the spouse can be difficult because they do not have the
relationships which the expatriate has at work.
• Destabilizing aspects of expatriation
• Example: • Physical: climate, illnesses, • Habitual: gestures, looks, emotions, • Symbolic:
linguistic, conventional.

International human resource is a decisive factor of an organization's position and is

widely recognized as an influencing factor for failure and success of international business
environments. International human resource involves developing human resource
capabilities to meet the diverse needs multinationals organizations.

Multinational Enterprise (MNE) factors involved in the expatriation selection is:

• Technical Ability
• Cross-Cultural Suitability
• Family Requirements
• Organization-Specific Requirements
• Language
• MNE requirements.
• Knowledge transfer
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Advantages and Challenges to be handled

• Technical skills as well as relational abilities increase the probability of success by a large
degree
• Saves a major amount of time in dealing with the clients and work
• Provides a global understanding of the work
• Improves the relationship with the client; in turn will give more business to the organization
• Provides job satisfaction to the employee; this will increase the productivity
• The more complex the environment, the more it enhances the planning and motivation
techniques of the employee; thus, confidence increases

Global business frequently requires the expatiation and repatriation of managers and skilled
workers. Employee satisfaction with expatriation and repatriation is critical to the success of
MNCs because these employees often play a pivotal role in managing and coordinating the
operations of the extended enterprise (Morgan, et al., 2004).

The decision of MNCs to participate in international competition raises a host of human

resource issues. One must consider whether a particular location provides an environment
where human resources can be successfully acquired and managed.

One important issue that has been recognized over and over the past few years is the set of
problems inherent in selecting, training, compensating, and reintegrating expatriate
managers.

The importance to an MNC's profitability is making the right expatriate assignments. A

prominent issue in the international staffing literature is expatriate failure--the premature return
of an expatriate manager to his or her home country (Hill, 2007). Expatriate and their families
suffer high rates of poor performance and failure, each loss or failure can be extremely expensive
in direct and indirect costs. The total financial costs associated with expatiation as well as
premature repatriation stints are estimated to be between $2 and $2.5 billion (cited in Jun, et al.,
2001).
The expatriate failure rate is an important indicator for measuring the effectiveness of
expatriation management. Results showed that the costs of expatriate failure are high and
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involve both direct and indirect elements. In the case of expatriate recalls, the direct costs include
salary, training costs, and travel and relocation expenses (Shen, 2005). In addition to finances, the
early returns can be also costly for MNCs with respect to good will and reputation (Dowling &
Schuler, 1990). In many cases, this high failure rate of expatriate managers is becoming a persistent
and recurring problem in the MNCs. One of the difficulties encountered by expatriates has been
blamed on inadequate training programs before departure to the host country. On the other
hand, the indirect costs may be considerable and unqualified. Indirect costs may include damaging
relation with the host country government and other local organizations and customers. Also,
indirect costs include loss of market share, damage to corporate reputation and lost business
opportunities (Shen, 2005).

Of course, some companies do engage in serious efforts to make foreign assignments

beneficial both for the employees and the organization. Very often, however, such companies
consign the responsibility of expat selection, training, and support to the human resources
department. Few HR managers—only 11%, according to a research—have ever worked abroad
themselves; most have little understanding of a global assignment’s unique personal and
professional challenges. As a result, they often get bogged down in the administrative minutiae of
international assignments instead of capturing strategic opportunities.

The use of more effective training programs is to improve the expatriate's

performance in an overseas environment, thus minimizing the incidence of failure (Shen,
2005). Because of the increasing pace of global challenges in the workplace environment,
employees may have to attend training and development programs offered by their employers on
a regular basis (Rowold, 2007). For example, Honeywell surveyed 347 managers who lived abroad
or traveled regularly and found that increased training was critical for executives and employees
for international assignments. It is also noted that cross cultural training has been found to reduce
the severity of culture shock and reduced the time necessary or expatriate managers to adjust to
the culture, reach a level of cultural proficiency, and become effective and productive in their
international assignments (Ronen, 1989).
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Objective of My Study
1. To analyze the experience of the expatriates by interviewing them through phone calls,
mails and having open ended question answer session.
2. To get insights from the interview and secondary resources about the organizations my
expatriates are working on and define critical issues in Expatriation and IHRM.
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METHODOLOGY UNDERTAKEN
Methods:

1. e- Mails with open ended questions

2. Video/ Audio Interviews on Call and Skype
The first set has been the information taken through emails. Then it was through the
audio/video calls through Skype and other mediums. This was the mail sent to one of the
expatriates:

Hello.
Good Evening.
Thanks for agreeing to become a great source of information for this important project of
mine. You being an expatriate will surely help me give great insights on examining the experience
of an individual in another country and how any organization manages the transit.
For my projects initial study and data collection, I would be requiring your views on the
following areas:

1. Cultural aspects in terms of (organization’s Name) India and (other country)

2. How were you chosen as the expatriate to execute the task assigned?
3. Training and Development given before or after?
4. Compensation Practices/ Expenses of stay etc.
5. Acceptance by the (other country) employees and their behavior issues, challenges &
experience) also, any assistance provided from the organization
6. Personal growth & development, changes in your own personality
7. Task/ Responsibilities allotted & experience with it
8. Support from India or (other country)
9. Your daily routine
10. Experience after coming back to India

Please mention details about your existing designation, role and responsibilities and your
growth in (organization’s name) as an employee- separately.
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Why this method of Emails with Open Ended Questions?

Open-ended questions will allow expatriates to include more information, including feelings,
attitudes and understanding of the subject. This allows me to better access the expatriate’s true
feelings on an issue.

Why Audio and Video Calls also apart from emails?

Apart from the written replies, audio and video calls will actually allow me to get to their
experiences in detail which makes my analysis better. The working professionals had the paucity
of time during weekdays and thus two weekends with half an hour stretch was kept to interact with
them on any social media or communication medium.
The audio video calls also made me get insights on their current professional career and the
developments they are doing or got through their expatriation process which wasn’t possible in the
emails.

Why these questions?

The following categories cover the most part of their experiences which gives us an opportunity
to get to know the exact differences in two companies and in countries also.

1. Cultural Aspects
2. Staffing Techniques
3. Performance Management Systems
4. T& D Practices
5. Compensation Practices
6. Relationship with Subordinates and Superiors
7. Acceptance by the Employees and Their Behavior
8. Settling Their Family (Issues, Challenges & Experience) Also, Any Assistance Provided from
the Organization
9. Personal Growth & Development, Changes in Your Own Personality
10. Task Allotted & Experience with It
11. Host Country Support
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INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPATRIATES

Expatriate 1:

Name: Mr. Manish Kumar

Organization: Walmart Labs India
Designation: Engineering Manager, Walmart Labs India
Current Residence: Bengaluru
Country: USA
Duration of the Assignment: 2 years in TCS and 2 Months in Walmart
Description of the Assignment: He headed the foreign assignment of
Walmart for back end supply chain in their headquarters.

General Work Role: Engineering Manager for Store based fulfillment Product. Own delivery of
product, define solution, manage stakeholders and manage resources

Organization Profile:
If you’re thinking scale, think bigger and don’t stop there. At Walmart Labs Bengaluru, they don’t
just innovate, they enable transformations across stores and different channels for the Walmart
experience. Take a regular day at Walmart Labs and match that with 260 million customers a week,
11,695 stores, under 59 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. That’s
Walmart Labs Bengaluru for you.

With fiscal year 2017 revenue of $485.9 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.3 million
associates worldwide. They innovate to deliver a simple and seamless experience for their
customers. Their tech talent solves the biggest and most complex problems. They drive digital
transformation where data and analytics are enabling us to better serve their customers and create
a digital relationship with them. As their customers evolve and adapt, they are taking it a few
notches further here. They’re changing what customers can expect from the experience of
shopping, from the physical stores, to mobile, social and even online; they‘re not just ready for the
future of shopping, they’re creating it.
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Website: http://www.walmartlabs.com/india/
Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka
Company type: Public Company
Company size: 1,001-5,000 employees
Specialties: Retail and eCommerce, Big Data and Analytics, and Social, Mobile & Cloud

Why Mr. Manish Kumar as an Expatriate for this Assignment?

- His organization- Walmart has operations in many countries and is a perfect MNC for
expatriation assignment.
- Mr. Manish has been an expatriate in many countries in his past organizations and has had
experiences in terms of handling client sites’ projects and even company directed projects
in other countries.
- His job journey has been in many different kinds of companies like Indian companies,
MNCs and thus this gives a better perspective in terms of how different origin companies
have policies regarding expatriation and other IHRM projects.
- Has handled various kinds of profiles and has been getting trainings in national and
international arenas which makes him a resource of information about IHRM.
- Also, on a personal note, since he is a business friend, it was easier to converse with him
about his experiences and already the experiences have been shared in an informal manner
which makes me get good insights which are rich in information related to expatriation
process in different countries.
- He has been working in Walmart since quite a long time and has been sent to the
assignments as expatriated many a times.
- He was the first choice because he represents Walmart in USA from India HQ and this
makes him a source of direct comparison.
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Expatriate 2:

Name: Mr. Kunal Kotak

Organization: Wipro Technologies
Current Designation: Project Manager, Wipro
Current Residence: Bengaluru
Country: Edinburgh
Duration of the Assignment: 1 Year
Description of the Assignment: He went there for work regarding an
installation project.

General Work Role: Working on a Global Project that too Hands on experience, Lots of
technologies to learn with lots of exposure and the best part is being getting trained on various
technologies\Skills, which really helps in self-development.

Organization Profile:
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information
technology, consulting and business process services company. They harness the power of
cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to
help their clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized
globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and
good corporate citizenship, they have over 160,000 dedicated employees serving clients across
six continents. Together, we all can discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a
bold new future.

Wipro Technologies, the global IT business of Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) is a leading
Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company, that delivers solutions to enable
its clients to do business better. Wipro Technologies delivers winning business outcomes
through its deep industry experience and a 360° view of ―Business through Technologyǁ – helping
clients create successful and adaptive businesses.
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A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a practitioner’s approach
to delivering innovation and an organization wide commitment to sustainability. Wipro Technologies
has 120,000 employees and clients across 54 countries. For information visit www.wipro.com or
email [email protected].

Website: http://www.wipro.com
Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka
Year founded: 1945
Company type: Public Company
Company size: 10,001+ employees
Specialties: Consulting, Business Process Outsourcing, Business Application Services,
Infrastructure Management, Cloud Services, Analytics and Information Management, Product
and Engineering Services, Mobility, Datacenter Managed Services, and Software application
management

Why Mr. Kunal Kotak as an Expatriate for this Assignment?

- His organization- Wipro Technologies has operations in many countries and is a perfect
Indian Company to be studied for this assignment. (Moreover, in comparison with
Walmart- this would be a better comparison of an MNC and an Indian Company)
- Mr. Kunal Kotak has been an expatriate in one country for a long time and has had
experiences in terms of handling client sites’ projects for a long period where Wipro was
in their support him at the client site.
- His job journey has been in many different kinds of companies like Indian companies, and
thus this gives a better perspective in terms of how different origin companies have policies
regarding expatriation and other IHRM projects.
- Has handled various kinds of profiles like national and global managers of projects by
Wipro and has been getting trainings in national and international arenas which makes him
a resource of information about IHRM.
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INTERVIEW
The Mail Sent to the Expatriate 1: Mr. Manish Kumar - Walmart

Hello.
Good Evening.
Thanks for agreeing to become a great source of information for this important project of
mine. You being an expatriate will surely help me give great insights on examining the experience
of an individual in another country and how any organization manages the transit.

For my projects initial study and data collection, I would be requiring your views on the
following areas:

1. Cultural aspects in terms of Walmart Labs India and USA

2. How were you chosen as the expatriate to execute the task assigned?
3. Training and Development given before or after?
4. Compensation Practices/ Expenses of stay etc.
5. Acceptance by the USA employees and their behavior issues, challenges & experience)
also, any assistance provided from the organization
6. Personal growth & development, changes in your own personality
7. Task/ Responsibilities allotted & experience with it
8. Support from India or USA
9. Your daily routine
10. Experience after coming back to India

Please mention details about your existing designation, role and responsibilities and your
growth in Walmart as an employee- separately.
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The Mail Sent to the Expatriate 2:

Hello Mr. Kunal.

Good Evening.

Thanks for agreeing to become a great source of information for this important project of
mine. You being an expatriate will surely help me give great insights on examining the experience
of an individual in another country and how any organization manages the transit.
A per our conversation today- For my projects' initial study and data collection, I would
be requiring your views on the following areas:

1. Cultural aspects in terms of Wipro India and Edinburgh (Client Name and Site)
2. How were you chosen as the expatriate to execute the task assigned?
3. Training and Development given before or after?
4. Compensation Practices/ Expenses of stay etc.
5. Acceptance by the Edinburgh employees and their behavior, issues, challenges &
experience) also, any assistance provided from the organization
6. Personal growth & development, changes in your own personality
7. Task/ Responsibilities allotted & experience with it
8. Support from India or Edinburgh
9. Your daily routine
10. Experience after coming back to India

Please mention details about your existing designation, role and responsibilities and your
growth in Wipro as an employee- separately.

Thanks in advance.
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Responses

Mr. Manish Kumar - Expatriate 1

Hi Aravind.
Here is the information that will be helpful for your project –

1. Cultural aspects in terms of Walmart Labs India and USA

Walmart Labs India is subsidiary of Walmart US and adopts same culture and values as the parent
company. We also mirror same organization structure and roles in India. The work culture and
ways of working differ due to difference in local culture and environment for instance, US
employees start their day early in morning 7.30 AM and finish by 5 PM while in India we start our
day by 10 AM and it goes on till late night. In US, people desire to be more organized and focus
on one task at a time while we do more multi-tasking and comfortable with chaos.

2. How were you chosen as the expatriate to execute the task assigned?

I was responsible as Engineering Manager for a Product that we have started building from
scratch form Bangalore location. I had multiple product stakeholders including business and
counterpart engineering teams who were working from US location. The intent of the travel was
to know each other, build relationship with stakeholders, gather knowledge about product from
SMEs and also define ways of working among the teams in US and India. This is required to
execute product smoothly from India.

3. Training and Development given before or after?

I was going there for a short trip of 2 weeks so there was no explicit training. I inquired about the
culture and ways of working from my peers who had earlier gone to US. I did some research of
place myself and collected information about the logistics.
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4. Compensation Practices/ Expenses of stay etc.

I travelled on B1 visa and all my expenses of accommodation, travel and food were reimbursed
based on actual bills.

5. Acceptance by the USA employees and their behavior issues, challenges & experience) also,
any assistance provided from the organization

I welcomed by my US counterpart who helped me throughout the stay. He introduced me to

everyone in the team, helped me to understand who is working on what and how I can get the
information that I needed. People were collaborative and open to have meetings and discussions.
I had to make sure that I find the right person and set the appropriate agenda for the meeting.
There was a time crunch and I had to do significant preparation for my meetings, collate
information and plan for each day.

Personally, I had to cope up with my sleep timings as body takes couple of days to adjust with
different time zone, did not have issues with food as there were multiple Indian restaurants, hotel
stay was comfortable and got executive class facilities and had shuttle to commute to the office.

6. Personal growth & development, changes in your own personality

The visit helped me to improve communication and influencing skills, learnt about functional
domain and developed business perspective of product.

7. Task/ Responsibilities allotted & experience with it

As it was business visit, there was no task allocated to me

8. Support from India or USA

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I was in continuous touch with my senior in Bangalore, used to share summary of information that
I had gathered so far and take his advice on next steps and resolve any bottlenecks. I was also in
touch with his counterpart in US and take his help to get time of required people

9. Your daily routine

The day used to start with telecom with India team and then series of face to face meetings with
business stakeholders, Architects, Product Owners and SMEs

10. Experience after coming back to India

After coming back to India, I shared summary of my trip with my seniors and then performed KT
of product and business knowledge to my team. I was on constant touch with all stakeholders whom
I met in US and continued to strengthen the relationship.

Mr. Kunal Kotak- Expatriate 2:

Hi Aravind,

Sorry for replying late. As I just missed this completely and realized I am yet to reply to you. Please
find my updates below.

1. Cultural aspects in terms of India and Edinburgh (Client Name and Site).

Both the places differ a lot from cultural aspects, from working hours to Daily lifestyle. It gives
you a rich experience in understanding a different culture in comparison to from where we are
coming. Overall the kind of work we do follow similar Standards across. So, I’ll take that as
advantage and it doesn’t take much time to get adapted to it.
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2. How were you chosen as the expatriate to execute the task assigned?

Based on my experience, eligibility to travel onsite, role that I was playing at offshore and current
responsibilities.

3. Training and Development given before or after?

Specially designed program which helps individual in understanding cultural aspects of the place
where one is travelling. There are also some Behavioral programs designed along with Basic
English assessments which we need to clear, to be eligible to travel Onsite.

4. Compensation Practices/ Expenses of stay etc.

We are given advance pay-out while travelling. Initial stay in hotel for 2 weeks with family all paid
by company, including Travel and food.

5. Acceptance by the Edinburgh employees and their behavior issues, challenges &
experience) also, any assistance provided from the organization.

As such no issues, because we already know each other and have worked with each other for a
while. Even if the project is new to any individual, there is a practice for employee to work with
client for some time from offshore before travel.

6. Personal growth & development, changes in your own personality.

Indeed, it was a wonderful experience and you learn throughout your stay, which gives boost to
your confidence and exposure to a different culture.
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7. Task/ Responsibilities allotted & experience with it.

I went there to perform technical role and co-coordinating with customer for any requirements
and I was located at customer site only.

8. Support from India or Edinburgh.

9. Your daily routine.

My day use to start early, as my working hours were from 0800 to 1600 (UK time) and after
reaching office we have series of meetings to attend and daily technical work. Sometimes it
requires travel as well to offices located at different location to fix the issue. Sometimes during
some special activities, we use to extend our working hours to support the same.

10. Experience after coming back to India.

Other than what I learnt and experienced during my tenure at onsite. The positive thing what I
developed was my relationship with Customer. We’ve better understanding and respect.

Let me know if you need any further details on the same. Happy to discuss. (I would recommend
not to use Organization and client details)

Warm Regards
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ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION

Analysis and Findings Drawn from Expatriate 1- Mr. Manish Kumar’s Interview

1. Cultural aspects in terms Answer: Walmart Labs India is subsidiary of Walmart US and adopts
of Walmart Labs India and same culture and values as the parent company. We also mirror same
USA organization structure and roles in India. The work culture and ways
of working differ due to difference in local culture and environment
for instance, US employees start their day early in morning 7.30 AM
and finish by 5 PM while in India we start our day by 10 AM and it
goes on till late night. In US, people desire to be more organized and
focus on one task at a time while we do more multi-tasking and
comfortable with chaos.

Analysis: Difference between the working culture and other aspects

in India and USA:

1. The Importance of Time

As a discussion with him when he was there, he used to get good
enough time to actually roam around the place and explore, since
they are very particular about their shift timings. Unlike in India
when he comes home at 1 AM also- and sometimes called at 3 AM
when it’s a technical glitch in the back-end software which only he
can solve.

In India, we generally get late to work and have to sneak into our
offices and work until late night to cover up for the time. Most of us
consider work to be our first priority whereas it should be of equal
importance to our personal life.

2. The Office Environment

Offices in the west consider workplace health as one of the most
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significant things. Maintaining a positive environment and mental

health is the biggest factor that increases productivity. And as per the
expatriate that was quite visible in the office there.
India is now catching up with this factor. We believe in team building
activities. Walmart fortunately has an excellent spread of facilities-
from breakfast to a lot of things. Thus, in this part slight adjustment
is only required when somebody is sent as an expatriate.

3. Hierarchy
In India, since he already mentioned that they are mirroring the
parent company Walmart’s structure in Labs India also. This shows
that no matter what, at least in MNCs the employee feels comfortable
in terms of hierarchy when he goes as an expatriate.

• Unlike the Indians, the Americans plan things ahead. The

Americans believe in dominating nature and controlling the
world around them. On the contrary, Indians believe in the
harmony with nature. And in USA, they are very systematic
also.
• Another difference that can be seen between Indian culture
and American culture is that the Indians love stability
whereas the Americans love mobility.
2. How were you chosen as Answer: I was responsible as Engineering Manager for a Product
the expatriate to execute that we have started building from scratch form Bangalore location.
the task assigned? I had multiple product stakeholders including business and
counterpart engineering teams who were working from US location.
The intent of the travel was to know each other, build relationship
with stakeholders, gather knowledge about product from SMEs and
also define ways of working among the teams in US and India. This
is required to execute product smoothly from India.
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Analysis:
Positive impacts due to the assignment of the task:
• Deep knowledge of the industry and the place and new skills –
technical and soft ones - obtained at the right market in favorable
time, improved understanding of business;
• Experience of managing big teams, mastering leadership and
management skills;
• Development of new responsibilities, new instruments inside of
their functional area or in a completely new one;
• Global business approach (especially in HQs), strategic thinking,
understanding peculiarities of new markets, learning from the
best;
• Improved visibility within the company, widened network,
experience of dealing with hierarchy;
• Main personal skills developed: flexibility, adaptability, open-
mindedness, accepting diversity, adjusting to new ways of
working and living, being ready for change, self-confidence and
independence, maturity;
• Strong communication skills;
• Mastering foreign languages.
• Also, the child was taken care of very carefully and the new born
baby even got the British citizenship

3. Training and In his case, he was not given any training but his past experiences in
Development given before IT company’s shows that he was given an extensive cross- cultural
or after? training as he was moving out to Scotland that was his client- JP
Morgan Chase’s site.
Further Analysis:
The Training was again required by the Spouse who even got
pregnant while she went there and thus a lot of care and help was
given by TCS.
 26

From the answers, I concluded that, the issue that affects an onsite
job is mainly the cultural difference and language. With these
respondents the family issues did not rise up and all were reportedly
enjoyed the onsite trip with minimal problems. The onsite
assignments were very much successful for him as he got the best
care. The problems they faced were very minimal according to their
response because they say that all were given the training before
travel.
4. Compensation Actual bill reimbursement made it easier for him to not worry about
Practices/ Expenses of expenses but yes of actually spending first and getting the expense
stay etc. later.
5. Acceptance by the USA The Colleague Relationship
employees and their In western countries, everyone maintains a professional relationship
behavior issues, at work, even if they are family members or very close friends. In
challenges & experience) office and while at work, they follow a strict professional
also, any assistance conversation which could be casual later, only when they are out of
provided from the the organization premises.
organization In India, we are yet to get to this level of professionalism. We tend to
do a lot of favors for each other. We become friendly in no time, and
then there’s no stopping to our physical and emotional activities
towards each other. Though, in some cases, this also has a positive
side. It helps in becoming comfortable in the workplace and creates
an encouraging environment, leading to better productivity.
6. Personal growth & Individual development and enrichment, new qualities acquired,
development, changes in learning new languages – beneficial for both professional and
your own personality personal life;
• Psychologically expats reported becoming stronger and physically
sometimes too, for example, when having a chance to practice more
sports than before or live an outdoor lifestyle, which was influenced
by the new culture;
• Adopting new lifestyle taking the best out of it and, at the same
 27

time, appreciating even more what they had at home;

• Getting to know new culture not superficially, as a tourist, but
deeply understanding processes of the new society;
• Travelling a lot in a new geographical region, expanding cultural
borders;
• Finding new acquaintances, expanding communication circle,
obtaining multinational friends for the expats and their families.
7. Task/ Responsibilities Common Analysis:
allotted & experience with His quote on phone call
it “I am extremely satisfied; I think it brought to my life super satisfying
8. Support from India or challenges, not only on a professional level but also on a personal
USA level. I think it helped myself to be conscious of how good I can be at
9. Your daily routine my job, even if they take me from my own country and put me in a
new place where I am not an expert in the culture at all, I just know
marketing and commonsense and I am able to do a better job than
the people in their own country and even the support
was appreciated with daily meetings and routine”
10. Experience after Strong bond with the colleagues in US was made which actually
coming back to India made this expatriate’s work easier and smoother in terms of new
product development.

General Analysis of Difference in Work Culture for Expatriates:

• Benefits for the relationship between the partners, which tend to become closer when moving to
the new place. In Mr. Manish Kumar’s case he got to start his family there with his new born baby
boy in case of TCS- his part expatriation in Scotland. Family unit was strengthening; spouses got
to know each other better, extraordinary experience made the family bond. Mr. Manish Kumare
even got to call his mother to take care of his spouse with full support and bills paid by TCS. This
was a great step by expatriation proceedings by TCS back in 2006.
 28

• The level of life of the whole family got higher due to economic benefits and special conditions
provided to the global employees;

• Families got to know different culture, travelled, adopted new ways of thinking living in a
completely new landscape, and learnt how to manage efficiently their daily life in the new setting;

• Positive aspects for spouse: sometimes they managed to get good employment at the new place
or opened business, in addition to learning new languages and developing other interests.

Repatriation which refers to the termination of the overseas assignment and coming back
to the home country or to the country where the HQ is located or to the home subsidiary from
where he was expatriated.

For Mr. Manish Kumar, it was repatriation in terms of family adjustment a lot because of
the new born baby. In case of his expatriation in USA, it was easier because it was without his
family but in the case of 2006‘s TCS expatriation, he had his mother, spouse and the child to be
looked after. But somehow due to the finances being covered and everything taken care of, it was
easier for him to adjust. And since all of this had a good impact on the employee, he didn’t leave
the organization.
 29

Analysis and Findings Drawn from Expatriate 2- Mr. Kunal Kotak’s Interview

Questions Analysis on the basis of interviews on call, experiences shared

and secondary resources
1. Cultural aspects in terms Answer: Both the places differ a lot from cultural aspects, from
of India and Edinburgh working hours to Daily lifestyle. It gives you a rich experience in
(Client Name and Site). understanding a different culture in comparison to from where we
are coming. Overall the kind of work we do follow similar
Standards across. So, I’ll take that as advantage and it doesn’t take
much time to get adapted to it.

Analysis: Difference between the working culture and other aspects

in India and UK:
The IT assignments are very client-focused and client-initiated.
There is a pattern noted in the IT business model which is very
dependent on the client contracts, whilst trying to over fulfill the
expectations, lead to unrealistic expectations from the employees.
Similar to studies within the Western context, there is no particular
focus on preparation of the expatriates for the new country;
technical concerns seem more important. If there is a requirement
by the client, then an available person with the required skill set is
sent on the assignment.
2. How were you chosen as It’s always on the current experience you have main difference
the expatriate to execute the between the Indian IT organizations and Western companies is that
task assigned? the latter expatriates are going to their subsidiary office, where they
have a support network. On the other hand, the Indian IT expatriates
are going to a completely new organization, as consultants, where
the client organizations expect them to perform and complete the
work. The lack of a preparation and support network was therefore
noted by most respondents as the main
concerns.
 30

Positive impacts due to the assignment of the task:

• Deep knowledge of the industry and the place and new skills –
technical and soft ones - obtained at the right market in favorable
time, improved understanding of business;
• Improved visibility within the company, widened network,
experience of dealing with hierarchy;
• Main personal skills developed: flexibility, adaptability, open-
mindedness, accepting diversity, adjusting to new ways of
working and living, being ready for change, self-confidence and
independence, maturity;
• Strong communication skills;
• Mastering foreign languages.
3. Training and The companies will provide trainings for the employees before
Development given before travelling. Some companies will provide very often unlike the
or after? companies giving training just before travelling. Class room
trainings are done by almost all companies and some firms give
online trainings too. There are internal trainers for all firms. They
can be training experts or the top managers or professionals who
have experience in travelling.
Here all the Behavioral, Language, Cultural aspects were covered.
His company is providing training for the employees very often
which also includes cross cultural training sessions. They have a
full-fledged training wing to provide adequate training sessions and
different kind of technical as well as soft skills for all employees
irrespectively. Cross cultural training for the employees who are
going for onsite is mandatory in his company and employees are
very much satisfied with training given because they can overcome
any kind of challenge they face outside the
country to a great extent.
4. Compensation Practices/ Advance payouts were there.
Expenses of stay etc.
 31

5. Acceptance by the As such no issues, because we already know each other and have
Edinburgh employees and worked with each other for a while. Even if the project is new to any
their behavior issues, individual, there is a practice for employee to work with client for
challenges & experience) some time from offshore before travel.
also, any assistance
provided from the The part where he explains that they are actually allowed and made
organization. to travel with the client is a great way to actually help the
employee to settle down easily.
6. Personal growth & Individual development and enrichment, new qualities acquired,
development, changes in learning new languages – beneficial for both professional and
your own personality personal life;
• Adopting new lifestyle taking the best out of it and, at the same
time, appreciating even more what they had at home;
• Getting to know new culture not superficially, as a tourist, but
deeply understanding processes of the new society;
• Travelling a lot in a new geographical region, expanding cultural
borders;
• Finding new acquaintances, expanding communication circle,
obtaining multinational friends for the expats and their families.
7. Task/ Responsibilities Common Analysis:
allotted & experience with His quote on phone call
it “I was pleasantly surprised, everything was really well-organized.
8. Support from India or It was nothing new; everything was planned, like a standard routine.
UK Checklist tells you what to do when you leave, when you come back,
9. Your daily routine if you follow the checklist you shouldn’t have any big
issues. I did it and up to now I didn’t have any impacts.”
10. Experience after Strong bond with the colleagues in UK was made which actually
coming back to India made this expatriate’s work easier and smoother in terms of new
product development.
 32

In summary, with multicultural teams becoming the norm, a strategic cultural integration
plan is now a required part of conducting business globally. Far from being an extravagance,
integrating cultures through a solid, sustainable multicultural business strategy is one of the most
important investments you can make to leverage high-performing teams and ensure offshoring
success.
A true success model is a collaboration—an ongoing partnership between the client and its
offshoring service provider who brings cultural integration expertise to the relationship. When
both parties have a vested interest in the outcome, and when team members from different cultures
view their differences as enriching and an essential part of enhancing productivity, success is sure
to follow.

Expatriation continues to represent an important form of international mobility.

Nowadays, global employees tend to express strong desire to have a balance between various life
domains, not simply paying attention to the added value of expatriation for their professional
development and career growth but possessing inclinations towards harmonious development of
family and personal life. Unlike domestic jobs, an international assignment is more of a family
affair; therefore, expatriates are looking for the ways to avoid work-family conflict by all means,
even declining the assignment or terminating it earlier if negative effects of expatriation influence
family life and personal well-being. Not just individual satisfaction with the assignment suffers
and work commitment decreases, but the company employer bears substantial material and human
costs. Therefore, it is important to assess expatriation assignment in a holistic way taking into
account different spheres of the employees’ lives. In this regard, special HR policies are to be
developed and implemented in order to increase efficiency of expatriation and moderate its
negative impacts
 33

REFERENCES

• Morgan, Leslie O., Jie, Winter & Young, Scott T. (2004). Operational factors as determinants
of expatriate and repatriate success. International Journal of Operation & Production, 24: Iss.
11/12, 1247-1261.

• Hill, Charles W. (2007). International business, 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007

• Shen, Jie. (2005). International training and management development: Theory and reality.
The Journal of Management Development, 24: Iss.7/8, 656-666.

• Rowold, Jens. (March 2007). Individual influences on knowledge acquisition in a call center
training context in Germany. International Journal of Training and Development, 11 (1), 21-
36.

• Jun, Sunkyu, Gentry, James W. &Hyun, Yong J. (Second Quarter 2001). Cultural adaptation
of business expatriates in the host marketplace. Journal of International Business Studies, 32
(2), 369-377.

• Dictionary of Human Resource Management 2001, Oxford University Press, Oxford

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ANNEXURES
Annexure 1:

Profile- LinkedIn of Mr. Manish Kumar - Expatriate 1

 35

Annexure 2

Profile- LinkedIn of Mr. Kunal Kotak- Expatriate 2

36