Stand-Alone Project
MI606 International Human Resource Management

Stand-Alone Project: A Proposal for Expatriate Employee Development (200 points)

You are an IHRM professional who has been asked to create an IHRM plan for the development of expatriate employees (expat) who will open and manage a major facility employing 5,000 people in a foreign country. You know that the preparation of expatriate employees is key to the success of this international operation. It is critical that the expat be able to address cultural differences and to meet the expectations of the local population. You realize that the preparation of expat employees must go far deeper than giving them information about proper business etiquette. It is imperative that your employees understand the values and beliefs that drive workplace expectations in the new country’s culture. A bibliography formatted in APA style is required. Include the “course” text book in your references: International Human Resource Management: Policies and Practices for Multinational Enterprises (5th ed.), Routledge. By Ibraiz Tarique, Dennis R. Briscoe, and Randall S. Schuler. (200 points) (A 20-page, double-spaced, response is required.)

Part A

Identify a home country culture and a foreign country culture that you wish to research and use as the situational basis for your project. For example, the home country culture could be the United States, and the foreign country culture could be China. Use ProQuest, the database found on the Ashworth College website, the Internet, your textbook, and the Lecture and Research Updates to research cultural similarities and differences (in terms of Hofstede’s four dimensions) between the two countries’ cultures for work place issues that might arise for expatriates. (Keep in mind that you will look for general stereotypical information about a given country’s culture.) If possible, interview individuals from each of the two countries’ cultures that you’ve chosen to use in your project. Try to find people who have similar work experience. Use the information you gather to provide the following:

Describe the type of company that you work for by industry, age, financial health, and reason for wishing to expand overseas. Also, use Hofstede’s dimensions to describe the home national culture. (20 points)
Describe the national culture where the new subsidiary will be established in terms of age and financial health, as well as motivation to create an alliance with the acquiring company. Also, use Hofstede’s dimensions to describe the new national culture. (20 points)

Part B

Either find an expatriate employee or create an imaginary situation and expatriate profile (ex: 41-year-old male with an MBA and ten years’ experience, etc.). If you know an expatriate who will let you interview him or her family, then do so. If not, create an imaginary expatriate family to serve as the typical family for which to model your recommendations (ex: 3 children, one in 9th grade, etc.).

1. Describe a profile of the expatriate employee in terms of function, seniority, education, work experience, prior overseas experience, knowledge of the new culture, and motivation for accepting this assignment. (20 points)
2. Describe a profile of the expatriate family in terms of spousal background (career, hobbies, overseas experience in general and knowledge of new culture in particular), and background of children (how many children, age, grade in school, extracurricular interests, prior overseas experience in general, and prior experience with the new culture in particular). (20 points)