The Challenges of International Assignments
Keywords:
international assignment, phases, expatriates, repatriation, culture shock, reverse culture shockAbstract
In today`s business environment, more and more companies decide to spread their activities abroad seeking for the opportunity to enhance their business results. Although the level of internationalization of these activities could be different, performing many of them require that the employees from the parent company leave the headquarters of the company for some time. In other words, some employees are given international assignments. International assignments are usually seen as a process which consists of several phases. The most comprehensive view is that this process consists of three phases: pre-assignment phase, assignment phase and post-assignment phase. Each phase has its own specificities and challenges and requires adequate activities of the human resource management (HRM) department. Successful managing of each phase is the precondition for an international assignment success. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address and analyse the most important challenges of each phase as well to address some of HRM practices in order to effectively manage these assignments.
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