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2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

9. Multilevel Factors of International Assignment Implementation and Management in EMNEs

Author : Iris Koleša

Published in: Becoming an International Manager

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Abstract

Based on the findings from the empirical study presented in the previous chapters, this chapter discusses the interactions between the multilevel determinants of international assignment implementation and management in emerging market multinationals. It first outlines the emerging market specifics determining international staffing in emerging market firms and how this is experienced by emerging market firms’ employees (see Sect. 9.1). It then discusses how the organisational context (especially the organisational structure) impacts firm-level and individual-level international staffing discourses, strategies, and practices (see Sect. 9.2). Next, it explains how individuals’ features influence the international staffing approaches in emerging market firms (see Sect. 9.3). The chapter then discusses the individuals’ role transitions, modes and types of identity work at different stages of international assignments and by assignee segments as determined by organisational discourses (see Sect. 9.4). Finally, the limitations of the study and opportunities for future research are outlined (see Sect. 9.5).

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previous chapter Long-Term Managerial Assignment Challenges as Experienced by Assignees

next chapter Clashes of Interests Versus Clashes of Identities: Theory on Firm–Employee Interactions During International Assignments

This may change with dominance of millennials and centennials in organisations.

Despite a recognised lack of assignment-ready and willing individuals in the internal and external labour markets (and in spite of the need for raising awareness regarding assignment-related opportunities among employees in order to promote the willingness to go on such assignments), neither of the two firms brand themselves through international employee mobility.

Excluding short-term international mobilities from the organisational international staffing discourses or separating such mobilities from the firms’ employment contracts by introducing assignment contracts with sole proprietors that are less obstructive to internal firm–employee relations is another cost reduction strategy in reference to organisational international staffing.

Had assignees been identified as expatriates, the match would not be as apparent and the individuals would be more focused on their personal rather than the organisational needs. Their colleagues would probably also experience more difficulties in identifying with them as foreigners rather than their colleagues (although superiors).

This finding is similar to that of Giddens (1984), who proposes that there is an ongoing, reciprocal interaction between system and individual, structure and process, context and interaction, and macro and micro (and in this case also mezzo).

Co-management and prolonged coaching can reduce the pressure for an immediate transfer of business, enable gradual adjustment to the new role, and disperse responsibility for assignment implementation in this respect. It is best received by junior recruits, though, as it challenges senior recruits’ extant managerial identity.

This role shift from a generalist to a specialist requires the otherwise expert-oriented or strategic-thinking-focused individuals to transform into operative managers, willing to perform even the less prestigious tasks in SMEs with less business support functions.

Mawdsley and Somaya (2016), for instance, identify three main competing channels to employee mobility: (business) networks and geographic spillovers, acquisitions, and alliances. They do not provide comparative insights into the value of these channels for business internationalisation relative to international assignments, or in the potential combined effects of the different combinations of their use, though.

See, for example, the findings from the pilot interviews described in Chaps. 4 and 5.

Caza et al. (2018) term the process of identity work that acknowledges the interconnectivities between multiple identities within the self as self-work.

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Title: Multilevel Factors of International Assignment Implementation and Management in EMNEs
Author: Iris Koleša
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Becoming an International Manager
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-87394-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-87395-0

Copyright Year: 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87395-0_9