Staffing Approach, Expatriate Adjustment, And Training Recommendations For GoPops In Russia

Identify whether GoPops is taking an ethnocentric, polycentric or geocentric approach to staffing its new Russian stores. Use details from the case to justify your response.  

What are the benefits and risks of this approach to staffing, for GoPops?

What type of adjustment issues do expatriates typically face, and what can organisations do to help manage the transition?

In what ways might the experience of GoPop’s expatriate managers in Russia be different from the experiences reported in: Expatriate adjustment from the inside out an autoethnographic account, The International Journal of Human Resource Management,

What training would you recommend be provided to the following manager who has been accepted for posting to Russia?

Question 1: Identifying GoPops Staffing Approach in Russia

As per the case, it has been analysed that the company has send their European and US managers to lead the new Russian stores. This is because the management of the company wants that the actual and the original values of the company can be taught to the Russian staff as well. This requires the company to send their Parent country national to Russia as expatriates. Other staffing at the lower level is done from the local Russian people only (Lewis, 2010). This suggests that that approach that has been used by the company in the initial period of the business is ethnocentric in nature. Ethnocentric approach of staffing is the approach that deals with filling the key positions of the company with the parent country nationals that is the people who belongs to the parent country of the company. There are many reasons for adopting this approach of staffing (Chhokar, Brodbeck  and House, R.J, 2013). The first reason is that the company may not be finding any qualified staff for hiring at the host country. Another reason can be to transfer the knowledge and the beliefs of the parent country or to bring the knowledge from the parent country to the host county where the business has been started. This is because it is very necessary for the company to transfer their basic core competencies to the other subsidiaries of the company. In the case, the main reason to adopt this approach is to manage the local staff of Russia and also to transfer the beliefs and values of the company to the new subsidiaries in Russia (Farndale, Scullion and Sparrow, 2010). The major benefit of this approach is already discussed that it helps the firm to educate and transfer the basic values to the new subsidiary. However, there are many disadvantages of this approach as well. The first and the foremost disadvantage is that the people of the host country nationals may not get the chance to take up the opportunity. Other disadvantage of this approach is that it makes it difficult for the HR department to manage the employees (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2011). 

If the other situation of the case is concerned, it has been identified that the company has initially send the expatriates to Russia from US and after that the company has planned to hire the local people for the key positions. This is the approach that is called as polycentric approach. In this approach, the company hire the local people for the positions in the subsidiary at the host country and the people from parent country are hired at the headquarters (Lasserre, 2012). This is the approach that is sued to maintain the localisation at the subsidiaries so that the company can attract the local customers along with the international ones. The benefit for this approach for the company is that it provides the easy management of the company at the host country as the mangers and the employees are from the same background. The mangers understand the local market well and can take the decision better. However, the major drawback of this approach is that it may create the gap between the host and the parent company functioning (Ralston, D.A., Holt, Terpstra and Kai-Cheng, 2008).

Benefits and risks of staffing approach for GoPops

As the organizations are spreading in the foreign countries, so it is essential for the organizations to send their people to the foreign country in order to make the consistency of culture and the values of the company in parent as well as in host country (Moran, Abramson and Moran, 2014). The people who take the transfer in order to train the employees at the host country are known as expatriates. They face many challenges and needs to make some adjustments that re being discussed below:

1. Cross cultural adjustments: The major challenge that has been faced by the expatriates is of the difference in the culture. As the expatriates are from the different cultural background, so it becomes difficult for them to adopt the new culture suddenly and to deal with those people who have different background (Ralston,  Holt, Terpstra and Kai-Cheng, 2008). Several adjustments need to be made by them so that they can adopt the new culture.
2. Language adjustment: Along with the culture, the most important barrier that requires the adjustment by the expatriate. Expatriate needs to learn about the host country language so that the communication can be made easier between the expatriates and the local employees.
3. Loneliness and depression:  if the expatriates have to move towards the new country, they have to leave their relatives, friends and family. This makes it difficult for the expatriate to live alone at the new place with new people (Takeuchi, 2010). Because of the above two barriers, it also becomes difficult for the expatriates to make new friends and thus it results in depression and loneliness.
4. Local adjustments: As the expatriate has to move out of the country, he or she has to face some of the challenges relate to the time zone climate, the way of working, dressing etc. These are the local adjustments that have been faced by the expatriates. This is because there is difference in the time of the different countries, the climate is very different nada los the way the people and talk and dress up is very different (Andreason,  2008).

Organization can help these expatriates to face these challenges easily by aiming some of the efforts such as:

Training of language and culture: The managers of the parent company can helps the expatriates by educating them with the culture and the languages of the foreign country where the expatriate has to travel. This makes easier for the expatriate to face the cultural barriers easily.

Another strategy that can be sued by the organization is to make the artificial working environment for the expatriate just like the environment of the foreign country before the relocation of the expatriate. This also helps the expatriate to adjust in the new environment.

Allowing spouse to move with them: This is the biggest effort that can be made by the organization in order to support the expatriate in the new country (White, Absher and Huggins,  2011). Allowing the spouse to go with them helps the expatriate to survive in the new country.

As far as the article is considered, it has been analysed that the experience of the expatriate is very new. It has been analysed that the expatriate in the article has to move to Hong Kong and thus faced a cultural shock there. This is because she felt neglected in the initial days of her visits to the new office. Then she realized that “Guanxi” is the very important part of the Chinese culture (Friedman, Dyke and Murphy, 2009). The expatriate in the article has also faced the issue of language there and after that she learnt and managed to communicate properly. Language is the biggest challenge for her because even if she was speaking English, she needs to know little about the mandarin and the Cantonese. The article speaks about the U-curve for adjusting in the new environment of the foreign county by the expatriates. This U-curve starts with the honeymoon period that is followed by the period of shock phase, in which it is difficult to deal with the changes bad the last phase is the phase where everything is OK.

As far as the case is considered, it has been analysed that the US and the Europe expatriate has went to Russia for the new subsidiaries of the company. Cultural difference is there for sure. It has been identified that Russian people are very much informal in their way of meeting with others while Americans behave very differently. Russian people came very close when they talk to each other while Americans and Europeans hug each other or shake hands and maintain a distance while talking to each other (Bolino, 2007). There are many other such differences in culture thus it might be the major challenge for the expatriates to handle the cultural shock. Language could also be the barrier in the communication. It has been identified that Americans and Europeans are the people who speak English with different accent but Russians have different language and are not very much good with English. In case of corporate structure, it has been identified that the American companies prefer to follow the easy hierarchical system while the Russian believe in autocratic form of hierarchy. This makes it difficult for the expatriates to handle the people in such an easy way if he has to move to Russia from America. Americans and Europeans have the trait that they try to conduct the meetings informally so that everyone feels free to speak about the views and opinions regarding the topic. On the other hand, the Russian people beliefs in formal structured meetings. Thus, there are several things that act as the barriers or the expatriates.

Question 2: Adjustment Issues and Management for Expatriates

It has been analysed that there are some similarities and differences between the experiences of the expatriate in the article and the expatriate in the case. Both the expatriate has faced the challenges of culture and the language but the change in work patterns is the challenge that has been faced by the expatriate in the case.

Training to the expatriate is the crucial action that needs to be conducted in order to train the expatriate so that he or she can manage himself or the work in the foreign country. The companies generally start working early on the expatriate when they have to conduct and international assignment. It is very important to train them with all the challenges they may face in order to survive there in the foreign country (Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985). Some of the training needs to be given to the expatriate that has been discussed in the case so as to make him comfortable with the Russian culture:

Pre-program assessment and exploration: this is the step that is prior to the training in which the expatriates or the family tries to assess the background and the prior experience of their international visits. As in case, the expatriate has never been to Russia, so it is very important to make him comfortable with all the necessities that are required.

Training of work culture and the host manager: This is the training that provides the knowledge of the work culture of the host country and also the details of the mangers and the team with whom they expatriate has to work (Tung, 1987). Making them familiar before helps the expatriates to interact with them.

Knowledge management process training: The major aim of the expatriates to enter the new land is to train or transfer the knowledge of the parent company to the host country employees and manage the., as in the case, the company is bringing new fast food chain, so the manger has to be given the training that how the localization strategy can be linked with the centralized or consistent strategy of the company that should be remain sane all over (Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985).

Language training: Russia is the place where most of the people speaks Russian and fails to understand English. Thus, it is required to provide the language training to the expatriate so that he came easily communicate with the people in the host country.

Health and food training: It is very much important for the company to provide proper heath and safety training to the expatriate. This is important because there is difference in the climate and the food of the country (Selmer,  Chiu and Shenkar, 2007). This requires the company to make the expatriate knowledgeable about the food and the climate by creating the artificial environment for them in the parent country. This helps the expatriate to face the cultural and the climate shock he will be experiencing in Russia.

The above trainings are very important to be given to the expatriate of America and Europe in order to make them comfortable with the new environment of Russia. These trainings help them to survive in the new environment and work efficiently.

References:

Andreason, A.W., 2008. Expatriate adjustment of spouses and expatriate managers: An integrative research review. International Journal of Management, 25(2), p.382.

Bolino, M.C., 2007. Expatriate assignments and intra-organizational career success: Implications for individuals and organizations. Journal of international business studies, 38(5), pp.819-835.

Chhokar, J.S., Brodbeck, F.C. and House, R.J. eds., 2013. Culture and leadership across the world: The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies. Routledge.

Farndale, E., Scullion, H. and Sparrow, P., 2010. The role of the corporate HR function in global talent management. Journal of world business, 45(2), pp.161-168.

Friedman, P.A., Dyke, L.S. and Murphy, S.A., 2009. Expatriate adjustment from the inside out: an autoethnographic account. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2), pp.252-268.

Lasserre, P., 2012. Global strategic management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Lewis, R.D., 2010. When cultures collide. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Mendenhall, M. and Oddou, G., 1985. The dimensions of expatriate acculturation: A review. Academy of management review, 10(1), pp.39-47.

Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014. Managing cultural differences. Routledge.

Puck, J.F., Kittler, M.G. and Wright, C., 2008. Does it really work? Re-assessing the impact of pre-departure cross-cultural training on expatriate adjustment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(12), pp.2182-2197.

Ralston, D.A., Holt, D.H., Terpstra, R.H. and Kai-Cheng, Y., 2008. The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. Journal of International business studies, pp.8-26.

Selmer, J., Chiu, R.K. and Shenkar, O., 2007. Cultural distance asymmetry in expatriate adjustment. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 14(2), pp.150-160.

Selmer, J., Chiu, R.K. and Shenkar, O., 2007. Cultural distance asymmetry in expatriate adjustment. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 14(2), pp.150-160.

Takeuchi, R., 2010. A critical review of expatriate adjustment research through a multiple stakeholder view: Progress, emerging trends, and prospects. Journal of Management, 36(4), pp.1040-1064.

Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C., 2011. Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Tung, R.L., 1987. Expatriate assignments: Enhancing success and minimizing failure. The Academy of Management Executive (1987-1989), pp.117-125.

White, D.W., Absher, R.K. and Huggins, K.A., 2011. The effects of hardiness and cultural distance on sociocultural adaptation in an expatriate sales manager population. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 31(3), pp.325-337.