Kingfisher Hotels owns more than 60 hotels throughout Australia. They recently acquired a small hotel chain headquartered in France. Kingfisher's chief executive decided that half of the new hotelsin France would be retained and rebranded as part of the Kingfisher Hotels Group; the other half will be sold. This will support Kingfisher's strategic objective of growing theorganisation slowly to ensure that new ventures are well supported and opened on time and on budget.

Kingfisher's hotels areconsidered budget accommodations; they are functional, clean and reasonably priced. Most guests stay for one to three nights and are a combination of business and leisure travellers. The hotels are typically situated in downtown locations easily accessible by mass transit. Tourists are attracted to these hotels in popular visitor destinations where the many local attractions mean they will not spend much time in their hotel rooms.

The organisation decided to use anethnocentricapproach and send some of their existing Australia-based managers to France to lead the changeover of the new hotels and then manage them after they re-open. If this new overseas venture is successful, Kingfisher may decide to acquire other small hotel groups in other European countries. The organisation would like to own 150 hotels in the next five years. Their 10-year plan is to own 300 hotels across Europe. This is an ambitious target, so the organisation must find an effective formula to operate successfully in other countries.

The management is not happy with the performance of the Australian managers and decided to promote six managers already working for Kingfisher Hotels to work overseas (see Table: Overview of Successful Candidates). They feel confident that these six can successfully open the new hotels.These managers' success is vital tosetting up the new business, so management wants to ensure they provide adequate support for them in terms of training and development. They believe that the best option is to divide training into two parts: pre-departure training and on-the-job training in the new country. They are not sure about what should be included in these training programs. The only mandatory area that must be included is an introductory language section (including basic business French) so that the managers have a basic grasp of the French language by the time they open the new hotels. However, they hope that the managers will enjoy their introductory language course and will continue to attend more advanced language classes when the new hotels are open.

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Table: Overview of Successful Candidates

Overview of Work History and Characteristics

Manager A

Now age 28, joined the organisation at 18 years of age.

Has worked for Brunt Hotels for 10 years.

Five of these years were in a management position.

Has never travelled abroad for business or holidays/vacations.

Is concerned about not knowing much about French culture and

how hotels are managed in France.

Manager B

Age 55.

Has worked for Brunt Hotels for 22 years.

joined the organisation as a hotel cleaner and worked through

the ranks to management.

Regularly visits Asia for extended vacations but has never

travelled to Europe.

Is concerned that he or she is used to having a close support

network in the UK and that this might not be possible due to the various locations of the French hotels.

Manager C

Age 49.

Has worked for Brunt Hotels for nine years.

Joined the organisation in a management role.

Previously worked for a small, family-run hotel.

Has visited France four times on family holidays.

Is concerned that he or she has little HR knowledge and is

worried about the implications when getting the new hotel ready.

Age 38.

Joined Brunt Hotels six months ago.

Is concerned that he or she has not had much management

experience in this organisation but has previous management

experience in another large hotel group.

Is very interested in learning about new cultures.

Has six years' previous experience working in arestaurant.

Is concerned that his or her family may find it challenging to

settle in France.

Manager D

Manager E

Age 21.

Joined Brunt Hotels two years ago.

Graduated from University three years ago.

Completed a one-year placement in a French hotel as part of a

university degree.

Understands some basic French and is keen to master the

language.

Is concerned about how his or her staff will react to having a

young English manager.

Manager F

Age 41.

Joined Brunt Hotels 14 years ago.

Became a manager for Brunt Hotels one year ago.

Has six years' previous experience working in a tourist

information centre.

Is concerned about his or her communication skills and lack of

IT skills.

1. Are you able to critically discuss the role of training in supporting expatriate adjustment and on-assignment performance?

2. e you able to explain the content and structure of a training program tailored to the manager's needs. For this Assessment, you will explain the training programs for Managers A and B (see Table: Overview of Successful Candidates). Touching on relevant HR concepts, theories, and empirical examples to justify your creation?

3. Are you able to explain an appropriate and effective method to assess the effectiveness of the designed training program?