The case of the aggrieved expatriate

Marie Moore, human resource manager for international operations of Food Products Incorporated (FPI), sighed as she reread the resignation letter from Sadie Wagner. Sadie was one of the latest in a series of expatriates to resign from international appointments. Although high turnover in international positions is well known in the industry, the executives at FPI International Operations were very concerned about the high expatriate turnover. Recruitment, placement, and relocation costs were staggering, and with every replacement there was a productivity decline while the new person "learned the ropes." Moore thought Sadie had a better than average chance of succeeding. Sadie was single, spoke the language, and actively sought an international position.

Moore was responsible for presenting a strategy and implementation plan that would decrease turnover and increase tenure in international appointments. Moore reflected on Sadie's tenure at FPI at its domestic and international operations. If she could understand why Sadie's placement did not work out, then she could begin action planning on a strategy for more successful international appointments. Moore pulled up Sadie's personnel file on her computer and read the file notes.

SADIE'S DOMESTIC POSITION

Sadie Wagner came to FPI-Corporate as manager of food product procurement and economics. Although she had a "title" of manager, the position was better defined as an executive adviser specializing in regulatory issues pertaining to food procurement. In this position, her abilities to gather, analyze, and interpret forecast data and then report industry trends to upper management were well known internationally. Even though this was an unusually high appointment for a 30-year-old female with very limited management or organizational experience, she already was known throughout the industry for her expertise in accurately anticipating future industry directions. FPI had made an attractive offer to recruit her from her previous employer. Although FPI was an industry leader, her placement with them did not dissuade other organizations from trying to recruit her away. She was at FPI for approximately 18 months when she was offered an overseas position from an international food conglomerate. Sadie discussed the opportunity with her supervisor, who suggested that they look for an international placement within FPI. Sadie seemed excited about an expatriate position and agreed to remain at FPI. Her resume was forwarded to Moore at International Operations.

Within 8 weeks, a midlevel management position became available in Germany. FPI was in the process of merging two companies it had acquired in the early 1990s. They wanted someone who knew their strategic planning process, could implement it in their international subsidiaries, and would provide monthly financial reports to headquarters. Sadie was an exceptional fit for a position in Germany. She was fluent in the German language and knowledgeable about the culture. She had been an exchange student to Germany while in high school, studied the German language during college, and did a year of graduate school there as well. Sadie knew how the strategic planning process related to economic and procurement issues, although her current position did not have her actively involved in the decision-making aspects of FPI's strategic planning. From her perspective, this position would give experience in the duties and responsibilities of a junior executive.

Moore spoke with Sadie and then forwarded her resume to Germany. The vice president of human resources, Mr. Becker, and Sadie's prospective boss, Mr. Reil, conducted telephone interviews immediately after receiving her resume and, within 2 weeks, Sadie was on a flight to Germany for her official interview. The face-to-face interview process began with Becker, then Reil, and concluded with Mr. Carstensen, the general manager and highest-ranking executive. These interviews were more for determining a personality fit than position qualifications-those had been assessed during the telephone interviews. After meeting with Carstensen, Sadie was offered the position, which she accepted. The entire interview process lasted less than 3 hours. She remained in Germany for a few days to find an apartment and then returned to the United States for approximately 6 weeks to finish her domestic projects and prepare for the move.

SADIE'S INTERNATIONAL POSITION

On her first official day, Becker introduced Sadie to the vice presidents who composed the senior management team that reported to Carstensen. Becker also introduced her to two other expatriates who reported to senior mangers. Charles, a married American male, was in finance. William, a single English male, was in marketing. Charles had been in Germany 6 months, and William arrived only a few days before Sadie. The key supporter of the expatriate program was Carstensen. Other members of the senior management team were not as supportive. In some cases, they feared the merger would result in a head-count reduction. And, because the expatriates came from the parent company, German senior managers perceived that the expatriates' positions were secure, but the positions of German senior managers were not.

Sadie spent the first week learning everything she could about the financial reporting system because her boss was about to leave for a 4-week vacation. Sadie wondered why there was such a rush to get her to Germany when her boss would be gone for the first month. While he was gone, Sadie handled the weekly financial postings to FPI. Additionally, she learned about the German subsidiaries and their competitors by analyzing company performance by divisions and reading trade publications.

Sadie used Reil's 4-week absence to meet many colleagues and form alliances. At first, some of the Germans were taken aback by Sadie's outgoing nature and suspicious about how someone at her age had obtained such a high position-a female no less. Because of the German educational system and mandatory military service for males, most Germans are in their late 20s before they enter the workforce, so her contemporaries were in entry and lower level management positions. Because of her familiarity with the culture and language, she was able to socialize with the German workforce. The German managers who were interested in obtaining an international placement wanted to know how she had received one. She found these people to be a good source of information while her supervisor was on vacation.

Besides FPI, several other large U.S. multinational corporations had operations in the area. Sadie noticed that the expatriates and spouses with limited language skills tended to socialize exclusively within this small community. Some expatriates tended to be a bit arrogant-"I must be great, if the company is going to send me to Europe"-and were disappointed when the red carpet was not laid out for them. Expatriates within FPI tended to be upper-middle and senior-level management and staff, accustomed to making decisions with the best data and analytical resources. Because extensive resources were not always available overseas, they were frustrated with what they felt were inadequate conditions for doing their jobs.

After Reil returned, he expressed disapproval about Sadie's work schedule. During his absence, Sadie worked the typical U.S. schedule: 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. She knew this deviated slightly from the traditional German white-collar work hours of 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and the senior management schedule of 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. But because shops closed by 6:00 p.m. (except on Thursdays) and only opened until noon on Saturdays, she needed to leave work a little early to take care of routine shopping and errands. Of course, this was not a problem for married personnel because very few spouses worked out of the home.

Among the senior managers, Reil was known for being there the earliest and staying the latest, and none of his direct reports dared leave earlier. It was very apparent that he was annoyed by Sadie's 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. hours. He spoke to her about "how it looked." Sadie did not agree with his attendance expectations, especially during periods of light workloads. He assured her that her workload would increase, but she was always able to complete her assigned duties quite quickly because she was a native English speaker. She started to wonder if her workload was lighter because she was not being assigned all the managerial duties and responsibilities associated with the strategic planning process. She decided not to ask explicitly about the lack of management duties, primarily because she was not sure of whom she could ask such a sensitive question. Instead, she quietly noted the types of duties and responsibilities that Charles and William were given.

STRATEGIC PLANNING AT FPI-GERMANY

The strategic planning process began in August, was to be finished by December 1, and included 1- and 5-year plans. Plan presentations were made by Carstensen to various levels of FPI in September, October, and finally to the CEO of FPI in November. Each of these levels was headed by a native English speaker. Carstensen had an insatiable desire for the most current business buzzwords, and Sadie's native tongue helped fill his void. Each of the expatriates played a key role in writing the plan presentation. Although Carstensen claimed he wanted the expatriates to bring more flexibility to the German organizational/business culture, it seemed to the expatriates that what he really wanted was their language skills.

Also during this time, Sadie asked Reil if she could take a refresher German language course. He refused. Reil stated that Sadie did not need a language course because all formal communications to the parent company were in English. Sadie replied that dialogue within staff meetings was in German, internal documents were written in German, and all lunchroom conversations were in German as well. After a discussion with human resources, Sadie began a 1-hour language course twice a week to refresh her writing and speaking skills despite her supervisor's objections.

As the weeks passed, Sadie still wondered if she was in Germany only because of her language skills. She could not see how FPI was grooming her for an eventual executive-level position or when she would have an opportunity to demonstrate her expertise in food procurement regulations. She finally decided to ask Charles and William about their expectations. Unlike Sadie, Charles and William had been on international assignments previously. Although the men expressed some disappointment, their feelings stemmed from a different source than Sadie's. Both Charles and William accept international positions when they sensed an opportunity to do interesting and challenging work; neither man aspired to uppermanagement positions. Their frustration at FPI-Germany was that they were not using their technical expertise.

Sadie remained in Germany through the strategic planning process, but left immediately after that. And because domestic operations were in a "downsizing" mode, she was placed on leave status. Within a matter of weeks after returning to the United States, a competitor hired Sadie.

IMPROVING THE CURRENT EXPATRIATE SITUATION

Moore leaned back in her chair while reflecting on Sadie's personnel file. Sadie had not explained her decision to leave FPIGermany, despite the scheduled exit interview. And Moore recently learned that the other expatriates, Charles and William, had left FPI-Germany soon after Sadie. At this point, she did not know the source of the problem. Was it a lack of communication as to the types of knowledge, skills, and abilities expected of the expatriates? Or, were the receiving departments not integrating the expatriates into the local workforce? Or, maybe it was that the expatriates were not properly prepared for the unique relational demands-both personally and professionally-that accompany an international appointment. Moore was provided with a budget to address this problem but did not know exactly where she would get the greatest return on investment. Moore leaned forward at her desk and started to place some phone calls. Maybe some of her professional colleagues could advise her about the problem with the expatriates.

What problems is Moore having. Please be specific about what is causing the problems. Outline a well thought out and specific strategic solution to the problem(s).

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