Component of the Pre-departure Training

Component of the Pre-departure Training

Human Resource Management

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Component of the Pre-departure Training

The pre-departure training should have the following components for it to be helpful to the employees in their foreign work environments;

The training should compose inter-cultural aspects that will help the employees adjust to the new foreign environment where they are to be posted. The foreign environments have different cultural environments from the one that the employees are currently working. Employees need to be trained on how they should quickly adapt to the new environment and act in accordance to the new cultural environment with little difficult (Johnson, 2009).

The pre-departure training should be composed of the basics of the language that is spoken in the foreign environment where the employee is to be posted. Language is key since it is the backbone of all communication in any given work environment. The pre-departure training should incorporate the language skills that will ensure that employees will not have any difficulties in handling and delegating their assignments in their new work environment (Tung, 1981).

The pre-departure training should incorporate psychological aspects that will be tailored to help the employees to easily and quickly adapt to the foreign work environment. The employees will certainly be away from their families and friends and they will be in a completely new environment. They need to be advised on how they will psychologically adjust to the new environment away from their friends and families without their adjusting affect their working and daily operations.

The pre-departure training should incorporate environmental aspects and characteristics of the foreign environments where the employees are to be posted. This way, employees will be aware of what they expect in the new environments and how they should prepare themselves about the new environment. Environmental aspects could be a barrier to adjustment to the new environment and it would make it hard for employees to be comfortable in the new environment especially if the environment conflicts with the general well being of an individual (Tung, 1981).

The pre-departure training should incorporate aspects of the roles and responsibilities that are likely to change in the new work environment and be alerted in advance whether their roles and responsibilities are to change through increment or reduction. This prepares their psychology and lets them know what is required of them. This is of great importance since it helps the employee adjust easily and quickly to fill in the gap that is in the firm in the foreign environment. Notification of the roles and responsibilities assignees are required to play helps employee know why they are to be sent to delegate their roles and responsibilities at the international level (Tung, 1981).

Criteria for Employee Assessment

Employees in the foreign countries have to have their distinct assessment criteria. The assessment is different because the work environments vary from one country or region to another. The management would apply the following assessment criteria for their employees in foreign countries;

The assessment of employees working in foreign work places should be highly based on the quality of work that the employee delivers compared to what the employee is expected to deliver in a given time period. The quality of work can be measured through different ways and it can be done by assessing the amount of work that an employee has done that requires to be done again could be due to errors and mistakes. It could also be done on the basis of the amount of work by an employee that is not accepted or is rejected. This way, it would be easy to assess whether the employee is delivering high, poor and average quality work. The better the quality of work is done, the greater the level of efficiency and, the better the levels of customer satisfaction and subsequent total performance and output by the organization.

The manner in which employees working in foreign work stations are able to complete tasks assigned to them in terms of timeliness could be used as a criteria for assessment. Employees are assigned different tasks and usually, there are timelines when a task should have been handled. The employees could be assessed whether they are able to delegate and have done their roles and responsibilities in the expected time frames. An employee should be assessed whether they are capable of having things done when they are supposed to be done. Timeliness in handling tasks and assignments ensures that much amount work is covered and there are few carry forwards in terms of work and assignments (Ulrich, 1997).

The degree which an employee is able to follow the set rules and regulations and adhere to the set policies in foreign workplaces is an important criterion for assessment for employees working in foreign workplaces. In the new environment, the rules and policies are definitely far much different compared to those in the previous workplace. Determination of how well they are able to comply with the set principles would help determine whether they are adapting well to the new work environment. The adaptability to policies set determines the output, cooperativeness, performance and productivity of employees. Compliance with the policies enhances the performance and productivity of employees.

Recruiting and Selection Strategy

In offering international assignments, the following recruiting strategies should be followed by the management;

The technical ability of an individual is one of the strategies and criterion that the firm should consider in selecting employees for international assignments. In the international work stations, there are specific assignments that selected employees are required to fulfill. The individuals selected for international assignments should be those who are able and possess the required skills to delegate their international assignments. The technical ability of an individual determines whether an individual can be relied on to conduct themselves without supervision and guidance (Tung, 1981).

In recruiting and selecting individuals for international assignments, the management should consider the ability of an employee to easily understand and subsequently apply the local language in communication and in dispensing duties and roles effectively. The personnel to be selected should be those who are easily compatible with the locally spoken language. This way, the employees will be able to adjust quickly and easily to the new environment and be able to relate with customers in the new environment easily and much quickly (Bruce, 2003).

The management would consider applying the strategy of issuing selection tests among employees. Through these tests, the management can be able to assess the personality and characteristics of an individual. The most desirable personality traits are then identified and matched with those of individual employees. The employee with the most suitable personality traits and characteristics is then selected for the international assignment (Tung, 1981).

Staffing alternatives

The two staffing alternatives are part time members of the staff who operate on part time throughout in place of permanent employees but provide similar services to those that other members of the permanent staff would provide. The other is members of staffs who are there or exist to provide assistance to certain members of staff before they full adjust and get to fully know the work activities and environment (Johnson, 2009).

The best fit staffing alternative for foreign operations at the firm is the staffing alternative that helps new members of staff to fully acquaint themselves with different work activities. This staffing alternative reduces on costs of hiring a part time employee who could even charge higher than other members of staff. Once the permanent or full time member of staff fully gets to know what is required of them, they are likely to easily become better and more efficient to part time members of staff whose reliance and availability at the work place is dependent on their availability and convenience (Ulrich, 1997).

Mentoring System

The provision of a high quality mentoring system is of great importance for international assignees. The mentoring system would play an integral part in ensuring that employees are made to easily and quickly catch up and adjust to the new working environment as they get to delegate their assigned international assignments. The mentoring system acts as guidance on what should be done in what way and at what time. Guiding the employees would be of great importance especially because they might feel out of place in new work environments and end up doing the wrong thing despite knowing or being aware of what should and requires to be done (Bruce, 2003).

A quality mentoring system would be of great importance in ensuring that employees do not make many mistakes or errors as they delegate their roles and duties in the international assignments. In a new work environment, the assignees are very likely to make mistakes and errors in delegating their assignments. The mentoring system should act as guidance to the employees to ensure that they guide them and through guidance, the probability that one could make an error in delegating their roles and assignments is relatively low.

Measuring Returns on Investment (ROI)

Measuring Returns on Investment for international assignments is of great importance because it indicates whether the presence of new employees and their subsequent assignment of their different roles and responsibilities has added value in the work produced and the impact it has had on the welfare of the firm. In measuring the Return on Investment for international assignments, the following would be done;

To begin with, the measurement of the Returns on investment must be done within a defined and a given time frame or a given time period. The measurement would consider the improvements and enhancement in efficiency, productivity and performance. International assignees should have added value to the firm where they are sent for assignments in terms of enhancing efficiency and increasing productivity and subsequent performance of tasks. If there is a positive change and improvement impacted by sending the international assignees, then there is a positive return on Investment on these assignees. If there is zero change and improvement in terms of efficiency, performance and productivity of the firm, then there is zero impact and Return on Investment of the employees assigned the different roles and responsibilities at the international scene (Bruce, 2003).

References

Bruce, J. (2003). Investment Performance Measurement. New York: Wiley & Sons.

Conaty, B. (2010). The talent masters : why smart leaders put people before numbers. New York: Crown Business.

Johnson, P. (2009). HRM in changing organizational contexts. London: Routledge.

Riley, J. (1980). Management and ideology : the legacy of the international management movement. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Tung, R. (1981). ‘Selection and Training of Personnel for Overseas Assignments’,. Columbia Journal of World Business , 68–78.

Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions : the next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.