Female Expatriates Case Study

Female expatriates miss out global assignments due to various reasons. Lack of mentors or role models, access to appropriate network, sponsorship are the most common ones. International managers need to understand the reasons for varying male and female roles as well as contrasting interpretations of equality. Most cultures differentiate between the appropriate roles for men and women. Women are still perceived as child bearers and child reapers. These traditions are still deeply ingrained even when it is no longer necessary for women to remain at home. The result has been that women who worked outside the home often work in subordinate positions. The expatriate glass ceiling is one of the prominent obstacles that women in the foreign organizations

An additional 30 to 50 percent of expatriates stay in their international assignments, but are regarded as either marginally effective or ineffective by their organizations (Bird and Dunbar,1991).According to evidence accumulated over the past two decades, roughly one in three managers sent overseas gets the job done the way headquarters wanted it done. This is costly to firms. The following are the characteristics that help expatriates adjust effectively and companies can select female expatriates based on the degree to which they possess these characteristics, and training can be designed to ensure that expatriates develop and use the needed

Evidently what is tested is determined by the exact nature of the foreign job assignment and what can be learned readily on the job.
• Assessment by domestic colleagues of the female’s managerial and administrative abilities. Current performance appraisals can be looked into.
• Situational exercises, role-plays or simulations in which the individual must deal with situations likely to arise in the foreign location.
Ability to adapt
• Situational exercises characterized by high levels of ambiguity and time pressure to examine how well the candidate performs under such conditions.
• Behavior description interviews focused on previous examples of behavioral flexibility.
• Biodata concerning the nature and breadth of hobbies and other leisure activities and a check of the availability of those activities in the foreign location.
Ability to form relationship
• Psychological tests of traits typically associated with relationship