MGMT3025 Chap.5 International Recruitment, Selection and Wellbeing
International Recruitment, Selection and Wellbeing
This chapter covers how a multinational decides who should staff its foreign operations and how it looks after them once they go. It starts with the four staffing attitudes of the EPRG framework, ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric, and the gains and costs each one brings, including the option of mixing attitudes by region and the difference between a proactive philosophy and an ad hoc one.
It then follows the sequence from defining a labour need through internal and external sourcing to selection: the six selection factors, the four dimensions linked to expatriate success, and the contrast between informal and formal methods.
The final part looks beyond the classic expatriate to business travellers and inpatriates, the U-shaped path of cultural adjustment, HR's duty for health, safety and crisis planning, the problems of dual-career couples, and strategies for breaking the expatriate glass ceiling.
The Week 5 seminar case, the acquisition of a European hotel group by a Singapore-based operator, mainly raised integration questions from Chapter 3, and the tutorial quiz tested staffing advantages and assignment types.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The EPRG staffing attitudes and how to tell them apart
- 02
Gains and costs of ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric staffing
- 03
Proactive versus ad hoc staffing philosophies
- 04
Internal and external sources for international recruitment
- 05
Six selection factors and four dimensions of expatriate success
- 06
Informal and formal selection methods
- 07
Frequent travellers, inpatriates and the U-shaped adjustment curve
- 08
Health, safety, dual careers and the expatriate glass ceiling
Worked example · free
Which staffing attitude fits a publisher that fills key roles from one region?
- +1Who fills key roles: nationality does not decide, so the attitude is not ethnocentric or polycentric.
- +1Is the pool bounded: yes, candidates come only from Latin America, so the attitude is regiocentric rather than geocentric.
- +1Gain: moving editors between the three offices builds interaction across the region and sensitivity to local conditions.
- +2Costs: a regional view can crowd out a global one, editors' careers may stop at the regional boundary, and host governments may resent hires from neighbouring countries.
- +1Contrast: opening the pool to the whole globe would make it geocentric, finding the best candidate anywhere but adding permit and relocation costs.
Key terms
- Ethnocentric staffing
- A staffing attitude that reserves key subsidiary roles for parent-country nationals, trusting them over foreign staff.
- Geocentric staffing
- A staffing attitude that picks the best person for a role from anywhere in the world, within legal and political limits.
- Flexpatriate
- An international business traveller who works across borders through frequent trips without relocating.
- Culture shock
- The low point in cultural adjustment, when early excitement gives way to frustration with unfamiliar ways.
- Dual-career couple
- A pair in which both partners pursue careers, which makes the decision to relocate harder.
International Recruitment, Selection and Wellbeing FAQ
How do the four EPRG staffing attitudes differ?
They differ in who fills a subsidiary's key roles. Ethnocentric firms appoint parent-country nationals, polycentric firms let host-country nationals run local units, geocentric firms choose the best candidate anywhere, and regiocentric firms do the same but only within a region such as Europe or Asia-Pacific. Firms can also mix attitudes across regions.
What factors matter when selecting someone for an international assignment?
The lecture lists six: technical ability, cross-cultural suitability, the family situation, the requirements of the country and culture, language skills in both the host and corporate languages, and the multinational's own needs for the post. Four further dimensions are linked to success: self-orientation, perception, concern for others and the cultural toughness of the location.
What is the coffee machine system of selection?
It is the nickname for informal selection, where assignees are chosen through networks and personal impressions rather than a structured process. The lecture contrasts it with formal methods: structured interviews, which Tungli and Peiperl found dominate in Germany, the UK and the USA, and assessment centres that probe ambiguity tolerance, empathy and communication.
Why do partnered assignees often go abroad on their own?
Partner careers are the main reason. In Brookfield's 2016 data, 18% of people refused an assignment over a partner's income or career, 27% of partnered assignees took long-term postings on single status, and 55% of those cited partner career concerns. HR responses include job-hunting help, inter-firm networking and employing both partners.
What are the phases of cultural adjustment?
The lecture draws a U-shaped curve with four phases: a honeymoon of excitement, culture shock as differences start to frustrate, gradual adjustment, and finally mastery and comfort in the host culture. It stresses that this is a normative picture, and that individual reactions and the length of each phase vary considerably.
Exam move
Turn the four staffing attitudes into a decision you can run in seconds: first ask who fills key roles, then, if nationality does not matter, ask whether the pool is bounded by region. Practise on invented firms and write one gain and one cost for each answer. Learn the six selection factors and the four success dimensions as two separate lists, because the two lists are easy to confuse.
For case questions, link selection to later chapters: a narrow, informal choice that ignores the family is a common root of expatriate failure. Finish by rehearsing the dual-career and glass-ceiling responses as policies the firm adopts, distinct from the steps an individual candidate can take. Keep the survey percentages as supporting evidence, each quoted with its source and year, and never as the core of an argument.
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