Expatriate Preparation Training for a Foreign Assignment in Singapore

Introduction

The setting for this proposed training program is for US based multinational Companies that are assigning staff as expatriates to the Country of Singapore. Singapore is rapidly becoming one of the world's primary commercial centers. According to a recent survey conducted by commercial real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc., reported in the Thailand News Online, Singapore is 2nd most popular city for business worldwide, after its near neighbor Hong Kong, and increasing numbers of international Companies are locating their Regional (Asia/Oceania) headquarters there. "Some 67.5% of international companies surveyed set their offices in Singapore compared to 68.2% in China's Hong Kong." The survey canvassed 280 of the world's largest Companies across 232 cities.

The clients for this program will be Companies who are in the process of sending expatriate staff to Singapore but who will lack the required experience, expertise or infrastructure to have developed an orientation of this nature before. This is in contrast to multinationals Companies like Dow, Unilever, Shell, Exxon, IBM, all of whom have extensive histories in that region and have, over the years, prepared many expatriates for such assignments.

With this in mind, the potential clients will need to see

• A strong cost/value return from the program,

• An immediate payback in terms of lowering expatriate turnover and faster productivity from the employee,

• A flexible program, albeit with some standard modules, that will reflect their own Company values and systems.

On the basis of ‘you don't know what you don't know' there is a possibility that potential clients facing the problem will fail to see the benefit from proper preparation and will operate off invalid assumptions based on a lack of knowledge, or an unwillingness to tackle the issue in a proactive manner. Dowling, Fester and Engle (2009) explain that the view "that there is a universal approach to management persists, despite evidence from research to the contrary, and many multinationals continue to transfer home-based work practices into their foreign operations without adequate consideration as to whether this is an appropriate action. The persistence in the belief in universal management may be evidence of a lingering ethnocentric attitude or perhaps an indicator of inexperience in international operations." (p. 110). This view is supported by Briscoe, Schuler and Claus (2009). "Many firms that lack experience in international operations often overlook the importance of cultural adaptation. Indeed, even more experienced firms may do this as well. This attitude, combined with firms' inclination to choose employees for foreign relocation because of their technical competence, generally leads to individuals being sent on overseas assignment without the benefit of training or help in acculturation." (p. 179).

II. Identification of Problems and Issues.

While it has been described as ‘Asia for babies' because of it's pro-Western stance and modern facilities, it is at its heart a quintessential Asian country that is made up of a number of different sub-cultures (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian in particular) and their style of interaction is markedly different than that encountered by most Western cultures.

In addition to the need for simulation by the employees, the accompanying families will need to make a number of adjustments to their lifestyle, the details of which are covered below, and the nature of their family interactions and their relationships with family and friends in their Base Country will also change. Data would suggest that even before accepting an overseas assignment, family issues play a key role in those that resist the notion of such a move. In a presentation made at the New Jersey Compensation Association, using data collected from Windham/NFTC, 1984, GMAC, 2005 and Cendant Mobility 2004, Cadden and Sheridan (2006) concluded that "everything ‘family' is now important." (p. 14). They emphasized that this was a trend whereby the reasons for not accepting overseas assignments were increasingly family related. The following figures extracted from that presentation are the basis for that conclusion:

• Factor • 10 years ago • Today • Increase

• Partner resistance • 56% • 88%