Research to identify effective development practices for developing cross-cultural management effectiveness in Australian and Singaporean expatriate managers
Sustaining And Developing The Cross-Cultural Management Effectiveness Of Australian And Singaporean Expatriates
1. Sustaining And Developing The Cross-
Cultural Management Effectiveness Of
Australian And Singaporean Expatriates
Peter Woods and Michelle Barker
Griffith Business School
2nd International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability –
Vietnam, 2006
2. Presentation Outline
• Introduction
• Exploration of concepts
• Research design
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
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3. Introduction
Aim - to identify sustainable development practices for
developing cross-cultural management effectiveness in
Australian and Singaporean expatriate managers
Method – interviews with 51 Australian expatriate managers in
Singapore, Singaporean expatriate managers in Australia,
and relevant HR professionals
Conclusion - Improved human resource development practices
are proposed, focussing on in-post training, the rise of
coaching and mentoring, the development of socio-cultural
competencies, and the development of culturally divergent
management skills.
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4. Cross-Cultural Management
Effectiveness
• Adaptation and cross-cultural management
effectiveness
• Australian expatriate cross-cultural effectiveness
• Singaporean expatriate cross-cultural
effectiveness
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5. Expatriate Human Resource
Development
• Australian expatriate development
• Singaporean expatriate development
• Hypothesis 1 - That most Australian and
Singaporean expatriate managers do not receive
training by the company to enable them to perform
their expatriate manager assignment
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6. Timing of Training
• Pre-departure training
• 'In-country' training
• Hypothesis 2 – That most Australian and
Singaporean expatriate managers do not receive
training ‘on-assignment’ (in-country)
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7. Type of Training
• Didactic instruction innovations
• Hypothesis 3 – That didactic training is the most common
form of human resource development received by Australian
and Singaporean expatriate managers
• Simulation activities
• Hypothesis 4 – That experienced Australian and
Singaporean expatriates and HR professionals regard
interactive cross-cultural training as the most effective form
of cross-cultural management development
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8. Aim
• To examine the perceived effectiveness of
relevant human resource development practices
from the perspectives of Australian expatriate
managers in Singapore, Singaporean expatriate
managers in Australia, and Human Resource
professionals involved in managing and training
expatriate managers.
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9. Research Questions
• Primary research question. What are the most effective ways
of developing expatriate managers in their cross-cultural
management role, according to Australian and Singaporean
expatriate managers and HR professionals?
• Secondary research question. What is the type and timing of
training that Australians and Singaporeans receive to enable
them to perform their expatriate manager assignments?
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10. Sample
• 51 usable responses, with a final response rate of 73%
• 20 Australian expatriates in Singapore
• 15 Singaporean expatriates in Australia
• 16 HR professionals
• All from different firms
• The respondents were from a variety of industries including
banking, professional services, retail, construction, media
and academic.
• 69% male
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11. Instrument
• A questionnaire was developed to assess the
respondents’ perceived experience of the timing
and type of training, in line with Woods (2000) and
Blake et al. (1996), the effectiveness of training,
and their suggestions for expatriate training.
• Email, telephone and fax methods used –
clarification sought for all by phone
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12. Method and Timing of Training for Expatriate Manager Assignments
HR Never University Pre-Company Pre-Departure On-
Development Training Company Assignment
Method Training Company
Training
Didactic 37.3% 17.6% 7.8% 21.6% 15.7%
Language 60.8% 2% 21.6% 9.8% 5.9%
Case Studies 72.5% 3.9% 0 11.8% 11.8%
Orientation 37.3% 11.8% 9.8% 37.3% 3.9%
Visits
Group 51% 5.9% 3.9% 19.6% 19.6%
Discussion
Simulation 80.4% 3.9% 0 9.8% 5.9%
Activities
Self- 31.4% 2% 25.5% 27.5% 13.7%
Awareness/
Stress
Training
Coaching/ 27.5% 0 11.8% 23.5% 37.3%
Mentoring
13. Perceptions on Aspects of Training That Have Enabled Expatriates to
Be More Effective in the Role of Cross-Cultural Managers
Aspects of Training Australian Singaporean HR Total
Seen as Effective Expatriate Expatriate Professional
Personal experience 25% 47% 0 23.5%
Understanding 5% 0 44% 16%
culture
Knowledge transfer/ 20% 0 19% 14%
coaching from
experienced
expatriates
Group discussion of 10% 20% 12.5% 14%
experience
No training/ very 20% 7% 6% 12%
brief training
Case studies 5% 13% 12.5% 10%
Context specific 0 0 31% 10%
work / business
issues
Cross-cultural 0 0 25% 8%
effectiveness
Cultural self- 0 0 19% 6%
awareness
Total Sample, n = 51
14. H1 – Training Utilisation
• Most Australian and Singaporean managers in the sample
did not receive training from the company to enable them to
perform their expatriate management assignment.
• Includes all forms of training except for mentoring/ coaching
• In line with previous research in the area
• A source of frustration to HR professionals
• Danger of expatriates and companies being as source of
cultural imperialism
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15. H2 – In-Country Development
• Most Australian and Singaporean managers do not receive
training in-country
• All forms of training except for coaching/ mentoring (37.7%
receive this kind of training on assignment)
• In interviews, respondents indicated this type of training was
often informal
• Focus of HR on assignment was the familiar compensation,
living and family adjustment issues.
• Unique challenges of cross-cultural management were not
considered priority issues by the company
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16. H3 – Didactic Training
• Didactic training was not the most common form of training received –
coaching/ mentoring was the most common
• Supports previous research (Anderson, 2001) of a mentoring/ coaching
trend and that the method is commonly used with Singaporean
expatriates
• Mentoring useful for developing the protégé in terms of broader
psychological and career support and in terms of expatriate socialisation,
job attitudes, general understanding of business in multicultural contexts
and assignment completion (Delahaye 2000; Feldman & Bolino 1999)
• Dark side of mentoring is that cross-cultural mistakes can be passed on
when standards and performance measures of cross-cultural
management are scarce (Woods, 2002)
• Colonial experience (Stening, 1994)
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17. H4 – Most Effective Training
• Experienced Australian and Singaporean expatriates and HR
professionals did not regard interactive cross-cultural training as the
most effective form of cross-cultural management development
• Personal experience nominated most frequently
• Singaporean expatriates in particular nominated this form of training
• Reflects the experience of many Singaporean expatriates who were
overseas graduates
• Top ranking deficiency in training nominated by all categories was
cross-cultural awareness/ communication/ management
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18. Answering the Research Question
• The perceived most effective methods of developing
expatriate managers for their cross-cultural management
role are personal experience, coaching from experienced
expatriates and group discussion of experience.
• Personal experience has the possibility of reinforcing
attitudes and practices that are functional, but not always
effective when adverse cultural impact is consdered (Black &
Mendenhall, 1991)
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19. Secondary Research Question
• Most common forms of training already discussed
• Most common timing of training occurs prior to
departure
• Many respondents did not receive any training at
all
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20. Limitations & Conclusion
• Small sample size
• Cross-cultural management development receives a low
priority
• Innovations in training such as group simulations building
socio-cultural competencies are poorly utilised
• Experience most valued
• Mentoring most utilised
• Remaining question of whether mentoring and experience
does in fact improve cross-cultural management
competence
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