Initially, many employees see the opportunity to work and travel abroad as exciting. But once the initial rush wears off, many feel that the home office has forgotten them and that their career has been sidetracked while their counterparts at home are climbing the corporate ladder. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) conducted in the 1990s, although U.S. companies give themselves high marks for career planning for their expatriate employees, most of their employees do not. Only 14 percent of the 209 expatriate managers who completed the society’s questionnaire said their firm’s career planning for them was sufficient.38 Fortunately, this situation may be changing for the better, although there is still a long way to go. A more recent survey this decade in which the SHRM also participated indicates that in comparing the careers of expatriates against employees with no international experience, 41 percent of respondents report that expatriates obtain new positions in the company more easily; 39 percent said that expatriates are promoted faster; and 27 percent say that the expatriate assignment helped them get a better job at another company.39 A survey of 2,700 managers by Korn Ferry International revealed that more than a third of them view an overseas assignment as positive for their career and that they would consider taking one.40 However, a survey by consultant giant McKinsey of 450 managers at multinational companies revealed that most managers are reluctant to become expatriates due to fear that relocating will damage their career prospects.41

Many people who take international assignments cannot adjust to a different cultural environment, a phenomenon called culture shock . Instead of learning to work within the new culture, the expatriate tries to impose the home office or home country’s values on the host country’s employees. This practice may trigger cultural clashes and misunderstandings that escalate until the expatriate decides to return home to more familiar surroundings—perhaps leaving a mess behind.

Lack of “cultural intelligence,” or the inability to relate to people from different cultural backgrounds,42 and being monolingual43 are often cited as reasons for expatriate failure. Firms can help employees avoid culture shock by using selection tools to choose the employees with the highest degree of cultural sensitivity and who know the local language. Korn Ferry International found that 9 of 10 headhunters worldwide look for prospective expatriates who know at least one foreign language. These headhunters are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the use of a variety of methods (structured interviews, role-playing exercises, assessment centers, and so forth) to identify those who are “prepared to spot cultural differences, some of them startlingly subtle, that can trip the unwary.”44

Surprisingly, only about one-third of MNCs provide any cross-cultural training to expatriates, and those that do tend to offer rather cursory programs.45 Often the expatriate and his or her family literally pack their bags and travel to their destination with only a U.S. passport and whatever information they could cull from magazines, tourist brochures, and the library. This is a recipe for trouble, as the following example illustrates:

I once attended a business meeting in Tokyo with a senior U.S. executive. The Japanese go through a very elaborate ritual when exchanging business cards, and the American didn’t have a clue. She just tossed some of her business cards across the table at the stunned Japanese executives. One of them turned his back on her and walked out. Needless to say, the deal never went through.46

The person chosen to go abroad may have impressive credentials and an excellent reputation in the home office for getting things done. Unfortunately, the same traits that led to success at home can be disastrous in another country. Consider the experience of one executive from a large U.S. electronics firm who spent only three months of what was supposed to be a two-year assignment in Mexico:

I just could not accept the fact that my staff meetings would always start at least a half hour late and that schedules were treated as flexible guidelines with much room to spare. Nobody seemed to care but me! I also could not understand how many of the first-line supervisors would hire their friends and relatives, regardless of competence. What I viewed as nepotism of the worst kind was seen by them as an honorable obligation to their extended families, and this included many adopted relatives or compadres who were not even related by blood.47

In a recent survey, 96 percent of respondents rated the technical requirements of a job as the most important selection criteria for international assignments, largely ignoring cultural sensitivity.48 In more enlightened companies, such as Prudential Relocation (an arm of Prudential Insurance), nearly 35 percent of managers cite “cultural adaptability” as the most important trait for overseas success.49

International assignments may seem to be a convenient way of dealing with managers who are having problems in the home office. By sending these managers abroad, the organization is able to resolve difficult interpersonal situations or political conflicts at the home office, but at a significant cost to its international operations. The following true story was told to one of the authors:

Joe and Paul were both competing for promotion to divisional manager. The corporate vice president responsible for making the selection decision felt that Joe should get the promotion but also believed that Paul would never be able to accept the decision and would actively try to undermine Joe’s authority. Paul also had much support from some of the old-timers, so the only way to avoid the dilemma was to find a different spot for Paul where he could not cause any trouble. The vice president came up with the idea of promoting Joe to divisional manager while appointing Paul as a senior executive at the Venezuelan subsidiary. Paul (who had seldom been out of the country and who had taken introductory Spanish in high school 20 years earlier) took the job. It soon became obvious that the appointment was a mistake. Two months into Paul’s tenure, there was a major wildcat strike attributed to his heavy-handed style in dealing with the labor unions, and he had to be replaced.

More than half of all early returns can be attributed to family problems.50 It is surprising that most firms do not anticipate these problems and develop programs to prevent them. Indeed, few companies consider the feelings of employees’ families on international assignments.51 One expatriate’s wife comments:

A husband who is racked by guilt over dragging his wife halfway around the world, or distracted because she is ill-equipped to handle a foreign assignment, is not a happy or productive employee. . . . Most women actually start out all right. The excitement quickly fades for a traveling wife, though, when her husband abandons her for a regional tour immediately upon arrival and she’s left behind with the moving boxes and the responsibility of finding good schools. Or when she is left to hire servants to set up a household without knowing the language . . . [Often] they are asked to jump off their own career paths and abandon healthy salaries . . . just so that they can watch their self-esteem vanish somewhere over the international date line.52

The expectations of dual-career couples are another cause of failure in expatriate assignments. MNCs are increasingly confronted with couples who expect to work in the same foreign location—at no sacrifice to either’s career. Yet one spouse usually has to sacrifice, and this often leads to dissatisfaction. When 10-year AT&T veteran Eric Phillips was asked to move to Brussels, his wife, Angelinà, had to give up her well-paying job as a market researcher. Although the move represented a terrific career opportunity for Phillips, his wife found it very difficult to adjust.53

Most U.S. firms are still heavily oriented toward the domestic market, even those that have a long history of operating internationally. The expatriate who has gathered a wealth of information and valuable skills on a foreign assignment may be frustrated by the lack of appreciation shown by peers and supervisors at corporate headquarters. According to a credible survey, only 12 percent of expatriates felt that their overseas assignment had enhanced their career development, and almost two-thirds reported that their firm did not take advantage of what they had learned overseas.57

However, given the rapid increase in outsourcing during the past few years, this situation may be changing, particularly among large firms. For instance, only 39 percent of IBM’s revenues are now generated within the United States and most of its work is carried out overseas. Other examples of companies in a similar situation include Intel, HP, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and General Electric.58 Companies are on the lookout for seasoned managers with international experience to go abroad and run things. According to one analyst, “while an overseas stint used to be a ticket to oblivion, now if you want to rise far in almost any big corporation, you can’t afford to ignore the new global order.”59 The financial crash at the end of this century’s first decade is propelling this trend as firms try to find strength in growing emergent markets such as China, India, and Brazil to weather weaknesses in the more industrialized countries.

Returning expatriates often experience a substantial loss of prestige, power, independence, and authority. This status reversal affects as many as three-fourths of repatriated employees.60 One survey shows that disappointment upon return is so profound that 77 percent of returning expatriates would rather accept an international position with another employer than a domestic position with their current company.61 The following example illustrates:

When I was in Chile, I had occasions to meet various ministers in the government and other high-ranking industry officials. Basically my word was the final one. I had a lot of latitude because the home office didn’t really want to be bothered with what was happening in Chile and therefore was uninformed anyway. I made decisions in Chile that only our CEO would make for the domestic operation. When I returned, I felt as though all the training and experience I had gotten in Chile was totally useless. The position I had seemed about six levels down as far as I was concerned. I had to get approval for hiring. I had to get my boss’s signature for purchases worth one-tenth of the values of ones I approved in Chile. To say I felt a letdown would be a significant understatement.62

Uncertainties regarding their new career assignment may provoke much anxiety in returning employees. One survey suggests that more than half of expatriates were unaware of what job awaited them at home.63 The following story is typical:

I received a letter from the home office three months prior to the expiration of my assignment in Hungary (where I was responsible for a team of engineers developing a computerized system for handling inventories in four new joint ventures). I was told that I would be assuming the position of Supervisor of Technical Services in corporate headquarters. It sounded impressive enough. I was astonished to find out upon return, however, that I was given the honorary title of supervisor with nobody under my command. It smelled like a dead rat to me so I jumped ship as soon as I could.64

Living and working in another culture for a long time changes a person, especially if he or she has internalized some of the foreign country’s norms and customs. Expatriates are usually unaware of how much psychological change they have undergone until they return home. As many as 80 percent of returning expatriates experience reverse culture shock, which sometimes leads to alienation, a sense of uprootedness, and even disciplinary problems.65 One expatriate who had worked in Spain notes:

I began to take for granted the intense camaraderie at work and after hours among male friends. Upon returning to the U.S. I realized for the first time in my life how American males are expected to maintain a high psychological distance from each other, and their extremely competitive nature in a work environment. My friendly overtures were often misperceived as underhanded maneuvers for personal gain.66

Despite all these difficulties, many managers today are lining up for international assignments as companies gradually realize that employees with international experience can be a valuable asset.67 Gerber Products has announced that from now on, international assignments will be emphasized as part of normal career development for company executives. As a result, Gerber’s country manager in Poland feels he has an edge over many of his colleagues. “My overseas experience sets me apart from the rest of the M.B.A. bunch,” he says. “I’m not just one of hundreds of thousands.”68