International Management: Special Issues
The preceding section of this chapter discussed planning, organizing, influencing, and controlling multinational corporations. This section focuses on two special issues that can help to ensure management success in the international arena: maintaining ethics in international management and preparing expatriates for foreign assignments.59
Maintaining Ethics in International Management
As discussed in Chapter 2, e thics is a concern for good behavior and reflects the obligation that managers consider not only their own personal well-being but also that of other human beings as they lead organizations. Having a manager define what ethical behavior is can indeed be challenging and becomes increasingly challenging as managers consider the international implications of management action. What seems ethical in a manager’s home country might be unethical in a different country.
The following guidelines can help managers ensure that management action taken across national borders is truly ethical. Managers can ensure that such action is ethical by doing the following:
Respecting Core Human Rights
This guideline underscores the notion that all people deserve an opportunity to achieve economic advancement and an improved standard of living. In addition, all people have the right to be treated with respect. Much effort has been made by major sporting goods companies, including Nike and Reebok, to ensure that this guideline is followed in the business operations they conduct in other countries.60 These companies have joined forces to crack down on child labor, establish minimum wages comparable to the individual country’s standards, establish a maximum 60-hour workweek with at least one day off, and support the establishment of a mechanism for inspecting apparel factories worldwide. These companies have also committed themselves to the elimination of forced labor, harassment, abuse, and discrimination in the workplace.
Respecting Local Traditions
This guideline suggests that managers hold in high regard the customs of foreign countries in which they conduct business. In Japan, for example, people have a long-standing tradition that individuals who do business together exchange gifts. Sometimes these gifts can be expensive. For example, when U.S. managers started doing business in Japan, accepting a gift felt like accepting a bribe. As a result, many of these managers thought that the practice of gift giving might be unethical. However, as U.S. managers have come to know and respect this Japanese tradition, most have come to tolerate, and even encourage, this practice as ethical behavior in Japan. Some managers even set different limits on gift giving in Japan than they do elsewhere.
Determining Right from Wrong by Examining Context
This guideline suggests that managers evaluate the specifics of the international situation confronting them when determining whether a particular management activity is ethical. Although some activities are wrong no matter where they take place, others are unethical in one setting but acceptable in another. For instance, the chemical EDB, a soil fungicide, is banned from use in the United States. In hot climates, however, it quickly becomes harmless through exposure to intense solar radiation and high soil temperatures. Thus, as long as EDB is monitored, companies may be able to use it ethically in certain parts of the world.
Most managers and management scholars agree that implementing ethical management practices across national borders enhances organizational success. Although following the guidelines just described does not guarantee that management action taken across national borders will be ethical, it should increase the probability of its ethicality.
Preparing Expatriates for Foreign Assignments
The trend of U.S. companies forming joint ventures and other strategic alliances that include foreign operations is increasing. As a result, the number of expatriates being sent from the United States to other countries is also rising.62
The somewhat casual approach of the past toward preparing expatriates for foreign duty is being replaced by the belief that these managers need special tools to be able to succeed in difficult foreign assignments.63 To help expatriates adjust, home companies are providing assistance in finding homes and high-quality health care in host countries. Companies are also responding to expatriates’ insistence that they need more help from home companies on career planning related to foreign assignments, career planning for spouses forced to go to the foreign assignment country, and better counseling for the personal challenges they will face during their foreign assignments.64
Many companies prepare their expatriates for foreign assignments by providing special training programs. Specific features of these programs vary from company to company, depending on the situation. Most of these programs, however, usually contain the following core elements:
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Culture profiles—Expatriates learn about the new culture in which they will be working.
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Cultural adaptation—Expatriates learn how to survive the difficulties of adjusting to a new culture.
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Logistical information—Expatriates learn basic information, such as personal safety, whom to call in an emergency, and how to write a check.
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Application—Expatriates learn about the specific organizational roles they will have.
Expatriates generally play a critical role in determining the success of an organization’s foreign operations. The tremendous personal and professional adjustments that expatriates must make, however, can delay expatriates’ effectiveness and efficiency in foreign settings. Sound training programs can lower the amount of time expatriates need to adjust and can thereby help them become productive more quickly.65