Performance appraisal
In order to meet the requirements and expectations of each stakeholder, the 360 degree^
approach should be used. This states that it is good practice to get assessment from
peers, subordinates, clients, associates and all other people who have contact with the
staff including their own manager at the home country if staff are working in a foreign
company branch.
Rewarding
As noted earlier, there is no perfect way to reward staff because of individual differ-
ences and other reasons depending on the context. Usually, when monetary rewards are
used, domestic factors such as the cost of living and the alien working environment are
considered one of the stress factors which should be rewarded. Therefore, managers
need to be cautious with the motivational use of incentives and rewards in foreign coun-
tries. Matching rewards with what is considered acceptable in the culture of that mem-
ber of staff, this includes piece/hour rates, seniority, and legislation,
Industrial relations
The management of industrial relations differs from country to country, especially in the
following areas:
- The scope, degree and extent of legislation,
- The power of trade unions,
- The extent to which the government can effectively intervene and
- Management being committed to worker participation in management.
In this case, the management of industrial relations will be greatly influenced by the
degree to which the organisation is international and the number and positions of expa-
triates. Therefore, there is a need to reconcile the differences with a common sense.
Some organisations use laws applying in their own home countries with limited flexibil-
ity in the host country. When in doubt, embassies of the home country or the ministry of
foreign or internal affairs should be consulted.
Experiences from Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Mozambique
Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Mozambique offer good insights, as described by Red-
man & Wilkinson (2009) on the human resource management challenges facing African
countries when multinational companies are involved. In Equatorial Guinea, multina-
tionals in the oil sector including ExxonMobil and Schlumberger use expatriates in al-
most all technical and managerial positions, this is largely thanks to the poor education
system that does not prepare local people with technical and managerial competencies
required. Lack of skills has also frustrated the establishment of refineries in this country.
As a result, crude oil is shipped directly to the USA for further processing. This has de-
nied the country not only industrial growth through linkages but also the opportunity to
employ the local people thus generating income and economic growth. Where recruit-
ment is conducted locally to cover very low positions that are mostly labour based, the
job is contracted to the labour bureau, which is controlled by the ruling family that is
also in charge of pay and discipline. Thus, human resource spill over effects which
should occur as a result of internal business including opportunities for learning from
other nationals, career development, and better rewards are almost non-existent. The