International Human Resource Management-MJ Version

(Ann) #1

One recent study, based on a relatively small sample of North American
repatriates, did find that employees who were offered repatriation support
from their companies were less likely to leave (Lazarova and Caligiuri, 2001).
Interestingly, the results of this study also indicated that repatriation support
practices were related to overall perceptions of organizational support but were
not related to organizational commitment, an assumption often stipulated by
past repatriation studies. This suggests that employees may remain with the
MNC only if they feel that the company values and supports them, rather than
because of a greater sense of company loyalty or organizational commitment.
This finding makes intuitive sense in today’s environment of ‘boundaryless’
careers and ‘boundaryless’ organizations – where individuals may manage their
careers across a variety of organizations (Tung, 1998; Inkson et al., 1997; Suutari
and Brewster, 2000). After years of restructuring, re-engineering, and outsourcing,
companies have shown that the notion of lifetime employment and security
belongs to the past. Many employees believe that in order to develop and sustain
their own careers, they need to be self-directing and flexible, constantly learning
and upgrading their skills, and ready to change employers whenever that change
would land them at a better position with another organization (Rogers, 1995). In
this ‘boundaryless’ context, it is a likely scenario that organizational support of
career investment activities through relevant repatriation practices may encourage
retention – but without necessarily positively influencing long-term loyalty.


6 BEYOND PROVIDING SUPPORT: NEW CONCERNS

(AND SOLUTIONS) FOR STRATEGIC REPATRIATION

AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

The changing contexts in which MNCs operate – both in terms of the global
markets where they sell their products and services and the labor markets from
which they recruit their employees – have demanded a new approach to repa-
triation. MNCs undoubtedly play an important role in the repatriates’ transi-
tion back to their home country and to their domestic position. However, there
are other issues, beyond the types of repatriation support available to returning
assignees, that need to be considered when formulating a strategic repatriation
program. While retention remains a formidable challenge for the human
resource function, MNCs tend to be reactive, rather than strategic, in their
approach to solving this problem. We believe that given the strategic impor-
tance of a successful repatriation process and its implications for promoting
organizational learning on a global scale, the solutions to the repatriation prob-
lem must, likewise, be strategic.
The following sections will identify three major issues that companies
need to consider if they are to successfully align the reality of repatriation and


344 International Human Resource Management
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