Corinne Olinger
Expatriate
The factors that can contribute to the failure of expatriates in a multinational firm are many and
varied, a few that I have found are as follows:
There is a failure to adapt and perform in their international assignment. Cultural issues that create
misunderstandings can lead to a lack of ability to function in a new country. The lack of functionality
with local suppliers, employees, customers, and or country officials creates its own set of
problematic issues for the expatriate. If the expatriate cannot breach the cultural distance, they are
unable to communicate on many levels with the people they need involvement with and cannot
move forward with their job duties. This becomes an aspect of cultural inflexibility. Cross- cultural
training before departure will help to prepare the expatriate before leaving for their assignment.
When the expatriate experiences family or spouse related issues at home, their mind-set is
impacted and their ability to perform decreases due to the stress from those problems. Being away
from home puts undue stress on the family pulling the expatriate in many directions at once. I know
from experience the problems that were created within our family unit when my husband remained
in Santiago and we came back to the U.S. He (as an expat) was lonely, had a hard time being able to
get news from home, the time difference made matters worse, he couldn’t confirm that things were
going smoothly at home, etc and he had a lot of stress from the job. The combination of emotional
despondency and physical exhaustion from elevated stress levels and overwork is a common
problem for new expatriates. Unless alleviated, the result can be dramatically reduced effectiveness
or work-interrupting illness for expatriates.
I believe if some type of family counseling and advising was provided before he left, things may
have been easier for us and him before the assignment.
When there is a lack of clearly communicated expectation from the multinational to the expatriate
with no clarification of individual performance goals (which fit into the wider organizational
strategy), the expatriate feels there is a lack of support from the parent company. If regular