International Organizational Behavior 2e Chapter 7 Activities Page 1
CHAPTER 7
SELECTING AND STAFFING OF INTERNATIONAL
EMPLOYEES
CHAPTER ACTIVITIES
MAKING THE CASE FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING – Multinationals Find
Recruiting and Retaining Chinese Talent a Tall Order
China presents many challenges for foreign companies. Perhaps one of the most surprising
is that finding, and retaining, talented Chinese employees is tough business indeed. The
reasons have to do with the thousands of foreign companies that establish themselves in
Even if a multinational is somehow able to lure top Chinese employees, it is often difficult
to hold onto them despite offers of plenty of training and perks added to the mix. In skilled
positions, many multinationals in China report turnover rates above 30% annually. It has
Moreover, raising salaries has created bidding wars. Small wonder then that salaries in
China are estimated to be rising at a 15% annual clip for talented, English-speaking
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To sum up, an increasingly large group of multinational firms are locked in a talent war
with Chinese companies—many of which also now do business abroad. Both sets of firms
are after the same pool of young, college-educated Chinese with good English skills and a
Assignment Questions
1. First, if you were in the position described above, what would you do? What tactics
might help you recruit and hold the Chinese talent that will be the key to your success
as a multinational firm in China?
2. One clue is that other things besides money seem to be increasingly important to skilled
Chinese employees. A search firm manager in China put it this way:“Money is a less
important reason to change jobs than the potential to grow and have close working
relationship with your boss.”
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DEVELOPING YOUR INTERNATIONAL CAREER – Your International Orientation: Are
You Ready for an Expatriate Assignment?
Purpose and Instructions
This exercise helps develop students’ self-insight about their cross-cultural skills, as well as
expatriate or other foreign work assignment.
Dimension 1: Your International Attitudes
Use the following code key to respond to questions Q1 through Q4.
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly
disagree
Disagree
somewhat
Maybe or
unsure
Agree
somewhat
Strongly
agree
Q1. _____Foreign-language skills should be taught in elementary school.
_______Add up total score for Dimension 1 (scores will range from 4 to 20)
Dimension 2: Your Foreign Experiences (use the code keys underneath each question)
Q1._____I have studied a foreign language.
1 Never
Q2._____I am fluent in another language.
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1 I don’t know another language
2 I am limited to very short, simple phrases
Q3._____I have spent time overseas (e.g., traveling, studying abroad, on family trips,
working, etc.).
1 Never
2 About a week
Q4._____I was overseas before I turned 18.
1 Never
2 About a week
_______Add up total score for Dimension 2 (scores will range from 4 to 20)
Dimension 3: Your Level of Comfort with Differences
Use the code key below for questions Q1 through Q4.
1
3
4
5
Extremely
similar
Somewhat
different
Quite
different
Extremely
different
Q1. _____My friends’ career objectives, interests, and educational backgrounds are . . .
_______Add up total score for Dimension 3 (scores will range from 4 to 20)
Dimension 4: Your Participation in Cultural Events
Use the code key below to answer questions Q1 through Q4.
International Organizational Behavior 2e Chapter 7 Activities Page 5
1
2
3
4
5
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
Q1. _____I eat at a variety of ethnic restaurants (e.g. Greek, Indian, Thai, German, etc.).
_______Add up total score for Dimension 4 (scores will range from 4 to 20)
Assignment Questions
1. Would you like to improve your international orientation? If so, what could you do to
change or improve things?
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MAKING THE CASE FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING – Soul-Searching in
Seoul: One U.S. Expatriate’s Cautionary Tale
Linda Myers’ experience in South Korea is a cautionary tale for any expatriate. She was very
attracted to the opportunity to finally become an expatriate and accepted a management
position in human resources at Seoul-based SK Telecom. This was an exciting prospect—to
Yet, soon after arriving in Seoul, Myers began wondering if she had made a huge mistake.
Despite experience in previous jobs requiring considerable overseas travel (including
months-long stints in the Czech Republic and Ecuador) and expertise as an expatriate
So what happened? The signs of things to come started early when Myers was initially
emailed by an SK Telecom recruiter—who assumed she was a man. She obviously
eventually took the job, feeling it was simply too good to pass up. Once she arrived in Seoul,
But Myers was completely shocked by the struggles she had communicating with her
Korean colleagues inside the company’s hierarchical management structure. Her inability
to speak Korean turned into a major impediment and Myers felt she had no choice but to
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questions to learn anything, Myers felt that even her polite questions were interpreted as
criticisms.
Nevertheless, after just four months in the job, SK Telecom promoted Myers, asking her to
lead SK Holdings’ Global Talent group. She became frustrated, however, at her inability to
Things eventually got so bad that many of her colleagues simply would not speak with her.
The other shoe finally dropped in 2009, when Myers was told that her contract would not
be renewed. While disappointed that she did not have the impact on the company that she
would have liked, Myers also felt a sense of relief that she would be leaving.
In terms of her own style, Myers also concluded that she should have been more patient
when introducing changes to her Korean subordinates. For example, soon after arriving in
Seoul, she tried to create a more informal environment by telling her subordinates to stop
using her title and to address her as “Linda.” Unfortunately, this backfired and caused her
subordinates to lose respect for her and to perceive her as weak. Likewise, Myers admitted
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Assignment Questions
1. What is your assessment of the situation that Linda Myers found herself in? Who is
responsible for her difficulties as an expatriate?