2015-02-02

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Barbara Butts Williams, PhD, Dean, School of Business and Technology

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Doctor of Philosophy

Capella University

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Abstract

The current study was exploratory study which was aimed at finding the rate and causes of the high turnover rate of the repatriated middle level managers. The United States of America has the majority of employees that are under the expatriate scheme. These expatriates are expected to have a positive career development which has been the opposite in reality. This current study tried to explore the causes of the high turnover rate and the experiences of different middle level managers in relation to their repatriation process. American global and multi-national organizations have experienced a very high turnover with managers who are repatriated to the domestic U.S. after an expatriate assignment (Black, 1992). These incidents have been most notably related to repatriates’ inability to rediscover or reintegrate in personal career management and organizational culture and human resources’ inability to provide resources in integration and intervention to assure repatriates’ successful continued tenure with the organization (Baruch & Altman, 2002).   The resulting problem is a high turnover rate among middle managers that is specifically related to the repatriation process. Currently there is a dramatic shift of increasing movement of middle level managers in the international boundaries which has made the requirements of repatriated middle level managers of multinational corporations. The current study used a sample size of 20 repatriated middle managers. These managers were subjected to both open ended and closed questionnaires. The study found out t that 15% of the managers returned to their mother company at the same level.10% of the managers returned on their mother companies in different companies. However 75% of the managers moved to other companies other the ones which sent them for the expatriation assignments. . most of the expatriates( 28%) spend more than 2 years for their expatriation assignments and the adjustment time was more than 6 months (27%). it was found out that most of the respondents interviewed were on the view that most of the companies needed the repatriation programmes to reduce the number of middle level managers who resigned. This research thus recommends for repatriation programmes to be promoted in all companies in the United States of America.Consequenly more research needs to be carried out in more than one company to ascertain the complications of the high turn over nationally.

Dedication

The dedication, if desired, is a numbered page, but “Dedication” does not appear in the Table of Contents. Note that if the Abstract is two pages long, the page number of the Dedication must be changed to IV.

Acknowledgments

The “Acknowledgments” entry does appear in the Table of Contents.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments                                                                                                   iv

List of Tables (if tables used)

List of Figures (if figures used)

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION                                                                                        1

Introduction to the Problem                                                                                     1

Background of the Study (Hit Tab to add page numbers)                                       2

Statement of the Problem                                                                                         3

Purpose of the Study                                                                                              15

Rationale                                                                                                                 15

Research Questions                                                                                                 15

Significance of the Study                                                                                       16

Definition of Terms                                                                                                17

Assumptions and Limitations                                                                                 17

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework)                                                                       20

Organization of the Remainder of the Study                                                         23

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW                                                                           24

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY                                                                                     43

Research Design                                                                                                     45

Sample                                                                                                                    47

Setting                                                                                                                     51

Instrumentation/Measures                                                                                       52

Data Collection                                                                                                       55

Treatment/Intervention                                                                                           59

Data Analysis                                                                                                          61

Validity and Reliability                                                                                          61

Ethical Considerations                                                                                            64

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS                                                                                                   68

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS                101

REFERENCES                                                                                                                107

APPENDIX A:  Statement of original work                                                                    113

APPENDIX B: Questionnaire                                                                                          116

List of Figures

Figure 1: Conceptional framework                                                                                     22

Figure 2: Repatrition                                                                                                           32

Figure 3: Oberg’s phases of adaptation                                                                               42

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction to the Problem

Repatriation is the process of returning back home from the expatriate assignment. However as expected the middle level managers needs to return to their previous organizations which sends for the assignment, but most of them have opted to leave their mother companies in contrast to the expectations. This has led to the high turnover of the middle level repatriated managers. The United States of America has the majority of employees who are under the expatriate scheme. These expatriates are expected to have a positive career development which has been the opposite in reality. This current study tried to explore the causes of the high turnover rate and the experiences of different middle level managers in relation to their repatriation process.

Background of the Study

Currently the world has become a global market which is moving to become a global business organization. This means that business is globalizing in nature hence forcing most of the organizations to send their employees to the foreign countries. (Stahl

et al., 2002). These Expatriate duties are aimed promoting the welfare of the multinational companies and at the same promoting the development of the said repatriated managers (Kobrin, 1988; Shay and Baack, 2004; Takeuchi et al., 2005).However most of the recent studies have found out that the repatriation process has been mishandled (Gregersen et al., 1998; Stroh et al., 2005). The acceptability of the given strategy by the repatriated middle level managers usually involves the expectations of the business stakeholders such as the employees, customers and the shareholders. The expectations of the stakeholders can be categorized as return, risk and the stakeholders complain after the outcomes of the business strategy. The returns involve the benefits and profits which are got by the share holders. These returns involves the financial and the non financial benefits, for instance the share holders expects the increase of their profits and the employees expects the increase of their salaries and the customers expects the improvement of the services respectively. The risk of a strategic policy involves the possibility of the failure of the strategy. The consequence of the risk may be the loose of the financial and the non financial resources respectively. The stakeholder reactions involve the tendency of the stake holders to oppose the views of the employees and the customers. Moreover the workers may start to oppose some policies such as the outsourcing policies with the view that it may lead to the loose of their jobs. At the same time the customers may support the merger of the companies and form the joint ventures so as to improve the quality of the goods and services at large.

Bearing to the fact that currently the world is experiencing increased rate expatriate attrition, organizations ranging from local and multinational companies are giving much emphasis on promoting and making the repatriation a successful story. This has been brought in the previous studies which have been documented in most of the Human Resource Management Peer reviewed papers respectively. More over it has to be recognized that repatriation has generally been researched by many researchers but there is no concrete and satisfying solution which has been found to solve this present managerial problem. Thus this study was aimed at finding the reasons for the high turnover of the repatriated middle level manager’s repatriation management.

Statement of the Problem

The focus of this study was repatriation and high turnover of repatriated middle managers in global organizations. American global and multi-national organizations have experienced a very high turnover with managers who are repatriated to the domestic U.S. after an expatriate assignment (Black, 1992). These incidents have been most notably related to repatriates’ inability to rediscover or reintegrate in personal career management and organizational culture and human resources’ inability to provide resources in integration and intervention to assure repatriates’ successful continued tenure with the organization (Baruch & Altman, 2002).   The resulting problem is a high turnover rate among middle managers that is specifically related to the repatriation process. Currently there is a dramatic shift of increasing movement of middle level managers in the international boundaries which has made the requirements of repatriated middle level managers of multinational corporations. These international managerial workers have requirements that are often not traced in general. They have been found to be suffering from complications related to the ones experienced by expatriates. Consequently, most of the companies have not succeeded in accommodating these complications in their management policies and strategic management criteria.

The previous Research study by Baruch and Altman, 2002 found out that at least 50% of the repatriated middle level managers quitted the duties as financial services company managers immediately after returning back from their foreign expatriate duties (Baruch & Altman, 2002). Consequently it was noted that about 30% to 40% of repatriates decide to move from their respective organization in a range of 2 years of repatriation assignments compared to non-expatriate middle level managers who account for at least 5-10%. The same study by Baruch and Altman, 2002   concluded that more than 30% of overseas expatriate assignment has been successful leading to high turnover rates of expatriates to their original country.

The High turn -out rates among the repatriated middle level managers have been attributed to the organizations strategic problems due to lack of reposition of the concerned repatriated employees. Most of the times local and multinational Organizations experiences some limitations in getting the best personnel for expatriate positions due to the culture shock that expatriate experience when returning home. Proper preparation for this future shock may prepare expatriates for the transition to domestic work and family settings. Previous studies in 2005 concluded that repatriation adjustment was the strongest predictor of intent to leave the organization (Lee & Liu, 2005).

The Retention of the middle level managers shall be taken as the first priority while planning for the repatriate positions of the returning expatriates .The assignments given to the expatriates needs to be of the Long term career planning which focuses on the foresees in building on previous assignments. Consequently it has been found that the tendency of giving the same unchallenging roles once they return back from the overseas makes many of the returning expatriates to apply for other higher ranking positions. The Performance is the product of ability multiplied by motivation, and ability is the product of aptitude multiplied by training and resources. The performance is an output of the staff which is a basis of achievements of quantified objectives (Chew, 2004 ). It is from the attainment of these objectives in the totality that lead to the achievements of organizational goals. The United   States of America organizations are faced with difficulty of irregular performance based financing (PBF) which has affected staff performance

The current trend among the organizations under the business jurisdiction of United States of America is that they do not give much emphasis to the expatriates who are returning back to their home country (Chew, 2004 ).This has been attributed by the failure of the Human Resource wing of not tracking the performance of the repatriate while they in their expatriate duties . An organized arrangements during the period of return from the expatriate assignments can solve the transition problem a. An ongoing lack of attention to repatriation management will likely continue to fuel high turnover rates. (Wayne et al; 1999)

Welchi D.E (2003) stated that “the effective management of individual performance is critical to the execution of strategy and the organization achieving its strategic objectives”. Performance cannot be left in anticipation that it will develop naturally, despite the employee’s natural desire to perform and be rewarded for it. This desire needs to be accommodated, facilitated and cultivated. In return for this performance, organizations extend themselves in various forms of acknowledgement (Foot and Hook, 1999). Individual performance has become a topical issue in today’s business environment, so much so that organizations go to great lengths to appraise and manage it (Armstrong and Baron, 1998).

Whitten and Cameron (1998) stated that individual performance is the product of ability multiplied by motivation. Furthermore, Cummings and Schwab (1973) concur with the belief that performance is ultimately an individual phenomenon with environmental factors influencing performance primarily through their effect on the individual determinants of performance ability and motivation. Despite the motivation to perform, it is necessary to briefly highlight the barriers that might affect the performance of employees. These barriers may be the result of underdeveloped competencies, inappropriate performance goals, or lack of feedback about performance (Hellriegel, et al., 1999). For organizational purposes, factors affecting overall employee performance may be separated into two groups: internal and external. Internal factors are those factors over which the organization has influence and control, such as job descriptions and employee selection. External factors are those factors over which the organization has little or no control, such as demands for jobs grading systems (Hellriegel, et al., 1999). In order for an organization to perform an individual must set aside his personal goals, at least in part, to strive for the collective goals of the organization (Cummings and Schwab, 1973). In an organizational context, the very nature of performance is defined by the organization itself (Cummings and Schwab, 1973). Employees are of paramount importance to the achievement of any organization. Thus, effective leadership enables greater participation of the entire workforce, and can also influence both individual and organizational performance (Bass, 1997; Mullins, 1999).

The success of an organization is reliant on the leader’s ability to optimize human resources. A good leader understands the importance of employees in achieving the goals of the organization, and that motivating these employees is of paramount importance in achieving these goals. To have an effective organization the people within the organization need to be inspired to invest themselves in the organization’s mission: the employees need to be stimulated so that they can be effective; hence effective organizations require effective leadership (Wall, Solum and Sobol, 1992; Maritz, 1995). To have an effective organization, there must be effective and stimulating relations between the people involved in the organization (Paulus, Seta and Baron, 1996).

It has been widely accepted that effective organizations require effective leadership and that organizational performance will suffer in direct proportion to the neglect of this (Fiedler and House, 1988). Furthermore, it is generally accepted that the effectiveness of any set of people is largely dependent on the quality of its leadership–effective leader behavior facilitates the attainment of the follower’s desires, which then results in effective performance. Preliminary research undertaken by Swanepoel, et al., 2000) in a South African context found that outstanding leaders, in terms of effectiveness, are perceived to show a strong and direct, but democratic and participative leadership style, and are seen as agents of change and visionaries who increase organizational performance.

Botha, (2001) concludes that the need of firms to flourish in the world of escalating competitiveness, of technological advances, of altering government regulations and of changing employee attitudes, requires an advanced level of leadership more than ever before. His views further demonstrate the importance of leadership in the business arena. According to Bass (1997), in the modern business environment much research has proved that leaders make a difference in their subordinates’ performance, and also make a difference as to whether their organizations succeed or fail. Furthermore Kotter (1988) argues for the ever-increasing importance of leadership in organizations, because of significant shifts in the business environments, such as the change in competitive intensity and the need for more participation of the total workforce.

Repatriated middle level Managers within the United States of America has found themselves under increasing pressure. Not only have they had to respond to reforms directed by the government and other non, governmental organizations but they have been pressed both by others within the service and by the public to justify what they do. They are expected to make the service “ever a more efficient, rational and controlled while at the same time caring and people centered.” The rational approach is supported by data being compiled on all aspects of activity. Many argue that if customers have doubts about the service they are receiving, there should be the possibility of comparison based on independent assessment. Hence, as with the country’s organizations such as companies, hospitals and learning institions, there are league tables and other comparisons. There are now as many managers in the National Services who, in turn, are in charge of junior administrators and clerks. Several studies have shown that good management improves services and production hence increasing the profits targeted by the specified organization. There is a strong relationship between good personnel practice and high performance.For any organisation to become successful; the managing process should be systematic in nature. The government of the United States of America and other regulatory agencies has been involved in the monitoring process whereby the obtained goals are analysed and then compared with other successful companies in the world. To implement a certain strategic policy the resources should be used by training some workers on the developmental principles. Many complications have been seen to evolve in the implementation of the strategies by the involved companies. The problems involved include the human relations complication between the managerial personalities and the lower chambered members. And the poor communications between the employees and the employers. These problems have consequently led to the complications in the marketing strategies such the inability to produce the new products which can suit the new market demands. In any organisation which has the successful strategy implementation, it has high level of consistence in the hierarchal levels of management which needs to be implemented by managers.Owolabi, Amusan, Oloke, Olusanya, Tunji, Owolabi, Peter, and Omuh (2014) also discusses the causes of the high turnover of the repatriates in different organizations . They noted   that lack of skill development in the over- seas countries form the greatest problem experienced by most of the middle level managers respectively. This repatriate problem implicate negative effects including contract termination, lawsuits between contractors and   owners, loss of productivity, and increased production costs. The authors observed that there were several factors that induce delays in construction projects. Some of the identified factors include: variations among project stakeholders, contractor’s insolvency, slow decision making, inadequate information from consultants, ineffective information among stakeholders, changes in drawings, and inadequate funds for the project’s completion. Also, there are discrepancies and mistakes in contract documents, business management issues, and poor organizational structure connected with labor and project.

The previous Studies focusing on repatriation have generally identified some gaps in the processes and the execution criteria employed by most of the organizations in promoting the nature of repatriation exercise. More over the   large multinational companies have not been spared .The study by Chew, 2004; Dowling and Schuler, 1990; Tung, 1988 have previously concluded that the considered factor was the financial implication of the repatriated managers and their close relatives. This study agrees with other related studies that concluded that the procedure of repatriation has hindered the performance of the middle level managers. More over most of the business organizations that internationally recognized have generally considered the process of absorbing the returning expatriates without checking the financial and psychological implications which may hinder the performance of the middle level managers.

Many middle level repatriated middle level managers have been found to be lacking Strategy management policies( Welch,D,E,2003 ).Strategic management is a scope of a company over a long period of time, which gives that organization an advantage over the other related companies having the same challenging factors such as environment and market demands. Thus the business strategies are aimed at giving the direction, the market scope, analyzing the resources and making the company perform better .Consequently the strategy is analyzed by tracing it s strength and pin pointing the external and internal factors affecting the performance of each company. David, F (1989) argues that environmental factors determine the direction of the consultation outsourcing companies. This has been attributed by the management organization cultures which promotes the training of their employees .Well business plan is one of the vital factor in the out sourcing industry. The companies should recruit the experienced personnel for the production and marketing .Some financial factors may influence the success of the business companies. The financial factors include the poor cash flow, poor pricing strategies and lack of enough finances. Marketing factors has influenced the success of most of the consultation legal companies. This includes a tendency of responding to the competition from other consultation companies. Human resources factors also influence the growth of the consultation out sourcing companies; this includes proper delegation of the company authority and hiring people with skills and experience. According to Kim, S (2002) Strategic management by the middle level managers is a fundamental factor in consultation companies.

Pressure arises internally too among the repatriated middle level managers. Many staff complains of managers never revealing the story behind changes. One said, “I think people always think there is something going on… some people have this perception of repatriated middle managers up there plotting.” Middle and junior managers, who see themselves as implementers of strategy, feel they lack the information they would like although their staff think that they withhold it (Yan et al,2002 ). They have less autonomy and less involvement in key decision making than their staff assumes and they are subjected to increasing control.

Another difficulty for the repatriated middle level managers is the need to manage professional staff with equal or higher status. The organization is very complex. Managing professional staff who have a high degree of autonomy means that an autocratic style does not work. Yet middle managers find that they act as buffers between the professions and senior managers who look at, “black and white statistical information that is their version of the reality.”( Whitelock, 2002) .Another report by the previous study by Pasa, S. 2000 concluded that “Amidst this constant negativity to repatriated middle level managers it may be easy for managers to lose sights of their role in the wider scheme of bringing more accountability and effectiveness to United States of America organizations.”

Most of the repatriated middle level managers have been found to be under performing because of the varying behaviors which vary from the returning countries respectively. Individual behavior is a term which is used to refer to the pattern of the behaviors in reference to the individual’ s thought and emotions which are so unique to each individual and the way this person will interact with other people will positively or negatively influence the situation. Individual behavior   is generally affected by several factors which are referred to as diversity and demographic characteristics. Since organizations are composed of individuals, then this implies that the individual’s behavior will ultimately affect the organizational behaviors. These factors which consequently affect the human behavior of each individual includes the ethnicity ,gender traits, age of the individual, social economic status, affinity, religion, geographic location, personality traits, value and attitude differences. At the same time these factors affect the performance of any group where an individual is involved. The diversity factors make each individual to be recognized as being distinct from other individuals. This paper tries to bring out the effect of the personality traits, ethnicity, geographic differences and age on the individual behaviors. The ethnic groups usually form the racial groups such as the Hispanic-Americans and the African-Americans. It has been found that that ethnicity of each individual will determine the performance of an individual and hence affect the performance of the organization (Pasa, S. 2000).The Africans and Asians have been found to be more torellant compared with their American counterparts. But at the same time the Africans have been found to be more temperament. Thus the ethnicity of the individuals affects the behavior. The ethnicity of an individual will affect the way one is behaving in response to the feeding habits for example many individuals who are Indians do not consume beef which is a taboo according to them. Consequently the dressing codes of the Arab women are affected by the ethnicity. The ethnicity of an individual affects the cultural behaviors of individuals (Penner, L, 1997). Constantly these cultural differences may affect the organizational behavior of any organization. For example some employees tends to be comfortable when they have more power distance from the supervisors such as in the Asian cultures, this may not fit in the western ethnic groups. The personality traits of an individual determine the behavior of an individual. Some of the personality traits include the pessimistism.optimism and courage. These personality differences between the individuals affect their performance in any organization. For example those individuals who are more courageous can be able to interact with the higher authorities of an organization at the same time such individuals are likely to be successful in life since they can venture in different opportunities without any fear. The optimistic individuals can be able to engage in many social activities compared with those who are pessimistic (Torlak, O, 2007). The courageous individuals can influence the organizational behavior by making it to have a positive move. Thus in relation to the above problems which have not been analyzed well to understand properly why there is a high turnover rate among middle managers that is specifically related to the repatriation process thus there was need for further research.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the current study was to find out the causes for the high turnover of the middle level managers. Consequently this study was aimed at finding the experiences of the repatriated middle level managers during and after the expatriation assignments

Rationale

Much focus is put into the expatriation process to insure success in such an assignment. However, there has been a vacuum in the study of specific reasons for failures in the repatriation process and employees’ inability to reintegrate domestically with the organization (Mary, 2001). Noting such reference literature, there are observable events concerning the repatriation process as it relates specifically to turnover in the organization. However, there is a gap in literature that addresses the variable influence of executive policy and human resources interaction as impacting the adjustment process to insure repatriates’ career goals are realized, preventing repatriation separation from the organization (Littrell, 2002).

Research Questions

Why is turnover in a global/international organization an employment issue among repatriated employees?

What is it like to be faced with affiliating and readjusting to domestic work life in the United States?

What are some specific experiences in the repatriation process that prove challenging with regard to daily experiences?

How do managers and HR play a role in making the repatriation process successful?

What are the causes of the high turnover of repatriated middle level managers in organizations?

Significance of the Study

Currently there is a continued advancement of global and multinational business (E. H. A. & UDO, 2011), the expatriate process continues to be a corporate event that exists among organizational management (Whitelock, 2002). By contributing to the line of thinking from prior referenced studies and research, this dissertation will serve to make a contribution to resolving the issue of turnover (or reducing it) among repatriated individuals as defined by the study.

The study will be of benefit to researcher to understand the factors leading to the high turnover of the repatriated middle level managers. Through this research, the business organizations will get information about what should motivate employees in order to work and perform efficiently. It will be also important to the administrations or managers of the organization who will use this information to make policies about personnel administration to meet the challenges of low productivity. This information will be availed to all students who have access to enable them improve their knowledge on motivation and performance. Finally, the research will be important to the government in setting appropriate the business strategies as a basis for Human Resources Resource development.

Definition of Terms

Baruch and Altman (2012) define repatriate as an employee within a global or multi-national organization who is returned from an abroad location to the country of origin or the domestic country of residence (home base). Within the confines of this study, this definition will expand that definition to deal specifically with middle manager expatriates who have returned to their domestic country of residence within the last 18 months.

Crowne (2009) defines repatriate turnover as the act of a repatriate failing to reintegrate with their organization and leaving the company for another opportunity or leaving the company altogether. As stated above, this study will focus exclusively on middle managers repatriated within the last 18 months.

Assumptions and Limitations

Assumptions

This present study used the theory of work adjustment (Black, 1994) which makes a common assumption that work is conceptualized as an interaction between an individual and his/her work environment. Theoretically, this is a common assumption. However, it is also a common topical assumption in business, as stated by Caza (2007), that employees will have specific reactions to different circumstances and stress elements within the work environment. Adding to these assumptions is the philosophical core perception that phenomenology of persons as located in a world of “socially shared concepts whose employment is said to “fore-structure” their understanding, shaping their “projections” or expectation of events (Wilson, 2012).

The previous study by Bock and Sergeant (2002) concluded that a smaller sampling size of 15-20 is appropriate when dealing with a qualitative study and that “the per-respondent costs of qualitative research are sufficiently high than in most situations where ‘quantitative’ results are required   is not economically viable to conduct qualitative research with a robust sample size”. This being the case, these findings explains that qualitative research is equally concerned with measurement/evaluation as with understanding, therefore employing such methodological approaches, such as exploratory study, that evaluate questions and interpret situational issues would be suitable for such a sample size.

Strengths

The strength of the study was that it pertains to a real organizational problem. The study illuminates real possibilities for reducing the occurrence of the problem in the workplace and, therefore, possesses value to organizational procedure and acumen

Limitations

The study was limited only to repatriation process within the last 18 months, identifying 20 repatriates within the middle management category. This tends to limit the study with respect to the concept of expatriates that are being or have been repatriated possibly being in a different hierarchy of employment other than middle managers. Another limitation was that the employees were from one specific global/multi-national organization. Therefore, though conducting the same study with a different sample, one may not have similar results based on varying the organization or employee demographic.

There was specific rationale in accepting such limitations with regard to sampling among middle managers. Jassawalla and Sashittal (2009) concluded that there was a specific problem in American business that rests in the practice of expatriation and repatriation. They called this phenomenon as “in sourcing”, in which management expertise, oversight, and knowledge are lost through the repatriation process, turnover, and inability to capture and integrate management knowledge from the expatriate experience. Therefore, it remains a plausible that a sample of middle managers was an adequate representation of the phenomenon that was being examined. Limitations in organization and employee demographic were accepted due to qualitative sampling rationale as noted in 7.7. The limitation of organization and employee demographic was accepted under the guise that there was future opportunity for study of the phenomenon under differing and various samples that may reveal additional findings and evaluation of the phenomenon in question.

Theoretical framework

This present study used the theory of work adjustment (TWA), as noted by Black (1994) to substantiate the research findings. This theory would be considered accurate in the form of a conceptual network in the study as it deals specifically with describing the relationship of the individual to his or her work environment. This, then, would be considered appropriate in examining the event(s) of the repatriation process as it relates to turnover. Within this theoretical approach, work is conceptualized as an interaction between the individual and the work environment. The work environment requires that certain tasks be performed and the individual brings skills to perform the tasks. In exchange, the individual requires compensation for work performance and certain preferred conditions, such as a safe and comfortable place to work. The environment and the individual must continue to meet each other’s requirements for the interaction to be maintained. The degree to which the requirements of both are met may be called correspondence. Work adjustment is the process of achieving and maintaining correspondence. Work adjustment is indicated by the satisfaction of the individual with the work environment, and by the satisfaction of the work environment with the individual—by the individual’s satisfactoriness. Satisfaction and satisfactoriness result in tenure, the principal indicator of work adjustment. Tenure can be predicted from the correspondence of an individual’s work personality with the work environment. Work personalities and work environments can be described in terms of structure and style variables that are measured on the same dimensions.

From the Wayne’s point of view (2006), organizational reward systems includes anything an employee values and desires that an employer is able and willing to offer exchange for employee contribution. More specifically such compensation includes both financial and non financial rewards. Financial include direct payment (example salary) plus indirect payments in form of employees benefits. Non-financial rewards include everything in work environments that enhances workers sense of self respect and esteem by others (example: work environment that are physically, socially and mentally health; opportunities for training and person development; effective supervision; recognition). Rewards bridge the gaps between organizational objectives and individual expectations and aspirations. To be effective, organizational rewards systems should provide four things: Sufficient level of rewards to fulfill basic needs, Equity with the external labor market, Equity within the organization ,Treatment of each member of organization in term of his or her individual needs more broadly pay systems are designed to attract, retain and motivate employees. Similarly, Brandon (1964); clearly stresses that, financial motivation of workers is high priority tasks for managers, since motivation is closely linked to our output productivity, lower costs and higher profits. But whether people in a work group are motivated or not depends largely upon the management they have. That fact unfortunately all too often is obscured. When financial motivation is low, managers have a tendency to blame poor work attitudes among employees, to characterize subordinates as lazy or disloyal. They talk about low morale. Probably morale is low. Employees are not happier about the situation than management is.

Conceptual Framework

A conceptual frame illustrates the relationship between Repatriation and high turnover. It points out the variables and independent variables in the study and demonstrates the relationship between variables and independent variables. The independent variable (repatriation) has been operationalised in three motivational practice (Financial, non financial and institutional practices).The financial motivation has been operationalised into, salary, incentives and bonus. The non financial motivational attributes the hygienic factors (Quality of supervision, quality of interpersonal relations, Working conditions, feelings of job security) and the

motivator factors (Opportunity for advancement, recognition, responsibility, Challenging/Stimulating work, Sense of personal achievement and personal growth in a job) The institutional policies are attached to the independent variables because its nature can lead the high or low performance.

The parts detailed into independent variables have been linked to the components of dependent variables (performance) due to the fact that, they influence them. The dependent variable is operationalised into satisfaction, productivity, performance and rewards.

Figure 1: Conceptional framework

Organization of the Remainder of the Study

The remainder of the study started by carrying out the literature review by using the search engines and terms related to the repatriation of the employees in the United States of America and the entire world in general. The research used the interview method to collect the data. The concerned data was analyzed by using percentage prevalence and   presented in tables. This research utilized qualitative methodology that explored the experience components of repatriation, its impact on turnover of middle managers in a global organization, and potential strategies to address the phenomenon.

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presented the related literature and concepts about repatriate high turnover. The literature review is conceptualized under the objectives of the study and focuses mainly on the repatriates in the United States multinational companies. The literature in this chapter was got from secondary data source.

Repatriate turnover

Repatriation is defined as the process of reentry the individuals’ home country after

Living abroad for a significant period of time (Hurn, 1999). The word “expatriate” originates from the mid eighteenth century from the Latin word expatriāre meaning gone out from one’s country (from ex- ‘out’ + patria ‘native Country.’)(Oxford English Dictionary 2010). The Dictionary of Human Resource Management (2001, p. 120), on the other hand, suggests that expatriation is the process of sending employees abroad on an international assignment.

Repatriation occurs when an expatriate of a multinational corporation returns to the country of his/her origin from an overseas assignment (Hodgetts and Luthans, 1997).The repatriate turn over in the United States of America has been increasing year after year. The previous studies   by Black et al., (1992); Allen and Alvarez, (1998) concluded that there was   an increased turnover of the repatriated middle level manager. One study concluded that   within 2 years of the repatriation process of the middle level managers, about 20–50%of repatriates change from their work stations which had sent them for the expatriate assignments. (Stroh et al., 1998; Bossard and Peterson, 2005).This trend has proved to increase the production cost of the concerned organisations.The organization that are sending this middle level managers to the overseas are consequently loosing the funds which they use to train this employees. The many years spend overseas makes these organization lose resources already invested in huge amount. The companies have been found to be losing the skills and the business experiences and the concurrent business connections that have been gained by the expatriated middle level managers which have been used for the consequent success of business firms (Stroh et al., 2005). For instance, Kostova and Roth (2003) in their study quote that” the networks created by expatriates are an important aspect of the social capital that enables multinationals to more successfully manage interdependence”. This is supported by other previous studies which found out those Chief Executive Officers who had expatriate business experience were the best performers in the management of the global organizations (Daily et al., 2000; Carpenter et al., 2001).They continued to argue that the high repatriate turnover was a biggest business challenge loss faced by the global business companies. Another research study in relation to   repatriate turn-over found out that indicates that most of the expatriates who return from the overseas assignments move from their previous companies and organizations as a result of the repatriation mismanagement process .This can be done by mismanaging the returns process and some of them think that they are not appreciated after return (Allen and Alvarez, 1998; Bossard and Peterson, 2005). This findings were in agreement the study findings by Tung (1998) who concluded that most of managers who were given international assignments had a lot of satisfaction in relation to the expatriation process , however they were not satisfied with the repatriation process. This same study argues that ‘inadequate advancement opportunities upon return’ scores in the high turnover league as the fundamental reasons causing the high levels of dissatisfaction in the returning expatriates. The Previous research study by (Johnston et al., 1993). Suggested that returning expatriates who are not promoted and rewarded by being given advancement opportunities usually move from their previous companies.Some leaders are cynical. They believe that the people who work in their organization are merely punching a time clock and care very little for the organization and the work it does. Such an attitude can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A far more accurate and fruitful approach is to assume that people really want to do their jobs well. From this point of view, the leader’s task is to help people find the right positions that make full use of their talents and interests and enables them to keep growing and developing throughout their careers. People want to succeed, and the organization can help them to do so by providing regular feedback on the work they are performing in a way that challenges them to look at things from new points of view and to innovate. Rather than tell a manager that he or she must interpret more studies per hour, a good leader will simply provide more feedback on productivity while simultaneously engaging the staff member in discussions on how the organization can operate more efficiently. A focus on productivity can prove highly counterproductive, however, if it ever leads to a neglect of quality. People may become rapidly disenchanted if they believe that quality is being sacrificed for the sake an enhanced bottom line. An example of a positive achievement might be if an employee completes a task or project before the deadline and receives high reviews on the result, the satisfaction the employee feels would increase. However, if that same individual is unable to finish the project in time, or feels rushed and is unable to do the job well, the satisfaction level may decrease (Ruthankoon, 2003).

Indemnities are various fringe benefits such as transport and housing allowances, sick leaves, health, and credits facilities. Indemnities may also include rewards to hard working people. Everyone in any company has his or her own reasons for working, and pay usually is among the most important. Not surprisingly, though, many workers list other factors that are almost equally strong motivations. These can range from opportunities to grow or learn new skills to a sense of community and purpose to more tangible benefits, such as health insurance, flexible work schedules, and provisions for retirement. Some previous studies have cited lack of motivation to be the main cause for the high turnover of the repatriated middle level managers. The term motivation refers to the psychological forces within a person that determine the direction of the person’s behavior in any organizations person’s level of effort and person’s level of persistence in the face obstacles (Jennifer and Gareth,1985). In reference to Montebello (1994) motivation is Multi-faceted psychological process, which energizes individuals’ behavior towards a desired goal or objectives, that involves physical, psychological, social and cultural needs which operates both individually and interactively to energize human behavior. Dublin, R (1958 :), regarded motivation as the complex of the forces starting and keeping a person in the organization. He added that motivation is something that moves a person to action and continues him in the course of action already initiated.

However, most managers prefer receiving benefits as part of their overall compensation because certain benefits programs offer economic advantages that salary alone cannot.   A pension plan, for example, guarantees income after retirement. Various insurance plans provide security for workers and their families in case of disability or death. Programs such as these have the added feature of lower cost; negotiated group rates for insurance, for example, are almost always less expensive than individually purchased premiums. This feature is even more attractive if the employer picks up all or a portion of the premium. Subject to certain limitations, many benefits such as employer paid health insurance, life insurance, and child care do not count as taxable income to the employee(Reuber ,A and Fischer ,E ). Vroom’s is based on the belief that, the employees efforts will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards” (Vroom 1964). Rewards may be either positive or negative. The more positive the rewards the more likely the employees will be highly motivated and hence more retention rate. Conversely, the more negative the rewards the less likely the employees will be motivated. Adam’s theory states that the employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers. Equity is achieved when the ratio of employees’ outcomes over inputs is equal to other employees’ outcomes over inputs” (Adam, s 1965). Skinner’s theory simply states those employees behaviors that lead to positive outcomes will be repeated that lead to negative will not be repeated. (Skinner, 1953). Top Management should positively reinforce employee’s behaviors that lead to positive outcomes. Top Management should negatively reinforce employee’s behaviors that lead to negative outcomes

Some of the repatriated middle level managers leave their previous companies because of lack of recognition from the higher management authority the most important source of job satisfaction and motivation is internal, yet every person defines and appraises what he or she does in part through how others see it; recognition is an important component in addressing this need. Praise can be worth far more than dollars, particularly when dealing with people who approach their work from the perspective of a professional, such as managers. This is not to say that people will be happy being underpaid as long as you heap praise on them there is no question that compensation is an important component of hygiene that must be attended to in order to avoid dissatisfaction. Yet praise ultimately means more, because it speaks directly to the person as a professional and what their work means to themselves, their colleagues, and the people their organization serves. A good leader looks for opportunities to recognize workers for a job well done. Beware, though, such well-intentioned efforts as employee-of-the-month programs: These programs quickly lose their motivational value as the award is simply passed around the organization month by month. A well-crafted note of praise is worth far more. For many, recognition may come from the respect and trust shown by referring managers who seek out a particular experienced manager for the expertise and the rapport they enjoy with that person. In an academic department, every faculty member should be able to find some niche where he or she is the local expert. Younger managerial members may benefit from advice and encouragement in developing good relationships with other colleagues. When an employee receives the acknowledgement they deserve for a job well done, the satisfaction will increase. If employees work is overlooked or criticized it will have the opposite effect (Harvey, M, G, 1989) .If returning expatriated middle level managers sees that leadership neglects the workplace, their sense of pride in and commitment to their jobs will suffer. Facilities should be designed to be as warm and friendly as possible and should be kept well ordered and clean at all times. Equipment should be as up to date as possible and well maintained. People should have their own personal space, if possible, and they should be allowed to set it up as they see fit. Leaders must sometimes fight to secure the space and facilities their employees deserve. The importance of such a battle should not be underestimated, because people who work in the organization will be living with it for years and perhaps decades to come. The working condition includes the physical surroundings that one works within, such as the facilities or location. Ruthankoon (2003).

Some Previous studies by (McEvoy and Parker, 1995; Black et al., 1999; Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al ., 2005),have found out that most of middle level managers who are in the expatriate overseas business assignments usually find them challenging .Despite of these challenges experienced still some employees have a great desire to be given chance by the concerned companies for the overseas posting due to the fact that they think that this is one of the chance to help them in career development(Mendenhall et al ., 2002). The previous research study by Stahl et al. (2002) concluded that 59% of those who were in the expatriate assignment had a notion that such assignment would have promoted their career advancement in their mother organizations. This perception have been accounted from press adverts, which claim that working as an expatriate will ‘supercharge your career’ (Fisher, 1997), ‘boost your career’ (Fisher, 2005), or be a ‘ticket to the top’ (Lublin, 1996).The previous study findings by Chief Executive magazine and Spencer Stuart (an executive search firm) concluded that”extended overseas work experience is critical for those who want to make it to the very top of an organization” (Martin, 2004).However some study findings have found out that expatriation is not the only way forward for business career advancement. Daily et al. (2000) offered these words of caution: ‘for those who would aspire to the executive suite, such a view toward international assignments may be shortsighted.

Figure 2: repatriation

Mark C Bolino, 2007

From the above diagram it is depicted that intra-organizational career success can be influenced by the organizational and employee outcomes .The expatriate experience is influenced by successful posting, development assignments, significant international experiences and the importance given to the overseas assignments .Moreover the career development practices influence the success of the repatriation process.

Role of Human Resource in Repatriation process

The major role for the success of the repatriation process lies in the hands of the human resource managements of organizations. Previous study by Wayne et al ( 1999) found out that , the development of careers by organizations and other business traditional practices which includes   mentoring ,training and staff developments were connected to the career success as . This is in agreement with other studies who have explained that consequently organizational business practices makes the career development of the expatriates who return from the overseas assignments (Feldman and Thomas, 1992; Stroh, 1995; Selmer, 1999). In this studies , Feldman and Thomas (1992) generally concluded that career advancement programs are involved in promoting the success of the repatriate .Moreover other studies have found out that some human resource practices help to promote the career adjustment of repatriates after return. (Bossard and Peterson, 2005).

The extent of employees support by their mother organizations usually determines the direction of their   career advancements. Some previous studies have indicated that there is a high chance of any repatriate to quit their organization after mistreatment (Gregersen, 1992; Baughn, 1995; Peltonen, 1997; Bossard and Peterson, 2005).This leads to a high Repatriate turnover in different organizations as they do not meet the expectations of their expatriates after their return to their home country(Strohet al., 2000).This study continues to argue that the high turnover of the repatriates will have a negative effect in the other employees who may wish to go for a expatriate assignments (Stroh, 1995). Managers must be encouraged by their organizations by giving them certain skills and incentives to enable them retain their previous roles. Most of the managers tend to prosper in their careers when they have assistance and it has been found that expatriates who get this support tend to have positive career advancement while working in the same company that   recruited these managers for the international assignments (Yan.R.1998)

The previous study by Baruch and Altman(2002) found out that for the expatriation to be successful then there needs to be much emphasis on the candidates selection for the assignment, proper pre-arrival arrangements for the expatriate and his/her close family relatives, the and the consequent repatriation arrangements when the business assignment has been completed..Previous findings by Baruch & Altman (2002 ) concluded   that at least 50% of managers personnel quitted their   company within a few years after completion of their expatriation assignment. Consequently it was found out that 30% to 40% of expatriates move from the company that recruited them for the expatriate assignment. Previous study by Lee & Liu (2005) concluded that repatriation readjustment was the major indictor of repatriate turn over. Thus the organization should focus on the career development and retention of their workers in the promotion of effective repatriation process. However, supporting repatriates after the completion of the (Black, Gregersen et al. 1992; Lazarova, 2001; Swaak, 1997). Some studies have stressed on the importance of the need of multinational organizations to put more attention in enhancing expatriates’ commitment to the mother company, and consequently developing their commitment to the local work department during the repatriation process (Bonache, 2005; Gregersen and Black, 1996; Hansen, 1997).

Repatriate high turnover retention is one of the major challenges   for those working in the international sector. Despite the substantial costs involved in developing the potential of high caliber employees to take and hold expatriate roles, these same people are often dissatisfied on their return to their motherlands (Napier and Peterson, 1991; Su

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