Close Encounters of the Expatriate Kind

Our world is becoming smaller. Once upon a time, people seemed so far away, so distant. We experienced the world through novels, newspapers, or if you were lucky enough, the military sent you somewhere exotic. Now, the world seems to appear right in front of us with a click of a button (or double click….). When I was little, I remember waiting patiently for my father to return home from Australia, Taiwan, and Tokyo, usually equipped with stuffed animals or toys he had picked up along his travels.

It was the early 1980’s, and my dad was an expatriate. He managed operations overseas, often leaving his family behind for what felt like lengthy assignments. I never knew what was so special about my dad that they always chose him for these foreign assignments. To me, he was an exotic spy who spoke foreign languages and could melt metal with his gaze. Turns out, he was the best in his field and chosen for his communication competence, his technological prowess, and negotiation skills (I still think he can melt metal with his gaze…).


Following in his footsteps, I hope to become an expatriate manager someday in one of those foreign cities. With today’s globalization of companies constantly competing in the world economy, I think we will see more workers travel abroad to set up shop. Our economy is changing, our world is evolving, and this is a new era dawning upon us to where I feel the need to strap myself in for quite the journey. We are no longer aliens in search of a better society, but a diverse world in search of opportunity on the World Wide Web.

In order to survive the global workplace, I felt it best to study the failures and successes of expatriates before me. I found that without a repatriation program (inserting the worker abroad back into American culture) most assignments fail. I found that the percentage is high for resignations after being abroad, with the number one reason being inability to adapt to new cultures, and reason two being family stress (Bauer & Taylor, 2001).

When expats are away from home for lengthy periods of time, it’s crucial to keep in touch with the home office. Without the home fires burning, the only outcome is burn-out. Why would a company want to blow so much capital to send someone overseas when they can hire local for cheap? “Expatriates represent a competitive advantage for international corporations” such as market knowledge, personal skills, job-related management competencies, and don’t forget the ever important networking negotiations (Bauer & Taylor, 2001). This probably explains why I could never get away with anything when it came to my dad.

The best and brightest are chosen to hone these skills abroad; I hope I follow in my dad’s footsteps. If I never see the wonders of the world in person, it will be o.k. I can always learn to melt metal with my gaze. I’m sure that will come in handy in a variety of industries still left in America.
Bauer, T. N. & Taylor, S. (2001). When managing expatriate adjustment, don't forget the spouse. The Academy of Management Executive, 15(4), 135-137