Case Study: Spanning the Globe

Case Study: Spanning the Globe

In the role of Eric:

1. I think the main problem in all of this was caused by Fred Banks’ comment to Eric, “If this is how you treat the people willing to go abroad, you’ll never get your best engineers to leave San Antonio”. Sometimes, people’s comments serve as a wakeup call and opportunity for us to better ourselves. Eric realized that Tex-Mark should have a more formal policy when it comes to international assignments. Another problem was repatriation; the turnover rate for repatriates was growing and a plan to keep it minimal was needed. It was mentioned in the case study that this training program worked because it was low cost. I feel that the only solution to really put an end to the turnovers would be to invest in a more expensive and efficient training program; it may cost them more at the start, but in the long run, it will reduce turnover rates and retain employees for the long run. At the forthcoming meeting, a new and improved Expatriate Preparation Policy will be introduced and pitched to upper management. All information and figures including cost of startup and training will be given to facilitate the making of the decision.

2. I don’t think my proposal will solve any problems right off the bat, but hopefully in the long run it will. With the addition of a more elaborate preparation policy, more time can be spent on the pre-departure activities instead of giving the minimum information. I believe if more time was invested in the language courses and they went past a ‘survival level’, it would facilitate a lot of issues at work and personal frustrations with not knowing the language will be kept at a minimum. I feel maybe the reading assignments can be cut down a bit to make it half reading and the other half instructional so the expatriates can get a better and more thorough understanding of what is to come.

3. My