Discussions, Theories, and Registration Pertaining Expatriate Adjustment

Discussions, Theories, and Registration Pertaining Expatriate Adjustment

3.1 Types of Expatriate Adjustments

Though the chance of being an expatriate may be appealing, people have always found it difficult to adjust to the new norms of the environment. Expatriates consequently are faced by loneliness since them now few people in the host country which is biased due to lack of knowledge in knowing the native language, since the failure to adjust the expatriate are unable to work effectively. This issue of an adjustment brings out three aspects which, according to Dowling et al. (2008, p 19), are considered as the types of adjustments of expatriates that they struggle to adapt with:

Firstly, general adjustment is another type of expatriate adjustment. The general adjustment entails the expatriate comfortability to the cultural environment of the host country in this type of adjustment, and the host acknowledges the type of the culture practised in the country thus leading to the success of their programs. Figure 2 is a semantic representation of these types of adjustments whereby, the general adjustment is characterized by nonwork satisfaction, the intent to stay in the host country or travel back to the native state, individual contextual performance, the commitment to native country operations and the turnover cognitions (Dowling et al. 2008, p 19).

Secondly, work adjustment is another type of adjustment. The work adjustment refers to the level on which the expatriate can adapt and appreciate their working environment. Not all the workplaces that have similar culture and therefore, the expatriate will have to develop their positive encouragements to acknowledge the host country working environment (Dowling et al. 2008, p 19). From Figure 2, work adjustment is characterized by job satisfaction, networking satisfaction, intention to return home, and contextual and work performance of the expatriates.

Lastly, interaction adjustment is one of the types of expatriate adjustments. The interaction adjustment refers to the type of adjustment whereby the expatriate is comfortable with his or her interpersonal association with host country natives. In this issue, the expatriate can create a relationship with the various people, and therefore, he/she can effectively co-exist in the host country. Considering the interaction adjustment, when the expatriates adjust well, they succeed in the workplace. Therefore, the interaction adjustment is characterized by expatriate job and networking satisfaction, intention to stay at the host country or return to the native country, and the contextual performance, as shown in Figure 2. Therefore, these adjustment types are almost similar, whereby, their minimization of these aspects of adjustment leads to the successful adaptation of the new host country that will be reflected in their work input. Through the induction programs, all these types of expatriate adjustment solved well they help result in a more consolidated and productive international business (Anne‐Wil et.al 2004, p.616-626.

3.2 Effectiveness of Expatriate Adjustment Induction Programs

According to Stahl et al. (2012, p 16), the expatriate adjustment to the new environment depends on the efficiency of the induction programs that are adopted by the organizations. Most of the companies in the Middle East adopt induction programs to initiate the adjustment of the expatriates to ensure the corporations’ success. Some corporations view the induction programs as an opportunity to embrace and encourage new workers, while other companies see the induction programs as a waste of time and resources.

The effectiveness of the expatriate induction programs Festing, (2013, p 13) has led to various advantages. Induction programs enhance workplace safety, increased retention rate, employee productivity is improved, leading to the rise in the sense of acceptance in the business workplace, and improves employee morale. These advantages are results from the practising of effective adjustment processes. If the companies do not practice induction programs to the expatriates, they end up projecting them to hardships since it becomes hard for them to adapt to the working environment.

A well-designed expatriate induction programs saves not only the organizations funds and time but also saves the issues of hiring new workers since the expatriate has failed to adapt to the working environment of the host country. Some companies do not offer a structured induction training, which means the expatriates are then left to pick up the knowledge needed on their own or through asking, following or copying from employees already in the organizations. Nevertheless, some employees are usually afraid and a little shy, thus preventing them from attaining required information this way. Consequently, this leads to lead to the failure to adapt to the new environment, thereby causing financial losses to the company (Abdul Malek et.al 2015, p. 258-276.

3.3 Failure of the Expatriate Adjustments

Expatriate failure is usually measured by the premature return from an international return, which is the early return of the expatriate to their native country. According to Li (2015, p 36), claim that there is a high return of expatriates to their native country which symbolizes the high rate of failure of their work in the host country whereby, other researches have conducted more studies and also claim the high rate of expatriate failure. However, a study conducted by Fischlmayr (2002, p 17), has shown that the rate of the failure is not high as claimed in the present days.

One of the causes of expatriate failure is the failure in adjusting to the environment of the host country. As discussed above on the expatriate adjustments section, it shows that the adjustment programs of the expatriates largely contribute to the success of the induction programs. The human resource departments conduct the induction programs in the various organizations whereby when they are performed well, they lead to the success of the expatriates as stated. If the induction programs are not conducted well and effectively, the expatriates fail to adjust to the environment of the host country hence their failure. However, some companies do not practice induction programs on the expatriates which possess a bravely significant risk to their failure. In the UAE, the expatriate failure is a result of the expatriate not adjusting to the Arabic culture (Nina et.al 2014, p 66-79).

Moreover, other reasons leading to the failure of the expatriates, which include; political instability in the host country, collapsing of the host country’s economy, unfavorable working environment in the host country. The failure of expatriates should be managed effectively to ensure the success of the international business. Additionally, the human resources from the global corporations should come up with effective procedures for implementation of the expatriate adjustment induction programs whereby as more expatriates are coming to UAE; the Arabic culture is being integrated into a multinational culture that incorporates the culture of all the expatriates in this host country thereby expatriates find it easy to adjust effectively (Cantey, 2018, p 15).

3.4 Legislation Pertaining to Expatriates

The Globalization in UAE has been increasing over the last few years due to the increasing demand by the business corporations to hire expatriates. The country is considered as the home of many expatriates due to its vast job opportunities. Consequently, UAE has also developed some regulations to ensure the expatriates to the country controlled to ensure fairness between the expatriates and their nationalities of creation of equal chances of a job. On the two companies, the study was carried out showed that for an expatriate to work in them must possess a visa registration to the country; thus, they can be able to adjust smoothly.

Additionally, according to Fischlmayr (2002, p 13), the various organization in UAE are required by the law to introduce induction programs to the expatriates they hire to ensure that they can effectively adjust to the new working environment of the country. Through these induction programs, the expatriates can adapt to their new activities that enable the companies to benefit from the expatriates fully. Moreover, the expatriates to the country are required to follow law and order as other citizens of the UAE (Lust, 2014, p 16).