Since the 1990s, economic and cultural globalization has propelled the transnational mobility of managers and fueled cross-border careers. Some scholars have argued for the emergence of a new global business elite with cosmopolitan mind-sets and homogeneous lifestyles, while others have highlighted their disconnection from the local surroundings and their everyday life within national expatriate ‘bubbles’. Thus, the question of whether today’s mobile professionals can be described as interculturally open and competent cosmopolitans, or as pronounced anti-cosmopolitans, is still unanswered. Expatriate Managers and the Paradoxes of Working and Living Abroad considers a core protagonist of economic globalization and the management of MNCs through the lens of a practice-based theoretical approach whilst seeking to address this question by building on intensive ethnographic case studies of expatriate managers, most of them high-ranking executives, from two comparative different home countries, the US and Germany. These managers, together with their families, have been assigned to China, Germany, or the US to perform demanding coordination tasks within their multinational corporations (MNCs). Based on detailed accounts of expatriate managers’ experiences and everyday practices, the book reveals the multiple and sometimes paradoxical ways in which they deal with cultural differences as they build up new forms of working, belonging and dwelling. The findings suggest that the newly emerging mind-sets and lifestyles of expatriate managers transcend the polarized images of mobile elites as either cosmopolitan ‘global managers’ or parochial anti-cosmopolitans. Expatriate Managers and the Paradoxes of Working and Living Abroad examines the global elite from an everyday perspective, showing that understanding the dynamics of a global economy requires probing into the lifeworld’s agency and everyday arrangements of the social actors who are putting globalization into practice.

This book provides state-of-the art research on expatriate management from a European perspective. Considering issues related to the different phases of expatriation and comprehensive contemporary topics of expatriate management, the chapters present a long overdue holistic approach to the field. Rather than just publishing a counterweight to the predominant North American literature, Expatriate Management includes critical analyses of each chapter written by a number of renowned North American scholars to review and contribute to the trans-Atlantic dialogue.

This book is among the first to theoretically and empirically examine what and how Western expatriate managers learn and develop from their international assignments in China. The book draws on literature associated with expatriate studies, experiential learning theory, and knowledge acquisition to develop an expatriate learning process model. Following on from this, the study then examines expatriate learning outcomes from four perspectives: learning style transition, adaptive flexibility, global mind-sets and managerial tacit knowledge. It enhances understanding of the cultural differences between Western countries and China as well as the kinds of learning strategies successful expatriates adopt in order to quickly adapt to intercultural business contexts. This book will appeal to international business practitioners and research fellows who are interested in international human resource management.

This book covers various aspects of leading and managing Chinese employees. As the second largest economy in the world, China is a strategic destination for international business ventures, with many expatriates working there. For these expatriate managers, cross-cultural management can be challenging, as their own management and leadership approaches may not always be compatible with local cultures and practices. This makes it important for managers to understand Chinese culture and employee workplace behaviors and expectations.This book aims to help readers understand how Chinese cultural values shape the work attitudes and behaviours of Chinese employees; what Chinese workers expect of their leaders and how their expectations are associated with their satisfaction; expatriate senior managers' views and experiences in managing Chinese subordinates; the challenges encountered by these managers and their suggestions for overcoming such challenges; and the extent to which expatriate business leaders must adjust their leadership behaviours cross-culturally, how and why they adjust, and their adjustment patterns.With insights derived from the experiences of over 390 expatriate senior managers and over 350 Chinese employees, the book is a must-read for all expatriate business managers and EMBA students who are currently or will be working in China. It will help them understand the unique values, attitudes, and behaviors of Chinese employees, behave in socially acceptable ways, and lead/manage Chinese employees effectively. It is a good reference guide for researchers and management consultants who wish to learn about the cross-cultural management issues found in Chinese workplaces and gain empirical insights into cross-cultural leadership in China.

The selection - development - support framework described in this report not only identifies the important factors to consider when working overseas but also specifies ways to develop a talent pool of effective expatriates.

Selmer and his contributors tackle one of the most challenging topics in international business today: how to manage human resources on a global scale. Drawing upon academic research and practical experience, they cover expatriation and impatriation as a way to internationalize managers; the problems of change, adaptation, adjustment that affect international executives; and the policies that would ensure equitable treatment of third country nationals. A unique, wide-ranging volume without esoteric jargon and abstruse statistical analyses, Expatriate Management offers not only an inventory of challenging new ideas that can be put to practical use today, but also a set of workable policy recommendations for the future.