Overseas Bound —or Rebound: Inpatriate Adjustment in the US

In the nearly three quarters of a century since the end of World War II, American corporate dominance in manufacturing, finance, agriculture, technology and communications has been supplemented by growth in these sectors by former allies and adversaries alike. According to the Fortune Global 500 (2018), in 2018 US companies accounted for 37 of the top 100 companies worldwide, followed by China (rank 21), Japan (rank 9) and Germany (rank 8). 

According to Adler (2008), the redistribution of economic influence has simultaneously brought about an evolution in corporate organizational structures through four stages: domestic; multi-domestic; multinational and global. Each of these structures conducting international business requires affiliates, either through contract intermediaries such as agents or brokers; or expatriate employees who are relocated on assignment in a foreign country. As corporations migrate toward multinational status, international business development often calls for the presence of inpatriates, foreign executives and technical specialists working for the corporation in the United States. 

Research on the number of US expatriates working for their multi-national (or global) corporation in other countries is hard to quantify as is the rate of unsuccessful foreign corporate assignments. Estimates, however, vary from 10% to 40% of US expatriate executives, with 25% being a fairly conservative estimate. In many cases, the primary reason for expatriate executives returning prematurely from overseas assignments has to do with adjustment problems experienced by the executive, his or her spouse/partner and/or children. 

The same problems also affect the assignment and relocation of foreign executives or inpatriates to senior level jobs in the United States. A recent survey by Brookfield Global Relocation Services (2016) found that among the 163 global companies that responded, 73% of transferred executives were accompanied on the overseas assignments by their spouses and 52% were accompanied by their children. A critical challenge for senior executives and human resource managers in corporations hosting inpatriates or deploying expatriates is how to successfully monitor, understand and successfully respond when either the transferring executive, his or her spouse and/or their children display signs of adjustment problems to the new setting.

When adjustment problems reach the threshold of possible clinical concerns, the challenge to the clinician is to determine whether the behavior in question has a clinical (mental health or addiction) base or a cultural base. In other words, if the same behaviors were displayed in the home country, how would they be classified? This determination will benefit from the services of a professional with both clinical and intercultural expertise.

When we speak of culture, we referring to much more than literature and the visual and performing arts. According to Schein (1991), "we are describing a broad pattern of basic assumptions - invented, discovered or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration - that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems." For Geertz (1973), culture is "an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men [and women] communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge and attitudes toward life." According to the American Psychiatric Association, (2013, “Culture refers to systems of knowledge, concepts, rules and transmitted across generations. Culture includes language, religion and spirituality, family structures, life-style stages, ceremonial rituals, and customs as well moral and legal systems.” 

Simply stated, the culture of any group (or organization) is the sum total of the meanings of that group (or organization) to its members. The Corporate Psychology Center defines culture as a system of:

        Commonly held meanings, that are

        Universal to a group, that are

        Learned and taught and which

        Transform and regulate the

             understandings;

             relationships, and

             expectations of group members.

 In addition to the standard protocols of a clinical assessment of a perceived adjustment problem, in the case of a cross-cultural or intercultural assessment, the competent clinician will also need to address at least the following issues in generating for the individual/family and the host company a workable intervention plan:

1.      How does the individual in question identify him/herself in terms of cultural identity: race; ethnicity; faith beliefs; historical interactions between the individual’s orienting culture and the host culture?

2.      Within the cultural identity of the individual, how is his/her behavior understood, labeled and addressed? Is it a serious condition that warrants intervention? Is it seen as a medical, psychological, spiritual or developmental matter? 

3.      At home, who is the preferred intervenor in such a situation: family; friend; clergyman; clinician; native healer? 

4.      What conditions might impact – either positively or negatively – the development of a productive clinician-client relationship such as differences in language; social status; prior history of adjustment challenges and their outcomes; among others.

 Failure to promptly address and properly assess emerging adjustment problems in an inpatriate or his/her family member can lead to a painful setback for the executive and a costly expense for the corporation.

References

Adler, N. & Gunderson, A. (2008). International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, 5th Edition. Mason, OH: Thompson Higher Education.

American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 5th Edition (DSM-5TM). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing

Brookfield Global Relocation Services (2016). 2016 Global Mobility Trends. Cited at http://globalmobilitytrends.bgrs.com/#/home.

Geertz, C., (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures. New York, Basic Books.

Schein, E.H. (1991), Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.