(Solution) 50S04 QUESTION 9 (AC 4.1) Potential advantages of expatriating Japanese staff

Solution

The transfer of employees between the UK and Japan can result in the provision of important knowledge transfer and enhancement in the integration of the new Japanese-UK pharmaceutical enterprise. The analysis of the perceived benefits assists in assessing the way cross-border mobility might facilitate ability building, culture-culture and cultural-operational match in case of location expansion.

Cross-border mobility

Transfer of specialised knowledge and technical expertise is one of the benefits. Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom may provide the best practices of long-term workforce planning, production methods that are efficiency-oriented and systematic training practices that define Japanese people approaches to management (Furusawa, and Brewster, 2016). This would help the UK site expand, particularly as it gets ready to add 40 new HR professionals to its People Management team and match the parent company. Similarly, the UK expats in Japan would be able to introduce with them experience in merit-based performance systems, open communication and innovative research and development problem solving, which would allow the Japanese teams to be accustomed to less rigid and traditional methods of teamwork required to expand internationally.

The second benefit would be the better integration of the culture throughout the organisation. Expatriates provide the cultural ambassadors, which assist in closing the communication style, decision making processes and expectations on hierarchies (McPhail et al, 2010). The Japanese personnel operating in UK would be equipped to understand the participative and problem-solving group culture that fuels UK innovation, whereas UK staff in Japan would be equipped to understand the disciplined and team orientated culture that forms the basis of Cohesion in Japanese organisations. The insights would minimize the misunderstandings, improve the cross-cultural collaboration, and contribute to the facilitation of better integration after the acquisition.

The third benefit is that it provides the ability to develop a global leadership. Working in expatriates subjects employees to alien contexts, which enhances their adaptability,,,…..

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