Closing the Gulf preparing US executives for assignments in Mexico
Individual Case Study – Week 4
Closing the Gulf – preparing US executives for assignments in Mexico
On a summer’s day in 2017, Charles Ramoz-Ramírez was chairing a meeting of the six most senior employees of the HR consultancy he established almost five years ago. His decision to establish the consultancy was an extremely difficult one for him, as he held a senior, well-paid and secure position as an HR executive within a Multi-National Corporation (MNC) based in New York. This HR position within the MNC involved training and developing professional executive staff such as engineers and project managers to undertake overseas assignments mainly in Spanish-speaking countries in South America.
At this meeting with his senior staff, Charles reminded them about the history of the consultancy for which they now work. He reminded them that there were two main reasons which underpinned his decision to leave the employment of the MNC and set up the consultancy business. First, he found himself being invited to deliver, on an increasingly frequent basis, specialized training sessions on expatriate programs organized by independent training organizations and even other MNCs. He concluded from the frequency of these requests that there was a scarcity of HR professionals who possessed genuine expertise in preparing US executives for assignments in Mexico. Second, he did not agree with his HR director’s view of expatriate training which was very much a case “send them and see”. That is, his HR director did not doubt that pre-departure training for expatriates was helpful, but she did not see it as a critical success factor. Charles’s view was that pre-departure training of expatriates was not just helpful; he saw it as a prerequisite for any overseas assignment no matter what its duration. His
belief in the value of pre-departure training thus became a key operating principle of the CRR Expatriate Development consultancy organization which he formed on the day he left the employment of the MNC. In essence, Charles established a consultancy which aimed to design and deliver in-house pre-departure training programmes for employees of US MNCs who would be taking up assignments in Spanish-speaking countries in South America.
CASE STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Assume that you are a member of the senior team of CRR Expatriate Development. On the
basis on the case study material and also your wider knowledge of the subject area, highlight
what you think should be included in the content of the new ten-day pre-departure programme
for the 30 engineers and project managers.
2. Having drawn up your list of the essential elements of this programme, (a) explain why you
think that each element is necessary, and (b) state how much programme time you would
devote to each element.
3. Assuming that you were permitted access to the 40 employees who have already completed
their assignments in Mexico, state what further information you would seek from them to help
you to design the ten-day pre-departure programme.
4. Highlight what further information you would seek about (a) the 30 engineers and project
managers, and (b) their forthcoming assignments in Mexico, before finalizing the design and
content of the pre-departure program.
5. Explain how you would seek to augment the content of a programme, such as the one you are
proposing, with ongoing cultural training during an expatriate’s assignment.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Survey, question, read and review the information in the case study provided. Select the key problems and issues in the case study. Read and review the five case study questions provided.
In addition to answering the case study questions, be sure and establish sufficient background information, relevant facts as well as the most important issues. Be sure and demonstrate that you have researched the problems in this case study.
As you answer the five case study questions provided, be sure and include specific and realistic solutions or changes that are needed. Assemble the specific strategies that you propose for accomplishing the solutions. Recommend any further action that should be taken. In essence, what should be done and who should do it and why should they do this?
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