Past performance may have little to no bearing on an expatriates ability to achieve a task in a foreign setting, but cross-cultural suitability definitely does. Discuss the adjustment variables an MNE employee must satisfy to perform well on an international assignment. Your discussion should include attributes of intercultural competence; antecedents and adjustment modes; and psychological and socio-cultural adjustment. Any diagrams you can draw to illustrate your discussion are a plus. While organizing your thoughts, put yourself the expatriate. What am I going to need culture-wise? Figure 5.4 may be a good mental model to help organize as well. 1. Soft skills 2. Intercultural competence the ability to function effectively in another culture various attributes: cultural empathy, adaptability, diplomacy, language ability, positive attitude emotional stability, maturity affective dimension my emotional attitude to the foreign culture cognitive dimension my culture-specific knowledge ability dimension my actual intercultural behavior 3. Cultural intelligence ability to grasp, reason, and behave effectively in culturally diverse situations 4. Ability to adjust to a foreign culture and phases of adjustment: 1) honeymoon phase 2) the party is over phase 3) coming to terms, pulling up phase 4) healthy recovery, leveling off phaseShow more
