Introduction The Floundering Expatriate case takes place in 1995 and surrounds the events of a globalization effort by Argos

International, a holdings company based in the United States. The CEO of this holdings company, Bill Louin, recognized a rising corporate star in Detroit and felt this new executive, Bert Donaldson, would be the perfect person to help facilitate communication between recently acquired divisions in Europe. In fact, with Bert Donaldsons arrival, the corporate environment became tense and dysfunctional, and there was obvious friction between Bert, the expatriate, and the local, European divisional leadership. Bert recognized the problem, but didnt have an immediate solution.

Question 1 After two years of starting the program to consolidate its parts suppliers in order to increase competitive advantage, several challenges faced by Donaldson which have set the bottlenecks for him to earn the right to lead the change process at Argos Europe. He knows nothing about the European companies' inner workings and thus has no understanding of what needs to be done to create a European team. The position does not tap his strengths. Therefore, although the opportunity is full of promise and learning potential, the assignment is ill conceived and fatally flawed.

Cross-cultural issues Throughout the case-study, Donaldson seems to recognize his inability to bring a multi-cultural environment together, but cannot seem to identify any specific problems to

resolve. Accounts of Donaldson's performance in implementing the cross-divisional and cross-functional teams in the States indicate that he is a capable professional. But the transnational and multicultural challenges of this assignment make it far more complex than any he has faced to date. In Germanic cultures, for instance, managers are valued for technical competence--for managing tasks (Ander, 2011). In Latin cultures, more emphasis is placed on a person's ability to build relationships--on managing people (Ander, 2011). Therefore for the international manager who won't be able to please everyone in every situation, but at least he should be aware of the different attitudes and styles and able to navigate more effectively (Bazerman, 2006).

Moreover in European cultures, where family values are very important, working late at night is interpreted as a sign that one has family problems and therefore does not want to go home. Europeans may very well have a better balance between work and family than Americans do (Javidan et al., 2006). Donaldson may be failing in Europe simply because his superiors didn't explain the new dimensions of leadership that this position would require and didn't develop a plan for him to learn them. The Argos culture is results oriented, not people oriented. Moreover, the "no bad news" and "make it work" style of management has created the problem and is now exacerbating it (Simon, 2006).

Family issues The issue of family adjustment is a sleeper in this case; its well known that most expatriate assignments that fail do so because of family circumstances (Bazerman, 2006) . His wife has

not succeeded in integrating herself into the Zurich environment, and their eldest daughter is having problems at school.

Language barriers Language barriers create frustration at a very basic level, but they also create deeper misunderstandings that can be difficult to unravel (Ander, 2011). Apart from English, Donaldson speaks no European languages. An inability to understand the nuances of a local language can affect the way a person views the culture as a whole. He or she may inadvertently resort to stereotypes and selective perception, which makes it even harder to adjust (Ander, 2011).

Lack of support Ill-prepared, a central component of growth and development is being open to feedback that will help improve performance. Donaldson seems interested in changing everyone but himself. Donaldson failed to consider that although he may have authority, if nobody responds to his position, he truly lacks power and cannot lead change without the consent of those who will be lead (Shafritz, Ott, 2005). It seems as if the company has cut him off from his own professional support network. Like many expatriates, he runs the risk of being out of sight and out of mind. After one year, the managers of acquired companies are resentful towards Mr. Donaldson, as are his own peers and subordinates; lack of support from them creates lots of obstacles in team-building program.

Donaldsons management style Throughout the case-study, Donaldson seems to recognize his inability to bring a multi-cultural environment together, but cannot seem to identify any specific problems to resolve. Reports from Ursula Lindt show that Donaldson is contributing to low morale, and that managers from other divisions have voiced concerns over Donaldsons inability to manage a cross-cultural environment; besides Donaldson failed to recognize the need for cultural adaptation, training, and awareness and the importance of utilizing local resources to assist with cultural issues. However, Donaldson was so successful when back to America,

the reasons behind that are no guarantee that he will be successful in other cultures; even worse, it may even be offensive to some other cultures (Javidan et al., 2006).

At the time when Donaldson arrived; his American style that couldnt understand why his international colleagues responded so poorly to his actions. Donaldson said No matter what I do..someone is always pissed off. This general disconnect seems to be from a lack of cultural understanding that caused Donaldson to be puzzled, irritated, and anxious every time he encountered unfamiliar and seemingly irrational behaviors (Schein, NetLibrary, 2004). Question 3 It is apparent that the easy-way-out was to sack Donaldson and in this case there are many reasons which Waterhouse could use to reiterate his decision, if he were to sack Donaldson. This is however, in the apparent meeting with Donaldson, Waterhouse could actually formulate many plans or measures to assist Donaldson to adapt cohesively with different

business unit. Firstly ,to recap on what transpire in the case study, it is apparent that Donaldson do not have the emotional intelligence to cope with the environment or business units as there must be a holistic approach for expatriate success (figure 1-see appendix). Avril Alizee & Vincent P. Magnini in their research listed out that excellent social and communication skills is essential approach to expatriate success ( as cited in Alizee & Vincent, 2007). The

appointment of Donaldson is also a result of higher managements failure to access and recruit based on the expatriates and his family ability. Since damage have been done, it would be important for Waterhouse to assist Donaldson in sending Donaldson and his family to cross-cultural trainings. Cross-Cultural trainings would assist Donaldson and his family to develop cultural competency whereas he and his family would be trained to possess the ability to culturally empathize and effectively communicate with locals (Runnion, 2005). This would definitely act as a foundation for Donaldson and his family to adapt to changes in a new country. Secondly, Waterhouse could assist Donaldson in explaining of the need of a buddy system (mentor- mentee) relationship. This is important especially where Donaldson can be paired with Bettina Schweri who has the gift of speaking five languages. By using the buddy program, the expatriate (Donaldson) would be able to relate to new social networks and learn about potential difficulties relatively quickly (B.Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010). Therefore, Donaldson would be able to integrate his expertise or knowledge productively within the business units by the assistance of Bettina Schweri s mentorship. Lastly, with the assistance of cross-cultural training and a buddy system, Waterhouse could

propose a much more detailed feedback system such as a multisource (360 degree) feedback. The purpose of the system is to generate feedbacks from different business units where the notion could be re-evaluate or reformulated which helps in identifying strength and performance gap (Kyle & Farner, 2002). In this way Donaldson would be receiving feedbacks round the clock from different stakeholders (esp managers ) and a notion could be further discussed and evaluate in order to ensure transparency , promote understanding and to achieve a coherent business decision.

References 1. Ander P, (2011). Effects of cultural differences in international business. Retrieved from www.narvermanagement.ca/documents/InternationalBusiness.pdf 2. Bazerman, M. H. (2006). Judgment in managerial decision making (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy053/2005275472.html 3. Javidan, , Dorfman, P., De Luque, M., & House, R. (2006). In the eye of the beholder: Cross cultural lessons in leadership from project GLOBE. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(1), 67-90. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=19873410&loginp age=Login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site 4. Simon, A. (2006). Leadership and managing ambivalence. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice & Research, 58(2), 91-105. doi:10.1037/1065-9293.58.2.91 5. Schein, E. H., & NetLibrary, I. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from 6. http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=114561 7. Shafritz, J. M., & Ott, J. S. (2005). Classics of organization theory (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. 8. Alizee, B. A., & Vincent, P. M. (2007). A holistic approach to expatriate suceess. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 19 (1) , 53-64. 9. B.Cullen, J., & Parboteeah, K. (2010). International Business Strategy and the Multinational Company. New York: Routledge. 10. Kyle, W., & Farner, S. (2002). Expatriate Development: The Use of a 360 Degree Feedback Vol. 21 No. 10. Journal of Management Development , 780-793. 11. Runnion, T. T. (2005). Expatriate programs: FROM PREPARATION TO SUCCESS. Workspan,48 (7) , 20-22.