Can You Go Home Again? an Analysis of the Repatriation of Corporate Managers and Spouses

Introduction Becoming "international" for many organizations means substantially greater commitments in the number of technical and managerial employee transfers to joint venture or subsidiary operations in foreign countries (Hammer/Martin 1992). While there is increasing awareness among multinationals regarding the cross-cultural dynamics of adjusting to a foreign culture (Brislin/Yoshida 1994), there is less recognition of reentry difficulties that oftentimes accompany managers and their families as they re-adapt back into the home country environment (Black 1992, 1994, Black/Gregersen/Mendenhall 1992a, 1992b, Fontaine 1986). As Black, Gregersen and Mendenhall (1992a) comment, "repatriation is perhaps the least carefully considered aspect of global assignments" (p. 14). This may likely be due to the changing relocation decisions companies have made during the past two decades. According to Cagney (1975), during the 1960s and 1970s, many employees were relocated to international assignments where they spent many, many years in the foreign culture. Since the 1980s, however, corporations shifted to shorter international assignments, typically from three to five years in length (Black 1992). Upon completion of these assignments, the overseas employees were then brought back "home." With the shift to shorter-term international assignments arose increased recognition of the problematic nature of repatriation. Repatriation of overseas employees is not something that happens easily or naturally (Adler 1991, Kendall 1986). The result is often costly and dysfunctional to the effective functioning of both the returning employee and the organization. Findings from research conducted by Black, Gregersen and Mendenhall (1992a) indicates that "60 percent of American, 80 percent of Japanese, and 71 percent of Finnish expatriates experienced some degree of culture shock during repatriation" (p. 221). Further, Adler (1991) summarizes the results from a number of studies which indicate that: (1) one out of every five employees who finish an overseas assignment want to leave the company when they return, (2) less than half of returned expatriate managers receive promotions upon return; in spite of the fact that they were working years in the overseas operation, (3) two-thirds of returing expatriates feel their overseas assignment had a negative impact on their careers: "out of sight, out of mind," and (4) approximately 50% of returning employees felt their re-entry position was less satisfying than their overseas assignment. One of the earliest writers to focus attention on the dynamics of reentry to one's home culture after an extended sojourn in a foreign country was Gullahorn and Gullahorn (1963). According to these researchers, repatriates oftentimes experience similar psychological stresses readapting to their home culture as they did adjusting to the foreign culture. Essentially, Gullahorn and Gullahorn (1963) described a "W" shaped curve of adjustment, where just prior to returning, a sojourner experiences a rise in overall psychological adjustment to the host society. However, because this rise is characterized by the sojourner learning new ways of thinking and behaving in the host culture, there is an emotional "low point" when returning home. This is then followed by a rise in adjustment as the sojourner learns to readapt to the home environment. A number of other writers suggest that adjusting to one's home culture can be more difficult than adapting to the foreign culture (Adler 1991, Brislin/Pedersen 1976, Martin 1984). Martin (1984) suggests this may occur due to critical differences between acculturation and repatriation in such areas as (1) differing expectations: sojourners expect difficulties in adapting to a foreign culture, repatriates do not expect difficulties when returning to their home culture, (2) Host vs. home perceptions: host nationals understand that sojourners may not behave the way native members of the culture do while members of the sojourners home culture do not expect the repatriate to act differently, and (3) change: sojourners expect to encounter changes when moving overseas, they typically do not expect to find changes when returning home. …