Transfer of Managers as a Coordination and Control Strategy in Multinational Organizations.

Ju ne 1 977, volume 22 The purpose of this paper is to present an argument and some hypotheses to stimulate further research. It is hypothesized that the transfer of managers is used by some multinational organizations to develop a process of control based on socialization. Transfer of managers for socialization is distinguished from transfer of personnel to fill positions in developing countries and for management development. Transfer for socialization is hypothesized to socialize managers and create international, verbal information networks, which combined, permit greater decentralization than the impersonal bureaucratic strategy. Finally, it is suggested that the control processes are not alternatives but cumulative stages of development; one control strategy is added to, not substituted for, previous ones.