Abstract

The U.S. business firms today do not have as free a hand as they once did in deciding which American manager to send abroad. One of the major reasons for the dilution of the companies' say in what executive will be transferred overseas has been the rising tide of nationalism. Thus, not only the complexities of staffing positions in general, but emotions and various laws of host nations are making the job of transferring Americans overseas extremely difficult. Since staffing overseas positions with American managers has been and is continuing to be a perplexing dilemma, one would expect that concerted efforts are underway in business firms to unravel some of the weaknesses of current staffing programs. The present study and analysis of staffing practices of selected firms sending Americans abroad, however, clearly suggests that misunderstandings and some unsound personnel practices continue to be the rule rather than the exception. Some of the results of this study are presented in this article so that managers who are involved, and concerned with the overseas assignment of American managers can begin thinking about taking corrective action where possible.