2 - Organizational Structures and Strategies Flashcards
Definition Expatriated
Employees from Germany or ther industrialized countries
Characteristics of Expatriates
- Above-average experience
- High qualified professionally
- Ready to adapt
- Adaptable
- Reliable
- Foreign language skills
- Resilient and healthy
- Strengthened character
Application process and selection of suitable locals
- Employment contract and other formalities
- Training on site of necessary
Third country nationals selection
- Planning of departure and formalities (visa etc.)
- On-site training if necessary
Approaches of staffing
- Ethnocentric approach
- Polycentric approach
- Geocentric approach
Ethnocentric approach
Monoculture, home country orientation
- Employees from the home country
- Project management techniqes of the home country
- Usually no consideration of foreign specifics
- Home country remains main market
Advantages / Disadvantages ethnocentric approach
Pro:
- familiar instruments
- uniform company policy
- easy communication head office - foreign branches
- International experience employees
Contra:
- cultural conflicts
- preferential treatment of employees from parent company
- High costs
Polycentric approach
Multiculture, Host country orientation
- Host country as focus of corporate efforts
- Goal: Integration in foreign market
- High autonomy foreign organization
- Development of own host country image
Advantages / Disadvantages polycentric approach
Pro:
- Low personnel costs
- Language, market, cultural experience employees
Contra:
- Communication problems head office - foreign branches
- business conflicts of interest
- Low know-how transfer
Geocentric approach
Mixed culture, world market orientation
- Goal: world market position
- Alignment of companies activities with global market
- Globalized corporate decisions
Advantages / Disadvantages geocentric approach
Pro:
- Utilization of worldwide employee potential
- High know-how-transfer
Contra:
- High costs due to postings
- Complex communication structures
Forms of organizations in international projects
- Influence organization
- Matrix organization
- Autonomous organization
Influence organization
- Project manager as mediator between specialist departments
- Project manager has no direct authority to issue directives/decisions
- Close cooperation with management
- Rather in small projects
Matrix organization
- Superimposition of two equivalent lines of instruction
- Each employee reports to the department head and project manager
- Frequently, when all organizational areas of the company are affected
Autonomous organization
- Exclusive responsibility of the pm
- All authority to issue directives and make decisions lies with the pm
- Employees outsourced from various business units
- High flexibility of the pm
- Very widespread in the international project business
