QUESTION

An important skill for you to learn while at university is to critically analyse academic
research papers. This skill will enable you to assess the merits or otherwise of the research
that was done and reported, and the scholarly arguments put forward. This assignment
contributes to you learning that skill. In undertaking this assignment, you will also gain a
deeper and richer understanding of the IHRM issues faced by employees, international
companies and researchers in this area.

Your task is to write a formal business report that provides a balanced, yet critical
analysis of the IHRM issues and practices that are examined and reported in the
following article:
Tzeng, R. 2006. Gender issues and family concerns for women with international careers.
Women in Management Review. 21(5): 376-392.

You are expected to develop and express YOUR opinion of the article, although it is also
expected (and important) that your opinion will clearly and demonstrably be an INFORMED
opinion that is substantiated by evidence from other relevant literature. It is not enough to
base your opinion on what you already believe or on the generally-held perceptions or
beliefs of others you know. Therefore, it will be necessary to examine the relevant viewpoints
espoused by other scholars and well-informed practitioners in order to complete this
assignment. Your analysis can also incorporate things such as the credibility (ie
validity/reliability) of the research, the experience and expertise of the researcher in this field,
the quality and usefulness of the information reported, and the value of the research findings
in IHRM practice. If you are not familiar with how to investigate such things, the library has a
range of tools that can assist you to do this. Talk to a librarian at the enquiry desk on level 2
if necessary.

What is involved in ‘critically analysing’ a journal article? In essence, you need to look
closely at how the author investigates and discusses the issues addressed in the article.
Consider their approach and work in light of similar work by other credible scholars. You can
do this by evaluating the significance of the issues under discussion and examining the
approach the author used to study and discuss them:
• What assumptions seem to have been made? How do these seem to have
influenced the way the author has viewed the issues and/or written the article?
• How credible is the author as an expert in this field? In what ways do other experts
concur or disagree with this articles findings and arguments?
• What literature has been used to provide the background to the research and what is
its apparent quality?
• How well does the author establish the issue as important for IHRM?
• In what ways is the article useful for IHRM policy or practice? Or for conceptual
development in IHRM?
• What seem to be the strengths and weaknesses of the article, and what is your
evidence for these assessments?
• Does the article represent ‘sound research’ that should be incorporated into our
collective knowledge base about IHRM? Why or why not?

Providing evidence (from the article itself and from other relevant research) to support your
personal judgements about these issues will enable you to demonstrate that your opinion
and judgements are well-informed.

Formatting your assignment
The format to be used for this assignment is that of a formal, 2000 word Business Report
which includes an Executive Summary (the ES is in addition to the word limit). Each page
should have a 2.5-3cm space around each side in which your lecturer can write comments.
Your whole Report should be stapled at the top left hand corner only. Please do not put your
Report in a plastic folder or sleeve (it makes them slippery which makes it harder to carry
them when stacked with other Reports). Your Report should use 1.5 or double line spacing
and a font size of 11 or 12 depending on which font you choose to use (ie – it needs to be
easily readable by eyes that are OLDER than yours)!

For guidance re- the structure of Business Reports, please see the ‘High Flier’ document
from the CBS Communication Skills Centre which is also under the ‘Assessment’ tab on BB.

Submitting your assignment
You need to submit an electronic copy of your assignment to Turnitin prior to the assignment
deadline (word, txt, or pdf format are all acceptable). This can be done through the portal on
the BB website under the ‘Assessments’ tab. You also need to submit a hard copy of your
assignment to your lecturer by the due date and time unless they request an electronic copy.
Bentley students: Please ensure that you complete an assignment cover sheet (the last
page of this document) and attach it to your Report. You need to date stamp this at the
School of Management counter on level 3 of Building 408 as you submit your assignment to
your lecturer’s mailbox.
Singapore, Sydney and Mauritius students: Please follow the local submission
procedures that are used at your campus to submit your assignment.

Late penalties
Please read the Late Assessment Policy information on page six of your Unit Outline. Due
dates will be strictly adhered to. Extensions will be granted only in cases of demonstrated
urgent need and if requested prior to the due date. Extensions MUST be negotiated with
the unit coordinator at least 48 hours prior to the due date. Work and family demands do not
normally constitute grounds for granting extensions. Consistent with point four (4) of the Late
Assessment Policy on page six of your Unit Outline, late assignments will attract a 10%
penalty per calendar day late. Assignments submitted after this time (due date plus seven
days) will not be marked, resulting a Fail-Incomplete (F-IN) grade being awarded for the unit.

SOLUTION

The report focus on how to evaluate the female expatriates experience discrimination and gender stereotyping in their host and home countries and how they maintain their conflicts among work and home.It presents the opinion of the article ‘Gender issues and the family concerns for the women with global careers’ written by Tzeng.

IHRM may be explained as group of activities, which aim is to manage human resources of the organization at the global level to accomplish organizational goals and accomplish competitive benefit over the competitors at the domestic and global level. IHRM comprises typical functions of IHRM like selection, recruitment, training and extra activities like global skills of the management and expatriate management. This report describes various issues of IHRM which take place in the working environment. In host countries, we search that discrimination and gender stereotyping might be intra-ethnic rather than non-existent. Moreover, women try to build their overseas career and they use extra social support in order to balance their job responsibilities and family. It is very clear that, considerable improvement has been taken place in workplace of women but gender discrimination still prevails in terms of job allocation and pay. Enhancing number of women is being advanced to the managerial positions, but the women percentage in top management position remains significantly low.

Gender issues and Family concerns for women with International careers

Tzeng presents a research paper to examine how gender stereotyping and discrimination is faced by women expatriates and how they balance out their work – family life balance. This is a good study; however, there are some clear weaknesses that challenge the findings.

• The informants have assumed that international assignments are under the protection of anti- discriminatory laws.
• Multinational offices in Taiwan were included in the sample and therefore, is restricted in its perspective as it did not have access to the overseas posting policies and procedures for home companies

At the same time, the paper offers insightful findings on gender discrimination and stereotyping that can prove useful for governments and multinationals.

It is found that gender discrimination is more prevalent for higher managerial positions as higher managerial positions are less influenced by academic credentials viz-a-viz entry level jobs where educational qualifications is one of the main criteria ( Powell 1999)

It has been very well brought out in the research that reasons such as low work commitment levels due to family responsibilities and lack of masculine personality traits such as aggression or strong achievement orientation do not exit and nor do they hinder a women employees’ performance (Brett and Stroh 1994).

The author has sited good number of studies that indicate that women are contributing significantly across cultures and levels , however, that in no way suggests that gender stereotyping and discriminations exits and at what levels. Tzeng 2006 has interviewed 21 women for this study that came from across the globe and included women with different ethnicities and backgrounds. The respondents’ haddiverse educational and cultural background and represented the top, middle and lower management levels. According to Tzeng 2006 all the respondents had positive perceptions and understanding as to why they have chosen or they have been chosen for the international assignment. For each one of them it was either taken up because the spouse was moving internationally or because for most of them the company had chosen them for a particular assignment for which she possessed the necessary skill sets or because the respondent herself opted for an international assignment as part of career growth and international exposure. According to the feedback Tzeng got from the respondents.

One limitation that Tzeng shares is that most women expatriates were not aware whether they were chosen as the first choice for the assignment or was it to fill in for a male counterpart who may have refused the same position. All of them have assumed that the selection process was as it was meant to be, fair and objective. Moreover, legal requirements in home countries of these expatriates compelled them to believe that their respective organizations cannot engage in gender discrimination at any level.

Though the gist of the research is that gender stereotyping and discrimination exists, the author elaborating on how women expatriates do not feel they experienced any bias against them, only contradicts the key findings of the paper.

Findings from this research suggest that while women expatriates do not face any discrimination as they are viewed as “foreigners”, expatriates in the host country, of the same origin face a greater challenge as they are compared to the local women norms. According to Tzeng, there is evidence that there is support and contradiction for what Adler 1994 proposes. According to Adler in the host countries, women expatriates are not subject to comparison with local norms for female behaviour as they are views as “foreigners” .“

There is a distinct difference in female expatriates compared to nationals in the host country and therefore, multinational firms ,especially American firms are now frequently trying to send employees who are originally from the host country on overseas assignments .(Tzeng 2006)

Tzeng purports that expatriates who were from the host country faced greater discrimination as they were compared to the local norms for women and women employees and not seen in the capacity in which they are really contributing. It has been apparent after interviewing the sample of women expatriates that your ethnic origin plays a role in determining whether you will be confronted at work place gender discrimination. Women expatriates who were not from the host country were treated more as foreigners and therefore not judged as per local norms for female behaviour.Empoweringwomen expatriates by putting her in a authoritative position can greatly lessen the gender discrimination and stereotyping is another interesting finding from the author. The author has narrated some interesting experiences from the respondents that go to show that in a powerful position can play a crucial role in preventing gender discrimination.

Research also indicates that “split – household”(Glen 1983) is no longer unusual and spouses are living in separate locations to carry on with their jobs.  Spouses are now increasingly supportive and willing to slow down for moving together and men are as willing to take a backseat professionally as women.  The respondents in Tseng’s study have all indicated that their “transnational” familial status (Parrenas and Lima 2001) is due to their own individual choices.  The research elaborates on the growing support men and women are giving each others’ profession, where, it is not unusual to find a husband even quit his job and take care of household matter if the wife is doing well. This also contradicts the author’s proposition of women facing a tussle to carry on with their jobs in case of international assignments.

One major area of concern highlighted by the author has been women struggling with and being concerned about raising their children while doing international assignments. As per the respondents in Tzeng’s research, all women expatriates felt guilty about their absence from home and being away from children, even though, all of them arrange for nannies, or someone from the family to be with the children and take care of all their needs. They also felt that international exposure for their family was a great opportunity for gaining international perspective.  There is enough evidence of women expatriates having social support that enables them to go ahead with their international postings and therefore, they are not victims of gender discrimination as is believed. There is some discrimination, however, things are not as bleak as it appears in the beginning of the paper and the author is contradicting the purpose of the study by these findings.

Issues with IHRM

It is viewed that IHRM issues have been faced by employees, researchers and International Companies. There are various issues in IHRM such as managing of international assignments, Family and Employee Adjustment, selection of the right person for the foreign assignment, Communication, culture and gauge and communication, Language, different laws of the labor, distinct stages of the technological advancement, different attitudes and values and different levels of the education. There are several challenges in IHRM such as deployment, innovation and knowledge dissemination, identification of the talent, barriers to the women in IHRM, language and International ethics

Summary

The purpose of IHRM is to enable the firm, the multi- national enterprise, to be successful globally” (Schuler, Budhwar, andFlorkowoski 2004, Gender and International Human Resource Management).International Human Resource Management is the process of procuring, allocating and effectively utilizing human resources in multinational corporations, while balancing the integration and differentiation of HR activities in foreign locations (NUS Business School).   Research indicates that IHRM is not usually examined from a gender perspective.  The author is a Research Fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taiwan and has conducted the research in the multinational corporations in Taiwan to examine how female expatriates face gender stereotyping and discrimination in their home and host countries and how they reconcile their conflicts and strike a balance between home and work.

The research paper serves as a good tool to understand the various barriers women expatriates can potentially experience and that can be highly useful in IHRM practices as organizations and governments can together work towards tacking these potential roadblocks. This would also reduce costs associated with foreign assignments as employees will not cut short their stint due to potential hindrances. There is hardly any studies on IHRM and gender and therefore, more studies like this can bring to light an issue that may be under – addressed.

According to Tzeng2006 laws that have implications for equal employment opportunities are more effective in safeguarding women employees against discrimination at the entry level positions compared to more senior managerial positions. Despite research indicating that women employees possess the personality traits and managerial skills that are required for higher managerial positions and prestigious international assignments the ratio of women to men is insignificant even today especially with regard to International assignments .According to a study by Moran and Riesenberger 1994 number of women expatriates is increasing but not at the same pace as women working in their respective domestic labour markets.

According to Tzeng 2006 there are certain presumptions that are made that act as barriers for women wanting to work overseas. Despite large scale research indicating that women are at par with men be with personality attributed or professional qualifications in some cases assumptions out do facts and women employees may not be sent due to supposed lack of motivation, lack of required qualification, concerns about physical safety of the employee, ability to cope with loneliness and isolation and spousal issues.

According to Adler 1994  significant research has shown that gender discrimination does exist for instance many companies will only send women expatriates for assignments that have been turned down by their male counterparts, thus setting limitations for them with regard to opportunities available, scope of work, and tenure. The author has not included women who were aware that they have been given the overseas positions after a male counterpart rejected the opportunity. Also, all respondents stated that they were not aware and did not believe that they were the second choice and chosen for the assignment because a male counterpart rejected the offer. Each respondent in the study has indicated that the selection for the international posting was purely based on the job requirement and the most suitable candidates for that were chosen.

The article provides a good understanding of the advantages and disadvantages women expatriates experience, though at places the author is proposing gender discrimination exists while using data that contradicts this statement to elucidate.  The sample used by the author could have been more exhaustive and the situation could have been more controlled by gaining access to information from companies that would have thrown light on the selection criteria for international assignments.

References

Adler. “women in international management: where are they”.California management review, (1984): 78-89.

Adler.”Competitive frontiers: women managing across borders”. (1994).

Brett and Stroh.”Turnover of female managers”. Women in Management: Current Research Issues. (1994).

Glen, E.N. “Split household, small producer and dual wage earner: an analysis of Chinese-American family strategies”. Journal of Marriage and the Family, (1983).

International Human Resource Management.”International human resource management”. http://www.scribd.com/doc/15744060/INTERNATIONAL-HUMAN-RESOURCE-MANAGEMENT.

Lima. “Transnational families: institutions of transnational social space”. New Transnational Social Spaces: International Migration and Transnational Companies in the Early Twenty-first Century, (2001).

Moran and Riesenberger.”The Global Challenge: Building the New Worldwide Enterprise”. Gender issues and family concerns for women with internationalcareer.

Parrenas.”Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work”. Stanford University Press, (2001).

Powell.”Reflections on the glass ceiling: recent trends and future prospects”. Handbook of Gender and Work, (1994).

Schuler, Budhwar and Florkowoski.”Gender and International Human Resource Management”. http://www.greeningofoil.com/reference-generator.aspx?ac=chicago_online_journal.

Tzeng, Rueyling.”Gender issues and family concerns for women with international careers”.Women In Management Review, (2006).

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