What locals want: Jordanian employees' views on expatriate managers

Figures & data

Table 1 Respondents' profile.

Feature	Detail
Gender	Male: 49
	Female: 49
Age	26–30 = 28
	31–35 = 28
	36–40 = 21
	41–50 = 21
	Average age = 31–35
Nationality	Jordanian = 98
	Palestinian = 0
	Other Arab nationality = 0
	Any other nationality = 0
Position	Top management = 35 (female: 2)
	Middle management = 35 (female: 21)
	First-line management = 14 (female: 12)
	Operations staff = 14 (female: 14)
Directly working under expatriate manager?	Yes = 56
	No = 42 (worked with expatriates indirectly)
Time in bank	Less than 1 year = 7
	1–3 years = 14
	3–6 years = 28
	6–10 years = 21
	10–20 years = 21
	Above 20 years = 7
	Average time = 3–6 years
Respondents per MNC	Bank Alpha = 28
	Bank Bravo = 35
	Bank Charlie = 35
	Total = 98

Table 2 What locals want?

Key theme	Summary of findings
Justification for the expatriate usage	57% of the respondents stated that their headquarters' formal justification was to fill in for the expertise and knowledge not found in Jordan.
	59% believed that the headquarters wanted to retain control and organisational identity.
	[Several top managers in this study (15 out of total 35 top managers) stated that the headquarters wanted to maintain control and organisational identity through its use of expatriate managers. Another 14 top managers thought that the headquarters wished to provide managerial expertise not found in Jordan. Only 6 top managers stated that by deploying expatriate managers, the headquarters wanted to transfer knowledge and skill by training local employees.]
	21% of the respondents stated that the headquarters wished to prepare future managers and give them global orientation.
	14% believed that the headquarters perceived locals as less competent with insufficient skills and abilities.
	7% stated that the headquarters justified expatriation by claiming they wished to transfer knowledge to locals. However, 29% believed that scarce knowledge is transferred to the local staff.
Locals' preference for expatriate or local managers	Majority of the respondents stated that managers' professional competence, not nationality, mattered to them.
	In addition to professional competence, cultural sensitivity was also described as an important trait for managers.
Locals' perception of expatriates' management style and performance	29% of the respondents believed that expatriates were better educated and more competent than locals.
	29% thought that expatriates were as competent as locals.
	29% thought that expatriates did not understand how things were done in Jordan. 7% believed that expatriates were highly overrated by the organisation. Another 7% believed that expatriates' performance was inferior to locals' performance.
	57% believed that the expatriates' management style was flexible and tolerant of local culture. Another 21% believed that expatriates showed sensitivity to the local context in their managerial functions.
	However, 14% believed that expatriate managers depended greatly on the headquarters' management style without giving due consideration to local context.
	One-third of the respondents expressed concerns about expatriate managers' ability to understand local business norms. Another one-third suggested that professional and interpersonal abilities were equally important. The final third believed that performance of subsidiaries is improved if they are supervised by expatriates since they have rich experience, international orientation and better qualification.

Table 3 MNCs' policies relevant to expatriation and cultural diversity.

Bank's policy	Description
Bank Alpha's policy on international management	According to Bank Alpha, international managers are one of their most talented groups of employees. So the bank expects them to make an immediate impact, regardless of the level they join at; they must be able to cope with situations outside their comfort zone; they will have a passion for ongoing learning and will be eager to seize the opportunities and rise to the challenges of constant change. An international manager's career is built up by a range of generalist assignments, offering exposure across the bank's business lines. They can expect to be given a new assignment, in a new country and new area of the bank regularly throughout their career. This is initially approximately every 18 months, increasing to every 24 – 36 months as the international manager's career progresses. According to Bank Alpha: ‘International Management does not appeal to everyone. If you wish to live in one country or to specialise in a particular area of banking, it is not for you. We expose our international managers to a wide range of locations in both developed and emerging economies to broaden their understanding. We also deliberately expose them to different business lines and customer groups to build their general management skills. But if you are excited by the idea of developing a generalist and global management career in financial services, this cultural and business diversity makes International Management the most extraordinary banking experience available.’
Bank Bravo's policy on diversity	According to Bank Bravo's formal policy on diversity, the bank aims to be a leader in the attraction, selection and hiring of diverse candidates to positions in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) through open, fair and objective recruitment policies embracing and encouraging applicants through the organisation's diversity initiatives and commitment to an inclusive environment. The bank wishes to attract and retain the best and the brightest individuals throughout EMEA. The bank offers an inclusive and supportive environment for all employees, and the opportunity to make a full and meaningful contribution to corporate objectives – regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or racial background, religion, parental status, age, disability or any other diverse background. Taking a lead role, the bank actively encourages people of diverse backgrounds to apply for opportunities at all levels of the organisation. The bank's recruiters work closely with the banks' different networks and the business managers, advising them on the best recruitment practice and specific diversity approaches.
Bank Charlie's policy on HR	According to Bank Charlie, HR relationship managers add value to their organisation by leveraging various HR products to drive business performance. The bank believes that if they invest in attracting, retaining and developing talented people, outstanding financial performance will quickly follow. They prefer to identify and develop an individual's strengths rather than focus on trying to fix their weaknesses. HR relationship managers in the bank strive to make the bank a great place to work by creating an engaging, inclusive and safe environment that rewards success and encourages employees to take control of their personal development. At the core of the bank's people strategy is their focus on employee engagement. Engagement is a key driver of productivity and performance, which creates the foundation of their performance culture. The bank's values place great emphasis on collaborative working, creativity and innovation.

Table

*1. Do you have an expatriate manager in the subsidiary you are working in?
Yes	No
If no, this survey is not intended for you. Thank you very much for participation.
*2. Gender: Male	Female
*3. Age group: 21–2546–50	26–3051 and above	31–35	36–40	41–45
*4. Name of the bank you are working for:
Bank Alpha	Bank Bravo	Bank Charlie
*5. Position:
Top management	Middle management	First-line management	Operations staff
*6. Nationality:
Jordanian Palestinian	Other Arab nationality		Any other nationality
*7. How long have you been working in this bank?
It is my first year here10–20 years	1–3 yearsMore than 20 years	3–6 years	6–10 years
*8. How long have you been working in the field your working in?
It is my first year here10–20 years	1–3 yearsMore than 20 years	3–6 years	6–10 years

Table

*9. Are you under direct administration of an expatriate manager?
Yes, directly	No, but indirectly or worked with
*10. How do you define expatriate managers?
Someone who is not JordanianSomeone coming from outside the Arab worldSomeone who never lived in Jordan
*11. What is your bank's headquarters' justification for the use of expatriation?
To provide managerial expertise not found in JordanTo maintain control and organisational identityTo prepare future managers and to give them a global inductionTo train employees (transfer knowledge and skills)
*12. What is your own explanation for your bank's use of expatriate managers?
Headquarters do not trust local and thus to oversee the subsidiary's operationsHeadquarters perceive locals as less competent and with lower skillsTo transfer the bank's culture and valuesTo transfer the expertise and skills not found in Jordan
*13. How do you perceive expatriates?
Better educated and more experiencedThey are highly overrated by the companyThey are competent; however, they don't understand the way things are done in Jordan
They are so overwhelmed by themselves that they even perform less than localsThey are as competent as localsThey learn from locals more than they give them
*14. How do you perceive your expatriate manager's management style?
They adopted the local managerial approachThey blindly adopted their headquarters' managerial approachThey had a new totally different managerial approach that is sensitive to local conductThey adjusted the headquarters' managerial approach to consider different local customs
*15. Do you prefer to have an expatriate manager or a local one? Explain.
*16. In your view, would this subsidiary's performance be different if it was managed by a local manager? Explain.