Diversity MBA Magazine - Summer 2008 - (Page 66) Going Global: Will An International Assignment Benefit Your Career? By Patricia C. Pope The willingness to relocate has long been considered necessary for upward mobility in many companies. Today, relocating can involve moving to another part of the world rather than just to another city or state. If you work for a multinational corporation and want to move up the ladder, are there additional challenges to be faced if you are a woman or person of color? Or, are women and people of color innately better suited for global assignments simply because they’re accustomed to being “different?” And if so, to what extent are US corporations leveraging their higher levels of cultural competencies? Are those from diverse backgrounds rewarded in similar ways after global assignments? Research by ORC Worldwide in 2006 reported that while international assignments today are considered an important ticket to get punched for upward mobility, there is a gap between the numbers of women and minorities on ex-pat assignments and the numbers of Whites and men. In other words, women and minorities aren’t receiving these assignments commensurate with their representation in middle to senior levels of management, and they continue to be under-represented at these levels in the first place. More than 80% of the companies surveyed believed that global assignments are key to upward mobility in their company. Yet, only 14% of those companies make special efforts to ensure diversity in the expatriate ranks. The demographics of those that contributed their experiences for this article include African-American males, Asian-American males, and White females. Their titles during their global assignments were manager, general manager, vice president, regional vice president, COO and president. They worked in a variety of industries including consumer products, pharmaceutical, steel, commercial printing, aerospace, and technology manufacturing. There were a number of similarities in what they had to say about the personal and professional benefits, sacrifices, what they wish they had known in advance, and their advice to those considering a global assignment. Most were very positive about their international experience, but a few were disappointed, primarily because they perceived their successful global assignments were not rewarded when they returned. While 66 w w w. d ive r s it y mb a ma g a z in e. c o m http://www.diversitymbamagazine.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.