Description
A skill is the learned ability to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. In other words the abilities that one possesses. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills.
HRM Study on Careers of Skilled Migrants: Towards a Theoretical and Methodological Expansion
Abstract
Purpose - The careers of skilled migrant workers is an under-theorised field of research. This paper proposes a theoretical and methodological expansion of studies of careers of skilled migrants. Design/methodology/approach - The paper offers a critical review of the literature on careers of skilled migrants from a multilevel approach including individual, organizational, and contextual levels. Findings - The review leads to two key theoretical and methodological expansions: first, it demonstrates that migrant careers need to be understood as a relational construct that is at the interplay of individual and institutions and as a multi-layer and multi-faceted phenomenon. This approach requires the authors to explore careers in temporal and spatial contexts. The second expansion made requires the adoption of relational methodologies, as well as more reflexive methods which encourages researchers to recognize a wider range of vested interests when framing their research questions and designing their studies. Originality/value - This paper has two key values: first, it questions the central assumptions in the management and organizational literature regarding the topic of international mobility; second, it offers a theoretical and a methodological model for future research on this topic. Keywords International careers, Skilled migration, Self-initiated expatriation, Career development, Skilled workers, Reflexivity Paper type Research paper
Introduction The careers of migrant workers is an under-theorized field of study. We contend that the under-theorization is partly due to the scant focus that previous research has had on the careers of skilled migrants. Instead, studies of migrant careers have predominantly focussed on samples of migrants with lower levels of skill. In order to address this research gap, we have proposed and prepared this special issue. Below, we briefly scope studies of careers of skilled migrants and demonstrate the utility of studying this group. Our review illustrates that the careers of skilled migrants deserve specific attention. This group of workers face obstacles due to their migrant status. These obstacles sometimes take different forms to low-skilled migrants. Yet, among these groups of workers, there is a small section of skilled migrants who are able to carve out work and personal lives which can be normatively assessed as
"successful." Their normative success and ability to navigate their way around structural obstacles render skilled migrants an interesting group to explore empirically and theoretically. In most advanced and high potential economies, there are reports of increasing need for skilled migrants, in the context of skill shortages, aging population, and decreasing fertility rates (Al Ariss and Ozbilgin, 2010; Ozbilgin et al., 2011). Skill shortages have ¨ ¨ radically transformed the labor markets of a number of countries. For example, expatriates constitute more than 70 percent of the workforce in the United Arab Emirates (Dessler and Al Ariss, 2012). Demographic change (aging population, decreasing fertility rates, and access to education) has been fostering mobility among countries on competitive bases. International mobility has become an important topic in the management and organizational field. However, we still know very little in terms of effective management of international diversity at work (Tatli, 2011). It is now essential to understand the careers of skilled migrants in order for organizations to use their cultural, social, economic, and symbolic resources properly. Yet a key problem in the organizational and management field is that there is not yet a comprehensive theoretical framework, nor a full set of adequate methodological tools, which allow researchers to undertake studies in the area of migration. This editorial paper has two goals: first, to question the central assumptions in the management and organizational literature regarding the topic of international mobility; second, to propose a theoretical and a methodological model for future research in this same area. By doing so, we seek to provide theoretical leads in this field. The paper is structured in this same order. Central assumptions in the management literature on skilled migration The field of management research is marked by politics regarding the terms used for framing and studying the careers of skilled migrants. Depending on the particular standpoint and vested interest, i.e. management, organizations, or workers themselves, from which authors write, the literature uses three different terms to discuss international mobility: corporate expatriation, self-initiated expatriation (SIE), and migration. While corporate expatriates are defined as individuals who are assigned an international post by their companies (Brewster and Scullion, 2007), self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) travel internationally on their own initiative (Jokinen et al., 2008; Cerdin and Pargneux, 2010). The difference between migrants and SIEs is not very clear in this literature. However, it is clear that the corporate expatriation literature considers a career to be an organizational process, a shared responsibility between the organization and the individual. In the case of the SIE, a career becomes the responsibility of the individual. It is not surprising that the SIE literature has emerged more recently and sits more comfortably with the neoliberal agendas of the individualization of workplace relations. There are also implicit distinctions between the way the terms "migrant" and "SIE" are employed (Al Ariss, 2010). While a migrant is commonly used in management literature in order to make a distinction based on ethnic and racial lines, mostly to refer to the mobility of individuals from ethnicities with stronger ethnic stereotypes (Berry and Bell, 2011), SIEs are referred to in more positive terms, such as by being described as "accustomed to interacting and motivated to interact with host country nationals" (Peltokorpi and Froese, 2009, p. 1106). The literature on SIEs is often not very inclusive (Berry and Bell, 2011), as it often excludes any consideration of individuals from
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developing countries (Al Ariss, 2010). This literature remains a bastion of white skilled migrants from developed countries and fails to consider skilled migrants from non-white backgrounds and from developing countries. This organizational and management literature on international mobility has the four following central assumptions regarding international mobility of individuals. First, unlike SIEs, migrants do not enjoy a full ability to advance their careers. Instead, they are described as oppressed (see Essers et al., 2010) and discriminated against (see Bell et al., 2010). They emerge as having little, if not no ability, to strategically overcome structural constraints imposed upon them in their home and host countries. As a result, the outcome of their professional experiences emerges in the literature as chaotic and less dependent on their choices (Al Ariss and Syed, 2011). This line of research focusses on the macrostructural conditions of international mobility. As such, there is a tendency to overlook the diversity (Ozbilgin et al., 2011) and agency, as in ¨ power and influence, of these migrants in the host society and their ability to make choices in the context of chances and constraints. A second assumption regards SIEs. SIEs are described as endowed with agency and with an ability to cross-national boundaries (Dickmann and Baruch, 2011). Therefore, unlike migrants, SIEs emerge as having a career, and more specifically as being able to make career choices (Carr et al., 2005; Carr, 2010). This second line of research emphasizes the micro-individual level in international mobility. However, the distinction that this literature draws in terms of agentic power of SIEs as opposed to lack of agency among migrants is founded on weak evidence, as both groups have been successful in crossing boundaries and accessing a new life and careers in a new national context. A third assumption in this same literature, although implicit, is that context and history have little importance in studying international mobility. Instead, research results regarding international careers are frequently exported from North American and west European countries, generalized based on mainstream western assumptions, and supposed to work worldwide (see e.g. Andresen et al., 2012; Chudzikowski and Mayrhofer, 2011 for a more contextualized approach). Such approaches ignore issues such as colonialism, migration history, and national and regional cultures (Bozionelos, 2009). A lack of granularity in studies of international careers means that their validity and usefulness for informing practice is often challenged. Finally, there is a lack of reflexivity regarding the use of concepts and theories in international careers. Internalized assumptions in the literature are therefore used and re-used without much questioning. This leads to a reproduction of certain stereotypes, which is currently the case in many studies using the terms "migrant" and "SIE." Having presented a brief overview of the key assumptions in our field regarding international mobility, we now present an alternative and more critical theorization for future research. Toward an inclusive theorization of the careers of migrants Despite the importance of the topic of migration to organizations and societies, there are no unifying frameworks to date for studying careers of skilled migrants. In view of this knowledge gap and of the picture we sketch above, we contend that there is a need to reconcile what we described above as partial theorization with flawed assumptions in the field, in order to arrive at a more comprehensive and critical understanding. Rather than focussing on the differences and similarities between SIEs and migrants, which are starting to flourish in management and organization literature
(see special issue in Career Development International, e.g. on "Self-initiated expatriation: career experiences, processes and outcomes"), we propose to emphasize an understanding of the dynamics of international mobility in a comprehensive way. In this regard, we tackle two issues. First, we suggest that we should study migrant careers not simply from structural/institutional or individual perspectives alone, but as a relational construct that is at the interplay of individual and institutions and as a multi-layer and multi-faceted phenomenon. This approach requires us to explore careers in temporal and spatial contexts. The temporal context could be examined as history, the perception of the present and future plans. The spatial context would require us to explore how rules and resources gain or lose symbolic value according to the place in which they are deployed (see e.g. Richardson, 2009). Place is also a multi- layered phenomenon, spanning the organizational setting to industry and national/ institutional settings (Table I). The second call that we make is a concomitant expansion in methodological approaches to studying migrant careers. This requires the adoption of relational methodologies, as well as more reflexive methods which oblige researchers to recognize a wider range of vested interests when framing their research questions and designing their studies (Table II). Relational and context-specific themes. Our brief literature review shows how research on international mobility lacks contextualization and multilevel-relational approaches. Therefore, we propose a relational and context-specific approach as a framework to studying international mobility. This approach considers history but also micro-individual, meso-organizational, and macro-contextual levels. The micro- individual level refers to the subjective experiences of skilled migrants in terms of their career experiences. The meso-organizational level denotes the influence of intermediate forms of social organizations, such as workplaces, on the career development for skilled migrants. The macro-contextual level refers to events that characterize the social settings, such as institutional interventions, and that can constrain or enable the career development for skilled migrants. Relational methodologies and reflexive approaches. The theoretical expansion that we explain above can be achieved through expansion of methodological approaches in the field toward relational methods, which can help build connections between
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Broad levels History Macro-context
Specific themes Colonialism, history of the countries of origin/destination, history of migration, history of diversity, history of racism Regional and national legislation/policies/guidelines on the employment and work of the international workforce, country(ies) of origin/destination(s), discriminatory and anti-discriminatory policies, diversity policies, unemployment, formal education Human resource management strategies, discrimination strategies/practices, diversity strategies/practices, underemployment, human resource development strategies Agency of individuals, work-life experiences, strategies of leaving a country for another one, strategies to overcome structural barriers in the destination country, experiences of intersectionality of ethnicity/religion/sex/age/physical abilities among other determinants (Cornet, 2010), link between experiences in the home/destination countries
Organizational level
Individual level
Table I. Key levels and themes in international mobility
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Over-hierarchical themes Cross-disciplinary Reflexivity
Specific themes Migration, sociology, psychology, management and organization studies, geography, medicine, among others Position of the researcher regarding his/her research topic, researcher's history and background and how this influences research, researcher's rationale in choice of research questions/methods/theories/concepts Duration of stay, purpose of international mobility, country of origin/ destination, type of contract Work-life experiences of the international mobile workers as perceived by them, self-identification in terms of status (e.g. migrant vs expatriate), intentions to remain in/leave a country Interviews conducted with participants/focus groups, case studies, surveys, datasets, policy documents, grey literature, organizational guidelines, photographs and images, videos, national/regional/international press, observation
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Objective measures Subjective measures
Table II. Methodological approaches in international mobility
Data sources
phenomena, e.g. individual careers and career structures, which were previously considered as independent. Recognizing that careers take place in situated settings can help us gain a more contextual and nuanced understanding of careers in their relevant historical and institutional contexts (Ozbilgin, 2005). Relational methods can ¨ help transcend the na?¨ve distinction between objective and subjective data by recognizing their respective value in understanding careers. Similarly, we would also like to call for more reflexive methodologies in this field. The idea behind reflexivity is to recognize and engage with the fact that research comes from a specific approach, dependent on the position of a researcher (Nadin and Cassell, 2006). Reflexivity also allows us to question key assumptions in concepts and theories. Studying skilled migrants is not a process free of value judgment and politics. On the contrary, as in all other fields of research, research on migrant workers happens in a political context and it is colored by the particular standpoint of researchers, which remain unstated. Reflexive research can help us make these vested interests and standpoints explicit, improving the accountability and rigor of our studies. In the same way, there is mileage in conducting boundary crossing (cross-disciplinary, cross-national, cross-sectoral) research to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the careers of skilled migrants. Papers in this issue The paper submissions that we received for this special issue represented a wide range of topics addressing the career development of skilled migrants in Europe and beyond, from cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and various methodological perspectives. Our call attracted a large number of submissions. Therefore, we felt that there is a need to have more than one special issue to accommodate the high quality of papers received. Having shown this issue to Professor Andrew Kakabadse, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management Development, he was greatly open to finding appropriate solutions. In fact, with Andrew's positive approach and the help of his Editorial Assistant Ms Madeleine Fleure, we decided to split the special issue into two parts, one published in 2012 (this issue) and another one in 2013. While the first issue is characterized by a bridging of the topics of SIE and migration, the forthcoming issue
(2013) will be multidisciplinary, connecting therefore fields of management and organization, sociology, migration, psychology, among others, in the area of international mobility. In this way, we also demonstrate our responsibility as researchers to expand (which is the title of this special issue) the area of migration and career of migrants from theoretical and methodological perspectives. Accordingly, the papers included in both issues fit very well into the tables we discussed in this extended editorial letter. They vary from the topic of talent waste (papers 1 and 2), to career success and development frameworks (papers 3-5), to brain circulation and transnationalism (paper 6). Jill Pearson, Michelle Hammond, Eithne Heffernan, and Tom Turner contribute with a paper on "Careers and talents not to be wasted: skilled immigrants' journeys through psychological states en route to satisfying employment." The authors argue that many skilled immigrants work in jobs that are incommensurate with their qualifications and work experience. Therefore they examine the experiences of "talent waste" in Polish immigrants working in the Irish labor market. The authors used a mixed method approach by undertaking a survey with 309 Polish immigrants investigating their employment experiences in Ireland. Furthermore, 12 skilled Polish immigrants were interviewed with a focus on the factors leading to their underemployment and how they responded to it psychologically. Unlike what the migration literature suggests, although language proficiency and qualification recognition were important, other factors such as discrimination and networking were less problematic. Another important factor contributing to underemployment was the temporary choice of polish immigrants not to use their qualifications but rather to view Ireland as a temporary stop to make money, regardless of the employment opportunities that they could find. It is noticeable that most of the immigrants in this study did not initially intent to obtain skilled employment and stay in Ireland for the long term. However, for a wide range of personal and economic reasons, all the interviewees stayed in Ireland longer than they had initially planned. This shows the challenging task of separating between a self-initiated expatriate and a migrant on the basis of an intention to stay in a host country. Intentions are not static but rather evolve and adapt over time. In addition to examining factors influencing underemployment, one goal of the study was to examine the immigrants' psychological experience of underemployment. The authors classified these psychological responses into four categories: struggling, sacrificing, striving, and succeeding. Lova Ramboarison-Lalao, Akram Al Ariss, and Isabelle Barth offer a paper on "Careers of skilled migrants: understanding the experiences of Malagasy physicians in France." The authors argue that while skilled migrants play an essential role in the French society and labor market, very little is written in the management literature on their career experiences. In particular, little is known on migrants from developing countries in France. Therefore, this paper fills a knowledge gap by offering a better understanding of the career experiences of Malagasy migrant physicians in France. The paper is based on qualitative data on the life stories of 17 Malagasy migrant physicians and an interview with a Malagasy director of a private clinic who recruited Malagasy physicians to work in France. The authors discuss their career choices and the challenges that they face in the French job market. Findings highlight two career profiles: first, those who succeeded in working as physicians either directly upon their graduation, or throughout an "interstitial" career in nursing, a way to eventually reach their profession of physician. Second, there were participants who permanently switched to a nursing profession, leading to a waste of their talents and to downward career mobility. Results contrast with the literatures on international careers that
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describe international mobility as being beneficial for skilled migrants. Instead, human capital alone was insufficient in explaining the career outcome of Malagasy migrant physicians in France. Unlike the two previous studies presented so far, papers 2-4 discuss career development and success possibilities. These are characterized by a linkage between the concept of the SIE and the migrant. Marian Crowley-Henry bridges the topic of migration and SIE in her paper entitled "Re-conceptualizing the career development of SIEs: rivers not ladders." The author explores metaphors that are used in the literature on career development in international contexts. The study is based on qualitative interviews conducted with 37 skilled SIEs of 12 nationalities (western European, American, Australian) living in Sophia Antipolis, in the south of France. Analysis shows that the metaphor of a "river" captures the career development of skilled SIEs. With high or low starts, opportunities and challenges flow in and out of the career river at different stages. Some rivers grow large, while others fade away. A river includes the history of origin, of flow, of experiences, as well as contexts (such as geographical locations). This approach provides a more holistic picture of international career development from individual, organizational, and macro-contextual levels. Riana van den Bergh, Riana and Yvonne Du Plessis study the topic of "Highly skilled migrant women: a career development framework." They explore the pre-migration and postmigration career development and success of highly skilled professional migrant women in the Netherlands. Data draws on an in-depth interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) with focus groups held with 21 women. Findings show that individual drivers such as identity, social support, and life phase play a key role in women's pre- migration and post-migration career success. Structural constraints imposed upon the participants such as prejudices and stereotypes play against their career development. The authors remind us that the choice between permanent or temporary international mobility is not always pre-determined. Furthermore, categorizing individuals undertaking international mobility depending on their country or origin and creating barriers and distinctions between SIEs and migrants might lead to fostering stereotypes (and therefore exclusion) in our field. Lan Cao, Andreas Hirschi, and Jurgen Deller discuss "Self-initiated expatriates and ¨ their career success." The authors argue that little has been done to understand SIEs' career success in their host countries. To address this knowledge gap, building on the concept of career capital (see Dickmann and Doherty, 2008) and integrating it with notions of cultural adjustment and cultural distance, the authors offer a model that is helpful in predicting the relationship between career capital and career success. On one hand, cultural adjustment provides an understanding on how SIEs achieve career advancement. On the other hand, cultural distance shows the influences of the macrocontext of different intercultural situations on their careers. One further contribution of this paper is to provide a conceptual clarity of the concept of SIE. Finally, William Harvey discusses the topic of "Brain circulation to the UK? Knowledge and investment flows from highly skilled British expatriates in Vancouver." The author addresses two important research questions. These are: first, to what extent highly skilled migrants intend to make personal business and financial investments in their home countries; and second, what factors influence them to invest in their home countries. The paper draws on face-to-face and telephone interviews conducted with 64 highly skilled British migrants working in Vancouver, Canada. Findings show that the vast majority of respondents are not investing in or intending to return to their home country. While the migration literature suggests that brain drain has now
transformed into brain gain/brain circulation, the findings of this study do not support this assumption. The paper argues that governments and organizations in the home country can play an important role in facilitating brain circulation in Europe. Conclusions As is reflected in this paper and the contents of this special issue, growing research attention is needed from theoretical and methodological perspectives to build research framework that are comprehensive and inclusive in understanding the careers of skilled migrants. In this regard, there is a challenge for the research community to reflect and question some of the key assumptions that have been (and continue) to drive the topics, research questions, theories, and concepts that we use. Little attention has been paid so far in management and organizational literature to understanding the dynamics of international mobility from cross-cultural and inclusive perspectives. Instead, the risk is that building differences and categories between SIE and migration will foster stereotypes and will not aid diversity in the workplace. In this special issue we offer a new challenge to scholars and practitioners who explore the area of international mobility to be more reflective about our own assumptions. We hope that this special issue brings more attention from a critical perspective to this area with some ideas on how to expand this area of study from theoretical and methodological perspectives.
References
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Al Ariss, A. (2010), "Modes of engagement: migration, self-initiated expatriation, and career development", Career Development International, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 338-58. Al Ariss, A. and Ozbilgin, M. (2010), "Understanding self-initiated expatriates: career ¨ experiences of Lebanese self-initiated expatriates", Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 54 No. 4, pp. 275-85. Al Ariss, A. and Syed, J. (2011), "Capital mobilization of skilled migrants: a relational perspective", British Journal of Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 286-304. Andresen, M., Al Ariss, A., Walther, M. and Wolff, K. (2012), Self-Initiated Expatriation: Mastering the Dynamics, Routledge, New York, NY. Bell, M.P., Kwesiga, E.N. and Berry, D.P. (2010), "Immigrants: the new 'invisible men and women' in diversity research", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 177-88. Berry, D.P. and Bell, M.P. (2011), " 'Expatriates': gender, race and class distinctions in international management", Gender, Work & Organization, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2011. 00577.x. Bozionelos, N. (2009), "Expatriation outside the boundaries of the multinational corporation: a study with expatriate nurses in Saudi Arabia", Human Resource Management, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 111-34. Brewster, C. and Scullion, H. (2007), "A review and agenda for expatriate HRM", Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 32-41. Carr, S. (2010), "Global mobility and local economy: it's work psychology, stupid!", in Carr, S. (Ed.), The Psychology of Global Mobility, Springer, New York, NY, pp. 125-50. Carr, S.C., Inkson, K. and Thorn, K. (2005), "From global careers to talent flow: reinterpreting 'brain drain' ", Journal of World Business, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 386-98. Cerdin, J.-L. and Pargneux, M.L. (2010), "Career anchors: a comparison between organizationassigned and self-initiated expatriates", Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 287-99.
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Chudzikowski, K. and Mayrhofer, W. (2011), "In search of the blue flower? Grand social theories and career research - the case of Bourdieu's theory of practice", Human Relations, Vol. 64 No. 1, pp. 19-36. Cornet, A. (2010), "Le genre et la diversite: les enjeux de l'intersectionnalite et de la ´ ´ transversalite", in Barth, I. and Falcoz, C. (Eds), Nouvelles perspectives en management de ´ la diversite, ED. Eyrolles, Paris, pp. 47-64. ´ Dessler, G. and Al Ariss, A. (2012), Human Resource Management, Arab World ed., Pearson, London. Dickmann, M. and Baruch, Y. (2011), Global Careers, Routledge, New York, NY. Dickmann, M. and Doherty, N. (2008), "Exploring the career capital impact of international assignments within distinct organizational contexts", British Journal of Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 145-61. Essers, C., Benschop, Y. and Doorewaard, H. (2010), "Female ethnicity: understanding muslim immigrant businesswomen in the Netherlands", Gender, Work & Organization, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 320-39. Jokinen, T., Brewster, C. and Suutari, V. (2008), "Career capital during international work experiences: contrasting self-initiated expatriate experiences and assigned expatriation", International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 979-98. Nadin, S. and Cassell, C. (2006), "The use of a research diary as a tool for reflexive practice. Some reflections from management research", Qualitative Research in Accounting &Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 208-17. Ozbilgin, M. (2005), "Relational methods in organization studies", in Kyriakidou, O. and ¨ Ozbilgin, M. (Eds), Relational Perspectives in Organization Studies , Edward Elgar ¨ Publisher, Cheltenham, pp. 244-64. Ozbilgin, M.F., Beauregard, A., Tatli, A. and Bell, M.P. (2011), "Work-life, diversity and ¨ intersectionality: a critical review and research agenda", International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 13, pp. 177-98. Peltokorpi, V. and Froese, F.J. (2009), "Organizational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates: who adjusts better to work and life in Japan?", The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 1096-112. Richardson, J. (2009), "Geographic flexibility in academia: a cautionary note", British Journal of Management, Vol. 20 (S1), pp. S160-S170. Tatli, A. (2011), "A multi-layered exploration of the diversity management field: diversity discourses, practices and practitioners in the UK", British Journal of Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 238-53. About the authors Akram Al Ariss is Head of the Human Resource Management Department at Champagne School of Management (France). He is affiliated with DECEre, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia (UK) and with the Pennsylvania State University (USA). Originally from Lebanon, he has a PhD in Management from Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia (UK). Akram Al Ariss is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and researching IHRM. His interests include Diversity, Career, and Expatriation/Migration matters. He has written in journals such as Academy of Management Learning and Education, Thunderbird International Business Review, British Journal of Management,Career Development International, Work Employment and Society, and Personnel Review. Akram is a member of the Editorial Board of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion as well as Journal of World Business. Akram Al Ariss is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected] and [email protected]
Iris Koall, Managing Director at the Center of Continuing Studies at the University of Wuppertal/Germany, holds a PhD in Business Administration and has also been working in different diversity relevant fields, e.g. as research director in the Department of Disability Studies and for DiVersion, a certificate program of Gender & Diversity Studies at the University of Dortmund/Germany, since 2000. Her focus in research and publication connects theory of social systems with equal opportunity in organisations. Contemporary challenges are related to HRM with diversity focus at the university.
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Mustafa Ozbilgin is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Brunel Business School, Brunel ¨ University, London and Co-Chaire Management et Diversite at Universite Paris Dauphine. His ´ ´ research focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion at work from comparative and relational perspectives. He has conducted field studies in the UK and internationally and his work is empirically grounded. His edited book, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Edward Elgar) brings together papers from over 30 scholars in the field and his other text, Global Diversity Management (co-authored with Ahu Tatli, Palgrave) provides evidence from international field studies. He has authored and edited ten books and published large number of papers in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning and Education, British Journal of Management, Journal of Vocational Behavior, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Human Relations, Gender Work and Organization, Social Science and Medicine among others. He currently holds the following editorial roles: Editor-in-Chief, British Journal of Management (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010 to date), Book Series Editor, Equality Diversity and Inclusion: international perspectives (Emerald Press); Associate Editor: Gender Work and Organization (Wiley-Blackwell). He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Academy of Management Learning and Education (AMLE), Equality Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal (Emerald Press), Journal of Managerial Psychology (Emerald Press). He served as the Editor-inChief of the journal, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal (Emerald Press) between 2006 and 2010. He is the founder of DECERe at the Norwich Business School and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: an international conference (EDI). The fifth EDI conference will take place in Toulouse, France, in 2012 (see www.edi-conference.org) Vesa Suutari, Professor of International Management and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies, has over 15 years of experience teaching International Management. His course on International Human Resource Management was rewarded as the best business course in Finland in 2001. Moreover, he has long experience in adult education and training. Before his position as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies, Professor Suutari acted as the Head of the Department of Management and Organisation at the University of Vaasa. His expertise and research interests are cross-cultural and comparative management, international human resource management, international knowledge transfers, diversity management, and global leadership development. He has around 80 publications on International Management of which over 40 are in international reviewed journals and books. In addition, he has been rewarded internationally on five occasions for articles in international journals and conferences. Professor Suutari is a board member of the European Academy of Management and also a Guest Editor on international human resource management in several journals. Through research partnerships, Dr Vesa Suutari is involved with corporate development projects and maintains an ongoing network with companies. At the same time, he is active in international research networks and is a board member of the Association for Finnish Human Resource Managers and Professionals (HENRY Ry). The courses taught by Professor Suutari are those related to International Human Resource Management, Cross-Cultural Management and personal guidance on Master's theses.
doc_837546875.docx
A skill is the learned ability to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. In other words the abilities that one possesses. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills.
HRM Study on Careers of Skilled Migrants: Towards a Theoretical and Methodological Expansion
Abstract
Purpose - The careers of skilled migrant workers is an under-theorised field of research. This paper proposes a theoretical and methodological expansion of studies of careers of skilled migrants. Design/methodology/approach - The paper offers a critical review of the literature on careers of skilled migrants from a multilevel approach including individual, organizational, and contextual levels. Findings - The review leads to two key theoretical and methodological expansions: first, it demonstrates that migrant careers need to be understood as a relational construct that is at the interplay of individual and institutions and as a multi-layer and multi-faceted phenomenon. This approach requires the authors to explore careers in temporal and spatial contexts. The second expansion made requires the adoption of relational methodologies, as well as more reflexive methods which encourages researchers to recognize a wider range of vested interests when framing their research questions and designing their studies. Originality/value - This paper has two key values: first, it questions the central assumptions in the management and organizational literature regarding the topic of international mobility; second, it offers a theoretical and a methodological model for future research on this topic. Keywords International careers, Skilled migration, Self-initiated expatriation, Career development, Skilled workers, Reflexivity Paper type Research paper
Introduction The careers of migrant workers is an under-theorized field of study. We contend that the under-theorization is partly due to the scant focus that previous research has had on the careers of skilled migrants. Instead, studies of migrant careers have predominantly focussed on samples of migrants with lower levels of skill. In order to address this research gap, we have proposed and prepared this special issue. Below, we briefly scope studies of careers of skilled migrants and demonstrate the utility of studying this group. Our review illustrates that the careers of skilled migrants deserve specific attention. This group of workers face obstacles due to their migrant status. These obstacles sometimes take different forms to low-skilled migrants. Yet, among these groups of workers, there is a small section of skilled migrants who are able to carve out work and personal lives which can be normatively assessed as
"successful." Their normative success and ability to navigate their way around structural obstacles render skilled migrants an interesting group to explore empirically and theoretically. In most advanced and high potential economies, there are reports of increasing need for skilled migrants, in the context of skill shortages, aging population, and decreasing fertility rates (Al Ariss and Ozbilgin, 2010; Ozbilgin et al., 2011). Skill shortages have ¨ ¨ radically transformed the labor markets of a number of countries. For example, expatriates constitute more than 70 percent of the workforce in the United Arab Emirates (Dessler and Al Ariss, 2012). Demographic change (aging population, decreasing fertility rates, and access to education) has been fostering mobility among countries on competitive bases. International mobility has become an important topic in the management and organizational field. However, we still know very little in terms of effective management of international diversity at work (Tatli, 2011). It is now essential to understand the careers of skilled migrants in order for organizations to use their cultural, social, economic, and symbolic resources properly. Yet a key problem in the organizational and management field is that there is not yet a comprehensive theoretical framework, nor a full set of adequate methodological tools, which allow researchers to undertake studies in the area of migration. This editorial paper has two goals: first, to question the central assumptions in the management and organizational literature regarding the topic of international mobility; second, to propose a theoretical and a methodological model for future research in this same area. By doing so, we seek to provide theoretical leads in this field. The paper is structured in this same order. Central assumptions in the management literature on skilled migration The field of management research is marked by politics regarding the terms used for framing and studying the careers of skilled migrants. Depending on the particular standpoint and vested interest, i.e. management, organizations, or workers themselves, from which authors write, the literature uses three different terms to discuss international mobility: corporate expatriation, self-initiated expatriation (SIE), and migration. While corporate expatriates are defined as individuals who are assigned an international post by their companies (Brewster and Scullion, 2007), self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) travel internationally on their own initiative (Jokinen et al., 2008; Cerdin and Pargneux, 2010). The difference between migrants and SIEs is not very clear in this literature. However, it is clear that the corporate expatriation literature considers a career to be an organizational process, a shared responsibility between the organization and the individual. In the case of the SIE, a career becomes the responsibility of the individual. It is not surprising that the SIE literature has emerged more recently and sits more comfortably with the neoliberal agendas of the individualization of workplace relations. There are also implicit distinctions between the way the terms "migrant" and "SIE" are employed (Al Ariss, 2010). While a migrant is commonly used in management literature in order to make a distinction based on ethnic and racial lines, mostly to refer to the mobility of individuals from ethnicities with stronger ethnic stereotypes (Berry and Bell, 2011), SIEs are referred to in more positive terms, such as by being described as "accustomed to interacting and motivated to interact with host country nationals" (Peltokorpi and Froese, 2009, p. 1106). The literature on SIEs is often not very inclusive (Berry and Bell, 2011), as it often excludes any consideration of individuals from
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developing countries (Al Ariss, 2010). This literature remains a bastion of white skilled migrants from developed countries and fails to consider skilled migrants from non-white backgrounds and from developing countries. This organizational and management literature on international mobility has the four following central assumptions regarding international mobility of individuals. First, unlike SIEs, migrants do not enjoy a full ability to advance their careers. Instead, they are described as oppressed (see Essers et al., 2010) and discriminated against (see Bell et al., 2010). They emerge as having little, if not no ability, to strategically overcome structural constraints imposed upon them in their home and host countries. As a result, the outcome of their professional experiences emerges in the literature as chaotic and less dependent on their choices (Al Ariss and Syed, 2011). This line of research focusses on the macrostructural conditions of international mobility. As such, there is a tendency to overlook the diversity (Ozbilgin et al., 2011) and agency, as in ¨ power and influence, of these migrants in the host society and their ability to make choices in the context of chances and constraints. A second assumption regards SIEs. SIEs are described as endowed with agency and with an ability to cross-national boundaries (Dickmann and Baruch, 2011). Therefore, unlike migrants, SIEs emerge as having a career, and more specifically as being able to make career choices (Carr et al., 2005; Carr, 2010). This second line of research emphasizes the micro-individual level in international mobility. However, the distinction that this literature draws in terms of agentic power of SIEs as opposed to lack of agency among migrants is founded on weak evidence, as both groups have been successful in crossing boundaries and accessing a new life and careers in a new national context. A third assumption in this same literature, although implicit, is that context and history have little importance in studying international mobility. Instead, research results regarding international careers are frequently exported from North American and west European countries, generalized based on mainstream western assumptions, and supposed to work worldwide (see e.g. Andresen et al., 2012; Chudzikowski and Mayrhofer, 2011 for a more contextualized approach). Such approaches ignore issues such as colonialism, migration history, and national and regional cultures (Bozionelos, 2009). A lack of granularity in studies of international careers means that their validity and usefulness for informing practice is often challenged. Finally, there is a lack of reflexivity regarding the use of concepts and theories in international careers. Internalized assumptions in the literature are therefore used and re-used without much questioning. This leads to a reproduction of certain stereotypes, which is currently the case in many studies using the terms "migrant" and "SIE." Having presented a brief overview of the key assumptions in our field regarding international mobility, we now present an alternative and more critical theorization for future research. Toward an inclusive theorization of the careers of migrants Despite the importance of the topic of migration to organizations and societies, there are no unifying frameworks to date for studying careers of skilled migrants. In view of this knowledge gap and of the picture we sketch above, we contend that there is a need to reconcile what we described above as partial theorization with flawed assumptions in the field, in order to arrive at a more comprehensive and critical understanding. Rather than focussing on the differences and similarities between SIEs and migrants, which are starting to flourish in management and organization literature
(see special issue in Career Development International, e.g. on "Self-initiated expatriation: career experiences, processes and outcomes"), we propose to emphasize an understanding of the dynamics of international mobility in a comprehensive way. In this regard, we tackle two issues. First, we suggest that we should study migrant careers not simply from structural/institutional or individual perspectives alone, but as a relational construct that is at the interplay of individual and institutions and as a multi-layer and multi-faceted phenomenon. This approach requires us to explore careers in temporal and spatial contexts. The temporal context could be examined as history, the perception of the present and future plans. The spatial context would require us to explore how rules and resources gain or lose symbolic value according to the place in which they are deployed (see e.g. Richardson, 2009). Place is also a multi- layered phenomenon, spanning the organizational setting to industry and national/ institutional settings (Table I). The second call that we make is a concomitant expansion in methodological approaches to studying migrant careers. This requires the adoption of relational methodologies, as well as more reflexive methods which oblige researchers to recognize a wider range of vested interests when framing their research questions and designing their studies (Table II). Relational and context-specific themes. Our brief literature review shows how research on international mobility lacks contextualization and multilevel-relational approaches. Therefore, we propose a relational and context-specific approach as a framework to studying international mobility. This approach considers history but also micro-individual, meso-organizational, and macro-contextual levels. The micro- individual level refers to the subjective experiences of skilled migrants in terms of their career experiences. The meso-organizational level denotes the influence of intermediate forms of social organizations, such as workplaces, on the career development for skilled migrants. The macro-contextual level refers to events that characterize the social settings, such as institutional interventions, and that can constrain or enable the career development for skilled migrants. Relational methodologies and reflexive approaches. The theoretical expansion that we explain above can be achieved through expansion of methodological approaches in the field toward relational methods, which can help build connections between
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Broad levels History Macro-context
Specific themes Colonialism, history of the countries of origin/destination, history of migration, history of diversity, history of racism Regional and national legislation/policies/guidelines on the employment and work of the international workforce, country(ies) of origin/destination(s), discriminatory and anti-discriminatory policies, diversity policies, unemployment, formal education Human resource management strategies, discrimination strategies/practices, diversity strategies/practices, underemployment, human resource development strategies Agency of individuals, work-life experiences, strategies of leaving a country for another one, strategies to overcome structural barriers in the destination country, experiences of intersectionality of ethnicity/religion/sex/age/physical abilities among other determinants (Cornet, 2010), link between experiences in the home/destination countries
Organizational level
Individual level
Table I. Key levels and themes in international mobility
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Over-hierarchical themes Cross-disciplinary Reflexivity
Specific themes Migration, sociology, psychology, management and organization studies, geography, medicine, among others Position of the researcher regarding his/her research topic, researcher's history and background and how this influences research, researcher's rationale in choice of research questions/methods/theories/concepts Duration of stay, purpose of international mobility, country of origin/ destination, type of contract Work-life experiences of the international mobile workers as perceived by them, self-identification in terms of status (e.g. migrant vs expatriate), intentions to remain in/leave a country Interviews conducted with participants/focus groups, case studies, surveys, datasets, policy documents, grey literature, organizational guidelines, photographs and images, videos, national/regional/international press, observation
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Objective measures Subjective measures
Table II. Methodological approaches in international mobility
Data sources
phenomena, e.g. individual careers and career structures, which were previously considered as independent. Recognizing that careers take place in situated settings can help us gain a more contextual and nuanced understanding of careers in their relevant historical and institutional contexts (Ozbilgin, 2005). Relational methods can ¨ help transcend the na?¨ve distinction between objective and subjective data by recognizing their respective value in understanding careers. Similarly, we would also like to call for more reflexive methodologies in this field. The idea behind reflexivity is to recognize and engage with the fact that research comes from a specific approach, dependent on the position of a researcher (Nadin and Cassell, 2006). Reflexivity also allows us to question key assumptions in concepts and theories. Studying skilled migrants is not a process free of value judgment and politics. On the contrary, as in all other fields of research, research on migrant workers happens in a political context and it is colored by the particular standpoint of researchers, which remain unstated. Reflexive research can help us make these vested interests and standpoints explicit, improving the accountability and rigor of our studies. In the same way, there is mileage in conducting boundary crossing (cross-disciplinary, cross-national, cross-sectoral) research to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the careers of skilled migrants. Papers in this issue The paper submissions that we received for this special issue represented a wide range of topics addressing the career development of skilled migrants in Europe and beyond, from cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and various methodological perspectives. Our call attracted a large number of submissions. Therefore, we felt that there is a need to have more than one special issue to accommodate the high quality of papers received. Having shown this issue to Professor Andrew Kakabadse, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management Development, he was greatly open to finding appropriate solutions. In fact, with Andrew's positive approach and the help of his Editorial Assistant Ms Madeleine Fleure, we decided to split the special issue into two parts, one published in 2012 (this issue) and another one in 2013. While the first issue is characterized by a bridging of the topics of SIE and migration, the forthcoming issue
(2013) will be multidisciplinary, connecting therefore fields of management and organization, sociology, migration, psychology, among others, in the area of international mobility. In this way, we also demonstrate our responsibility as researchers to expand (which is the title of this special issue) the area of migration and career of migrants from theoretical and methodological perspectives. Accordingly, the papers included in both issues fit very well into the tables we discussed in this extended editorial letter. They vary from the topic of talent waste (papers 1 and 2), to career success and development frameworks (papers 3-5), to brain circulation and transnationalism (paper 6). Jill Pearson, Michelle Hammond, Eithne Heffernan, and Tom Turner contribute with a paper on "Careers and talents not to be wasted: skilled immigrants' journeys through psychological states en route to satisfying employment." The authors argue that many skilled immigrants work in jobs that are incommensurate with their qualifications and work experience. Therefore they examine the experiences of "talent waste" in Polish immigrants working in the Irish labor market. The authors used a mixed method approach by undertaking a survey with 309 Polish immigrants investigating their employment experiences in Ireland. Furthermore, 12 skilled Polish immigrants were interviewed with a focus on the factors leading to their underemployment and how they responded to it psychologically. Unlike what the migration literature suggests, although language proficiency and qualification recognition were important, other factors such as discrimination and networking were less problematic. Another important factor contributing to underemployment was the temporary choice of polish immigrants not to use their qualifications but rather to view Ireland as a temporary stop to make money, regardless of the employment opportunities that they could find. It is noticeable that most of the immigrants in this study did not initially intent to obtain skilled employment and stay in Ireland for the long term. However, for a wide range of personal and economic reasons, all the interviewees stayed in Ireland longer than they had initially planned. This shows the challenging task of separating between a self-initiated expatriate and a migrant on the basis of an intention to stay in a host country. Intentions are not static but rather evolve and adapt over time. In addition to examining factors influencing underemployment, one goal of the study was to examine the immigrants' psychological experience of underemployment. The authors classified these psychological responses into four categories: struggling, sacrificing, striving, and succeeding. Lova Ramboarison-Lalao, Akram Al Ariss, and Isabelle Barth offer a paper on "Careers of skilled migrants: understanding the experiences of Malagasy physicians in France." The authors argue that while skilled migrants play an essential role in the French society and labor market, very little is written in the management literature on their career experiences. In particular, little is known on migrants from developing countries in France. Therefore, this paper fills a knowledge gap by offering a better understanding of the career experiences of Malagasy migrant physicians in France. The paper is based on qualitative data on the life stories of 17 Malagasy migrant physicians and an interview with a Malagasy director of a private clinic who recruited Malagasy physicians to work in France. The authors discuss their career choices and the challenges that they face in the French job market. Findings highlight two career profiles: first, those who succeeded in working as physicians either directly upon their graduation, or throughout an "interstitial" career in nursing, a way to eventually reach their profession of physician. Second, there were participants who permanently switched to a nursing profession, leading to a waste of their talents and to downward career mobility. Results contrast with the literatures on international careers that
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describe international mobility as being beneficial for skilled migrants. Instead, human capital alone was insufficient in explaining the career outcome of Malagasy migrant physicians in France. Unlike the two previous studies presented so far, papers 2-4 discuss career development and success possibilities. These are characterized by a linkage between the concept of the SIE and the migrant. Marian Crowley-Henry bridges the topic of migration and SIE in her paper entitled "Re-conceptualizing the career development of SIEs: rivers not ladders." The author explores metaphors that are used in the literature on career development in international contexts. The study is based on qualitative interviews conducted with 37 skilled SIEs of 12 nationalities (western European, American, Australian) living in Sophia Antipolis, in the south of France. Analysis shows that the metaphor of a "river" captures the career development of skilled SIEs. With high or low starts, opportunities and challenges flow in and out of the career river at different stages. Some rivers grow large, while others fade away. A river includes the history of origin, of flow, of experiences, as well as contexts (such as geographical locations). This approach provides a more holistic picture of international career development from individual, organizational, and macro-contextual levels. Riana van den Bergh, Riana and Yvonne Du Plessis study the topic of "Highly skilled migrant women: a career development framework." They explore the pre-migration and postmigration career development and success of highly skilled professional migrant women in the Netherlands. Data draws on an in-depth interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) with focus groups held with 21 women. Findings show that individual drivers such as identity, social support, and life phase play a key role in women's pre- migration and post-migration career success. Structural constraints imposed upon the participants such as prejudices and stereotypes play against their career development. The authors remind us that the choice between permanent or temporary international mobility is not always pre-determined. Furthermore, categorizing individuals undertaking international mobility depending on their country or origin and creating barriers and distinctions between SIEs and migrants might lead to fostering stereotypes (and therefore exclusion) in our field. Lan Cao, Andreas Hirschi, and Jurgen Deller discuss "Self-initiated expatriates and ¨ their career success." The authors argue that little has been done to understand SIEs' career success in their host countries. To address this knowledge gap, building on the concept of career capital (see Dickmann and Doherty, 2008) and integrating it with notions of cultural adjustment and cultural distance, the authors offer a model that is helpful in predicting the relationship between career capital and career success. On one hand, cultural adjustment provides an understanding on how SIEs achieve career advancement. On the other hand, cultural distance shows the influences of the macrocontext of different intercultural situations on their careers. One further contribution of this paper is to provide a conceptual clarity of the concept of SIE. Finally, William Harvey discusses the topic of "Brain circulation to the UK? Knowledge and investment flows from highly skilled British expatriates in Vancouver." The author addresses two important research questions. These are: first, to what extent highly skilled migrants intend to make personal business and financial investments in their home countries; and second, what factors influence them to invest in their home countries. The paper draws on face-to-face and telephone interviews conducted with 64 highly skilled British migrants working in Vancouver, Canada. Findings show that the vast majority of respondents are not investing in or intending to return to their home country. While the migration literature suggests that brain drain has now
transformed into brain gain/brain circulation, the findings of this study do not support this assumption. The paper argues that governments and organizations in the home country can play an important role in facilitating brain circulation in Europe. Conclusions As is reflected in this paper and the contents of this special issue, growing research attention is needed from theoretical and methodological perspectives to build research framework that are comprehensive and inclusive in understanding the careers of skilled migrants. In this regard, there is a challenge for the research community to reflect and question some of the key assumptions that have been (and continue) to drive the topics, research questions, theories, and concepts that we use. Little attention has been paid so far in management and organizational literature to understanding the dynamics of international mobility from cross-cultural and inclusive perspectives. Instead, the risk is that building differences and categories between SIE and migration will foster stereotypes and will not aid diversity in the workplace. In this special issue we offer a new challenge to scholars and practitioners who explore the area of international mobility to be more reflective about our own assumptions. We hope that this special issue brings more attention from a critical perspective to this area with some ideas on how to expand this area of study from theoretical and methodological perspectives.
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Al Ariss, A. (2010), "Modes of engagement: migration, self-initiated expatriation, and career development", Career Development International, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 338-58. Al Ariss, A. and Ozbilgin, M. (2010), "Understanding self-initiated expatriates: career ¨ experiences of Lebanese self-initiated expatriates", Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 54 No. 4, pp. 275-85. Al Ariss, A. and Syed, J. (2011), "Capital mobilization of skilled migrants: a relational perspective", British Journal of Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 286-304. Andresen, M., Al Ariss, A., Walther, M. and Wolff, K. (2012), Self-Initiated Expatriation: Mastering the Dynamics, Routledge, New York, NY. Bell, M.P., Kwesiga, E.N. and Berry, D.P. (2010), "Immigrants: the new 'invisible men and women' in diversity research", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 177-88. Berry, D.P. and Bell, M.P. (2011), " 'Expatriates': gender, race and class distinctions in international management", Gender, Work & Organization, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2011. 00577.x. Bozionelos, N. (2009), "Expatriation outside the boundaries of the multinational corporation: a study with expatriate nurses in Saudi Arabia", Human Resource Management, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 111-34. Brewster, C. and Scullion, H. (2007), "A review and agenda for expatriate HRM", Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 32-41. Carr, S. (2010), "Global mobility and local economy: it's work psychology, stupid!", in Carr, S. (Ed.), The Psychology of Global Mobility, Springer, New York, NY, pp. 125-50. Carr, S.C., Inkson, K. and Thorn, K. (2005), "From global careers to talent flow: reinterpreting 'brain drain' ", Journal of World Business, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 386-98. Cerdin, J.-L. and Pargneux, M.L. (2010), "Career anchors: a comparison between organizationassigned and self-initiated expatriates", Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 287-99.
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Chudzikowski, K. and Mayrhofer, W. (2011), "In search of the blue flower? Grand social theories and career research - the case of Bourdieu's theory of practice", Human Relations, Vol. 64 No. 1, pp. 19-36. Cornet, A. (2010), "Le genre et la diversite: les enjeux de l'intersectionnalite et de la ´ ´ transversalite", in Barth, I. and Falcoz, C. (Eds), Nouvelles perspectives en management de ´ la diversite, ED. Eyrolles, Paris, pp. 47-64. ´ Dessler, G. and Al Ariss, A. (2012), Human Resource Management, Arab World ed., Pearson, London. Dickmann, M. and Baruch, Y. (2011), Global Careers, Routledge, New York, NY. Dickmann, M. and Doherty, N. (2008), "Exploring the career capital impact of international assignments within distinct organizational contexts", British Journal of Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 145-61. Essers, C., Benschop, Y. and Doorewaard, H. (2010), "Female ethnicity: understanding muslim immigrant businesswomen in the Netherlands", Gender, Work & Organization, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 320-39. Jokinen, T., Brewster, C. and Suutari, V. (2008), "Career capital during international work experiences: contrasting self-initiated expatriate experiences and assigned expatriation", International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 979-98. Nadin, S. and Cassell, C. (2006), "The use of a research diary as a tool for reflexive practice. Some reflections from management research", Qualitative Research in Accounting &Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 208-17. Ozbilgin, M. (2005), "Relational methods in organization studies", in Kyriakidou, O. and ¨ Ozbilgin, M. (Eds), Relational Perspectives in Organization Studies , Edward Elgar ¨ Publisher, Cheltenham, pp. 244-64. Ozbilgin, M.F., Beauregard, A., Tatli, A. and Bell, M.P. (2011), "Work-life, diversity and ¨ intersectionality: a critical review and research agenda", International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 13, pp. 177-98. Peltokorpi, V. and Froese, F.J. (2009), "Organizational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates: who adjusts better to work and life in Japan?", The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 1096-112. Richardson, J. (2009), "Geographic flexibility in academia: a cautionary note", British Journal of Management, Vol. 20 (S1), pp. S160-S170. Tatli, A. (2011), "A multi-layered exploration of the diversity management field: diversity discourses, practices and practitioners in the UK", British Journal of Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 238-53. About the authors Akram Al Ariss is Head of the Human Resource Management Department at Champagne School of Management (France). He is affiliated with DECEre, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia (UK) and with the Pennsylvania State University (USA). Originally from Lebanon, he has a PhD in Management from Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia (UK). Akram Al Ariss is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and researching IHRM. His interests include Diversity, Career, and Expatriation/Migration matters. He has written in journals such as Academy of Management Learning and Education, Thunderbird International Business Review, British Journal of Management,Career Development International, Work Employment and Society, and Personnel Review. Akram is a member of the Editorial Board of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion as well as Journal of World Business. Akram Al Ariss is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected] and [email protected]
Iris Koall, Managing Director at the Center of Continuing Studies at the University of Wuppertal/Germany, holds a PhD in Business Administration and has also been working in different diversity relevant fields, e.g. as research director in the Department of Disability Studies and for DiVersion, a certificate program of Gender & Diversity Studies at the University of Dortmund/Germany, since 2000. Her focus in research and publication connects theory of social systems with equal opportunity in organisations. Contemporary challenges are related to HRM with diversity focus at the university.
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Mustafa Ozbilgin is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Brunel Business School, Brunel ¨ University, London and Co-Chaire Management et Diversite at Universite Paris Dauphine. His ´ ´ research focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion at work from comparative and relational perspectives. He has conducted field studies in the UK and internationally and his work is empirically grounded. His edited book, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Edward Elgar) brings together papers from over 30 scholars in the field and his other text, Global Diversity Management (co-authored with Ahu Tatli, Palgrave) provides evidence from international field studies. He has authored and edited ten books and published large number of papers in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning and Education, British Journal of Management, Journal of Vocational Behavior, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Human Relations, Gender Work and Organization, Social Science and Medicine among others. He currently holds the following editorial roles: Editor-in-Chief, British Journal of Management (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010 to date), Book Series Editor, Equality Diversity and Inclusion: international perspectives (Emerald Press); Associate Editor: Gender Work and Organization (Wiley-Blackwell). He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Academy of Management Learning and Education (AMLE), Equality Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal (Emerald Press), Journal of Managerial Psychology (Emerald Press). He served as the Editor-inChief of the journal, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal (Emerald Press) between 2006 and 2010. He is the founder of DECERe at the Norwich Business School and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: an international conference (EDI). The fifth EDI conference will take place in Toulouse, France, in 2012 (see www.edi-conference.org) Vesa Suutari, Professor of International Management and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies, has over 15 years of experience teaching International Management. His course on International Human Resource Management was rewarded as the best business course in Finland in 2001. Moreover, he has long experience in adult education and training. Before his position as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies, Professor Suutari acted as the Head of the Department of Management and Organisation at the University of Vaasa. His expertise and research interests are cross-cultural and comparative management, international human resource management, international knowledge transfers, diversity management, and global leadership development. He has around 80 publications on International Management of which over 40 are in international reviewed journals and books. In addition, he has been rewarded internationally on five occasions for articles in international journals and conferences. Professor Suutari is a board member of the European Academy of Management and also a Guest Editor on international human resource management in several journals. Through research partnerships, Dr Vesa Suutari is involved with corporate development projects and maintains an ongoing network with companies. At the same time, he is active in international research networks and is a board member of the Association for Finnish Human Resource Managers and Professionals (HENRY Ry). The courses taught by Professor Suutari are those related to International Human Resource Management, Cross-Cultural Management and personal guidance on Master's theses.
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