Personal or Organisational Control? A Critical Perspective from the Multinational’s International Assignees

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of non-national employees of multinational organisations based in Sophia Antipolis (South of France). Here twenty-three in-depth interviews with non-nationals employed by a multinational in the area, together with contextual data regarding the particular case of Sophia Antipolis contribute to the discussion on power and control in an international, organisational context. Irrespective of the initial motivations to follow on an international career, this study highlights the tensions individuals encounter in their desire to retain their international status while seeking out a more individual, balanced, protean career, potentially beyond their current employing organisations. Extracts from the stories told by international assignees are shared in this paper, underlining the importance of control (in mastering one’s own destiny) and the affinity of international assignees to their own career (be that what it may) as opposed to their affinity to a particular organisation. The subjectivity of the international employee’s career focus suggests issues for organisational control, here particularly for multinationals that have to cater more and more to the individual needs of their employees due to their cultural diversity. In particular this paper focuses on the employee’s individual struggle for control of his/her international career and the complexity of different elements influencing decisions over the life stage of the interviewees. The findings collaborate with contemporary career literature on the boundaryless career, noting the tension between the desire to follow an individual career path and the more negative aspects (lack of choice, control and power) of this career path given today’s unstable job market. Indeed, this paper attempts to show the inherent complexity relating to career, suggesting a more systems approach to career need be studied, such as is initiated here in this study under the framework of the protean career. INTRODUCTION Academic literature and research regarding the international career has long focused on the traditional expatriate experience (e.g.s (Adler 1986); (Feldman and Tompson 1993); (Boyacigiller 1995); (Mendenhall and Oddou 2000); (Dowling and Welch 2004). Here the tendency has been to adopt a more managerialist approach in outlining the benefits and issues to be considered for organisations and individuals embarking on an international assignment. This study, in contrast, focuses on permanent expatriates who remain in the host country indefinitely (i.e. without a pre-determined organisational option of repatriation to their initial home country), and takes a more critical approach in exploring the international career of such individuals. The focus in this paper is on analysing the extent of organisational and individual power and control with regard to an individual’s career in an international context. POWER & CONTROL – A CRITICAL OVERVIEW Power In this paper we examine issues of power and control over career in an international context from a critical perspective. Foucault “stresses the fact that social research is a sociohistorical phenomenon, one which functions as part of the process of surveillance and control, which he sees as the central feature of modern society” (Hammersley and Atkinson 1995): 14). He notes that “[t]he relations of power are perhaps among the best hidden things 1 Where expatriate is broadly defined as “the process of an individual moving to live in a different country” Brewster, C. (2002). Expatriation. The Informed Student Guide to Human Resource Management. A. Wilkinson. London, Thomson Learning.