Ehud Harari

Structural sources of personnel problems in multinational corporations: Third-country nationals☆

The paper examines the extent to which multinational corporations (MNCs) whose staffing policies approach the genuine multinational model are free of the dysfunctions found by the authors in earlier studies of ethnocentric MNCs. The findings are based on comparative research in 51 MNCs, and intensive diagnostic studies of seven subsidiaries of MNCs operating and headquartered in four continents. The findings may be summed up as follows: (1) certain, but very few, morale problems have indeed been eliminated; (2) others are still present; (3) others are still present and their effect has intensified; and (4) new problems have appeared which are unique to the staffing policy approximating to the genuine multinational model. These findings shed new light on several of the assumptions underlying this model. The general conclusion is that each prevalent type of staffing policy has several sources of morale problems--some inherent in its uniqueness, and others shared by the alternative staffing policies--irrespective of the personal qualifications of the managers. Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect that a change toward the genuine multinational model would solve the basic morale problems prevalent in the dominant type of MNCs.

Genuine Multinational Staffing Policy: Expectations And Realities

The article discusses a 1977 study on the staffing policy of U.S. multinational corporations. Results indicated that there are several sources of morale problems existing in multinational corporations of the dominant type. These included blocked promotions, transfer anxieties, income gaps, and unfamiliarity and adaptability difficulties. The research also indicates that the accumulation of variegated international experience is not essentially translated into managerial behavior compatible with environmental needs and headquarters expectations.

Training Expatriates for Managerial Assignments in Japan

This study examines perceptions of exisiting and desired patterns of organizational behavior in MNCs in various countries. The major finding is that despite the numerous differences in organizational behavior patterns between Japan and other nations, four critical managerial patterns are perceived identically by Japanese and non-Japanese employees—leadership, decision making, communication, and group behavior. These findings enable the authors to cite types of training needed for subsidiaries in Japan and for interaction between subsidiaries and their environment.

The government—media connection in Japan: The case of public advisory bodies

Abstract Japan is unusual among modern democracies in that journalists, mostly senior employees of major media groups are regularly and formally integrated into public policy process through membership in numerous statutory and semi‐statutory public advisory bodies (PABs) which are often institutions of sub‐governments. Journalists play a variety of roles in these policy networks: as free agents; as delegates of their media organizations; as sources and conveyors of information; as critics; as go‐betweens; and as legitimizers of government policy positions and of compromises reached by PAB members representing conflicting views and interests. This institutionalized structure of media‐government connection has several implications for Japanese democracy. It brings a unique perspective to the generation and reporting of news. It also contributes to public education about policy processes and fosters a certain cynicism about politics and government. Moreover, it has turned the major media into a hub of polic...