Expatriatens teoretiska verklighet – en historia av motsägelser

Sammanfattning: The competition on the global market is becoming increasingly tough for international companies where workers located abroad, so called expatriates are thought of as an important tool in obtaining competition advantages. Several scientists have studied different parts of a mission abroad for expatriates where pre-departure training as well as adjustment to the host country has been accentuated. However, science in the field of cultural adaptation is missing a perspective which conveys a comparative reasoning regarding what managers as well as expatriates consider to be of importance in these aspects of the mission abroad. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to study these aspects through a qualitative methodology where a manager- as well as an expatriate perspective is applied. Particular focus will address the appearance of culture shock as to how its effects can be minimized. The primary source of this thesis is semi structured interviews with five people whom are either currently working abroad or have completed past missions abroad and are presently located in Sweden. In addition to these five expatriates, two managers within Human Resource have been interviewed in order to communicate how each of their companies manages missions abroad. All reports of the informants have then been analyzed in regards to previous theories of science. The results of the thesis demonstrate how there is an existing difference between what scientists in their theories regard as important within pre-departure training and what is being executed in actual situations. All informants have pointed out how the core of cultural dissimilarities is not possible to grasp until having arrived in the host country. This result in cross-cultural training, which according to scientists should take place before the departure, in best case scenario is being offered in the host country at the beginning of the mission. It has also emerged how companies mainly offer support in practical matters such as house searching and language training. However, other aspects such as cross-cultural training are managed by the expatriate’s own initiative. During the progress of the study information has emerged regarding how several expatriates choose to leave their company when returning to Sweden. Future research should therefore address this following step within the mission abroad where the expatriate will return to its company in Sweden. The reason for this is that continuous research withholding the same character as this thesis could accentuate the effects of cross-cultural training and culture shock on a deeper level.