Expatriação e processos de aprendizagem organizacional : um estudo de casos múltiplos

Abstract

Allied to the strategy of business expansion of the organizations, considering globalization and the business internationalization, expatriation of employees emerges as a personnel management resource and, therefore, provides benefit for companies and for professional and personal growth of individuals. Conceptualized as an ongoing process where knowledge creation and appropriation are part of the daily life of individuals and organizations, organizational learning gain ground within the expatriation discussions. This dissertation aims to analyze the contribution of expatriation to the processes of organizational learning - formal and informal. The methodology used was the multiple case study, which allowed an in-depth analyze of results. With the development of the theoretical framework, were designed a set of interviews and collected and analyzed data from the companies participants. The selected companies belong to different business sectors such as furniture, metal mechanic and footwear; and have significant importance to the exporting activity of the state of Rio Grande do Sul – Souther Brazil. Were conducted eleven interviews with employees who had already experienced expatriation or employees that still expatriated. After data collection was realized the content analysis of data. Furthermore, the study also aims to present the contributions of expatriation for organizational learning processes, to propagate the proceeds from positive and negative experiences of expatriates. As a result, it can be seen that the expatriation tends to trigger organizational learning processes that are embedded in the individual's daily activities. It was found that employees learned from their expatriation experiences and faced a problem or challenge, through reflection and interaction and collaboration with colleagues. In addition, the expatriation indicates a contribution in which the expatriate sees their own culture in a new perspective, becomes aware of other organizational cultures and identify new ways of dealing with people in the country and the group of the subsidiary. Perspective changes and behavioral changes that make expats modify and rethink their assumptions and understand the consequences of cultural differences and recognize failures were also identified as expatriation contributions to the learning process.