Abstract

It has been revealed from the many studies and literature available that the human factor or the human resource is a particular resource that can really create a difference for an organization. Increase in the internationalization of organizations and the emerging concepts, like globalization, is continuously promoting the transfer of workforce abroad and is increasing the cross cultural interaction of people in organizations. This mobility of workforce across borders and cultures is creating availability of the best workforce for the organizations but at the same time, it is also giving rise to new problems, which is the inadequate match of personalities to their positions, and to new cultures, and is resulting in failure or poor performance. As such, expatriates are confronted with both job-related and personal problems by working in a foreign environment with different political, cultural and economic characteristics. Organizations are faced with a challenge regarding creation of adjustability of the expatriates to the foreign country or to the environment of the host country. This challenge can be overcome by using person environment fit phenomenon, which seems to be providing a new type of person environment fit that can create the better adjustment between the person (expatriates) and the new culture, both in and outside the organization in the host country or in the foreign country.

Key words: Expatriates, person environment fit, culture, globalization, mobility.