 In this topic we are going to discuss about the various different roles that an ex-patriot takes in a subsidiary position. So when an ex-patriot is sent on an international assignment from the parent country to the host country and manage the subsidiary operations in a particular position, he actually is not just fulfilling that position of for example the head of operations or head of marketing or whatever position he is fulfilling but he is actually filling up a number of roles in the organization. So let's take a look at these roles. In this diagram you can see that there are six roles which are considered to be that of an ex-patriot. So in this diagram you can see that starting from the top the ex-patriot is an agent of direct control. He or she is an agent of socializing. They work as network builders. Then they are used for transfer of competence and knowledge. They play the role of boundary spanners and also serve as a language node. Now let's take a look at what all these six terms they mean and what the ex-patriot is supposed to do when he is playing the role of each of these persons as boundary spanner or network builder or direct control or socializer. So number one, ex-patriot as agent of direct control plays the role of controlling the organization, controlling the subsidiary directly from the headquarters. So sending an ex-patriot from the parent organization, parent country to the subsidiary usually has an objective of direct control over the subsidiary management in the form of bureaucratic control so that people are bound by the rules and procedures of the organization and they are supposed to comply to those rules and procedures through direct supervision by the people coming from parent organization, parent country. These people who come for direct control, the author of this model has termed them as beers. So they are beers who have this very much bureaucratic personality, strong personality and they do not let you any freedom and you are supposed to be abiding by the rules of the multinational. And this basically reflects an ethnocentric approach you would remember from previous topics that ethnocentric approach is an approach which favours the ethnicity of the multinational headquarters. So it means that people who are sent for this particular reason for direct control they are actually following the ethnocentric approach that they are not ready to hand over the control of the subsidiary to people from the host country because they want direct control and supervision over them. So that comes from a ethnocentric approach. Then expatriates they are also considered to be agents of socializing between the host country cultures and the parent country cultures. They are considered to be transfers of shared values and beliefs and accordingly in this model they are termed as the bumble bees. You know that bees they fly from one flower to the other and in that process they carry from one place to the other. They carry pollen, they carry various different, they also carry germs and they are the ones which are responsible for transfer of different types of things from one place to the other. So bumble bees are that is the name which is given to these expatriates that they carry things from the parent country to the host country and because of that transfer of various things from one place to the other there is an amalgamation of cultures, there is a mixing of values and beliefs and that is supposed to be a positive process. But this is something which is idealistic. In actual practical situation and evidences we see that there is limited empirical evidence of effectiveness. So the expatriates usually do not serve as the agents of socializing rather if they go and they try to inculcate the values and beliefs of the parent country in the host country without knowing what is going to be the reaction of people in the host country that usually is actually backfires and people are offended when they are required to behave in a particular way which is not conversant and familiar with their own culture. So usually the successful strategy is that of adopting the culture in which you are going rather than implementing the culture where you are coming from. Alright so the third role which is considered to be that of an expatriate is a role of network builder and for this the author has termed the expatriates as spiders. So you know that spiders they build webs. So similarly in organizations and multinational organizations webs of knowledge and resources needs to be built up. So these expatriate human resource people they are considered to be those who will build these webs of knowledge, of learning, of resources and of that particular organization. So that is considered to be a process of developing social capital that is also not just for learning this is for making linkages, informal linkages for control and communication. So people from the foreign country they come and work in the host country so that they can build these networks. They can socialize for example with government officials or they can socialize with competitors. They can socialize with people who are influencing the success of the organization in that particular country. So they are the network builders of the organization. Then the expatriate managers they also play the role of boundary spanners. Boundary spanning refers to activities such as gathering information that bridge internal and external organizational context. So boundary spanning is that you span the boundary of your organization and you gather information outside and inside that boundary and try to you know fix the gap between the internal and external context. Then expatriate manager also serve as language nodes for example if you go from America to China and a person stays in China for a year he will learn the Chinese language and when he comes back he will know the Chinese language and may be able to teach that Chinese language to other people in the organization or if not teaching is an important role the person can actually you know then later on communicate with other people in China competitors or clients or suppliers and by sitting in the home country. So they serve as language nodes as well and finally the expatriate serves the role of transfer of competence and knowledge and this is something which we have several times discussed that skills and abilities and the common work practices they need to be transferred from the headquarters to the subsidiary and that is important for developing the organizational culture and it is also important for sharing different perspectives and viewpoints. So knowledge transfer is the same when you include diversity. So because when you look at things from different perspectives from different viewpoints then your knowledge and your understanding about those particular concepts or that those phenomena that improves a lot and that this thing is something which further enhances the social capital of the organization. So these are the six different various roles that an expatriate manager may be playing in the organization when he goes for a foreign assignment from his home country to the host country.