 In this topic, we will discuss about the various types of assignments that are given to expatriate employees and how that affects the performance management system of the multinational organization. So the type of assignment which is given to the employee that will lead to how the tasks are defined for that particular assignment and the more objectively those tasks can be defined for that assignment, the more easier it is to measure the performance and to make the performance management system more objective and structured. However, if the assignment is subjective, if the assignment involves subjective tasks, then the measurement of such type of activities is subjective and therefore cannot be translated into very much objective criteria. The type of assignment is going to then affect how the performance of an employee is measured by the organization. So there are four types of assignments which have been classified. Number one is the technical type of assignments for which about 5 to 10% of people are sent on these technical assignments. Technical assignments are basically given for short-term knowledge transfer when, for example, a new machinery is installed or new technology is installed, a new system is developed in the subsidiary and people at the subsidiary level, the home country nationals, they are not familiar and they are not conversant with the technicalities of that new system. People from the home country, they are from the parent country, they are sent to the home country to conduct these technical assignments to make sure that the new systems they are working properly and that the people who are operating those systems they have the accurate and appropriate know-how to run the system. So they go for short-term knowledge transfer purposes and about 5 to 10% of expatriate assignments are technical. Second type of assignment is that which is of developmental nature. About similarly 5 to 10% of the expatriate assignments are developmental. Developmental assignments are those that focus on in-country performance and acquisition of local understanding by the assignee. So these type of assignments they involve developing the mark, first of all understanding the market and then developing the know-how to operate in that market and establish your grounds in that particular situation in that particular country. So these assignments they are for the purpose of developing the organizational structure, developing the organizational knowledge, developing the organizational norms, developing the market of that company. So these could be of various different functions, that could be on the financial level, that could be at the marketing level, that could be at the operations level. So if a person is sent to develop the operations network, the operations department, then it would be the developmental activity in that particular area. If that person is sent to develop the market for a product of that particular company, then it is going to be in that marketing area. If that person is sent to develop the financial systems of that company, it is going to be in the finance area. So it could be in any area of the organization and about 5 to 10% of the international assignments are developmental in nature. Then the third type of assignments they are strategic assignments and about 10 to 15% of the expatriate assignments are of strategic nature. These are at the C-SOOT level, at the top level management, which are high-profile activities for developing a global perspective. So it will not be at the managerial level or at the middle level manager level. These assignments will be at the CEO level or somewhere in the C-SOOT level, which would be to develop a global perspective of the subsidiaries that are working under that multinational network. So these are about 10 to 15% of the assignments. And finally are the functional assignments and most of the expatriate assignments are functional in nature about 55 to 80% of the assignments are of functional nature. And these are more enduring two-way transfer of existing processes and practices. So functional type of assignments, operational type of assignments in which day-to-day activities have to be managed and a two-way transfer process between the home country and the parent country has to take place. So people who are, for example, financial head, the marketing head, the R&D head, these people who are supposed to make the connection between the parent country, the headquarters and the subsidiary. These are the people who are mostly sent from the parent country to the host country to manage this connection between the two. And they are of the functional nature and mostly 55 to 80% of assignments belong to this category. When we talk about performance management of these types of assignments, the technical and functional assignments, you can see very well that they are more objective in nature. And therefore limited sources are required to measure the performance of people who are doing these assignments. And for that, you can also get concrete output criteria. So for functional and technical assignments, you can measure it by how many projects a person has completed or how many contracts have been signed and how many products have been launched. So if they are technical nature assignments or functional nature assignments, it is easier to calculate the performance of these types of assignments. Whereas if the assignment is that of a strategic nature and that of the developmental nature, that is more complex and involves subjective tasks. So you can very well imagine that strategy that is not devised on a spreadsheet. It is something which has to be a combination of art and sciences. It is something which has to be a combination of rationality and creativity. And when both these things they come together, that becomes a subjective task and you cannot actually measure what is the strategic development of the company in that particular year. It's possible that whatever tasks have been done or whatever things have been done by a person may not reflect at the strategic level in a one year time period. So strategic and developmental assignments, they are more complex and there are subjective tasks and it involves a wider variety of local and global participants and perspectives, which means that people from various different aspects from local aspect and also from the global aspect may be required to comment about the performance of that particular individual and may need to be participating in the performance management process. So this is how the different types of assignment they affect the performance management process of an organization and how that needs to be altered and needs to be customized according to the type of assignment which is given to the international employee.