Human Resource Management in International Settings

8/7/2019 Human Resource Management in International Settings

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HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT IN

INTERNATIONAL SETTINGS

By John J. Lawler

Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations


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GROUP MEMBERS

Afia najam

Bushra Khalid

Salma Viqar

Waqar Sajjid

Yasir Fida


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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Core HRM concepts

International HRM

Cultural and gender issues in international HRM


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CORE HRM CONCEPTS

Human resource management commonly used for

about the last ten to fifteen years.

Used to be known as personnel administrationemerged as a field in 1920s.

Focuses mainly upon technical aspects of

i. Hiring

ii. Evaluating

iii. Training and

iv. Compensation of employees


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The field did not focus on overall organizational

performance.

Where as HRM focuses on managing workforce as oneof the primary resources that contributes to the

success of the organization.

Forces for change

i. Globalization

ii. Deregulation

iii. Rapid technological change


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Competitive pressures initiated the firms to engage in

strategic planning process.

Technical aspects of personnel administration arestill integral part of HRM.

Strategy formulation and implementation have

become dominant integrating component.

Focus shifted towards strategic objectives of the firm

than personnel administration.


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STRATEGIC HRM

General organizational strategies give rise to a need

to promote specific behaviors.

(Schuler, 1988)

Example: Risk taking Vs risk avoidance

Team based Vs individual

Innovative Vs conventional

HR strategies are designed to achieve desired

behaviors


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ISSUES IN HR STRATEGY FORMULATION

STAFFING:

Does the firm rely only on buy or build?

Are career paths broad or narrow? Is there a single or multiple promotion ladders?

Staffing decisions explicit Vs implicit?

Does the firm rely on extensive or limited

socialization? Staffing procedures open or closed?


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COMPENSATION:

Firm pays low or high wages in comparison to the

market? Is there emphasis on external or internal equity in

compensation?

Few Vs many fringe benefits?

Does firm offer high employment security?

Or does the firm lay people off rather than cut pay in

times of adversity?


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TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT:

What extent firm engage in training and development

efforts? If Yes, short term or long term focus?

Narrow Vs broad training?

Planned and systematic Vs spontaneous?


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Meaningful relationship between SHRM andorganizational performance.

(Arthur 1994)

Empirical analysis indicates that certain universal

best practices are superior to contingencyapproaches.

Evidence support former view.

High performance, high involvement work systemsgives superior effects.

Such systems are team based


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High involvement HRM strategies also are

characterized by performance bases pay, emphasis on

training, employee participation.

HRM and issues related to opportunities for women

at all levels.

Concept of glass ceiling

Conventional wisdom of HRM

Diverse firms with significant opportunities for

women have higher levels of performance.


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INTERNATIONAL HRM

Work on international HRM divided into three

main categories.

i. HRM practices and expatriate employees in MNCs.

ii. HRM practices and host-country nationals as

employees of MNCs.

iii. Comparative employment systems.


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Crucial issues in HRM and host-country nationals.

MNC transfers its national or global HRM system to

a particular subsidiary or

Allow the subsidiary to develop employmentpractices.

Factors include:

Structure of MNCs market

Significance of a given subsidiary to MNCs overall

operations

Importance of employee behaviors

Host-country culture and employment laws


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CULTURAL AND GENDER ISSUES IN

INTERNATIONAL HRM

Culture:

Values, beliefs, perceptual orientations, norms shared

among the members of a society.

Consistency among management techniques and the

culture MNCs operating in.

Employment Practices in Host

CountriesNational Culture

Ability of MNCs to transfer

Employment Practice in Host CountryLimitation of Culture


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DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE BY HOFSTEDE

IndividualismIndividualism/Collectivism/Collectivism

Personal vs.Group Objectives

Western Cultureis based onindividualism.

Eastern Cultureis based oncollectivism.

PowerPower

DistanceDistance Low Class

Acceptance

Influence ofHigh Class

Individualisticculture has

low powerdistance.

Masculinity/Masculinity/

FemininityFemininity The extent to

whichmaterial wellbeing arevalued in asociety versusgood interpersonalrelationships

UncertaintyUncertainty

AvoidanceAvoidance Change

Risk


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i. Individualism/collectivism:

The extent to which personal versus groupobjectives govern a persons life.

Example: Western countries have

individualistic culture such as America.Countries like Japan have collective culture


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ii. Power distance:

The extent to which less powerful members ofinstitutions and organizations within a country

expect and accept that that power is distributedunequally. (Hofstede, page 262).

Power distance and individualism/collectivism arecorrelated.

Example: Malaysia & Philippines rank as thehighest power distance nations while Denmark,Ireland & Norway prefer flatter organizationalpower setups. (Daniel Workman, Jan 25, 2008)


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iii. Masculinity/Femininity:

The extent to which aggressiveness and materialwell-being are valued in a society versus good

interpersonal relationships and general quality oflife.

Example: Japan has the highest score of anycountry on the masculinity dimension, several East

Asian countries are in the middle.

Scandavian countries, tend to be have morefeminine cultures.


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iv. Uncertainty avoidance:

Cultures where people are troubled by change

and risk

Example: Pakistan has low uncertainty

avoidance.


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GENDER ISSUES

Work on gender issues is limited.

(Adler and Izraeli 1994) the authors discussedthe extent to which women have achievedmanagerial positions in different parts of theworld.

Culture plays an important role in generating

employment opportunities for women.

Relates to which a country's culture isindividualistic or collectivist.


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Some work suggests that workforce gender

composition in subsidiaries of MNCs tends to

conform to host-country norms

(Rosenzweig and Nohria,1994)

Corporate culture of an MNC influences the

policies regarding employment opportunities for

women in a developing country that imposes no

specific limitations on gender-based employment

discrimination.

(Lawler and Bae,1998)

Human Resource Management in International Settings

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