...DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Visiting Fellow Working Papers by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact jdd10@cornell.edu. The Role of Corporate HR Funcitons in MNCs: The Interplay Between Corporate, Regional/National and Plant Level Abstract The HR literature has been abundant in providing typologies of the roles of HR professionals in their organisation. These typologies are largely related to the changing nature of HRM over time, and the context in which empirical work was carried out. In this paper we focus on the context of the increasing internationalisation of firms and how this has an effect upon modern-day typologies of HR roles. We explore these roles by focusing on the way in which HRM practices come about. Especially in a MNC setting of increasing internationalisation of firms the issues of coordination, shared learning and standardisation versus leeway for adapting to the local context (customisation) are prominent. These issues present themselves both at the corporate and regional level and at the national and local (plant) level. On all these levels HR practitioners are active and find themselves amidst the interplay of both (de-)centralisation and standardisation versus customisation...
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...Is Best Practice Dead? Abstract In the light of globalization, HRM becoming from being a mere support function to one of strategic importance and researchers have argued that HRM policies and practices are more significant because they can act as mechanisms for co-ordination and control of international operations. Meanwhile, “best practice” on HRM has been acknowledged to constitute a major constraint when MNCs try to implement global strategies, mainly because of the different cultural and institutional framework of each country in which the MNC operates. Some even argue that best practice is dead. This essay will examine that although best fit play an important role in the practice of strategic HR management, best practice is still valuable in the context of a multinational corporation (MNC). Introduction In the light of globalization, HRM is evolving from being a mere support function to one of strategic importance and researchers have argued that HRM policies and practices are more significant because they can act as mechanisms for co-ordination and control of international operations. Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) involves the development of a consistent, aligned collection of practices, strategies and policies to facilitate the achievement of the organization’ strategic objectives (Mello, 2002). The theory of SHRM does, actually, advocate two ways of linking HRM to strategy. The “best fit” approach is associated with the contingency approaches....
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...HRM in an MNE Human Resource Management involves a broad set of managerial activities focused on developing and maintaining a qualified workforce in ways that contribute to an effective organization. HRM is becoming more important every day and requires dedicated employees who can balance legal and ethical issues for organizations to be successful; which result from the importance of people as a source of competitive advantage. For a company to produce its goods and services in a productive manner, HRM accommodates employees with the right skills and training, and provide them with an environment in which they can make a powerful impact (Denisi/Griffin, 2012). Compare and contrast two main differences between domestic and international HRM. One main difference between domestic and international HRM is that staff are transferred to different countries to work various roles within the international company’s foreign operations; these employees are called expatriates, who temporarily work and live in a foreign country. For a human resource department to operate in international HRM, they must participate in a variety of activities, such as international taxation, administrative services for expatriates, and services for language translation (Dowling/Festing/Engle, 2013). The second difference between domestic and international HRM, is that IHRM requires a greater involvement in the personal life of the employees. The HRM are responsible for making sure the expatriate understands...
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...2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter you should be able to •• describe the basic characteristics of culture and explain how cultural dimensions can be used in global HRM, •• describe how the institutions of society can shape HRM policies and procedures, •• discuss the possibility of the convergence of HRM across countries, •• explain how the heritage of state socialism continues to influence the context of HRM in transition economies, and •• discuss the effects of cultural and institutional context on the HRM role and on employee expectations. 23 24 ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Springtime in Paris As she savored the last bite of her croissant, Martha Pereaux, HR director for C3 Technologies, thought about how she would approach her latest “cross-cultural collision,” as she had come to think of them. In the year since she had moved to Paris from Houston, there had been many, but none quite as bizarre as this one. Martha had taken the big promotion to head up the HR division of the joint venture between Houston-based SuperChem and the French company. C3 developed technology for the oil industry, primarily new types of concrete that formed the barrier wall for offshore oil and gas wells. The joint venture was meant to take on the likes of the giant Schlumberger on its own turf and compete with them for valuable technical staff. Everyone said she was the perfect choice, having grown up in a bilingual family in Canada...
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...of HR Running Head: Importance of HRM in International Business Importance of HRM in International Business [Name of Author] [Name of Institution] 1- Outline Importance of human resource management is now globally recognized and business growth is related to better management of human capital of a company. The present research proposal, henceforth, sets ground to investigate the importance of managing, running, and stabilizing human resource in order for the growth of business. It aims to contribute to the existing research of human resource management (HRM) by organizing secondary sources and relating it specially to the expansion of business across borders that has come to be known as multinational companies operating in a number of different countries (INVESTOR, 2008). The paper also examines various facets and implications of across border business activities that aim to take place majorly due to HR issues such as mergers, acquisition, and so on (Chapman, 2001). Another important aspect of HR and business spreading over the international boundaries is cultural aspects of a specific region, country, or state that a business venture must come to recognized as a valid component. It is important to realize that in the flourishing of withering of a business local culture plays a decisive role. Related to this is the issue of workplace culture where, as in today’s global workplace, workers come from different cultures and backgrounds to work together. Hence it is...
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...Study the Case of Wolfgang's Balancing Act International HRM ‘Wolfgang’s Balancing Act’ Case Study Task 1 Cultural contingencies that shape employee behavior in Healthcare As the world becomes more interdependent, the business and the process of doing business are exposed to many, continuously changing dimensions, structures and opposing forces. In a global environment, culture is a critical factor whereby the process of advancing cultural intelligence and international cultural competence would be the deciding element for the success of managers and leaders especially those who perform human resource (HR) functions. Within the cultural context, common elements are to be found including shared and dynamic nature surrounding norms, values and beliefs which are expressed through different behaviors, artifacts and interactions. It is necessary then for HR managers like Wolfgang to fulfill profitable relationships vested on the capability to reconcile cultural dimensions of pay systems from the headquarters to subsidiaries. Within Healthcare, there are economic, political and cultural forces that are influencing the operation. As part of the external environment, there is the need forHealthcare to align national cultural values of thesubsidiaries with that of the organizational work culture. There are culturally indigenous and culturally alien practices within any organization that shape the actions and performance of the employees. Culture is considered as the lens through...
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...Course Code and Title: HRM 6006, HRM in Global Business Environment II - Credit : 3 III- Course Instructor: Erfan Haque III - Course Description: This course aims to develop the professional skills of future managers in the areas of international human resource management and cross-cultural management. This course exposes students to Global issues in HRM. Topics include job analysis; legal and measurement issues related to staffing, employment testing, interviewing, training and selection decision-making strategies in the Global context. It is most suitable for third year students who have completed an introductory course in human resource management, and who have some basic understanding of how culture and the international marketplace affect business. The course will review the theories, models and concepts developed in the areas of international management, international organizational behavior, cross-cultural management, and other emerging disciplines, and study their implications on international HRM practices. A major focus of the course will be on international human resource management & development issues of recruitment and selection, compensation and reward systems, training and development, performance appraisal, expatriation, repatriation and career development. IV – Objectives: At the end of the course, the students will be able to: • Identify and discuss the main issues related with International HRM. • An understanding...
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...International HRM ‘Wolfgang’s Balancing Act’ Case Study Task 1 Cultural contingencies that shape employee behavior in Healthcare As the world becomes more interdependent, the business and the process of doing business are exposed to many, continuously changing dimensions, structures and opposing forces. In a global environment, culture is a critical factor whereby the process of advancing cultural intelligence and international cultural competence would be the deciding element for the success of managers and leaders especially those who perform human resource (HR) functions. Within the cultural context, common elements are to be found including shared and dynamic nature surrounding norms, values and beliefs which are expressed through different behaviors, artifacts and interactions. It is necessary then for HR managers like Wolfgang to fulfill profitable relationships vested on the capability to reconcile cultural dimensions of pay systems from the headquarters to subsidiaries. Within Healthcare, there are economic, political and cultural forces that are influencing the operation. As part of the external environment, there is the need for Healthcare to align national cultural values of the subsidiaries with that of the organizational work culture. There are culturally indigenous and culturally alien practices within any organization that shape the actions and performance of the employees. Culture is considered as the lens through which motivation occurs. Motivations...
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...their human resources as effectively as possible. They are also recognizing that doing so, however, cannot be done without recognition and incorporation of the global context. It is virtually impossible to read a business periodical or newspaper anywhere in the world without seeing stories detailing the success of a company due to how effectively it manages its people. As the environment becomes more global, managing people also becomes more challenging, more unpredictable and uncertain and more subject to rapid change and surprise. Thus what we are witnessing within human resource management (HRM) is the rapid appreciation for and development of all aspects of global and international activities and issues associated with and affected by HRM. And because the importance of managing people effectively in the global context is so great, many companies are devoting a great deal more time, attention, skill, and effort into doing it well. To be successful, many firms have to compete on the global playing field because the costs associated with the development and marketing of new products are too great to be amortized only over one market, even a large one such as the USA or Europe. Knowledge of conditions in a variety of countries and knowledge of how to manage both within and across them is the essence of international HRM. Differences between Domestic and...
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...Language. doi: 10.1386/jots.2.2.83/1 Towards a generic international human resource management (IHRM) model Jie Shen University of South Australia Abstract Keywords Reflecting the prevailing Western literature and based on an empirical study in Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs), this study develops an IHRM model and argues that it can be widely applicable. The model indicates that an MNE’s IHRM policies and practices are the interaction of the home HRM system, firmspecific factors and host-contextual factors. The firm-specific and host-contextual factors have a differentiated, changing and concurrent impact on IHRM policies and practices. There is also interplay between IHRM policies and practices. Intervening factors and their impact may vary over time and in different contexts. IHRM IHRM model intervening factors Chinese IHRM multinational enterprises (MNEs) Internationalization and the effective use of international human resources are two major issues facing firms in today’s global economy. As more and more firms operate internationally, there is a clear need to develop an understanding of how to manage human resources that are located outside the domestic environment. An IHRM system is a set of distinct activities, functions and processes that are directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining the human resources of a multinational enterprise (MNE). These activities, functions and processes result from the strategic activities of multinational...
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...concentrated on examining the HRM issues, problems, strategies, policies and practices which firms pursue in relation to the internationalization of their business. Schuler et al (2009) similarly recently positioned the different views that have existed about the nature of IHRM. IHRM encompasses: ‘. . . the worldwide management of people in the multinational enterprise’ (Poole, 1990; p1) ‘. . . human resource management in an international environment . . . problems created in an MNC performing business in more than one country, rather than those posed by working for a foreign firm at home or by employing foreign employees in the local firm’ (Briscoe and Schuler, 2004; p1) ‘. . .how MNCs manage their geographically dispersed workforce in order to leverage their HR resources for both local and global competitive advantage’ (Scullion, 2005; p5) ‘. . . a branch of management studies that investigates the design of and effects of organizational human resource practices in cross-cultural contexts’ (Peltonen, 2006; p523) ‘. . . all issues related to the management of people in an international context [including] human resource issues facing MNCs in different parts of their organizations [and] comparative analyses of HRM in different countries’ (Stahl and Björkman, 2006; p1) ‘. . . complex relationship between globalization, national systems and companies [which provides us with] three distinct “levels of analysis” for interpreting and understanding HRM strategies and practices...
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...HRM in an MNE BUS 325 There are multiple similarities between the international and domestic human resource practices. With areas like; planning and staffing, recruitment and selection, rewards, along with appraisal and development HRM can intertwine with each other and no one would know there is a difference between the two. However, there are two ways to tell them apart. The first one would be the difficulties of working in another country, where you have to adapt your policy and procedures to address their customs and laws. The second one would be the fact of having to hire multiple nationalities in order to facilitate the operation to make sure there are employees that are already accustom to the laws and customs of that region. Working globally has increased the level of work and the challenges and complexity of managing new networks of individuals as well as new companies. When looking at IHRM from this point of view the company must make sure that they are creating an even balance within the organization as well as in the regional location they are operating within. Adapting to the local environment is a major part of being successful within the region. A company must fully understand how sensitive a situation like this can be and must make every effort to succeed. Without adaptation to the region, the company will be sure to fail. International and domestic HRM are different...
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...t u r e a r t I C Le 647 Interaction Effects of Globalization and Institutional Forces on International HRM Practice: Illuminating the ConvergenceDivergence Debate By Yongsun Paik Irene Hau-Siu Chow Charles M. Vance In the face of globalization, scholars continue to debate about whether a convergence in human resources practices will prevail, or a trend of divergence perspective will persist. Building on institution theory, this article helps to explicate this debate by examining how globalization may interact with different dimensions of local institutional forces to lead to convergence, divergence, or crossvergence Correspondence to: Yongsun Paik, PhD, Professor of International Business & Management, Department of Management, Hilton Center for Business, Loyola Marymount university, One LMu Dr., Los angeles, Ca 90045-2659, 310.338.7402 (phone), 310.338.3000 (fax), yspaik@lmu.edu. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. • DOI: 10.1002/tie.20440 648 f e a t u r e a r tI C l e in international HRM practices for enhanced performance. We also present useful propositions for guiding future empirical research and theory development on the interaction between globalization and different forms of local institutional forces, which in turn influence the formation of successful international HRM practices. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int r o d u c t i o n N otwithstanding the current worldwide...
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...management practices. It is believed that Human Resource Management (HRM) practices are the most vulnerable to the cultural differences having significant implications for the appropriateness and design. International HRM has proposed that cultural differences result in varying individual preferences and perceptions that give shape to organizational behavior along with work motivation; conflicts; communications; defining goals; work-orientation; rewarding and performance appraisal, management styles and decision making. Some of the economic theories have also realized the significance of culture in giving shape to behaviors of institutions and individuals. It has been proposed that other than formal, the context of informal institution influences governance structures which coordinate the individual actions taking place within the firms. The significance of studying cultural differences with respect to HRM policies and practices in relevant practices and literature is twofold. Rising cultural diversity due to internationalization of global economy indicates that the global organizations are the most challenging context for implementation and designing of the integrated and unusual HRM practices and policies which address the cross-cultural concerns. Cultural differences on the other hand are significant for studying HRM practices and policies within a comparative context. It has been argued that the concept of HRM is supported largely in the U.S. but is not practiced or espoused...
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...Int. J. of Human Resource Management 18:11 November 2007 1895– 1916 The global integration of diversity management: a longitudinal case study Aulikki Sippola and Adam Smale Abstract Whilst the extant diversity management literature has provided a comprehensive array of theoretical frameworks and empirical studies on how organizations can and have approached the management of a diverse workforce, the same cannot be said about the literature on diversity in an international setting. Indeed, from a diversity management perspective we know surprisingly little about how multinational firms are responding to the increasing globalization of their workforce. This study seeks to contribute to this underresearched area through an in-depth longitudinal case study of TRANSCO, a well-known European MNC, which has been attempting to integrate diversity management globally throughout its worldwide operations. Adopting a Finnish host-country perspective, the study investigates what TRANSCO has been integrating, how it has tried to facilitate this and the challenges that have arisen throughout the process. The results indicate that TRANSCO has committed a considerable amount of resources to the global diversity management integration process, reflected in the myriad of integration mechanisms utilized. In terms of their integration strategy, it was evident that TRANSCO was able to achieve global consistency at the level of diversity philosophy, but was forced to rely on a more multi-domestic...
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