International and Comparative Human Resource Management - Assignment Example

Topic: International and Comparative HR Name: Student Registration No.: Institution Name: Tutor’s Name: Date of Submission: 1. QUESTION ONE EBMC has been observed to apply polycentric staffing approach with the focus on utilization of resources in the host country such as employees in the host country. There are a number of advantages and drawbacks associated with this form of staffing approach. These advantages and disadvantages have affected operations of subsidiaries if the company both positively and negatively. In polycentric staffing, each office is managed as a unique entity. If a multinational corporation is operating in another country, employees are hired from the host country for the purpose of minimizing communication (Scullion and Starkey, 2000). In this form of staffing, parent country nationals are not allowed to occupy top managerial positions. In addition, minimum interventions exist for the development of subsidiary companies in the new country of operation. There are also limited opportunities for promotion within the subsidiary. This form of staffing is appropriate for a company that serves heterogeneous product markets where it is necessary to adapt the products to the markets and market the product to specific national’s tastes. In this form of staffing, it is not easy to achieve product integration and subsidiaries are usually autonomous. There are many advantages associated with this form of staffing. These advantages have contributed to the success of operations of EBMC in subsidiary countries in a number of ways. Due to the fact that staffs for the subsidiary are employees of the country of operation, language barriers and cultural barriers between the staffs of the company and customers is not a problem (Tayeb, 2005). This is due to the fact that both customers and employees of the company use a common language and many difficulties brought by language barrier can be solved. For instance, it is possible to agree on terms of service and trade as well as maintain a better relationship between the staffs and customers. In addition, due to the employment of local residents as employees of the company, they are most likely to take a long term view of the subsidiary and work towards maintaining the long-term goals of the company. Employment of host country nationals in the subsidiaries also results into low costs sin terms of remuneration, ensures the company has a goodwill in its operating environment and local business subtleties are known. This is in terms of policies that ensure activities of the company are targeted towards achieving the long terms goals of the company and ensure continued survival of the company. Furthermore, key positions are occupied by nationals from the host country and host country governments are most likely to receive the operations of the company positively (Teagarden, Meyer and Jones, 2008). This may lead to opening restrictions to operations of the company and it can be free to operate in the country. Employees of the company can also have a positive attitude towards the company and maximize services that result into success of operations of the company. There is also increased motivation and loyalty to the company due to autonomy of the subsidiary from the parent company. Furthermore, the need to understand the culture of the people in the areas where the subsidiaries are located becomes easier. This is because employees and managers of the subsidiary are nationals of the country of operation and they understand the culture of the people in their areas of operation (Yeung, Warner and Rowley, 2008). This ensures Human Resource practices are done in accordance with the cultural demands of the country of operation. Another limitation of this form of staffing is that the use of staffs in the country of operation does not result into exposure of employees of the parent country regarding the conditions and challenges in the subsidiary country. Thus, they are not equipped with skills of managing organizations where there are different cultural requirements for management. There are also a number of disadvantages associated with this form of staffing. For instance, since there is no product differentiation, it is not possible to change from one product to another is the current product is not popular in the current area of operation. In addition, due to the autonomy of the subsidiaries, it may not be possible for them to operate according to the goals and values of the parent country (Bjorkman and Xiucheng, 2002). Thus, there can be lack of coordination in policies and there are high possibilities of subsidiaries breaking away from the parent company. There is also a high possibility of frustration of managers in the subsidiaries due to lack of career development opportunities of polycentric approach of staffing due to the inability to progress into the positions of head office. Due to low possibility of staffs transfer between the subsidiaries and the head office, there is high possibility of isolation. In addition, there is a gap between the head office and the subsidiary as a result of cultural differences, language barrier between the head office employees and those at the subsidiary and different national loyalties (Bjorkman and Lervick, 2007). As a result, there are loose federation of business units instead of an organization with consistent competencies and values. In order to the EBMC to overcome the above limitations of the polycentric approach of staffing, it may be necessary for the company to appoint an expatriate manager from the host country to manage the subsidiaries for the first few months of operations of the subsidiaries This ensures the values of the parent company are instilled in operations of the subsidiary. In addition, the problem of the possibility of operating against the values and goals of the parent company can be solved by formulating the policies of the subsidiary to ensure they do not deviate from the goals of the parent company. This involves being autonomous but operating towards the goals of the parent company. The problem of frustration of managers in the subsidiaries can be solved by allowing the managers to seek the assistance from the head office in case of difficulties in management. Furthermore, promotion should be provided to productive employees to get to managerial positions in the company. There is also the need to allow transfer of staffs between subsidiaries and the head office to enable exchange of ideas regarding cultural differences and prevent the possibility of isolation of the companies from the head company (Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2008). When EBMC implements these recommendations in management of its staffs in the subsidiaries, there will be success in application of the polycentric staffing approach while ensuring the problems of this staffing technique are solved. 2. QUESTION TWO EBMC may diffuse the knowledge from foreign subsidiaries to other operations and to the HQ in a number of ways to ensure global perspective is achieved. This is because when the company operates international subsidiaries, it is less advantaged due to its inability to compete favorably with companies in the host countries (Dowling, Festing & Engle, 2008). However, it is possible to take advantage f a more diverse body of expertise that exist in foreign countries and leverage this into their sites. It is also possible to improve the capacity of the company to mobilize knowledge that is not exploited within the global environment of subsidiaries. Diffusion of ideas can be achieved either through transformative strategy or evolutionary strategy. In evolutionary strategy, the company can retain its policies during operation internationally but amends them through learning from foreign plants. In Transformative strategy, practices are drawn into foreign subsidiaries in areas that are novel to the organizations domestic sites. In terms of staffing, the company can develop a staffing approach where employees from home countries are sent to foreign countries to work as staffs in the subsidiaries (Farndale, Scullion and Sparrow, 2010). This ensures they learn about the conditions that exist in operating environment in foreign countries and know the challenges likely to be experienced when the company operates internationally. Thus, they develop the skills of solving the challenges experienced during international assignments. In addition, the company can outsource competent and experienced staffs in third party countries which provide professional services to the company in terms of management. They also contribute to the competence of the existing staffs by creating a culture that promotes their competence. During staffing, it would be possible to use both ethnocentric and polycentric staffing methods based on the conditions that exist in an area of operation of the subsidiary (Harzing & Ruysseveldt, 2004). For instance, when there is the need to maintain the corporate culture of a company, ethnocentric staffing is important and can be applied by bringing the management staffs from the parent company to the subsidiary companies This ensures work ethics of the parent company, customer service approaches in the parent company, productivity and other issues are implemented in foreign subsidiaries and employees in those subsidiaries are able to use them to ensure continuity of the values of the parent company. It also ensures expansion of interests into the areas where the company does not want to operate is avoided. In addition, employees to be relocated to foreign subsidiaries need to be given international exposure and have a broader thinking perspective by sending them overseas for training in management of the company. In addition, inpatriates is another approach that will ensure diffusion of ideas from foreign countries to the headquarters of the multinational organization. In this process, EBMC can relocate some of the employees in the foreign subsidiaries into its headquarters to assist in managing activities at the headquarters (Hutchings & De Cieri, 2007). During this process, it is possible for employees at the head company to get ideas from foreign country with regards to the skills of managing multinational corporations. When staffs from foreign countries are brought to headquarter of the company, they can assist in development of policies which are important in managing foreign subsidiaries through contribution of their ideas of management to the headquarters. Some of the skills that can be obtained from this process include methods of dealing with employees from different cultural backgrounds, methods of dealing with language barriers issues and other management demands relating to managing employees from different cultural backgrounds. For instance, it will be possible to understand the language of the person from a foreign country and apply the same during communication in the country of origin of the person (Hutchings & De Cieri, 2007). This assists in overcoming the problem of language barrier during communication. Furthermore, during selection process for staffs to work on international assignments of managing the subsidiaries, specific factors will be considered for selection which ensures they contribute towards improvement of activities of the company in one way or another. This can also be achieved by employing staffs that have specific practical skills that can be useful in management of the company internationally. These skills can then be used to train staffs in both home country and foreign subsidiaries to enable the company benefit from these skills. Furthermore, gender issues should be considered when selecting people to work at organizational headquarters and in foreign subsidiaries to assist in diffusion of ideas regarding both genders in management of the company (McDonnell, Lamare, Gunnigle and Lavelle, 2010). When equal staffing is provided, it is possible for the company to benefit from the skills provided by women as well as those provided by men. This ensures the EBMC has a workforce that accounts for the needs of both gender during its operation in international markets. Furthermore, during expatriation process it is important to ensure staffs that are sent to international subsidiaries are provided with the right training before being allowed to move to another country. This involves equipping them with the skills of management such as specific skills, customer service, and empathy towards customers of the company, exposure to activities in terms of international negotiation strategies, building international teams, international marketing strategies and methods of dealing with ethical dilemmas. This ensures they have the skills that they can impart to staffs in other subsidiaries such as those in the parent countries. As a result all staffs of the company are able to learn these skills and the competitiveness of the company can be improved significantly. This is diffusion of key knowledge from foreign subsidiaries to operations and to the HQ is important due to a number of reasons associated with diffusion process. It ensures the expertise in other countries is diffused into the parent country and exchange of cultural experiences take place. It is also important in ensuring captures that ensure survival of the company are identified and implemented in the process of managing activities in the subsidiary company (Perkins, Shortland & Perkins, 2006). In addition when staffs from foreign subsidiaries are brought into the parent country, it is possible to learn a number of negotiation skills required to use during negotiation in international subsidiaries. Thus, the parent company is able to apply these skills when deploying expatriates to other countries by training them how to apply the skills. International teams will also be built based on ideas that have been obtained from diffusion of ideas. For instance, there is the possibility of improved policies towards international subsidiaries when ideas are diffused and reviewed to determine the right ideas that facilitate smooth operation of international subsidiaries of the company. Furthermore, when ideas are diffused, it is possible to manage the subsidiaries by applying policies that are familiar at the parent company. This enhances the relationship with subsidiary companies in international markets are allow survival of these subsidiaries. 3. QUESTION 3 Although EBMC does not experience a lot of repatriation issues, there is a possibility that the company is likely to experience repatriation problems based on its current approach to the process. An important factor in the company relates to the small size of the corporate head office and over 90 per cent are based outside the home country. Assignments are basically provided to employees on a one way ticket when they are sent to work as staffs in international subsidiaries. Consequently, there is no assurance that the company can provide employment for staffs when they return from their countries of operation (Perkins, Shortland & Perkins, 2006). Thus, in case of repatriation, the company may not be in a position to create jobs in the parent country to create employments for staffs who have been repatriated from international countries. This has the impact of creating high rates of unemployment of people who have been repatriated from international subsidiaries. There are other impacts that may result from repatriation of employees on international duties when they are repatriated to their home countries. For instance, the subsidiaries will lack staffs to work on them such as in terms of marketing the products, distribution of products, management and daily operations of the subsidiaries which make them operate and bring profitability to EBMC (Scullion and Collings, 2011). Thus, the gains that result from these international subsidiaries will decline substantially and the overall profitability of the company will be adversely affected. There are a number of factors that may result into repatriation of employees from the countries where they have been assigned to work in the subsidiary companies. An example of such a factor is that some staffs on international assignment may feel lonely after separation from their families and would like to bond with them, this can make the company arrange for their repatriation. The consequence is that labor that would have been contributed by these employees is lost while the company would incur additional costs in returning them back to their countries. Furthermore, the company can suffer additional cost of training that the employee had undergone while the goals of the tasks of the employee have not been met. Furthermore, some parent companies may not provide staffs in foreign subsidiaries with facilities and human resource facilities that enable them to perform their tasks effectively (Scullion and Starkey, 2000). For instance, there may not be enough vehicles in some subsidiaries which have an effect of preventing distribution of the products of the company. As a result, employees may not get the resources that facilitate their tasks. This may make them want to return to their home countries. Staffs in international assignment may also feel that they are not rewarded family in comparison to the task they perform. This may make them want to return to the home country and the company may not have an option but to repatriate them back to their home countries. As a result, there will be a loss of skilled employees and additional expenses in repatriation. As a result, the organization will be faced with the difficulty of recruiting other staffs that will need to be trained and transported to the countries of operation to replace the vacancies left by those who have been repatriated. Another factor that may result into the need for repatriation is that the tenure of a staff may expire and they would not be willing to extend the tenures. Consequently, the organization may not have an option but to return the employees back to their home countries. During the process of repatriation, it may be necessary that the company finds an alternative assignment for the staffs who have been repatriated (Sengupta & Bhattacharya, 2007). In addition, there may be the need to communicate with the management at the parent company regarding the need for repatriation. Thus, the company will have to invest in additional equipment that enables effective communication with international staffs at its subsidiaries. Furthermore, it may be necessary to ensure they are trained to work in conditions that exist in their parent countries. Thus, additional expenses will be incurred which will affect the company negatively. As a result, the main factors that the company will need to deal with during repatriation include social factors and such as family needs of the staffs, social networks and effects of the partner of the staffs who has been sent in international duties (Tayeb, 2005). Other factors that will have to be dealt with include creation of career confidence such as new working conditions and re-entry position of the staffs. Consequently, in order for the company to avoid the challenges brought by repatriation, it may be necessary to ensure employees are trained in a variety of functions by providing them with reentry career assistance, school systems for their children, changes in workplace such as corporate culture and stress management procedures due to challenges experienced at the news places of work. 3. References Bjorkman, I. and F. 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Hutchings, K., & De Cieri, H. 2007. International human resource management: From cross-cultural management to managing a diverse workforce. Aldershot, Ashgate. McDonnell, A., Lamare, R., Gunnigle, P. and Lavelle, J. 2010. ‘Developing tomorrow’s leaders – evidence of global talent management in multinational enterprises’, Journal of World Business, 45(2): 150-160 Perkins, S. J., Shortland, S. M., & Perkins, S. J. 2006. Strategic international human resource management: choices and consequences in multinational people management. London, Kogan Page. Scullion, H and Collings, D.G. 2011. Global Talent Management, London : Routledge. Scullion, H, Collings, D.G., and Gunnigle, P .2007. International HRM in the 21st Century : Emerging themes and contemporary debates. Human Resource Management Journal, 17 : 309-319. Scullion, H. and Starkey, K. 2000. ‘In search of the changing role of the corporate HR role in the international firm’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 11 (6): 1061-1081. Sengupta, N., & Bhattacharya, M. S. 2007. International human resource management. New Delhi, Excel Books. Stahl, G. K., Bjorkman, I., Farndale, E., Morris, S. S., Stiles, P., Trevor, J., & Wright, P. M. 2007. Global Talent Management: How Leading Multinationals Build and Sustain Their Talent Pipeline. Faculty & Research Working Paper. Fontainebleau, France: INSEAD. Tayeb, M. H. 2005. International human resource management: a multinational company perspective. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Teagarden, M.B, Meyer, J and Jones, D. 2008. Knowledge – sharing among high-tech MNCs in China and India : Invisible barriers, best practices and next steps. Organizational Dynamics, 37 ( 2) : 190- 202. Yeung, A.K., Warner.M and Rowley, C. 2008. Growth and Globalization : evolution of human resource practices in Asia. Human Resource Management, 47 : 1-13. Read More