Challenges in International Human Resource Management - Coursework Example

Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: Challenges in IHRM With the increased internationalization of organization due to globalization, human resource management has slowly transformed into international human resource management (Scroggins & Benson 409). In the modern world, there are numerous organizations which have business operations in practically every part of the world, for example the Toyota Corporation and Coca-Cola. Generally, an organization which has operations in a foreign country has to embrace international human resource management. International human resource management entails the processes of procuring human resources (workforce), allocating the human resources to appropriate processes and utilizing the human resources efficiently so as to achieve the organization’s goals, all of which is done in an international level. Ideally, international human resource management (IHRM), is responsible for the balanced integration and differentiation of all the human resource activities in all the countries which an organization has operations in. in order for an organization to be successful in the international market, it must have an efficient IHRM, bearing in mind that the human resource is one of the greatest asset to an organization; since it is by it that it is able to execute its polices and strategies. However, there are several challenges associated with IHRM which human resource professionals have to cope with. The following paper will give a detailed discussion of the various IHRM challenges. One of the major challenges of IHRM is diversity. Generally, international organizations have the challenge of dealing with the different types of people, cultures, and beliefs, political and environmental aspects which they have to consider in their international business operations. Many human resource professionals acknowledge that diversity management in human resource management is very important in enabling an organization practice good human resource management in a specific country of its operations (Martín-Alcázar, Romero-Fernández & Sanchez 7). Diversity management starts with selection and recruitment. As many job advertisements read “we are an equal employer”, diversity management should ensure that that the human resource management practices in an organization uphold equality (Jabbour, Gordono, Caldeira de Oliveira, Martinez & Battistelle 56). Ideally, an organization should bear in mind that its human resource practices are a major determinant of its image in a market. For instance, an organization which only employs people from one race, religion or ethnicity will find it hard making it in the market owing to the fact that its practices will elicit a negative perception of it from the public. On this point, it is also important that an organization aligns its human resource management strategies with the social, political and environmental practices in a specific country. For instance, an organization whose home country is in the United States where capitalism is upheld will have to integrate some aspects of socialism once it enters Russia, where socialism is upheld. Generally, international human resource management should seek to find unity in diversity whereby, all its human resource management practices should be geared towards ensuring that the organization reaps maximum benefits from its workforce in addition to developing a good image in the market (Jabbour, Gordono, Caldeira de Oliveira, Martinez & Battistelle 56). Therefore, from the above argument, it can be seen that the management of diversity is major challenge to IHRM. Another major challenge to IHRM is the high failure rate associated with expatriates. Expatriates are people who work in an organization but reside in the country temporarily. Precisely, expatriates are professionals from the parent country of the specific organization which they are working for (Suutari & Brewster 554). With the increased internationalization of business operations, many organizations opt to take professionals from their home country to their host country to work for them. These people are commonly known as international assignees since they are given international assignments by their employers, hence their being temporary residents in the host country. Oblivious of the fact that the expatriates have the competency to carry out the assignments, they are a high rate of failure owing to several reasons. One of them is the inability of the expatriates to adapt to the new environment (Suutari & Brewster 557). More often than not, the climatic conditions and the work environments in the new locations may not go well with expatriates. This in turn leads to their reduced performance. Another reason of their failure is the lack of technical competence in instances whereby the technical environments in the new work environment different greatly with the home environment (Brewster & Sparrow 5). The inability of an expatriate to withstand the responsibilities brought about by international responsibilities is another major cause of their failure. Lastly, many people find it hard to adjust their family life with their international responsibilities, hence changes in family life being a major contributor to their inability to perform on international assignments. Therefore, the failure rate of expatriates is a major challenge for international human resource management. Another challenge of IHRM is deployment. Generally, deployment involves the getting of the appropriate human resource so as to get the require skills so as to execute an organization’s activities. Generally, human resource management strives to get the best work force in the market by the use of appropriate recruitment and selection strategies, after which the workforce is assigned to various roles (management) in a manner which ensures that an organization is able to get the maximum benefits from the human resources. However, this is not always possible in IHRM. This is due to the inability of the human resource management to establish the right human resource management strategies unique to the specific country of operation (Brewster & Sparrow 5). Generally, different countries have different human resource factors which every organization must take care of. Some of these factors includes such elements as the available skills in a country, for instance, a county may be lacking expertise in information technology among others. In addition to this, the culture of the people in a specific country also matters a lot, hence affecting their eligibility for employment. For instance, getting the right skill mix for a business organization dealing with pork products in an Islamic state may prove difficult. In addition to this, the payment and remuneration factors in one country differ from another. For this reasons, a human management which does not have a good knowledge of the human resource practices in a new country will find it hard to deploy the appropriate workforce, which in turn leads them to getting expatriates. This is a major challenge to IHRM since the performance of expatriates is also a challenge, going by the argument discussed earlier. In order to go round this challenge, organizations outsource human resource management to organizations in the home country. This is a major challenge to IHRM since the performance of expatriates is also a challenge, going by the argument discussed earlier. Therefore, deployment is a major challenge to IHRM. Lastly, another challenge to international human resource management is the difference in labor laws in various countries. On this point, it is also worth noting that the difference in the political climate in the different countries is also a major challenge to international human management. With respect to the different labor laws in countries, it can be acknowledged that each country has its unique labour laws even though there are some fundamental laws which are part of almost every country’s legislation. For this reason, it becomes impossible for an international organization to practice the same human resource management practices in countries, A, B and C. For this reason, the central human resource management in the organization’s parent must take into account several human resource management practices such as remuneration, and terms of working which vary from country to country. In an instance whereby an organization has operations in many countries, IHRM is challenged with ensuring that the human resource management practices in all the countries are in line with the specific labour laws in the specific countries. With respect to the varying political climate, it is worth noting that human resource management is a major factor which affects human resource management. Generally, no person wills to be deployed in a politically hostile country. On top of this, human resource management in politically hostile countries is more expensive as compared to peaceful countries. For this reason, organizations often find themselves between a rock and a hard place with respect to human resource management whenever the political climate in a nation in which they are operating in develops a hostile political climate. For example, international organizations operating in the Middle East and the Arabic countries in northern Africa had numerous human resource management problems during the recent political revolution and crisis in the region. Therefore, it can be seen from the above arguments that new legislations and political climate are a major problem to international human resource management. In conclusion, this essay has discussed about various challenges to international human resource management, IHRM. The paper has discussed about the failure rate of expatriates, deployment problems, diversity and difference in labour and political climate in new locations as the major challenges to IHRM. From the paper, it can be concluded that organizations have to establish appropriate human resource management strategies in a bid to ensure that they are able to cope with the challenges posed by IHRM effectively. Works Cited Brewster, C., & Sparrow., P. Globalizing HR: Roles and Challenges for the International HRM Function. Lancaster University Management School Centre for Performance-led HR. (2007): 1-42 Jabbour, C., Gordono, F., Caldeira de Oliveira, J., Martinez, J., & Battistelle,R. Diversity Management: Challenges, Benefits, And the Role of Human Resource Management in Brazilian Organizations. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal. 30.1.(2011): 58 – 74 Martín-Alcázar, F., Romero-Fernández,P., & Sanchez, G. Workforce Diversity in Strategic Human Resource Management Models: A Critical Review of the Literature and Implications for Future Research", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal. 20.1. (2013); 1-16 Scroggins, W., & Benson, P. International Human Resource Management: Diversity, Issues and Challenges. Personnel Review.39.4 (2010): 409 - 413 Suutari, V., & Brewster, C. Expatriate Management Practices and Perceived Relevance: Evidence from Finnish Expatriates. Personnel Review. 30.5. (2001):554 - 577 Read More