Introduction
The development of staff through the international assignment is one of the major steps which have been carried out by the human resource departments of different organizations, to boost the experience of the concerned staffs and hence improve the international business of the involved companies. The main role of the HRM or human resource management departments is administrative and usually common to all organizations.
Institutions may be having formalized evaluation, selection, and pay role processes. Effective and efficient management of human capital has been the major topic of concern because it is the core process that determines the production of the business activity or the firm in general. The basic or primary function of human resource management is therefore to increase the contribution and effectiveness of employees in the realization of the groupâs objectives and goals. This has been possible through the use of Human Resource Management systems which encompass areas such as payroll, benefits administration, recruiting, training, performance records.
International Human resource management
The following are the specific issues involved in Human Resource Management; âThe HRCI provisions are globally acknowledged as the principles for the industryâs assessment of the competencies of HR Professionals. HRCI being an affiliate of HRM society which provides examination and certification services stipulates that Human Resource Professionals are responsible for ensuring that the employment practices of a company are equitable and fair and that they are in line with the recommended policies, practices, and regulations.
Since the aim of the human resource management of any organization is to maximize the profits but at the same time reduce the cost of production many companies have started to look for alternative strategic management policies respectively. International training of the staffs has been regarded as one of the strategies of training and staffing which has some advantages. This paper tries to analyze the merits of using the international training techniques to develop the staff by the business organizations. At the same time, this paper will try to analyze the staff development theories in the field of human resource management.
The rate at which business globalization is increasing has led to the increase in the rate of global international mobility in trying to achieve the goals and objectives of any business. Human resource management has consequently faced globalization challenges in trying to deal with the global business demand and thus the business organizations have opted to embark on the investment of the international staff assignments (Clark, L. and Winch, C. (eds) 2007).
International training in the general perspective can be regarded as one of the outstanding techniques which can be seen as a tool of training the human resource of any organization. At the same time, the international assignments can be regarded as one way of developing the staff of any organization. Thus the most important significance of the international assignments is the development and improvement of the management structure. This movement of the staff from one area to another which can be regarded as the job rotation can be used as one method of making the employees gain experience and have the broad business perspective analysis (Ashton, D. and Green, F.1996).
This will lead to the development of the person who generally has the global business outlook who can make the organization operate in the global arena hence making the involved organization improve its outputs.
The organizational development by the companies has been established to a large extent. The international assignments have consequently been seen as one method of increasing the knowledge and management skills which in return will improve the working abilities in the future growth of any company (Skule, S., Stuart, M. and Nyen, T.2002). Thus the global experience brings in the global mind which has important side effects in any organization by transferring the gained foreign competencies. Moreover, this can be seen as a substitute to the local methods of training and replacements which are considered to be expensive. This is because replacement is not always an automatic process.
Some firms involve external proficient consultants in recruitment and selection since bad buys are always very expensive. Effectual choice of staff is taken to be the acquisition of an employee whereby the fee is the employeeâs wage multiplied by the estimated years of service. The personnel responsible for this important activity must be well conversant with judging the appropriateness of an applicant for a replacement and poorly performed placements cause huge losses to the firm.
Merits of international development of staffs
These outcomes of the international assignments can be analyzed from two different perspectives which include the individual point of perspective and the multi-national point of view. From the individual perspective of view, the international assignments can be seen as one form of the job rotation from one country to another hence benefiting the assignment expatriates who participate in these programs of job assignments respectively(Skule, S., Stuart, M. and Nyen, T. 2002).
This has been regarded as one of the management practices which will enable some of the employees to get the opportunities to improve their management abilities since they are being exposed to different working conditions and a range of job opportunities. At the same time, the foreign staff training gives the staffs so many challenges which enable the staffs to adapt to a wide range of conditions.
Not only does the staff development by using the international expatriate’s help in benefiting the staffs involved but also it has proved that it helps to benefit the international teams respectively. This is seen as a system of improving international innovations. Moreover, the learning of the organizations which carry out the staff assignments is consequently improved to a great extent. At the same time, this may be seen as one method of transferring business knowledge from one country to another.
International staff training is one technique that has been used in the breaking of the available business boundaries thus leading to the constant horizontal exchange of the business principles respectively (Roth well, W.J. and Kolb, J.A. 1999). By breaking the existing business barriers the direct communications are established which may prevent any future trade embargos which are created by most of the developed countries. At the same time, this technique of breaking the business barriers has encouraged the cooperation of several inputs in the decision making which will lead to the improved strategic analysis which has led to the proper strategic assessments.
The international assignments of the staff are one method of developing and improving globalization especially in the business world. This method has helped the global world to improve in its social matters. This is achieved through the research and development activities that concentrate on the international projects aimed at the cultural analysis of different organizations (Caligiuri et al 2005). The international assignments have consequently improved team building as it exposes the workers to many organizations which have the global settings.
To a great extent, the expatriates usually have consequently developed some international networks after the training assignment is over. These networks can be used at the lather times in the working places. However, to a great extent the roles played by the international staff development depend on the individuals participating in the staff assignment respectively.
According to Gibbs, Maznevski et al the MNE is supposed to be providing some of the support in terms of material support especially for those who participate in the international organizations which involve research and developments. For instance, the staff development does not only involve the junior staff but also even the managers. Thus the managers who are in charge of the international employees have a great task of trying to understand some factors such as the group dynamics and the cultural organizations. Thus it can be established those who have international experience are usually well placed in dealing with different personalities.
This is one of the reasons why most of the multi-national companies have consequently stressed the need to have international experiences and at the same such companies have made some steps to sponsor the international assignments even though this activity is one of the expensive ones.
The other advantages of the international assignments on the staff developments are to get the global markets (Linehan, M. and Mayrhofer, W.2005). For any business organization to be successful in its activities in the global competition and at the same time get the global market advantages, the business firms have opted to venture into the international assignments respectively. This provides competitive advantages against other related organizations. According to (Dowling, P.J., and Festing, M., and Engle, A.D.2008), human resources consists of the accumulated stocks of members who have abundant skills and the abilities which have been attained over some time. The training and development procedure is one of the techniques used by multinational firms to improve the human resource experience.
The environmental adjustments are one of the advantages which are generated by the international staff development. For instance, the staffs who have been exposed to different working environments are likely to respond to the stresses which may arise at the working places respectively. These individuals are likely to respond appropriately to risk management. At the same time, they can be able to evaluate the markets appropriately if given the opportunities. The environmental adjustments are also gained as a result of the interaction with individuals with different dynamics and different cultural backgrounds respectively.
The offshore international staff training can be seen as one of the methods of strategic management which is used to equip the personalities with appropriate skills and experience. This has led to the international privileges gain such as the market search strategies respectively. It has been seen that the managers who have the international orientation can be able to search the markets appropriately compared with those who lack the international orientation respectively.
Some people have viewed this technique of international staff training as one technique of carrier advancements to the involved staff members which can be seen as a true phenomenon. Those who have participated in the international assignment are normally considered by many companies as having more experience thus getting career advancement advantages. Consequently, much consideration is made towards such personalities at the long land. Moreover, this technique can be seen as one method f encouraging the staff of any organization respectively.
From another perspective, the International development of staff has been serving as one way which is used to encourage diverse inputs into the decision making of any organization. These international inputs have been used in the proper problem solving and at the same time, there has been the development of the proper strategy management respectively. Moreover, it is one method of having the development of any organization from a global perspective.
Disadvantages of international development of staffs
Although this technique of developing the staff by use of the international assignments can be seen as having so many merits, it has some disadvantages in general thus it can not rely so much on on. For instance, this technique is time-consuming. The staffs need to travel in a long distance which is quite tiresome. Moreover not all employees are willing to travel abroad due to social reasons such as family commitments which prevent the spouses from separating from sometimes.
Even the international arrangements are quite tiresome since it needs one to have so many requirements such as the visa programs. The expense which is used to cater for the training session is can be used instead in the development of another program in the company or organization. On the other hand, some critics who are against this method argue that this is only one way of career development that does not have any improvement to human resource management.
Conclusion
Thus, in conclusion, it can be seen that the development of the staff members by using the international techniques has some advantages but it has to be done with a lot of care to avoid any complication which may arise. Organizations are supposed to start financing these activities if they need to have international advantages.
Bibliography
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