Introduction
Human resource management is an important facet in management of any firm. This is due to vitality of the welfare, competence, and any other issues that relate to personnel. Poorly managed personnel result to poor organizational output. Generally, human resource refers to the way personnel in a company is treated and controlled in order to give results (Stahl & BjoĢrkman, 2006). Some of the issues addressed by this department include the recruitment and induction process, the welfare of personnel, appraisal, compensation and any other important issue that regards the company and workers, either individually or as a team.
Factors that influence an organization’s approach to global HRM
With globalization, international firms and organizations have been forced to diversify and adopt new strategies on the way they tackle human resource management. This is due to the global outlook for companies that demands that every culture in the area it covers should be respected and taken into consideration. Therefore, there is increased need for these companies to incorporate the new cultures and different backgrounds in their human resource management (Stahl & BjoĢrkman, 2006). There has been dire need to facilitate these differences to ensure that there is smooth running of organizations. There are several factors that affect the global human resource management as discussed in this paper.
It is inarguable that different parts of the world have different cultures that ensure the cohesion and integration of social fabric that will encourage productivity. If people are from regions with a certain culture and subjected to a different culture, there is likelihood that a conflict will arise between the workers and the new environment. Some of the cultures may include eating habits, religion, and dressing among others.
Secondly, the issue of competence across the world is a major factor that needs to be considered when hiring the personnel (Stahl & BjoĢrkman, 2006). Different regions have different training modes that may by far differ from the requirements of the organization. Care should be taken to ensure that high quality personnel are acquired after a thorough induction process.
International regulations controlling the movement of human resource are also a major factor influencing global human resource management. Issues such as taxation, compensations, and other personal levies are considered in details before international labor is sought (McCourt & Eldridge, 2003). Finally, geographical proximity of workers to the home country is considered due to the ties that people have to their motherland.
Categories of global participation in which an organization can be engaged
There are two main ways that an organization can engage itself in global activities. Trade is the first one where the organization sells its products either in form of goods or services globally. A company like Virgin Atlantic sells its air travel services to the whole world. The second category in which a company can engage itself in the global outlook is through human resource management. This, in most cases, is a requirement for international companies. Virgin Atlantic has to hire manpower from the countries they operate, though they are headquartered in the UK. These employees are expatriates, host country, or third country workers.
Types of international employees
International employees can be classified into four categories according to their citizenship and their place of work. These categories include:
- An expatriate is an employee who works in a foreign country where the organization has a branch or unit. This worker is a citizen from the country where the organizations is controlled from and is has its headquarters. For instance, Wal-Mart is headquartered in the USA but has spread in many other countries in the world. If any American goes to work for Wal-Mart in any other unit outside the US, the worker is regarded as an expatriate.
- The second category of employees is the host- country worker. This worker works in a unit belonging to an organization whose headquarters are located in another country. Wal-Mart stores are headquartered in the US but have a branch in China. If a Chinese citizen works in the Wal-Mart stores in China, he becomes a host country worker.
- The third group is referred to as a third country worker. These are the workers that are neither citizens of the country where the company is headquartered nor citizens of the country where the branch is located (McCourt & Eldridge, 2003).. Ford is headquartered in the USA but they have units in Mexico. If a Brazilian citizen works in the Ford unit in Mexico, he becomes a third country worker.
Finally, an employee working for an organization within the country he/she is a citizen and the organization is headquartered in that country is called a resident worker. However, the organization they are working for has to be international.
Articles that provide examples of HRM from two different international perspectives
The Japanese ministry of Education, culture, sports, science and technology, wrote an article titled āThe Concept of Global Human Resource Development Focusing on the East Asian Region.ā The article focuses on global Human resource management with an emphasis on the East Asian region (Ministry, 2010). It discusses the importance of promoting the ongoing interuniversity exchanges between Japan and other countries in the East Asian region. The program wishes to put in place measures that will see academic integration among the East Asian countries (Ministry, 2010). Further, the program looks at ways of reducing barriers that are created by differences in nationalities. It also aims bridging the cultural and geographical barriers that exist between the countries.
The program is formulated to intensify levels that will see the countries obtaining public servants across borders. Currently, there is exchange of university personnel that leads to overall similarity in the nature and quality of education imparted to the scholars within the region. This will not only bring the country together institutionally, but will also lead to reduced differences in the quality of development, leading to more job opportunities across the borders.
The Human Resource Management (CHRM) has written an article titled, āGlobal Human Resources Managementā (Community, 2012). The article describes changes that were experienced in the Indian Industry in the 21st century when they needed to import manpower as their goodsā demand in the world shot up. In contrast with the Japanese and Far East case where they had traded for very long with their neighbors, the Indians were experiencing the scenario for the first time. This threw them into panic and had to adapt and take up the new development in their trade (CHRM, 2012).
Conclusion
With the increasing rate of globalisation, it is inevitable for both local and international organisations to embrace human resource management structures that can accommodate the international employees (McCourt & Eldridge, 2003). This will help in encouraging growth of firms. With this in mind it becomes clear that there is need to diversify the workforce in the workplace.
References
Community for Human Resource Management. (2012). Global Human Resource Management. Web.
McCourt, W. & Eldridge, D. (2003) Global human resource management : managing people in developing and transitional countries. Cheltenham: E. Elgar
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology- Japan. (2010). The Concept of Global Human Resource Development Focusing on the East Asian Region. Web.
Stahl, G.K. & BjoĢrkman, I. (2006). Handbook of research in international human resource management. Cheltenham: E. Elgar