Business Environment and Employees Research Paper

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Human resource management is one of the essential components to the competitiveness of global firms. Corporations that perform exceptionally regarding human resource management tend to integrate strong discipline in their people with attention to strong social capital (developing networks and relationships within the organization). The multiplier impacts of this combination generate inimitable conditions for people management, which in turn drives employee engagement in the global context. The following study focuses on the historical and current trends in human resource practices with a great focus on global HRM, equal employment opportunity and compensation and motivation. The emphasis will be laid on their influence on the management of international employees. The study will highlight the major aspects emerging from the three areas of focus. It will provide an extensive detail from real case examples of companies in the global field by examining major HRM practices including global HRM, equal employment opportunity, and compensation and motivation.

GLOBAL ASPECTS OF HRM

The rapid advancements in information technology along with globalization have transformed the way employee management is carried out in organizations. This transformation defined the significance of global HRM presently unlike what was being done in the past fifty years and earlier. HRM seeks to allow proper deployment of human capital so that an organization can satisfy and maintain customers both domestic market and globally (Sparrow, Brewster, Chung, 2016). Based on the current competitive business environment, proper management of the human capital has become crucial. As a result, the primary task of MNC thus revolves around identifying, recruiting and managing competent human resources in their operations to enhance functional efficiency and improve productivity.

The foundation of political and economic forums such as the World Trade Organization and the European Union together with the rise of trade blocks has considerably altered the business environment as far as open market and competition is concerned. In essence, the business field has transformed into a global business environment. Today, experts have influenced not only the staffing requirements and the entire labor market but also the HRM practices. Today, aspects like strategic alliances and joint ventures have become common forms of doing business across the globe. Global market, changes in business structures and high-tech communication technologies today demand new forms of HRM approaches for MNCs. Probably, the globalization of business has touched the HRM area for severely than any other functional area.

Presently, HR managers must provide international orientation to all the HR functions including employee recruitment, training, motivation, compensation, and development. Orientation within the global context has the greatest relevance because business today is increasingly interlinked between countries. Moreover, because MNCs must recruit, motivate and retain people at both the home office and overseas plants, the concept of global HRM helps them to procure properly. They must also allocate and effectively utilize human capital in the global business environment (Perkins, Shortland & Perkins, 2006).

The Concept of Global HRM

Global HRM is all about managing human capital worldwide. It involves hiring, allocating and properly using their knowledge, skills, and ideas in responding to the business needs. Global HRM has been recognized as the main determinant of failure or success in the highly competitive business economy. Therefore, this has become the only source of competitive advantage because the other factors of production such as raw materials, technology, information, and capital can be easily imitated (Festing, Budhwar, & Cascio, 2013). However, the caliber of the individuals within a company cannot be duplicated and offer a unique competitive advantage to companies.

MNCs must carefully focus on their most critical resources because it controls other factors of production. However, most MNCs tend to undermine the significance of the HRM function in selecting, training, motivating and compensating employees assigned overseas. The numbers evidence the importance of these resources. Research reveals that over 40,000 MNCs are currently engaged in international business (Sparrow, Brewster, Chung, 2016). Interestingly, modern developments in information technology have allowed these corporations to manage their global HRM function efficiently and effectively. This has served to maximize their global management cadre of these companies.

When implementing the function of global HRM, planning must involve decisions about staffing policy and the global strategy. The major problem includes the challenge of controlling the geographically dispersed functions, the suitability of employees from alternative sources and the need for decision making independent from the head office. The independence of structure, strategy, and staffing is of particular importance to the company. In essence, the company's desired strategy must direct the company's staffing models, and the structure deemed most appropriate in the implementation of the strategy.

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However, these functions have considerable inter-dependence. Often, the inherent structural constraints affect strategic decisions. Equally, unique sets of competencies and staffing constraints in management affect both strategic and organizational decisions. Therefore, MNCs strive to achieve a system of fits among these factors that facilitate the implementation of the strategy (Festing, Budhwar, & Cascio, 2013).

Global Selection

The appointment of employees to overseas positions is one of the most complex processes. The selection criteria used by MNCs are based on the success factors like those applied in the domestic office, but additional factors are considered. These factors relate to the circumstances of the assignment. Sadly, most HR managers are inclined to selecting potential expatriates simply according to their known expertise and domestic track records. These managers often overlook the importance of ascertaining whether the chosen employee possesses the necessary interpersonal skills and cross-cultural awareness for the assignment. Besides, necessary to evaluate if the individual's family and personal situation enable all of them to adapt to the new culture. The enhanced adaptation to the new working environment helps them to discharge their assigned roles immediately.

MNCs have five groups of success for potential expatriate applicants. They include motivational state, family situation, relational dimensions like flexibility and empathy, language skills and job factors (Podnar, Kohont & Jancic, 2012). It is difficult to establish the relative importance of each of these factors. However, the most flexible approach to maximizing talent, despite the source, is certainly to consider if the assignment could be filled by a host-country national. Such a model of expatriate selection and training relies on the factors of the specific position like interaction level with the local employees, similarity to the candidate's own culture and length of stay. It is believed that the greater the rigorous the process of selection and training the lower the chances of expatriate failure.

MNCs set up the selection procedure as a decision tree in which the progression of the next stage in the process relies on the evaluation of the critical factors about the position or the applicant. The most basic selection procedure entails choosing a local national since they require minimal training about the local ways of doing business and culture. Nevertheless, to achieve success, locally selected candidates normally receive additional training in the MNC's companywide processes, corporate culture, and technology. In case a local candidate cannot fill the post, yet the job demands a great degree of interaction with the local fraternity, MNCs conduct extremely careful screening of applicants from other geographic regions and implement vigorous training programs.

As seen from the example of MNCs based in Asia and Europe, HR policies at all the organizational levels are influenced by the home-nation policies and culture. For example, Japanese subsidiaries operating in India and Singapore, promotion is done from within, and expectations of loyalty to and by the company are culture-based practices transferred to the subsidiaries (Kang & Shen, 2017). However, at Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., today called Panasonic Corporation, employee selection criteria for expatriate positions is similar to those in the Western world. The company selects candidates based on characteristics known as SMILE. SMILE is a shortened word, meaning Specialty (knowledge and skills), Management ability, International flexibility, Language capability and Endeavor (ability to persevere).

Training and Development

Training and preparation for cross-cultural interactions are one of the crucial areas of international HRM. Often, many expatriates end their overseas assignments abruptly due to an inability to adjust to the local environment and poor performance. In fact, those who are left reportedly function at lower levels of effectiveness. Based on the expatriate's position, the indirect costs to the organization may be greater than projected (Sparrow, Brewster, Chung, 2016). For instance, relations with customers and the host nation government could be damaged leading to loss of market share. Things such as practical differences and cross-cultural adjustment are sources of challenges for expatriates and their relatives.

Various examples show expatriates to be facing the greatest challenges in international assignments because they might have little knowledge about the new cultures. Although cross-cultural training seems to be useful in current times, very few expatriates receive this training. Sadly, MNCs do not provide expatriates with social support or adequate training during their international assignments. The rationale provided for this lack of training is an assumption that managerial processes and skills are universal. In fact, MNCs use an employee's local track record as the main selection criteria for overseas assignments (Festing, Budhwar, &….....

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