Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BY
INTRODUCTION
Human resource management (HRM) is universal in terms of strategies,
policies and processes. The term has gradually replaced personnel
management. Managing and developing human resources in the international
(global) setting is increasingly recognized as a central challenge, particularly
to multinational enterprises (MNEs). Human resource management is both
academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and
practice techniques of managing a workforce. While the theoretical aspects
of the discipline may also be universal, the same cannot be said of its
THEORY
The theoretical discipline is based primarily on the assumption that
employees are individuals with varying goals and needs, and as such should
not be thought of as basic business resources, such as trucks and filing
cabinets. It takes a positive view of workers, assuming that virtually all wish
to contribute to the enterprise productively and that the main obstacles to
their endeavours are lack of knowledge, insufficient training, and failure of
process. It is an innovative view of the workplace management, which,
asserts that human techniques when properly practiced, are expressive of the
goals and operating practices of the enterprise overall.
As an academic theory, the goal of human resource management is to help
an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, and maintaining
employees and also to manage them effectively. The key word here is fit,
that is, human resource management approach seeks to ensure a fit between
the management of an organizations employees, and the overall strategic
direction of the company. The basic premise of the academic theory of
human resource management is that humans are not machines, therefore, we
need to have an interdisciplinary examination of people in the workplace.
That is why fields such as psychology, industrial engineering, industrial and
organizational psychology, industrial relations, sociology etc play a major
role.
PRACTICE
Human resource management (HRM) as a business practice comprises
several processes, which used together are supposed to achieve the
theoretical goals mentioned above. These practical processes include:
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Workforce planning
Recruitment (sometimes separated into attraction and selection)
Induction and orientation
Skills management
Training and development
Personnel administration
Compensation in wage or salaries
Time management
Travel management (sometimes assigned to accounting)
Payroll (sometimes assigned to accounting)
Employees benefits administration
Performance appraisal.
GLOBAL
OR
INTERNATIONAL
HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
Global or international human resource management is the process of
employing, developing and rewarding people in international or global
organizations. It involves the world-wide management of people, not just the
management of expatriates. An international organization or firm is one in
which operations take place in subsidiaries overseas, which rely on the
business expertise or manufacturing capacity of the parent company. Such
companies or organizations bring with them their own management attitudes
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CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Culture and environment diversity is a key issue in international human
resource management (HRM). In a study that become a classic in the study
of cultural differences, Hofstede (1980) investigated value differences
between over 11,000 employees in some 40 countries employed by
International Business Machine (IBM). His study focused on the influence
of national culture on the sub-cultures of the worldwide organization.
4 key dimensions were identified.
1. Individualism versus Collectivism i.e. where individualism is a
national cultural attribute that favours people looking to themselves
and their families as their first priority, and where collectivism is an
attribute that favours people giving their prime loyalty to, and finding
protection in, the wider group.
2. Power distance i.e. the extent to which different cultures accept
different distributions of power within the society; High Power
distance society accepts wide differences of power between those at
the top of society and those at the bottom, while Low Power distance
society sees power as being shared much more equitably, leaving less
of a power gap between the top and the bottom ranks.
3. Uncertainty Avoidance i.e. the extent to which a society is tolerant
of uncertainty and which therefore feels less need to avoid it (Low
Avoidance) or feels threatened by it (High Avoidance).
4. Masculinity versus Femininity i.e. where a nation has a tendency to
prefer assertiveness and materialism (masculinity), or has a higher
concern for relationships and the welfare of others (femininity).
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Comparing the results obtained from the 40 different countries against the
criteria of the framework, produced 8 culture clusters, labeled according to
geographical areas (Asian, Near Eastern and Nordic) or language (Latin,
Germanic and Anglo) and economic development (Less developed or
More developed).
1. More developed Latin
High individualism
Low individualism
Medium masculinity
(Japan)
5. Near Eastern
6. Germanic
7. Anglo
8. Nordic
High individualism
High masculinity
(Australia, USA, Canada,
Great Britain, Ireland,
New Zealand, South Africa)
American organizations
Shared decision-making
Individual decision-making
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