Cristina State1, Alina Drucy2, Dan Popescu3

HUMAN RESOURCES MOBILITY

IN THE EUROPEAN UNION BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

The goal of our research project is to identify the work force categories placed abroad, the
destination geographic regions, the recruitment and selection methods used, and other aspects
regarding The Work Force Migration Office and other private agencies’ activities. We have paid
special attention to migrant workers’ preparing practices for developing a lucrative activity abroad.
That is because, on one side, preliminary international relocation preparation is very important in
international carrier management and, on the other side, decision factors from Romania (from
microeconomic and macroeconomic point of view) have a limited experience in the area.
The Work Force Migration Office (WFMO) and 580 organizations registered as work force
occupation agents abroad were invited to participate to the research. The sample covers all
private agencies from Bucharest (230 organizations) and half of the private agencies from the
country (350 organizations), randomly chosen. Organizations from eight districts from Romania
were not included, because the number of work force occupation agencies is less than 5 (Giurgiu,
Teleorman, Călăraşi, Vaslui, Caraş-Severin, Harghita, Covasna and Tulcea). The questionnaire
was sent by mail (the only way to contact a large number of private agencies) and by e-mail (to
WFMO).

Keywords: management, human resources, mobility, international

JEL Classification: D22; D23; J24

1. Introduction. The internationalization process of business and, implicitly, the social and
economic interdependencies at regional and global level will continue and even will emphasize, as
competition and technology will evolve quickly, making both necessary and in particular possible,
the growth of organizational efficiency. Because human capital flows tend to follow the flows of
international investment (United Nations Report, 2008, p. 89), it is anticipated that the number of
people working abroad will continue to rise, constituting a vital element of the future strategy and
the success of many transnational corporations (Haris, 2000; Rosenweig, Gilbert & Malnight Pucik,
2001; PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2002). And this will be an essential result of international mobility
of human resources.
The literature highlights while increasing mobility of human resources and in the same time
enhancing their heterogeneity demographic terms (nationality, age, gender), especially in certain sectors
and certain regions of the world (Rosenweig, Gilbert, Malnight & Pucik, 2001; Price Waterhouse
Coopers, 2002).

1 Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, cristina_state88@yahoo.com

2 Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, alina.drucy@man.ase.ro
3 Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, dan.popescu@man.ase.ro
 These trends are drawn from both the increasing transnational and international transactions
volume as from the gradual diversification of funding specialists abroad (Bonache, Brewster & Suutari,
2001; Rosenweig, Gilbert, Malnight & Pucik, 2001).
The mobility of human resources is important not only at the organizational level, but also at
the individual level, especially in the context of work abroad which is a good opportunity for
acquiring and/or developing skills and gaining new perspectives on the Organization, the business
world and life in general (Contreras & Bravo, 2003). Also, international work experiences can have
a positive impact on the individual's career, not only within the company, but also outside it. At
the same time, the experience of working abroad - or with people from abroad – may confer a
competitive advantage on individual labour market (Contreras & Bravo, 2003), given that a growing
number of companies have boosted international activities in recent years.

2. Research motivation, participants and research hypotheses. In Romania, (pre)selection

and preparing human resources for abroad professional opportunities are being provided by:
a) the Work Force Migration Office (WFMO) – a public institution having a legal existence, financed
from the State Budget and being subordinated to The National Office for Recruiting and Placing
Work Force Abroad;
b) private organizations authorized to develop mediation recruitment activities for the Romanian
citizens abroad;
c) other institutions, associations, foundations and specialized entities, including diplomatic
representation services.
Research hypotheses mainly refer to private agencies activity. Consequently, the first
hypothesis is based on the fact that a large number of private organizations place work force
abroad, but only few persons (7-8 thousand/year) benefit by their services.
Hypothesis 1: a large part of “abroad work force occupation agencies” is represented by micro-
organizations; most of them place a small number of migrant workers (usually less than
100 persons/year), especially in one or two geographical regions;
Hypothesis 2: most Romanians placed abroad by the private agencies (and WFMO) are labourers
or medium degree persons, working especially in certain activity areas;
Hypothesis 3: identifying and contracting foreign employers is a difficult process, that requires a
great part of the private agent’s time; identifying and recruiting personnel according to
the foreign employers demanding, is more or less difficult for the agents, and requires
important parts of their time;
Hypothesis 4: recruitment and (pre)selection methodology is different from one agency to another;
all these considered certain work force recruitment and evaluation methods prevail in
private agencies’ practice.
Hypothesis 5: usually, preparing migrant workers in international relocation by giving them a
preliminary period is not sufficient, many agencies (and WFMO) omitting relevant
subjects.

3. Research results

3.1 Main Characteristics of Participant Organizations and Work Force Placed Abroad.
According to the total number of employees, the distribution of participant agencies, highlighted
in Figure nr. I, confirms the validity of hypothesis 1.
 Figure.1: The distribution of agents according to the total number of employees

Legend

7% Categories of
agents according Distribution
11% to the number of (percentage)
employees
1-4 employees 56%
5-9 employees 26%
26% 56% 10-14 employees 11%
15-20 employees 7%

Consequently, 80% of the organizations that have been participated to the research are
micro-organizations (56% have at most 4 employees, and 26% have between 5 and 9 employees).
An important part of the private agencies that hire between 10 and 20 persons have working
points in several districts. In this research, 40% of the organizations have several working points.
None from the agencies that have filled in the questionnaire has more than 20 employees. On the
other side, WFMO has over 30 employees and sends abroad, every year, thousands of Romanian
workers.
The agencies that have answered the question related to hypothesis 1b (85% from the sample)
place, every year, less than 500 Romanian workers abroad. Almost two thirds have declared that they
place at the most 100 persons every year, and a quarter places, every year, between 101 and 300
persons. Half from the agencies that place over 300 workers (15% from the participants) have
working points in 3-4 districts.
As for the categories of human resources placed abroad, the research reveals that WFMO
place only labourers (71%) and medium degree personnel (29%); most of them work in agriculture
(71%), tourism – hotels and public nourishment fields (19%), and industry (9%). On the other hand,
private agencies place medium and reduce degree personnel, but also high degree personnel. The
number of the agencies that place human resources having superior studies is important (70% from
the sample). One quarter from the participants have students as clients.
While 71% from the work force placed by the WFMO works in agriculture, the majority
of the private agencies clients work in other areasi. Consequently, over half of the organizations
that have participated declare that they place human resources in industry and constructions.
Also, a large part of private agencies cooperate with external partners in the medical and touristic
fields (hotels and public nourishment fields). Not only private agencies (Merigo & Gil-Lafuente,
2011), but also WFMO place work force in the fields that we have mentioned above. On the other
side, unlikely WFMO, some private agencies (almost a fifth part from the sample) intercede in
international employment contracts for dancers, choreographers and other categories of artists.
Also, some occupation agents place sailing personnel or other occupational categories.
 Figure.2. The percentage of private agencies that place workforce
in each of the following domains
(Agents that have indicated the domain / Total sample) *100

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

House kipping – 33,05%
Industry – 54,14%
Agriculture – 23,30%
Constructions – 52,42%
Tourism – hotels and pubs – 49,76%
Medical domain – 43,62%
Cultural domain – 18,89%
Other domains – 22,33%

WFMO assures the candidates’ preselecting, making out the employment contracts and
preparing the persons who are to go and work abroad. The most part of the time (60%) is
allocated to the contractual terms. On the other hand, most private agencies develop different types of
activities, including, among other things, identifying and contracting foreign employers, recruiting
and selecting work force, signing up the employment contracts and preparing migrant workers.

4. Empirical Survey. The main purpose of our survey was to study the organizational
behaviour in some multinational companies located in Romania and to get some recommendations
for building a more effective managerial team in a knowledge society. Organizational behaviour has
been analyzed from different perspectives taking into account the main core organizational values. The
questionnaire was applied to 40 persons from the multinational companies located in Romania having
in mind the identification of the ethical profile like one of the most important parts of the
organizational behaviour. As we can see in figure 2, the structure of the sample was the following: 32
men and 8 women and on the age categories, the structure was: 23-30 years – 10%; 31-40 years -
20%; 41-50 years – 40%; over 50 years - 30%. Depending on the last school graduated, it is
notable an average importance for the university studies 85%, post-university 10%, meanwhile
college studies 5%. Concerning the experiences of the questioned people, it is remarkable that most
of them (55%) have 15 years experience followed by those with experience between 5 - 14 years
(20%), and the rest with less then 4 years experience (25%).
In our survey we considered the following factors influencing ethical behaviour: the personal
profile - family influences, religious values, personal standards, and personal needs; the needs of
the management team - supervisory behaviour, peer group norms and behaviour; policy statements
and written rules; the business environment.
It is found (figure 6) that generally most of the people from the management level which
have been questioned feel a strong influence on their ethical behaviour coming from the last two
factors. On the opposite part is the opinion from the executive level who consider that their ethical
behaviour is influenced by other factor related with the first one and their organizational values
supported by all of them.
The main values considered in our survey were: business interest; individual friendships;
team interest; social responsibility; personal morality; rules and standards procedures; laws and
professional codes. Concerning the understanding of ethical values and organizational behaviour
through our survey, we discovered that more then 80% of the investigated people don’t know
anything about the ethical values and the organizational behaviour.
In the figure 6 it has been identified the following percents for each factor considered that
influence the organizational behaviour inside the investigated multinational companies: business
interest: 30%; individual friendships: 15%; team interests: 5%; social responsibility: 5%; personal
morality: 10%; rules and standard procedures: 30%; laws and professional codes: 5%.
More then 90% of the people involved in the survey mentioned that both categories of
values are strongly influenced by the following factors: personal perceptions, own belief, education,
rules, administrative procedures and the status in their multinational organizations.
All the managers from the top level considered the first and the second factors like the most
important for influencing their ethical behaviour. The rest of the investigated people appreciated that
their ethical values and the organizational behaviour are strongly influenced by the administrative
procedures, organizational codes and strategies, which had the highest rank followed by rules and
education. Only 5% from the medium level considered that their ethical behaviour is influenced by
their personal perceptions and beliefs. As is demonstrated by the survey there is an important
difference between the top and the medium level from the prospective of ethical values like a
component of the organizational behaviour. More then 90% of the investigated people declared
that they have ethical values and follow them in their daily activities because they understand
how important are in their relations with others and for the image of the organizations they are
working for.
As is demonstrated by our empirical research, people look at their leader and say, “should
I follow this person?” One very important attribute is the integrity. The survey results show up
that leaders lose legitimacy, the entire basis of an effective body comes down – fairness, equality
and long lasting values, if the integrity of one leader or another is affected by an inappropriate
behaviour. Following the results of our empirical study, credible leaders challenge the process by
experimenting and taking risks in their work as a means to finding new and better ways of doing
things. They inspire a shared vision among employees by envisioning the future and enlisting others
to bring about that vision. They enable others to act by fostering collaboration and strengthening
others. Around 30% from the people investigated, especially the managers have different initiatives
and represent a model for the others by setting the example and helping people achieve “small wins”.
Half from the total number of the investigated managers are credible leaders encouraging employees by
recognizing individual contributions and by celebrating accomplishments. That means an organizational
behaviour based on ethical values and morality which is very much appreciated. Most of the subjects
considered that ethical behaviour is absolutely necessary when leaders attempt to implement
changes that are transformational in nature.

5. Main steps toward an effective organizational behaviour. Rethinking leadership,

management process, purpose and perspective is a daunting but achievable goal. As many
specialists agree, managers who want to turn their companies into knowledge-based organizations
need to focus on several key actions:
1) Define the organization’s mission and purpose in terms of knowledge. As we know
mission defines the business, the needs of covering their products and services, the market in which
it is developed and the public image of the company. With other words mission state why does the
organization exist in a knowledge based society. Thinking from that perspective the content of the
mission is changing and the companies has to adapt itself all the time.
 2) Define the organization’s industry and position within it in terms of knowledge. The
most important thing that competitors have in common today is similar knowledge, not products.
For example, a pharmaceutical executive who understands his/her industry in knowledge-based
terms would have an eye on food-processing companies making cholesterol-lowering food
spreads. An executive in the photographic-imaging industry would realize that consumer-
electronics companies might know more than his own company about how to make the next
generation of digital cameras.
3) Formulate strategy with knowledge in mind. A knowledge-based organization defines
its strategy based on what it knows as well as what it makes. It finds strategic leverage points
where knowing more than competitors provide a competitive advantage. It also recognizes that
knowledge imposes limits on what the company can successfully execute. Capital One’s core
expertise, for example, is in micromarketing and targeted risk analysis, not in selling credit cards.
It built its strategy of individual financial risk management based on its superior knowledge of
statistical modelling and experimental design. It explicitly recognized, however, that it could not
compete as well in markets (those involving lending or insurance, for example) that were not
susceptible to the development of proprietary databases that could be statistically analyzed to
support rapid-cycle experimentation.
4) Implement knowledge processes and structures that directly support the company’s
strategic knowledge requirements. Knowledge management has gotten a bad rap lately, but much
of it can be attributed to the fact that most knowledge management initiatives are not focused on
strategic knowledge. An organization that defines its strategy in terms of knowledge and
identifies the strategic knowledge leverage points will know where to focus its efforts, get a
long-term return on its investment, and best the knowledge management efforts of competitors.
5) Transform the company into a strategic learning organization. An organization’s
ability to sustain a knowledge advantage is based on its ability to learn. Successful companies
look for opportunities to experiment and learn in knowledge domains what they consider strategic.
It’s also important to involve customers, trading partners, suppliers, consumers, interest groups –
in short, anyone who can help the business to create the knowledge it needs. Finally, learning can
be fostered by treating the company’s strategy as a hypothesis and then testing it. Capital One, for
example, views every market, every product, and every process as an experiment to be measured,
tested and improved.
6) Segment the company’s customers and markets not only on the basis of products and
services but also according to how much can be learned from them. While companies like
Capital One and Lincoln Re look to exploit what they know with familiar customers who offer
incremental learning opportunities, they also actively seek market segments that they know little
about. New customer segments are the most important source of learning and future strategic
opportunities.
7) Treat the cost of learning as an investment, not an expense. Managers should evaluate
investments in learning as options for future action rather than sunk costs according to traditional
analysis. A customer taken at a loss is a good investment if it provides significant learning for
future market opportunities or keeps the company in the game long enough to learn more about
an opportunity. Knowledge-based organizations understand the economic as well as strategic
value of learning.
8) Rethink the business model. A company making the transition from selling primarily
physical products or services to knowledge-based ones will see the economics of the business
radically change. IBM, which makes most of its money today selling its knowledge, will recommend
competitors’ products if that is in the best interest of its clients: The multinational companies
know that their knowledge have even more value for clients if they consider their customer needs
most of the time.
9) Take human resource management seriously. The knowledge-based multinational
organization recruits employees and develops their careers based on the knowledge it needs to
compete and execute the company’s strategy. It builds and relies on social capital as a key
motivator for knowledge creation, exchange and application. And it rewards creativity, risk taking,
experimentation, imagination and even failure when it generates important lessons learned.
10) Reinforce the organization’s mission via coordinated internal and external communication.
A large part of being a knowledge-based organization is being perceived as one. Thus some
companies invested significant resources in communicating to its employees the substance of its
new knowledge-based perspective. The others actively cultivated and managed its external image
as a knowledge-based organization via pieces in its annual report, articles in trade and scholarly
journals, speeches by executives, and more.

6. Conclusions. We conclude that the organizational behaviours and the performance

expectations are strongly influenced by the leadership knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities
individuals. We try to group these leadership competences into three broad categories: self,
working with others, and performance, although some competencies overlap categories. Together,
these leadership competencies are keys for effective results.
Most of the investigated people mentioned that there are some special principles and
codes containing the main ethical values, but the problem is how to create an internal mechanism
for taking them into account. Most of them told us that nobody explained or trained them about
what is the difference between rules, legal framework, ethical values , organizational behaviour
and how could be possible to integrate all of this in their organizational behaviour. Majority of
our individuals pointed out that there are no internal mechanisms related with ethical standards
for a multinational company.
Another important conclusion identified by us during the survey was that there is no clear
definition of the employees’ rights and obligations and because of that they feel frequently
injustice, especially concerning their rights. They know the obligations from the job descriptions, but
most of these documents are very similar. Therefore, most of them have the same rights and
obligations.
Related with the decision making process, the surveys identified that there is a low level
of consultations even every person appreciated it very much. Usually, the dialog between the
managers and their technical and economic staff is most of the time informal and with the person
who is working at the low level is very poor. Most of the time, people from the medium and low
level are involved in the policies implementation not in the decision-making process. In this
context the organizational behaviour is not part of some of the multinational organizations
working life. The employees are interested in having an ethical values system and they want to
follow them together with the management team.
Organizational change and its effective and efficient management are prerequisites to the
viability and organizational sustainability. Here is the context in which at organizational level,
management is faced with new challenges where their resolution shapes the very future of each
company.
Our study has shown that entrepreneurs / managers of Romanian SMEs IT & C area has
not adopted a consistent approach to change management based on the rationality, developing
 and implementation of strategies to achieve organizational change. At the same time, we found that
organizational change processes are initiated, usually ad hoc, depending on current issues, without
being based on coherent plans of action, which endanger the sustainability of IT & C SMEs.
The study results also revealed that although the mode of perception on the rationality
and implementation of change management in SMEs from the IT & C area influence, direct and
positive performance of the organization and, hence, organizational sustainability, calling strategies
for implementing change management is in most cases, punctual and retroactive, not proactive
and systemic.
Our science approach has been completed by proposing a model of organizational change
in SMEs from IT&C area, research being continued, in order to check the usefulness of its
applicability, so that, based on knowledge, implementing change can ensure the viability and
organizational sustainability as values of any modern, dynamic and powerful organization.

Acknowledgements
This article is a result of the exploratory research „The Professional Development of Human
Resources from the Sector of Five star hotels and its Economic and Social Impact”- research
contract for the business environment no.001/31.01.2012/DCE, won by international competition and
coordinated by The Bucharest University of Economics Studies.

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Author(s):

Cristina State
PhD Student
Management Department, Faculty of Management
Bucharest University of Economic Studies
6th Romana Square, Mihai Eminescu Building, Bucharest, 010374, Romania
Research interests: Business Communication, Human Resources Management
Phone:+40737353933
e-mail: cristina_state88@yahoo.com
Alina Drucy
Assistant Professor, PhD
Management Department, Faculty of Management
Bucharest University of Economic Studies
6th Romana Square, Mihai Eminescu Building, Bucharest, 010374, Romania
Research interests: Business Communication, Human Resources Management
Phone:+40724571777
e-mail: alina.drucy@man.ase.ro

Dan Popescu
Professor, PhD
Management Department, Faculty of Management
Bucharest University of Economic Studies
6th Romana Square, Mihai Eminescu Building, Bucharest, 010374, Romania
Research interests: Business Communication, Human Resources Management
Phone:+40722350726
e-mail: dan.popescu@man.ase.ro
i
Three quarters from the agencies that have participated at the research do not place workforce in agriculture; most of
them place few workers in agriculture. In conclusion: until now, most of employment contracts in agriculture have
been obtained through WFMO