UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF ACCOUNTANCY AND MANAGEMENT

ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021
JANUARY 2021

BACHELOR OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS (HONOURS)

COURSE CODE: UKMB4014
COURSE TITLE: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURC MANAGEMENT

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS

TUTORIAL 1: INTRODUCTION (WEEK 1)

1. Briefing on tutorial expectations and participation.
2. Explanation of group assignment and presentation.
3. Team formation for group assignment.

TUTORIAL 2: LECTURE 1–INTRODUCTION TO HRM

Jack Nelson’s Problem

As a new member of the board of directors for a local bank, Jack Nelson was being
introduced to all the employees in the home office. When he was introduced to Ruth
Johnson, he was curious about her work and asked her what her machine did. Johnson
replied that she really did not know what the machine was called or what it did. She
explained that she had only been working there for two months. She did, however, know
precisely how to operate the machine. According to her supervisor, she was an excellent
employee.

At one of the branch offices, the supervisor in charge spoke to Nelson confidentially,
telling him that “something was wrong,” but she did not know what. For one thing, she
explained, employee turnover was too high, and no sooner had one employee been put on
the job than another one resigned. With customers to see and loans to be made, she
continued, she has little time to work with the new employees as they came and went.

All branch supervisors hired their own employees without communication with the head
office or other branches. When an opening developed, the supervisor tried to find a
suitable employee to replace the worker who had quit.

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After touring the 22 branches and finding similar problems in many of them, Nelson
wondered what the home office should do or what action he should take. The bank was
generally regarded as a well-run institution that had grown from 27 to 191 employees
during the past eight years. The more he thought about the matter, the more puzzled
Nelson became. He could not quite put his finger on the problem, and he did not know
whether to report his findings to the CEO.

(Adapted from: Supervision in Action, 4 ed., by Claude S. George, 1985, in Dessler, G.

& Tan, C. H. (2006). Human resource management: An Asian perspective. Prentice Hall)

1. What do you think is causing some of the problems in the bank’s head office and
branches?

2. Do you think setting up an HR unit in the main office would help?

3. What specific functions should an HR unit carry out?

4. What HR functions will be carried out by supervisors and other line managers?
How are they different from staff managers?

5. A HR consultant once said: “HR professionals need to scan the environment

everyday – whether by the Internet, newspaper, or magazines. Everything has
the potential to impact everything we do.” State how an organization’s external
and internal environments can influence HRM.

TUTORIAL 3: LECTURE 2
INTERNATIONALIZATION/GLOBALIZATION OF
BUSINESS

1. What are the stages a firm typically goes through as it grows internationally and
how does each stage affect the HR function?

2. Discuss the impact of internationalization of business and HRM.

3. What are the growing demands on management as a result of international

growth? These demands are not mutually exclusive. Explain.

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4. International business operations can take several different forms. What are
the 4 basic types of international organizations, and in what ways do they differ?

5. Elaborate the examples of impact of the cultural & institutional context on HRM
practices.

TUTORIAL 4: LECTURE 3 – INTRODUCTION TO IHRM

1. What are the main similarities and differences between domestic and
international HRM?

2. Define these terms: international HRM, PCN, HCN, and TCN.

3. Discuss two HR activities in which a multinational firm must engage that

would not be required in a domestic environment.

4. Why is a greater degree of involvement in employees’ personal lives inevitable

in many international HRM activities?

5. Discuss at least two of the variables that moderate differences between

domestic and international HR practices.

TUTORIAL 5: LECTURE 4 –INTERNATIONAL HR

MANAGERS
LECTURE 5—TERMS & CONCEPTS OF IHRM

1. What are the competencies required of a manager for effective HR

management? In your opinion, what is the most important competency or
proficiency that an IHR manager must possess?

2. In comparing with domestic HR managers, what additional competencies should

an IHRM managers should possess?

3. Define ‘stakeholders’. Who are the stakeholders of a multinational company?

4. Justify the key roles of HR managers.

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5. Define succession planning. Justify the importance of succession planning in in
business.

TUTORIAL 6: LECTURE 6 –STAFFING INTERNATIONAL

OPERATIONS
1. Outline the main characteristics of the four approaches to international staffing.

2. Which factors determine the choice of a staffing approach? Would a MNE

choose the same staffing approach worldwide? Place your arguments in the
context of the model outlining determinants of staffing choices.

3. State the reasons for using PCNs, HCNs, and TCNs.

4. Differentiate between ‘workforce’ and ‘labor force’. What factors determine the
size of the labor force?

5. What are the factors to be taken into consideration in global HR planning?

TUTORIAL 7: GROUP PRESENTATION

TUTORIAL 8: GROUP PRESENTION

TUTORIAL 9: LECTURE 7 –INTERNATIONAL

ASSIGNMENT
1. What are the reasons for using international assignments?

2. Describe the different types of standard and non-standard international

assignments. What are the differences between them?

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3. The roles international staff plays as a consequence of being transferred from
one location to another must be clearly defined. Elaborate the roles of an
expatriate.

4. Explain the stressors for expatriates and non-expatriates that may possibly cause
them to fail their international assignments.
5. Justify the definition of inpatriation and explain the key drivers for it.

TUTORIAL 10 : LECTURE 8 –RECRUITMENT AND

SELECTION OF INTERNATIONAL STAFF

1. Define ‘expatriate failure’. Should multinationals be concerned about expatriate

failure? If so, why?

2. What are the individual factors involved in the selection decisions?

3. What are the important contextual or situational factors involved in the selection
decisions?

4. As HR director for an oil company, you are responsible for selecting 15

expatriates to go to work in Iraq. However, you are personally concerned about
the safety there. How do you proceed?

5. MNCs typically do a number of things that lead to choosing someone who is likely
to be failed in overseas assignment, as a result of ineffective management
policies. Explain the mistakes made by MNCs in expatriate selection.

TUTORIAL 11: LECTURE 9--INTERNATIONAL TRAINING

AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Assume you are an HR director for a small company that has begun to use
international assignments. You are considering using an external consulting firm
to provide pre‐departure training for employees, as you do not have the
resources to provide this ‘in‐house’. What components will you need covered?
How will you measure the effectiveness of the pre‐departure training program
provided by the external consultant?

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2. Elucidate the repatriation process.

3. Why do some MNCs appear reluctant to provide basic pre‐departure training?

4. Language training is a seemingly obvious, desirable component of a pre-

departure program. Explain the effect of disregarding the importance of
foreign language skills.

5. In your opinion, why is there an increasing interest in all aspects of training and
development with a focus on China.

TUTORIAL 12: LECTURE 10--INTERNATIONAL

COMPENSATION

1. What should be the main objectives for a multinational firm with regard to its
compensation policies? On the other hand, what should employees try to
achieve from the compensation plan provided by the company?

2. Describe the differences in the Going Rate and Balance Sheet approaches to
international compensation.

3. Describe the most common allowances given to expatriates.

4. Benefits are any perks offered to employees in addition to salary. What are the
major types of benefits being offered by a firm?

5. Explain the problems confronted by MNCs in expatriate compensation.

TUTORIAL 13: LECTURE 11+12--INTERNATIONAL

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND GLOBAL HEALTH
AND SAFETY

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1. Define the term “performance appraisal.’ Provide guidelines for the
performance appraisal process.

2. What is 360 degree appraisal? Do you think this method is appropriate to be

used to evaluate expats’ performance? Why or why not?

3. Differentiate the terms health, safety, and security. Why global health and safety
has become an important issue for MNCs?

4. What are the specific health and safety concerns when sending staff for overseas
assignments?
5. Suggest how a MNC deal with the health and safety challenges for travelers and
international assignees.

TUTORIAL14: LECTURE 13+14 —INTERNATIONAL

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND CHALLENGES OF
IHRM.

1. What are the stages of crisis management that MNCs typically go through
when a crisis actually occurs? Determine the components of crisis
management.

2. In your opinion, what is the most significant challenge of IHRM?

3. Differentiate between industrial relations and employment relations.

4. Define the following terms: trade union, collective bargaining, negotiation,

impasse, strike, wildcat strike, lockout, and strike breakers.

5. Describe the negotiation process.

6. Describe the mechanisms to settle disputes between the management and the
workers.

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7. Besides strikes, what else can unions do when in conflict with the management?

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