Comparative HRM:

Theory & Practice

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Universalism vs Contextual

 Universalism-Contextual debate
 Is there a best practice approach?
 Convergence as a 3rd alternative

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Labor laws

 Ever changing
 HR needs to keep up
 Recognize differences
 Gained importance during the
Industrial Revolution by Socialists
 Losing importance or relevance?

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Major issues covered
 Minimum wage - Introduced in the US (1938),
France (1950) and the UK (1999); 18 out of 25
member states in the EU
 Minimum age
 Maternity protection
 Occupational Health & Safety
 Termination of employment
 Very general guidelines and exceptions allowed
 Up to various member states’ ministries to interpret
and refine these guidelines
– E.g. New Employment Contract (Contrat nouvelle
embauche) overturned but around 400000 have signed

Convention No. 158, ILO

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Hours

 Pre-industrial: 11-14 hrs p.w.

 Industrial: 14-16 hrs p.w.
 1833 – England passed the 8-hr p.w.
law, 12 hrs for miners and 8 hrs for
children

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Labor laws and reforms in
Asia
 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
 Bayer (China) Ltd. - extensive travel
guidelines and office evacuation procedures
in response to SARS. Bayer SARS Team –
responsible for monitoring the disease and
making policy changes
 Increasing sophistication of HR
 Revising labor laws to protect employees
 Bringing regulations to international
standards
www.shrmglobal.org
Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan
Labor laws and reforms in
Asia
 E.g. China - Bill to provide on-the-job injury
insurance to workers, encouraging greater
education and training of employees
 E.g. Thailand government - tax deduction for
employee training and education costs,
encourage companies to invest in the
intellectual and skills development of employees
 Use of videoconferencing to interview job
applicants in China

www.shrmglobal.org

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Labor laws and reforms in
Asia
 Issuing of Chinese Green Cards (tax breaks,
concessions, attracting overseas Chinese)
 Setting up child care facilities in organizations e.g.
Nippon Yusen KK, a shipping company, Toyota
(accommodate up to 25 children),
 Reduce karoshi in Japan and emphasis on quality of
work life in general
www.shrmglobal.org

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Labor laws and reforms in
Asia
 South Korea – employees contributing to
corporate pension fund – fund aging
population
 Companies with 300 or more employees
must have a 2% quota to hire disabled
people – may extend to org with 50+
people by 2007
 Penalty – US$326 per position per month
 Banks – changing from 6-day week to 5-day
week
 Knowledge workforce in South East Asia
www.shrmglobal.org
Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan
Inefficient use of labor
 Keeping people for the sake of minimizing
unemployment
 Discrimination of women – Japanese women
moving to MNCs
 Employment practices based on where you
graduated from vs performance based
employment practices
 Slow in adopting e-HR (e.g. payroll, leave,
information)
www.shrmglobal.org

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Equal Employment
Opportunity
 Caste system in India – Harijans (lowest
caste) (15-20% of India’s population) 
lower level jobs; dalits
 The state shall not discriminate against any
citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste,
place and birth or any form – from the
Constitution
 Positive change in urban vs rural
 Quotas for lower caste people in
organizations (positive discrimination)

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

HR terminologies in
Française
 Job description - synonymous with limitation
of freedom and exploitation
 Intrinsic rewards – seldom emphasized and
may be considered as flattery and mockery
 Leader – used to denote politicians and
have a negative meaning. Alternative –
boss or chief

http://www.sococo.com/frhrm.html

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Convergence-Divergence of
Performance Appraisals in
Taiwan, S’pore and HK
 HK>T, S (extrinsic motivation & rewards)
 S>T (group norms and individual values than
standard PA)
 S,T> HK (subordinate involvement in ideas &
decisions)
 HK>S,T (uncertainty avoidance  supervision)
 English in IB, cooperation (collectivism),
entrepreneurial orientation
Paik, Y., Vance, C.M. and Stage, H.D. (1996). The extentof divergence in human resource practice
across three Chinese national cultures: Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Human Resource
Management Journal, 6(2), 20-31.

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

 HRM emphases in 7
European countries
Role of HRM Den Fr Ger Net Sp Sw UK
Comp Ad      
SHRM    
Decentralization of     
HR activities
Integration of HR    
functions
Individualization of  
emp relationship
Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan
Clark, T. and Pugh, D. (2000). Similarities and differences in European conceptions of human resource management. International
Studies of Management & Organizations , 29(4), 84-100.
Work goals/values in
Brunei, M’sia and S’pore
 M>S (Learning)
 M>S (Interesting work)
 M>B (Social skills)
 S>B and B>M (Convenient work hours)
 B>S and M>S (Job security)
 B>S and M>S (Autonomy)
 S>B & M (Good physical working conditions)

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Work goals/values in
Brunei, M’sia and S’pore
 No sig. diff (Good salary)
 No sig. diff (Matching abilities and
experience)
 No sig. diff (Job variety)

Chan, C.C.A. and Pearson, C.A.L. (2001). Comparison of managerial work goals among
Bruneian, Malaysian and Singaporean managers. Journal of Management Development,
21(7), 545-556.

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

 Selection criteria

 Technical (3/7 Japanese, 2/10 US, 1/7

German)
 Interpersonal (2/7 J, 2/10 US)
 Cross-cultural (1/10 US)
 Cost considerations (1/10 US)
 International capability (1/7 G)
 Being viewed as a potential (3/7 G)
 Employee motivation (1/7 G)
 Negotiation (1/7 J)
 Language (1 J)
Peterson, R.B., Napier, N.K. and Shul-Shim,Copyright
W. (2000). Expatriate
2003-2006, Chris Chanmanagement: Comparison of MNCs

across four parent countries. Thunderbird International Business Review, 42(2), 145-166.
Women in senior
management
 Upward trend in UK, Aust and the US
 Rate of growth slower in certain countries
 Traditional views and expectations of girls and
women
 Government and ILO interventions
 Profiles (marital status, no. of dependents,
educational background compared to partner)
 Is Confucian ethics promoting male chauvinism?

Omar, A. and Davidson, M.J. (2001). Women in management: A comparative cross-

cultural overview. Cross-Cultural Management, 8(3), 35-67.

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Western organizational
leadership
 Achievement orientation
 Specificity orientation
 Universalistic orientation
 Secular authority

Ogbor, J.O. and Williams, J. (2003). The cross-cultural transfer of management

practices: The case for creative synthesis. Cross Cultural Management, 10(2), 3-23.

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

IHRM practices

 Compensation: Seniority-based, team-based vs

Merit-based, individual-based
 Selection: De-emphasize experience?
 Appraisal: Low (collectivist) to High (individualistic)
 Training & development vs Outsourcing (e.g. US)
 SHRM: low cost and differentiation strategies (Asia)
to no linkage (Mexico)

Von Glinow, M.A., Drost, E.A. and Teagarden, M.B. (2002). Converging on IHRM best practices: Lessons
learned from a globally distributed consortium on theory and practice. Human Resource Management,
41(1), 123-140.

Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan

Discuss
 Can pay-for-performance policy be transplanted to
seniority-based societies?
 Should and can EEO/AA policies be applied
elsewhere?
 Degree of autonomy & how much empowerment is
too much?
 Trust – willingness to share information, cooperate
and not take advantage of another person e.g.
China (low trust), Australia (high trust)
 Individualistic cultures – reward individual
performance vs collectivist cultures – reward
collective performance
Copyright 2003-2006, Chris Chan