The cross-cultural impact on global people management principles- how national
culture differences shape how people are procured and utilized in MNOs.
INTRODUCTION
How many differences between two members of the same family who reside in the same home can you find? There must be a lot,
right? Consider all the variations that exist between persons who reside in various nations and/or were reared in various settings.
As the workforce has become so varied and multicultural as a result of globalization, "intercultural management" is a new area of
human resources. It has become more important than ever for HR to not only comprehend cultural differences but also to adjust
to them in order to prevent misunderstandings and adapt to these changes in order to further the objectives of the business.
Dealing with individuals from other cultures is nothing new, despite the impression that it is. Foreign commerce was first
established by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, and without the aid of any cross-cultural management studies, the trade was
solely dependent on the experience of the traders with one another. Yet, today, intercultural management is a science with ideas
and procedures for hiring, training, reviewing performance, paying employees, etc. Yet it goes without saying that human nature
is still unpredictable. All organization's HR policies nowadays must deal with complicated topics including social graces,
management, and leadership philosophies. Let's examine HR's function in cross-cultural relations now.
RECRUITMENT
The process of expatriating talent and assessing an expatriate's
readiness for international employment is a massive bag of
worms for human resources. Another crucial area to assess
whether an HR professional is adaptable, or a team player is
when hiring personnel from various nations.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
The contrasts between two cultures might induce what is
known as "culture shock" when you relocate from one region
to another. It could be challenging for employees to change
certain habits. For instance, in certain nations business
meetings take place in saunas, or having a drink or two while
working is deemed acceptable. Employees need to be
properly trained in order to get familiar with various
procedures.
COMMUNICATION
Conflicts resulting from cultural and ethical differences should
always be handled via good dialogue. Understanding the
complexity of various cultures and the other person's
perspective are made easier via communication. For instance,
the Japanese term "nemawashi" describes an unofficial
procedure for covertly amassing support and comments for a
proposed project or justification for change.
EXAMPLE - MULTI SUZUKI
The "paired leadership approach" used by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., where leadership
combines Japanese and Indian executives to satisfy the demands of both cultures,
decreasing fragmentation and promoting consistency, is one of the many successful
instances of cross-cultural management. coordination; constancy. Training includes
establishing cultural awareness and a team strategy. To help them overcome the
language barrier, employees also take language lessons. President O. Suzuki received
the Padma Vibhushan Award in 2007 in recognition of his excellent handling of the two
cultures.
The path to effective cross-cultural management is paved with difficulties. For instance,
it's quite usual to disregard reality because of the parent company's and its culture's
unintentional prejudice. Treating others, the way you want to be treated, as well as
shared trust, acceptance, and knowledge of fundamental truths, are the keys to
breaking this block. There will likely be many more success stories like Maruti Suzuki,
but only if everyone is willing to participate in this revolution that is coming.
CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Employing, guiding, and assisting individuals from various backgrounds is known as intercultural management. Recruiting and
hiring are the first steps in embracing diversity, and after a diverse team has been put together, much more work has to be done.
The team must be able to successfully communicate, coordinate, come to an agreement, and work toward shared objectives in
order for diversity to be advantageous.
A multicultural team of workers from many nations, nevertheless, does not naturally come together. It has to be developed
through effective cross-cultural management.
Managing the difficulties that diversity in the workplace entails includes:
 Identify and address any prejudices that staff members may have towards various cultures.
 ensuring that employees from minority groups don't feel excluded or devalued.
 Encourage workers from various backgrounds to be themselves at work.
In order to ensure efficiency in the workplace, you must understand how to implement cross-cultural management policies and
practices.
In general, cross-cultural management initiatives seek to safeguard employees' physical and emotional well-being as well as to
foster positive and gratifying interactions with coworkers. As a result, intercultural management is a crucial part of managing
heterogeneous teams.
HRM BEST PRACTICES
The HRM models, such as soft/hard, best fit, RBV, and best practice models presented by various researchers to represent the
notion of HRM, are a glaring example of how the HRM environment is changing. "Hard" and "soft" approaches to HRM are the
two basic types.
There is ongoing discussion concerning the distinctiveness of HRM best practices. Several studies discuss the universality of best
practices in HRM, while others contend that there are only excellent practices in HRM. Nonetheless, the distinctiveness of the
best practice HRM concept is supported by a wealth of empirical data. There are a lot of best practices that have been suggested
by different academics to attain greater performance in businesses. There are several variations of these HRM best practice
models, including universal ones. High participation models, HR practices, and high commitment models. Yet, implementing best
practices in MNOs is a difficult process that necessitates major organizational change in a multi-cultural setting.
INTEGRATED BUNDLES OF HRM BEST PRACTICES
An integrated HRM best practice bundle aims to combine all the best practices that interact with one another to significantly
improve the organization's ability to compete. By comprehending the significance of horizontal integration and the ineffectiveness
of isolated individual methods, this concept was developed. This method assumes that workers are accustomed to high levels of
involvement and information exchange, as well as guaranteed future employment and a status-free workplace. MNOs should take
into account best practices in the implementation phase since only a mix of practices may make sense and give the organization a
competitive edge.
REFERENCES
“Cross-Cultural Management”. (n.d.). Obo, available at: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199846740/obo-9780199846740-0074.xml
“https://study.com/academy/lesson/cross-cultural-training-programs-components-delivery-methods.html”. (n.d.). , available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/cross-cultural-training-programs-components-delivery-methods.html
Jose, D. (2022), “Impact of culture on Human Resource Policies.”, Synergita Blogosphere, 11 September, available at: https://www.synergita.com/blog/cultural-impact-on-human-resource-policies/
John Keells Group - Confidential
SEVEN HRM BEST PRACTICES
After modifying "Pfeffer (1994)"'s 16 HRM best practices, which are regarded as one of the universal sets of HRM practices and a
high-commitment model, "Pfeffer (1998)" proposed the 7 HRM best practices. They include information sharing, status parity
reduction, self-managed and successful teams, contingent remuneration, substantial training, and employment security. Here,
employment security is explained in terms of the agreement and commitment between a person and an organization in terms of
job security and satisfaction. One of the key HRM best practices in MNOs is to encourage employees to share valuable
information in order to boost production while avoiding unnecessary expenditures on hiring, educating, and developing these
workers.
Choosing candidates who have the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to provide the firm a competitive advantage and
contribute value is the ideal method of selective hiring. MNOs should also take staff engagement and training into account when
making recruiting decisions. Complete training best practices show that the company should spend a lot on training and
development to maintain its personnel at the top of their areas, even when it is expensive from a financial standpoint. Diverse
workforces in MNOs, however, can provide significant challenges for training managers. Another significant problem for an MNO
is delivering consistent training and development across all of its international subsidiaries owing to linguistic and cultural
variances.
The fourth aspect of Pfeffer's (1998) HRM best practices is information sharing, which reduces information openness between
the company and employees in order to foster a culture of trust and acquire data from individuals with extensive knowledge of
business operations. Transparency and information sharing are essential amongst MNO affiliates. Yet, to facilitate information
interchange, modern information technology has introduced ERP systems into MNOs. Creating an organization built on high
performance teams to achieve goals allows people to feel empowered and responsible inside the business. This is another smart
technique.
The sixth best practice in HRM is contingency compensation, which takes into account everything to do with pay and benefits,
including obtaining the appropriate employees above-average salary and paying it equitably. The third aspect of HRM best
practice identified by Pfeffer (1998) is reducing quality differential, which aims to break down organizational boundaries by
uniformly enforcing employment terms and conditions across the workforce. To prevent intercultural disputes, it should be
adopted in mobile network operators by thoroughly understanding the cultural factor across subsidiaries.
CULTURAL IMPACT ON HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES
Multinational companies are growing at such a fast pace that there is no escape from adapting to cultural changes. Cultural
diversity and its impact on human resource policies has been an important topic of discussion.
Different countries have different management and leadership styles, policies and practices, reporting structures, and control
systems. E.g. The performance pay scheme popular in the US and UK cannot be successfully implemented in another country.
Similarly, the Japanese spend more on social and recreational activities than the Americans. Organizational policies on training,
staffing, motivation, etc. are affected by cultural changes.
RECRUITING STRATEGY
Each organization and nation has a unique recruitment strategy. Employing personnel is
influenced by the following cultural attitudes:
 Ethnocentrism: This is the belief that one's own culture is superior to all others. The
organization tends to embrace both the laws and customs of the host nation and its own
as it grows its operations.
 Polycentrism: A local manager of a foreign subsidiary is chosen by the parent firm
because he is more familiar with the customs, attitudes, and other opportunities of the
host nation.
 Geocentrism: Anybody from anywhere in the world can apply for a certain position
inside the company. As a result, employees interact more and form stronger ties when
they are relocated to other industries throughout the world and gain cultural awareness.
SELECTION POLICY
Every country has a unique selection procedure. Some nations, like those in Asia,
have a protracted selection process, while others, like the United States, have a
brief one. Nonetheless, after a selection process, professional psychologists will
typically have sessions with you in an effort to inform you of the many cultures,
occupations, and ways of life in other nations.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES
This is the process through which each employee becomes familiar with their
role, the business, and the culture. Nonetheless, it might be difficult for a
manager to teach employees from diverse nations who have distinct cultures,
languages, foods, clothes, values, and social mores. Arabs enjoy close
conversation while Americans prefer interpersonal communication and prefer to
keep a gap of more than 6 inches. Also, it might be challenging to effectively
communicate because words and gestures have various connotations
throughout the world. Training individuals from diverse cultures is highly
challenging for HR managers.
COMPENSATION POLICY
Compensation policies should consider a number of factors, such as taxes and living
expenses. The tax system, cost of living, retirement plans, and cost of living vary
greatly from state to state. Hence, while deciding on salary, a recruiting manager
should take into account all of the aforementioned aspects. Always demand a higher
salary than you were used to receiving in your own country.
LEADERSHIP APPROACH
Every nation has a unique approach to leadership. Some are formal, others are informal,
some have lofty structures, some have broad structures, some are decentralized, and
some are informal. The manager's job becomes more difficult as a result of this change
in leadership style. In contrast to the UK, Germany has a more centralized system of
decision-making. The Koreans use a paternalistic leadership style, the Japanese like to
lead in quiet, and the Arabs view silence as a sign of weakness