Issues Arising in International Human Relations Management - Essay Example

Human Resource Management refers to the management of an entity’s workforce or employees.  It is also based on the postulation that the workforce of an organization consists of individuals with different objectives and needs. It therefore requires effective and efficient strategic focus within the organization to ensure that peoples resources facilitates the achievement of organizational goals.[i] According to Dave Ulrich, there are four major fields which help in defining the HRM function; these include the strategic associate which helps in putting human resource in line with business approach, the administration specialist which helps in restructuring organizational processes, the employee champion which aims at listening and reacting to employee needs and finally the change manager which helps in managing transformations within the organization.

HRM therefore involves a number of activities such as making decisions on the staffing needs of the organization, recruiting and training employees, performance issues and ensuring that employee and management practices conform to the relevant regulations.[1] International Human Resource Management (IHRM) can therefore be defined as a set of activities aimed managing organizational personnel at worldwide rank to accomplish managerial goals and attain competitive pro over other competitors at both nationwide and worldwide level.

IHRM includes typical HRM functions such as staffing, assortment, guidance and growth, performance assessment and firing done at international level and extra activities such as global skills management and expatriate management.[2] Since IHRM is concerned with personnel at multi-national companies, it involves managing three types of employees which include home country employees, host country employees and third country employees. Since IHRM is much demanding than the domestic HRM, it has a number of issues connected to it including matters dealing with international taxation, international orientation and transfer, administrative services for expatriates, host government relations, and language translation services in IHRM.

Expatriates are subject to international taxation where they are subject to tax liabilities in both the home and host governments. Tax equalization policies should therefore be designed to ensure that there is no tax incentive or disincentive associated with any particular international assignment. Management of tax equalization policies is always complicated by wide variations in tax laws across host nations and by the possible time lag between the completion of an expatriate assignment and the settlement of domestic and international tax liabilities.

In recognition of these difficulties, many multinational firms retain the services of a major accounting firm for international taxation advice. Involves planning for pre departure training through providing for immigration and travel details, housing, shopping, medical care and schooling information. It also involves finalizing remuneration details such as scheming of salary, determination of various international deductions, and taxation treatment. Multinational organizations should also provide administrative services for expatriates in the host government in which it operates.

In this case ethical issues do come about when one or more practice is legal and accepted in the host country where it operates and is unethical and illegal in the home country. Such issues add complexity in providing for administrative services to expatriates.[5]