International Issues in Management and Employment Relations - Essay Example

International Issues in Management and Employment Relations Introduction More organizations are becoming global, more challenge for International Human resource management is to use expatriates on international assignments to complete strategically critical tasks. Multinational corporations (MNCs) use expatriates, not only for corporate control and expertise reasons in increasing competitive global markets, but also to facilitate entry into new markets and to develop international management competencies (Forster 2000). Today MNCs have acknowledged the fact that determinant of success in entry to the international market is quite dependent on management of international human resources. It is recognized that Human Resource Management (HRM) problems are more complex in the international environment. Cultural Issue A cultural difference in the home country to the country of assignment is quite learning for expatriate before he/she makes the decision to take on the project (Covin 1999). There is emphasis on cultural awareness training as part of the pre-departure training. This training is required where there’s a huge difference in the culture. Cultural issue takes the basis of any discussion that centers on the premise of providing oneness and unity within the human resources management undertakings and these have profound effects on the overall results that have already been envisaged by the human resource specialists beforehand. Hofstedes 5 Cultural Dimensions These are comprised of the following significant pointers: 1. Power Distance means the less powerful members of organizations accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. In high power distance countries, such as India, Mexico and South Korea, employees always accept and obey superior therefore the organization structure is centralized and tall. On the other hand, the structure of low power distance countries, for instance Finland, Ireland and Austria, is flat and decentralized. 2. Individualism refers to every person is expected to look after himself or herself and immediate family only. The high individualism countries, for example Canada, Sweden and the United State, usually are wealthy and more relevant to Protestant work ethic. In addition, there is more individual initiative and promotions depend on market value (Lazer 1971). On the collectivist side, people in communities are integrated and cohesive in groups and extended families, consisting of grandparents, aunts and uncles, always look after each other. The high collectivism countries, such as Pakistan and Indonesia, generally are poorer countries and concern Protestant work ethic less than high individualism countries (Hatch & Cunliff 2005). Furthermore, these countries also less individual initiative and promotions based on seniority. 3. Masculinity is the societies that womens values are less than men’s values therefore the gap between women’s values and men’s value are wide. Masculinity countries, such as Japan and Germanic countries are highly assertive, competitive and high job stress (Lawrence 1995). In contrast, the women’s nurturing values in femininity countries, for example Norway, are the same as men. Femininity countries regularly underline in quality of life and caring for others. Besides, these countries have friendly atmosphere and low job stress. 4. Uncertainty avoidance is the feeling people that dislike and avoid ambiguous situations. According to Hofstede studied, many people in some countries such as Japan, France and Germany are likely to avoid uncertainty conditions and also more emotional (Gibson 2006). Whereas, most people in uncertainty acceptance cultures, for instance the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong, are more contemplative and phlegmatic but less emotional expression. 5. Confucian dynamism in long term oriented countries, for example Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, normally emphasizes and concerns with future, persistence, thrift and a sense of shame. On the contrary, short term Confucian nations, which often find in English speaking countries such as England, the United State and Australia, are tend to orient toward past and present and respect for tradition, however present is more important. Trompenaars’ 7 Cultural Dimensions The 7 cultural dimensions are listed as follows: 1. Universalism versus Particularism, universalism search for general rules and applies judgment to every circumstance. While, particularism look for finding exemption and judgments are influenced by relationships and environments (Veiga 2005). 2. Individualism versus Collectivism, individualism emphasizes self, the right of individual and competitiveness whereas collectivism focuses on interest of group and social responsibility. 3. Neutrality versus Emotionalism, Neutral culture people do not display one’s feeling obviously and they also prefer calm and rationality (Beamer 2000). Emotionalism, people in affective culture favor a display of emotions. 4. Specificity versus Diffuseness, people in specific individual cultures see and analyze each element separately and specific cultures have public sphere larger than private sphere while diffuseness see elements as a whole and has massive private space and smaller public space. 5. Achievement versus Ascription, in an achieved society, social position depends on achievement of individuals however in an ascription community; individuals derive their status from external factors such as birth, gender and wealth. 6. Sequential Time versus Synchronous Time, people in sequential culture regularly strict to time, do one thing at a time and arrive on time. In synchronical culture, time is flexible and people often do several activities at the same time. 7. Internalistic and Externalistic, inner-directed people believe that nature can be controlled but outer-directed people have more harmony with the environment (Farbrother 2003). Analysis of Theories Analyzing the two in light of one another, cultural dimensions of Hofstede and Trompenaars are very useful for management practices and preparing expatriate managers. Both power distance and individualism strongly impact the suitable type of effective leaderships in each culture (Jackson 2004). In high power distance cultures, the ideal managers should be a sympathetic autocrat whereas good managers in small power distance nations should be an ingenious democrat. In collectivist countries, management should regard and motivate group loyalties among employee and incentives should be given collectively but in individualist cultures, incentive should be given to individuals. Masculinity and uncertainty avoidance have an effect on people inspiration which competition is more appropriate and successful in masculine society and in low uncertainty avoidance community, people are more acceptable personal risk. In addition, power distance and uncertainty avoidance also influence structure of organization that high power distance are related with more centralization, however in larger uncertainty avoidance is connected with more formalization (Clegg, Rhodes & Pitsis 2004). Similarly, according to Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions, expatriate managers in universalism environments should be gotten ready for rational and professional argument. On the other hand, when doing business in particularist countries, leaders should be gotten ready for personal irrelevancies which seem to go nowhere and should not regard personal. In communitarianism cultures, supervisor should more patience for time taken to discuss, to approve and also to build relationship. Conversely, in individualist countries, they should make decisions rapidly and pledge their organization to these decisions (Cappelli 1999). Emotional management in neutral culture should less display their emotions and aware that fewer emotions does not refer to lack of interest, on the contrary, leadership in emotional nations should response kindly to the emotional attachments of other person. Critique Critically speaking, it is essential to state that culture has had its due place within the related scheme of things. Culture forms the core ingredient when one speaks of the domains of the international human resources contexts. When doing business in diffuse cultures, expatriate manager should respect an individuals background, title and age, whereas they should attempt to get to the point and be efficient when discussion. In achievement cultures, status of individuals such as older and senior strongly affect the counterpart in the other group therefore leader should respect the status, while they should prepare a sufficient information and professional to convince other team and they also should respect the knowledge and data of the other group. Effective manager in future-oriented cultures should fix specific deadlines for job completions, but in past or present-oriented, they should set no deadlines for getting work done. In the inner-directed culture, supervisors should try to test the flexibility of challengers and win some goals and sometimes lose. Conversely, they should polite, continue good relationships with other groups and aim to win-win and lose apart when work in outer-directed culture. Conclusion Therefore it is important to suggest here that employment relations within the contexts of the human resource management regimes is an important consideration and more so when the talk goes out loud regarding the global realms. The cultural manifestation brings to light quite a number of issues and pointers, where nearly all of them touch upon the essential ingredients of the discussion at hand. What is most quintessential here is to discern the exact basis of the cultural intent within the organizational domains because these have a lasting impression on the people who hail from diverse backgrounds and settings. Bibliography Beamer, Linda. (2000). Finding a Way to Teach Cultural Dimensions. Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 63 Cappelli, Peter. (1999). Employment Practices and Business Strategy. Oxford University Press Clegg, S, Rhodes C. & Pitsis, T. (2004). Managing and Organizations. London: Sage. Covin, Jeffrey G. (1999). Corporate Entrepreneurship and the Pursuit of Competitive Advantage. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Vol. 23 Farbrother, Simon. (2003). Changing Organization Culture, One Face at a Time. Public Management, Vol. 85 Gibson, Cristina B. (2006). A Quarter Century of Cultures Consequences: A Review of Empirical Research Incorporating Hofstedes Cultural Values Framework. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 37 Hatch, M. J. & Cunliff, A. (2005). Organizational Theory. Oxford University Press. Jackson, Terence. (2004). Management and Change in Africa: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Routledge Lawrence, John J. (1995). Individualism and Confucian Dynamism: A Note on Hofstedes Cultural Root to Economic Growth. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 26 Lazer, William. (1971). Marketing Management: A Systems Perspective. John Wiley & Sons Veiga, John F. (2005). Spanning Boundaries and Borders: Toward Understanding the Cultural Dimensions of Team Boundary Spanning. 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