The Personnel Management Concept - Essay Example

Executive Summary

The paper represents a case study report, which regards the fact that with the transition to a market economy system, the personnel management concept has changed to a great extent. This is due to the fact that many of the enterprises (organizations) were able to have an access to foreign markets, and, have, as a consequence, the cooperation with foreign partners. In the context of the internationalization of production and globalization of markets, the growth of migration and trade flows have become a problem in the management of personnel, characterized by cultural and national contradictions which need to be solved. In science, there are many approaches to personnel management, such as strategic, systematic, integrated, integration, marketing, functional, process, dynamic, regulatory, administrative and others, but none of them takes into account the cultural differences, language issues and national staff. This problem can be solved by the formation and implementation of an enterprise cross-cultural approach, personnel management, unifying all the existing approaches in this area. This aspect has caused the urgency of this article.

In addition to this, the paper consists of the following parts, Introduction, Case Study Analysis (with the necessary subsections), Conclusion, and Recommendations. Each part of the report in question is aimed at analysis and recommendations for the case study. The paper was written with the usage of the most recent sources in the field of expertise.

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summery …................................................................................................................2

2. Introduction …............................................................................................................................4

3. Case Study Analysis…................................................................................................................4

3.1. What are the causes of those problems?.…..............................................................................4

3.2. What are the tensions that can arise in the management of work-life in a global context?......6 3.3. What is their potential impact for employees and the organisation? …...................................6

3.4. What are the likely consequences if these problems are not addressed?..................................7

4. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................9

5. Recommendations........................................................................................................................9

6. Reference List............................................................................................................................11

Assessment 1: Case Study Report

Introduction

Modern labor market represents a wide set of specific requirements, which call for the development of new approaches or renovation of existing approaches to training of the professionals and specialists. The more tangible becomes a demand for professionals who are fluent in several foreign languages and, as a consequence, are aware of the cultural differences in order to carry out professional activities (Furtmueller, Wilderom & Tate 2011). As they are related to education issues, the foreign language of professional communication of professionals means that the current stage of the evolution of the professional economic context, knowledge of accounting functions as the foundation of the process of cooperation in the professional field will require the development of new campaigns to teaching foreign languages as the language of specialization (Harzing & Feely 2008).

The present case study report regards the issue of language skills and knowledge which goes along with the cultural awareness in the field of management and HR management. The represented case study is being analysed from the perspective of causes, tensions, possible effect on employees and hypothetical consequences of the situation. On this basis, there are several recommendations elaborated in order to have the issue solved and lead the business in question to the successful level. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse a case study (which is devoted to Dandan Yuwen) in order to come up with a set of useful recommendations.

Case Study Analysis

What are the causes of those problems?

Having regarded the case study, it is possible to single out several types of problems Dandan Yuwen and her staff encountered. First of all, the main problem was the language skills improper techniques; secondly, the difference in time zone and new reporting line / authority ; thirdly, the language fluency / communication and the inability to use the proper language skills which was caused by the lack of self confidence of Dandan Yuwen.

Having these problems singled out, it is possible to state that the basis of economics intercultural foreign language learning process and communication in the field of professional expertise is to be conducted throughout the enterprise Dandan Yuwen works for. It has to be a study of the features of business culture of the country of studied language. In this case, from the perspective of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, business culture presupposes the ability to make sure that all the information communicated by phone is properly understood regardless of the technical problems of connection (Juiz & Toomey 2015). Formation of knowledge of the specifics of the business culture is believed to be inherent in a particular national-cultural community, and, consequently, requires the linguistic and extralinguistic aspects of professional (economic) discourse (Mahadevan 2014).

The modern age of information has reduced the time and distance to transmit the message. It translates the global economy with industrial production to the production of goods and services defined in the first place, information systems (Steers et al. 2010). The information revolution overestimates our world, without taking into account neither the border nor geography. Once the limited information of the printed word in the last two decades has paved the way to computers and the Internet (Xiaochi 2012). Computer communication erases the boundaries between spoken and written English. Communication via computer / telephone promotes the use of at least the official spoken language and is tolerant to diverse and at the same time highly individual style (Kinney 2016). This is reflected in the language of the World Wide Web, which replaces the academic language.

What are the tensions that can arise in the management of work-life in a global context?

Doing business internationally means access to new markets, which means that there is a need in the translation and localization of documents, a large number of advertising, marketing and other information. In addition, all documents must comply with the requirements and legislations of different countries (Jarrold 2006; Graf & Mertesacker 2009). In our high-tech age of business erased all boundaries (Steers et al. 2010). During a detailed examination, it is possible to face the pitfalls in regard to the law of many countries. In the implementation of the international business activities, many companies are faced with difficulties in workflow.

Thus, it is possible to single out the following types of tension, such as work – family conflict, imbalance of personal life and work; stress from family, physical, mental health; professional incapability to communicate the necessary information, etc. All these tensions tend to be extremely negative from the point of view of professional activities since they produce an undesirable effect on the employee's personality and attitude.

What is their potential impact for employees and the organisation?

The investigation of the potential impact for employees and the organisation is of a great importance. The problems described in the case study are to be fixed in order to produce the positive impact on both employees and organization (Pauluzzo 2010). The study of the behavior of people from different cultures and those who work together for the same organizational environment, is engaged in cross-cultural management. Based on the foregoing, we have derived the following definition. The cross-cultural management is a management of relations arising at the interface of national and organizational cultures, research into the causes of intercultural conflicts and their neutralization, and finding use in the management of the organization patterns of behavior, characteristic of the national business culture. In addition, the potential impact can manifest in morale, stress / fatigue / burnout; company's loss of the business opportunities and, finally, the reduced productivity.

Thus, cross-cultural management implementation will have a positive impact and will reduce the number of problems. This is due to the fact that it is expanding the area of the organizational behavior at the expense of the multicultural dimension (Steers et al. 2010). The purpose of the implementation of cross-cultural management at the company in question is to shape the overall corporate value system, which would be perceived and recognized by every member of the multinational group. We are talking about the formation of a particular corporate culture that arose on the basis of the national business culture, harmoniously combines some aspects of the culture of each nation, but not repeated in full in either of them.

What are the likely consequences if these problems are not addressed?

Each employee is inherently unique and is a carrier of their own culture. The notion of culture is closely related to the concept of cross-cultural management, so it is necessary to determine its nature. Culture and the lack of its knowledge can bear numerous consequences and problems (Heikkilä & Smale 2011). In general, Culture is defined as a set of achievements of mankind in the industrial, social and spiritual sense (Pliopaite 2010). Social and cultural preferences and patterns of staff, which are elements of the organizational culture of the enterprise (organization) and lead to the following consequences,

• how employees relate to their work and their enterprise as a whole;
• what issues are concerned by the employees as they prioritize in addressing emerging problems, what methods and means they are about to use to solve problems;
• lack of knowledge how to build staff interaction;
• lack of knowledge what motivation has a significant impact on staff;
• what approaches to leadership have a greater impact (Steers et al. 2010).

It should be noted that the socio-cultural characteristics of the people are not something constant – they tend to change over time, so cross-cultural communication is also subject to change. However, each nation has a number of socio-cultural characteristics, and the knowledge of which allows to build an effective communication within the company. Thus, culture is, above all, a trend of predictability (Graf & Mertesacker 2009; Dyer 2015). In business, it is important that people operated the same concepts and were predictable.

Another consequence consists in following. Currently, enterprise extends beyond the national market, including people with different cultural characteristics. Under these conditions, the efficiency of business activities of organizations depends on the efficiency of personnel management with a variety of cultural differences (Alvesson and Kärreman 2007). Improper management of such personnel in the business of having cross-cultural issues, defined by language, religion, politics and law, geography, art, education, technology and other vital values.

In order to avoid the negative consequences which are logic from the case study, it is important to have the cross-cultural management research involved the cultural differences at both the international and national levels, both outside and within national boundaries. It covers the description of the behavior of people – representatives of different cultures, working in / for the same organization, and comparison of the behavior of people in organizations located in two or more different countries.

Conclusion

Having analyzed the case study in question, it is possible to conclude that the relevance of the development of management in the case study about Dandan Yuwen is predetermined by the fact that the interaction of people from different countries and cultures is carried out against the background of an increasing variety of forms and methods of organization and management of multinational companies, international projects, intercountry working groups (global commands), strategic alliances. Acquisition of a foreign language is one of the most important steps in organization of staff at the moment and, of course, considered as the criterion of success professional activities staff.

Recommendations

It should be noted that it is insufficient understanding of the opponent's culture is only on a rational level, the successful conduct of business with foreign partners or abroad requires the knowledge of the so-called foreign cultural affective orientation, ie the knowledge of the criteria sentiment, emotion and so on of another culture. In addition, it is essential to have the behavioral aspect of adapting to a foreign culture, using a range of formed algorithms and stereotypes needed to perform certain actions in specific situations. The system of national and cultural features that are recommended to Dandan Yuwen to be taken into account in the conduct of business with foreign partners in foreign countries, can include options such as,

• Background information: history, political system, the state language, the religion, the demographic situation in the country;
• cultural orientations: cognitive styles, typical of the country's inhabitants, negotiating strategies, values, prevailing among the local population;
• business practices: order of business meetings, negotiations, partners entertainment business, etc (Bennis 2015);
• Protocol: form greetings, forms of address to business partners, gestures, clothing, gifts.

This combination of parameters is recommended to be aimed at forming in the mind of the recipient sufficiently complete picture of the national and cultural characteristics of the country and its business environment. But here the question arises, how deep and lasting can be mastery of such knowledge in the absence of regular practice, requiring constant revitalization of knowledge as a foreign language, and relevant knowledge of the extralinguistic nature (Steers et al. 2010).

In this context, it seems appropriate to carry out a distinction between two interrelated foreign language teaching professional communication systems in which there is a formation of intercultural communicative competence: education system in high school and 3 corporate training systems that are understood as additional training in the production process.

Speaking of strategy formation of intercultural communicative competence in a foreign language within a particular staff, it is first necessary to point out the relationship of these strategies on the stage of training. The predominance of the initial stage of the situational context or type of education, subject.

At an advanced stage of learning, the strategies of intercultural communicative competence in the field of professional communication depend on the formation of such skills as adequate reading comprehension (or listened), professionally-oriented text, its interpretation, the ability to draw the own conclusions on the basis of the read (heard) data. Accordingly, the strategy in question, will be used to identify and develop the genre-stylistic peculiarities of speech products professional orientation; the characteristics of structural construction works written speech sphere of business communication (in particular, adopted in a particular business culture characteristics of commercial correspondence texts); the adopted argumentation models for a particular culture; typical deployment of professionally-oriented text (scientific, popular scientific, journalistic) of the culture of the business logic; and, finally, the possible deviations from the formal register in the oral or written professional communication, etc.

Reference List

Alvesson, M. and Kärreman, D., 2007. Unraveling HRM: Identity, ceremony, and control in a management consulting firm. Organization Science, 18(4), pp.711-723.

Bennis, W 2015, 'Managing the Dream: Leadership in the 21st Century', Antioch Review, 73, 2, pp. 364-370, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 May 2016.

Dyer, J 2015, 'The Façade of Management Commitment And Why It's So Destructive', Industry Week/IW, 264, 7, pp. 18-22, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 May 2016.

Furtmueller, E., Wilderom, C. and Tate, M., 2011. Managing recruitment and selection in the digital age: e-HRM and resumes. Human Systems Management, 30(4), pp.243-259.

Graf, A. and Mertesacker, M., 2009. Intercultural training: six measures assessing training needs. Journal of European Industrial Training, 33(6), pp.539-558.

Harzing, A.W. and Feely, A.J., 2008. The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 15(1), pp.49-61.

Heikkilä, J.P. and Smale, A., 2011. The effects of ‘language standardization’on the acceptance and use of e-HRM systems in foreign subsidiaries. Journal of World Business, 46(3), pp.305-313.

Jarrold, C., Purser, H.R. and Brock, J., 2006. Short-term memory in Down syndrome. Working memory and neurodevelopmental conditions, pp.239-266.

Juiz, C, & Toomey, M 2015, 'To Govern IT, or Not to Govern IT?', Communications Of The ACM, 58, 2, pp. 58-64, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 May 2016.

Kinney, J 2016, 'Developing Ready Leaders for the Front Line', TD: Talent Development, 70, 5, p. 80, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 May 2016.

Mahadevan, J., 2014. Intercultural engineering beyond stereotypes: Integrating diversity competencies into engineering education. European Journal of Training and Development, 38(7), pp.658-672.

Pauluzzo, R., 2010. How cultural determinants may affect HRM: The case of Italian companies in China. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 18(1), pp.78-95.

Pliopaite, I., 2010. Intercultural Competence Development in EU Banking Sector. Mokslas: Lietuvos Ateitis, 2(2), p.75.

Steers, R.M., Sanchez-Runde, C.J. and Nardon, L., 2010. Management across cultures: Challenges and strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Xiaochi, Z.H.A.N.G., 2012. Intercultural HRM Study on" Culture Clash" from Chinese Enterprises Investment in Brazil. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 2(5), p.47.