Management of Human Resources - Essay Example

? Human Resource Management - Part I - Number and Number Number of Words: 300Q.1 What social, economic and/or cultural conditions give rise to the HR issues in this case? As a result of globalization, a significant change within the study of labour management includes issue related to international expatriation. Since the number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions and other forms of strategic alliances increases over the past decade, technology transfers through the expatriation of highly competitive employees and their spouses becomes inevitable. Expatriation of competitive employees is an important topic in the study of HR management. Expatriation of employees is very expensive due to higher salary requirements and added cost for air-fares, accommodation, allowances, and school fees. However, it is more costly if an expatriation project failed to meet the organizational goal. Since it is very costly on the part of the mother company to financially support the transfer of employees to a foreign country, a lot of HR managers are continuously searching for new ways on how they can cut down the high cost of expatriation by reducing the risk of expatriation failure. Q.2 Which three module topics do you intend to address within your answer to Assignment 2, and why have you chosen these? NB AT LEAST ONE TOPIC MUST BE FROM WEEK 6 OR LATER IN THE SCHEDULE. Aiming to determine how to lower down the cost of expatriation, topics that will be covered for assignment two includes: (1) selection considerations (i.e. financial costs, psychological costs, and ex-pat community); (2) importance of cross-cultural awareness; and (3) importance of intercultural communication. Examining the list of selection considerations is one way to lower down the initial cost of expatriates. By learning more about the family background, educational attainment, and employee’s acceptance of work flexibility, HR management could narrow down the chances of expatriation failure. Cross-cultural awareness and the ability of expats to communicate with foreigners contribute to the success of expatriation. Therefore, these issues need to be explored in order to increase the chances of a successful expatriation. Q.3 Which academic journal articles will you examine, and why have you chosen these? To address the proposed research topic, journals that discuss the cost of expatriation including the importance of cross-cultural awareness and communication in foreign countries will be examined. Journals Reason for Journal Selection Anderson (2001) This article discussed the importance of the ability of the expatriates to adjust to the life and culture of a foreign country in order to increase the success rate of expatriate assignments. It also examined the difference between sending out male and female employees for expatriation assignments. Caligiuri (2000) To increase the success rate of expatriation selection process, the author examined the impact of employee’s personality on cross-cultural adjustment. Kraimer, Wayne and Jaworski (2001) Tackled the importance of top management support in increasing the success rate of expatriation projects. Toh and Denisi (2005) Identified factors that will increase expatriation’s success rate. Grainger and Nankervis (2001) Discussed new HR approaches for expatriation (i.e. flexible payments based on employees’ skills and competencies; recruitment and selection process; etc.) Harvey (1996) Talked about expatriation dilemma related to the implicit costs when an expat manager returns to domestic market, direct cost of training, relocation, and other compensation. It also discussed the importance of training, effective selection criteria and compensation programs, and the significance of employees’ spouses and children to the success rate of expatriation projects. Linehan and Walsh (2000) Discussed the importance of a sound family relationship with the work performance of employees. Sinangil and Ones (2003) Discussed the significance of gender over the success rate of expatriation. McNulty, De Cieri and Hutchings (2009) Explored ways on how multinational companies can improve their return on investment on expatriation. *** End *** References Anderson, B. (2001). When expatriation means 'Follow that woman!'. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources , 39(3), pp. 109-116 . Caligiuri, P. (2000). Selecting Expatriates for Personality Characteristics: A Moderating Effect of Personality on the Relationship between Host National Contact and Cross-Cultural Adjustment. Management International Review , 40, pp. 61-80. Grainger, R. and Nankervis, A. (2001). Expatriation Practices in the Global Business Environment. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management , 9(2), pp. 77-92. Harvey, M. (1996). Addressing the Dual-Career Expatriation Dilemma. Human Resource Planning , 19(4), pp. 4-56. Kraimer, M., Wayne, S. and Jaworski, R. (2001). Sources of Support and Expatriate Performance: The Mediating Role of Expatriate Adjustment. Personnel Psychology , 54, pp. 71-99. Linehan, M. and Walsh, J. (2000). Work-family conflict and the senior female international manager. British Journal of Management , 11(1), pp. 49-58. McNulty, Y., De Cieri, H. and Hutchings, K. (2009). Do global firms measure expatriate return on investment? An empirical examination of measures, barriers and variables influencing global staffing practices. International Journal of Human Resource Management , 20(6), pp. 1309-1326. Sinangil, H. and Ones, D. (2003). Gender differences in expatriate job performance. Applied Psychology , 52(3), pp. 461-475. Toh, S. and Denisi, A. (2005). A Local Perspective to Expatriate Success. . The Academy of Management Executive , 19, pp. 132-146. Human Resource Management - Part II - Student’s Name Student Number Course Name and Number Name of Professor Date of Submission Number of Words: 2,507 Introduction As a result of globalization, a significant change within the study of labour management includes HR-related issue concerning the expatriation of highly competitive employees to work in another country, state, or region (Grainger and Nankervis 2001). Because of the increasing number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions and other forms of strategic alliances that has taken place over the past couple of decades, technology transfers through the expatriation of highly competitive employees and their spouses becomes inevitable. In the study of human resources management, several authors revealed that the process of expatriating competitive employees is one of the most important topics since the era of globalization (Liu 2011; Toh and DeNisi 2005). As a common knowledge, expatriation of highly competitive employees can be very expensive on the part of a business organization due to the fact that the company should be able to offer higher salary requirements which is based on the industry practice being followed in a foreign country on top of the added cost for air-fares, accommodation, allowance expenditures, and additional fee requirements for each of the expatriated employees’ further training programmes and/or further educational opportunities. Considering the business objectives of expatriating an employee to work abroad, it is even more costly on the part of the business organization to have an unsuccessful expatriation project. It is a myth that sending out highly qualified employees to a work expatriation project could generate high returns on the part of medium-scale and large-scale companies (Arman 2009; Andreason and Kinneer 2005). Because of the work-related and social-related stress associated with sending off employees to work in another country, several authors revealed that the psychological and social adjustments that is required with work expatriation could may employees go through emotional stress associated with the social and employment changes that will take place after accepting the expatriation project deal (Liu 2011; Andreason and Kinneer 2005; Cox 2004). Considering the fact that it is very costly on the part of the mother company to financially support the transfer of employees to a foreign country, this report will focus on discussing strategic ways on how the HR managers will be able to cut down the high cost of expatriation. As part of determining how to lower down the cost of expatriation, this report will discuss not only the selection requirements or consideration that each of the HR managers should consider (i.e. financial costs, psychological costs, and ex-pat community) but also the importance of cross-cultural awareness and intercultural communication when sending employees for expatriation. Strategic Ways on How the HR managers will be able to Cut-Down the High Cost of Expatriation In general, performance management is “an ongoing communication process, undertaken in partnership, between an employee and his or her immediate supervisor that involves establishing clear expectations and understanding about job expectations and how each employee can contribute to reaching the organizational goal” (Bacal 1999, p. 5). In most cases, organizational performance is being evaluated based on how the corporate managers and the rest of the employees are able to perform their assigned tasks effectively. Given that performance management is all about managing the human resources, Pulakos (2009, p. 3) revealed that performance management is one of the most difficult to implement within a business organization. The process of examining the list of selection considerations is one way to lower down the initial cost of expatriates. By learning more about the family background, educational attainment, and employee’s acceptance of work flexibility, the HR management could narrow down the chances of expatriation failure. On the other hand, cross-cultural awareness and the ability of expats to communicate with foreigners contribute to the success of expatriation. For these reasons, the importance of cross-cultural awareness and intercultural communication need to be explored in order to increase the chances of a successful expatriation. Selection Requirements or Consideration that each of the HR managers should Consider Before sending out a highly qualified employee to work in another country, HR managers should focus on establishing a set of selection considerations (i.e. financial costs, psycho-social ability of each highly qualified employee to adjust and cope with the demands of ex-pat community) (Lai 2011; Arman 2009). By doing so, there is a higher chance that the HR managers will be able to manage a successful expatriation project. When establishing a set of selection requirements and considerations for work expatriation, McNulty, De Cieri and Hutchings (2009) revealed that it is important on the part of the HR manager to consider the return on investment (ROI) associated with qualifying a particular employee to perform a given task in another country. When studying the cost associated with global staffing practices, the HR managers should consider all other factors that could impede the ability of a highly qualified employee to increase the business profitability of a company. In line with this, several studies identified these factors as the ability of each employee to socialize and communicate with other people (Caligiuri 2000). In some cases, the kind of family relationship each employee have could also affect the overall work performance of each employee (Linehan and Walsh 2000). Specifically the personal characteristics of each employee which includes their ability to mingle with other people socially and openness to external changes are two of the most common considerations that the HR managers should consider. For this reason, Caligiuri (2000) strongly suggest that the HR managers should carefully examine the personality traits of each employee before deciding on who to be assigned in an expatriation project. Aside from considering the ability of each employee to socially and psychologically adjust with the culture and tradition of another country, several authors suggest that the HR managers should also consider the ability of the pre-qualified employees to communicate with other nationals (Arman, 2009; Cox, 2004). Specifically the willingness of each of the highly qualified employee to be assigned for work expatriation could also affect the ability of each of the expatriated employees’ motivation and willingness to deliver higher profit returns for the company (Cheng and Lin 2009). Therefore, the HR manager should carefully determine whether or not the pre-qualified expatriates are willing to be assigned to work in another country or not. Regardless of gender issues, Lai (2011) revealed that the kind of emotions each of the expatriated employees has could somehow affect their individual work performance. For this reason, another important consideration that HR managers should pay attention to is the kind of family relationship each of the qualified employees has before sending them off for work expatriation. Several authors explained the significance of having a sound family relationship over the ability of each female employee to work better and be able to progress to senior management level (Lai 2011; Linehan and Walsh 2000). Since the kind of family relationship could somehow affect the ability of each employee to deliver their best work performance, it is important that each of the HR managers should take this issue into consideration when deciding on whether or not to qualify an employee for work expatriation. Importance of Cross-Cultural Awareness and Intercultural Communication when Sending Employees for Expatriation When working in a foreign country, Lai (2011) explained that each of the expatriated employee should not only have the required knowledge and skills to perform their assigned task but also to adopt with a different economic and political situation, another set of laws and policies, and the use of different languages. Basically, the ability of each of the expatriated employees to be able to deal with these differences increases the chances wherein they can work at their best without the need to experience emotional and psychological stress. Anderson (2001) stress-out the fact that it can be very difficult on the part of the expatriate partners to improve the ability of the expatriated employees to be able to adjust to the way of living in the host country. In case the expatriated employees failed to adjust with the culture and tradition in another country, the expatriated employees may not be able to fully give their best in terms of meeting the main business objectives of sending them out to work in a foreign country. Upon analyzing the unique working condition associated with work expatriation, organizational support being extended not only to the expatriated employee but also to the expatriation partners is equally important due to the fact that the lack of acceptance and support coming from the expatriation partners could somehow result to a significant decrease in the work commitment and work performances of both the local staff and the expatriated employee (Toh and DeNisi 2005). For this reason, several authors strongly suggest that the HR managers should be able to provide organizational support not only to the group of employees who has been expatriated to another country but also to the expatriation partners (Linehan and Scullion 2001; Anderson 2001). After examining the importance of enhancing the ability of the expatriated employees to be able to socially interact with the host nationals in the success of expatriation project, Caligiuri (2000) revealed that increase in inter-cultural communication between the expatriated employees and the host nationals does not only improve cross-cultural adjustment but also the success rate of expatriation. For this reason, the provision of organizational support to expatriated employees is considered very important in terms of allowing them to develop cross-cultural awareness and strengthen their inter-cultural communication skills which as necessary in making the expatriated employees to be able to adjust with the given situation. Between sending out male and female employees for expatriation purposes, Anderson (2001) revealed that there is a higher chance wherein a male employee who failed to adjust to the culture and tradition in another country increases the chances wherein this group of employees would tend to isolate themselves from the crowd as compared to female employees who has been assigned to perform the same task. For this reason, part of the organizational support given to each of the expatriated employees should focus on allowing them to learn more about the cultural differences of countries where the expatriated employee will be assigned to work. In line with this, Shim and Paprock (2002) explained that learning more about the culture and traditions of the host country will help in terms of allowing the expatriated employee reshape their attitude and work-related behavior in a more positive way. Even though men and women have different techniques use when achieving organizational goals, it is undeniable that both men and women are capable of delivering equal work performance (Sinangil & Ones, 2003). For this reason, Sinangil and Ones (2003) provided a more thorough explanation behind the importance of employing a more gender diverse expatriates. The study of cultural diversity is focused on acknowledging one or more socio-demograhic traits like gender, race, ethnicity, and age (Janssens and Zanoni 2005). Therefore, cultural diversity at work is about the ability of the HR manager to be able to integrate culture in terms of employees’ age, gender, mental or physical abilities and characteristics, race, ethnic heritage, sexual orientation, geographic location, work experience, income, religious beliefs, language spoken, organizational role and level, communication style used, family status, work style, and/or educational background. Under the study of cultural diversity, integration-and-learning perspective is more focused on encouraging employees to consider the development of relevant skills, insights and various perspectives as a valuable resources that could take advantage when defining its market, products and services, strategic plan, and over all business behaviors that could eventually enhance the quality of their work performance (Thomas and Ely 2001). Since integration-and-learning perspective enables the group of employees to easily learn and adapt with internal and external environmental changes (Ely et al. 2003, p. 324), this type of diversity perspective is often associated with diversity that is more favourable in improving the work processes of a business organization. Despite the fact that female employees are more capable of being able to adjust with the cross-cultural differences between two different countries, Linehan and Scullion (2001) revealed that the number of male employees who are officially assigned to perform managerial tasks outweighs the number of highly qualified female employees. With regards to the importance of organizational support in terms of increasing the success rate of expatriation projects, Linehan and Scullion (2001) revealed that “female expatriates are more on disadvantages in their chosen career because of the fact that the female expatriates does not receive full organizational support as compared to their male counterparts”. For this reason, the provision of organizational support to male and female expatriated employees is important in making expatriation projects more successful. Organizational support that can be provided to expatriated employees comes in different form. In line with this, Kraimer, Wayne and Jaworski (2001) conducted a research study to test the potential effects of the three kinds of organizational support (i.e. perceived organizational support, leader-member exchange, and spousal support) on expatriated employees’ ability to adjust with the work requirements, living in the foreign country, and the ability of expatriated employees to interact or communicate with the foreign nationals. Based on the research study results, Kraimer, Wayne and Jaworski (2001) concluded that the provision of perceived organizational support has a direct impact over the expatriated employees’ ability to adjust with the cross-cultural differences between the two countries but not the provision of spousal support. For this reason, the provision of perceived organizational support should be extended to expatriated employees in order to increase their work performance level. Conclusion and Recommendations The process of expatriating highly qualified employees to work abroad is very costly on the part of the mother company due to the added cost associated with transferring the worker to work in a foreign country (i.e. additional salary, added cost for air-fares, accommodation, allowance expenditures, and additional fee requirements for each of the expatriated employees’ further training programmes and/or further educational opportunities). Given the high cost of work expatriation, it remains the duty and responsibility of the HR managers to carefully examine and study the selection requirements or considerations before officially assigning a highly qualified employee to work outside the country. As part of the proposed strategic ways on how the HR managers will be able to cut-down the high cost of work expatriation, this report strongly suggest the need for HR managers to examine the ability of the pre-qualified employee to adjust with the cross-cultural differences between the mother company and other business and cultural practices being observed in a foreign-owned business company. Likewise, the ability of each employee to socialize and communicate with other people and the kind of family relationship each employee have should be taken into consideration to prevent the risk that the company will experience a failed expatriation project. To increase the chances wherein the highly qualified employees will be able to deliver a good work performance, the HR managers should be able to provide this group of employees with full organizational support regardless of gender differences. By increasing each of the employees’ cross-cultural awareness and ability to communicate with the foreign nationals, the HR managers can expect better work performance coming from the expatriated employees. *** End *** References Anderson, B. (2001). When expatriation means 'Follow that woman!'. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources , 39(3), pp. 109-116 . Andreason, A., and Kinneer, K. (2005). Repatriation adjustment problems and the successful reintegration of expatriates and their families. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management , 6(2), pp. 109-126. Arman, G. (2009). Repatriation Adjustment: Literature Review. Journal of European Psychology Students , 1(1). Bacal, R. (1999). Performance management. McGraw-Hill. Caligiuri, P. (2000). Selecting Expatriates for Personality Characteristics: A Moderating Effect of Personality on the Relationship between Host National Contact and Cross-Cultural Adjustment. Management International Review , 40, pp. 61-80. Cheng, H.-L., and Lin, C. (2009). Do as the large enterprises do? Expatriate selection and overseas performance in emerging markets: The case of Taiwan SMEs. International Business Review , 18(2009), pp. 60-75. Cox, J. (2004). The role of communication, technology, and cultural identity in repatriation adjustment. International Journal of Intercultural Relations , 28(3), pp. 201–219. Ely, R.J., Foldy, E.G., Scully, M.A., and The Center for Gender in Organizations Simmons School of Management. (2003). Reader in Gender, Work, and Organization. Blackwell Publishing. Grainger, R., and Nankervis, A. (2001). Expatriation Practices in the Global Business Environment. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management , 9(2), pp. 77-92. Harvey, M. (1996). Addressing the Dual-Career Expatriation Dilemma. Human Resource Planning , 19(4), pp. 4-56. Janssens, M., and Zanoni, P. (2005). ‘Many diversities for many services’. Human Relations , 58(3), pp. 311 - 340. Kraimer, M., Wayne, S., and Jaworski, R. (2001). Sources of Support and Expatriate Performance: The Mediating Role of Expatriate Adjustment. Personnel Psychology , 54, pp. 71-99. Liu, H.-H. (2011). The successful factor of expatriates in transnational enterprises. African Journal of Business Management , 5(5), pp.1832-1842. Linehan, M., and Scullion, H. (2001). European female expatriate careers: critical success factors. Journal of European Industrial Training , 25(8), pp. 392-418. Linehan, M., and Walsh, J. (2000). Work-family conflict and the senior female international manager. British Journal of Management , 11(1), pp. 49-58. McNulty, Y., De Cieri, H., and Hutchings, K. (2009). Do global firms measure expatriate return on investment? An empirical examination of measures, barriers and variables influencing global staffing practices. International Journal of Human Resource Management , 20(6), pp. 1309-1326. Pulakos, E.D. (2009). Performance Management: A New Approach for Driving Business Results. Wiley-Blackwell. Shim, I.-S., and Paprock, K. (2002). A study focusing on American expatriates’ learning in host countries. International Journal of Training and Development , 6(1), pp. 13-24. Sinangil, H., and Ones, D. (2003). Gender differences in expatriate job performance. Applied Psychology , 52(3), pp. 461-475. Thomas, D.A., and Ely, R.J. (2001). Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes - Statistical Data Included. Administrative Science Quarterly , 46(2), pp. 229 - 273. Toh, S., and DeNisi, A. (2005). A local perspective to expatriate success. Academy of Management Executive , 19(1), pp. 132-146. Read More