The Human Resource Management in an International Setting - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Literature Review 3. Critical Analysis and Discussion 4. Conclusion Introduction: Migration in every country leads to a change in the labour market. Countries like UK grant immigration rights to the large numbers of immigrants every year and openly allow immigrations from citizens of their former colonies. The attitudes of a country towards immigration vary greatly on the particular employment patterns and needs at that given time, and these attitudes may change over time. This paper will assess the changes in the labour market of the UK due to the immigrations and its impact on the human resource management in an international setting. A flow of new migrants in any country may have a huge impact on the labour market, however the positive or negative aspect of the impact greatly depends on the jobs being created due to the spending of the immigrants to boost businesses and their production, the drop-off in the activity of the existing population such as the retirement or number of dependent population, and the capabilities of immigrants to fill the existing gaps of skills. Such factors are considered when it is decided whether migration has actually affected the labour market of a particular country negatively or positively. Moreover, in the UK, analysts suggest that the immigrations have led to a huge impact on the labour market which is mostly regarded as a positive one (Adesina, 2008, p. 72). Literature Review: According to the statistics and trends which have been observed in the labour market since the 1940s when the mass migration took place, it can be concluded that there have been several positive impacts of migration when it comes to the diversity and the increase in skill levels. But at a critical level of analysis, it can be said that there have been many distributional impacts which means that competition levels in the market rose and businesses experienced more rivalry. As the years have passed since the 1940s, the pressure of migration has increased and the impact of immigration on the UK local communities have also been obvious especially at a time of rapid change that Britain is going through continually from time to time. This is why countries need to maintain the laws and policies for migration and control the negative effects (Ham, 2010, p. 152). Migration has taken place in a number of countries which had opportunities in the labour market. However, due to this migration, the prominent labour markets such as that of the UK have been overcrowded which has resulted in the reduction of wages. The impact of immigration on the labour market is rather a challenging task which is dependent on a number of factors. Some of the important factors are the characteristics of the migrants including skill level, family composition, age distribution, health status, temporary or permanent immigration, and fertility patterns. From these characteristics, the skill level is one of the main factors which determine the impact on the labour markets. Immigrants that are highly skilled tend to work in highly paid jobs and thus eligible of paying more taxes than those migrants who have low wages and are low skilled (Din, 2012, p. 19). Moreover, the participation in welfare programmes also decreases with the skill level. In contrary, it has been analyzed that since a long time immigration in the UK has been beneficial economically for the markets. It has been said that cutting down the numbers of the foreign workers would make it tougher for the UK Government to clear the deficit. Immigration has thus had a positive change in the labour market and public finances (Nowotny, 2009, p. 155). It creates a positive picture for the Government’s finances. As the immigrants are more likely to be of the working age, they tend to pay more taxes and are less likely to have expenses for education, healthcare, long-term care, and pension expenditure (Briscoe, 2012, p. 45). A recent government report showed that the migrants in the UK are needed to raise the cost of pensions, NHS, and social care. If immigration rates run at 140,000 annually, then the national debt will also reach to 99 per cent of the total economy in the next 50 years. There are still a huge number of immigrants entering the UK labour market and without them; the national debt will soar to about 175 per cent of the GDP. However critiques also suggested that the public finances of the UK are healthier because of immigration only in the short term ((Dustmann & Fabbri, 2005, p. 324). Experts also suggest that the immigration has temporary beneficial impacts on the public finances as they are industrious and young migrants but they can become the net consumers of public services as they settle, grow older, and start their families. As the labour market increases, there is a direct impact on the supply and demand for goods and services within the market (Dustmann & Fabbri, 2005, p. 324). Immigration has an effect on the labour markets of the particular as well as the human resource management (HRM) sector. The immigration factor affects the human resource management in the international setting and the functioning of the human resource has also changed. HRM is about managing the people that work in an organization. The subject is purely related to humans and manages the humans in a working organization. The function of HRM is to manage the people in order to match the needs of the organization to the abilities and skills of its employees. HRM is responsible to managing people in the organization, bringing them together, motivating them, helping them in performing their work, and solving their problems (Vargas-Silva, 2014, p. 41). Globalization is becoming a part of every organization gradually. Globalization is the reality of the organizations according to which organizations must establish and implement tools, models, and frameworks for HRM management. This combination provides the HRM managers a unique blend of theory and practice through which they understand and apply employment structures, practise, and HRM strategies in a global and comparative context. The International Human Resources Management provides a conceptual and practical tool which is necessary in order to address the globalization impact on the human resources practice of an organization. In UK, the mass migration has also impacted the human resource management of organizations in the international settings. As immigrants enter the economy from different cultural and ethnical backgrounds, it becomes important for HRM managers to understand and value their needs in order to make them an honest part of the organization (Dickmann & Muller-Camen, 2006, p. 589). HRM is most important when it comes to immigration in the UK and the impact on the economy because organizations work with its people and people work in their full potentials with effective HRM strategies. Organizations that welcome these immigrants must have effective HRM strategies that attract the workers and they are motivated to give their full potentials to their work. Employees are motivated and efficient when their potentials and worth is recognized and they feel an important part of the organization (Paul, 2010, p. 76). It is the duty of the human resource managers to use strategies that would motivate the international immigrants in cross-cultural and multi-national settings. Moreover, in recent years due to globalization, not only the demand of the organizations have changed to get more diverse ideas and workforce but there has also been an increase in the number of multinational organizations in the UK. It has been viewed that these multinational organizations have highly benefitted from the increased immigration rates. They have expanded their businesses in the UK and for the operations they need massive labour force. On the other hand, migration has lead to a rise in the social economic inequalities. Thus, it could be said that migration has had both positive and negative effects on the US market. Critical Analysis and Discussion: It can be assessed that the human resource agenda in the private and public corporations has highly changed due to the migration rates. Immigrant workers have been observed to be more skilled than the UK local workers. However, the multinational organizations have adopted a new and improvised system of human resource management to help the foreign immigrants in working and adjusting in organizations. There are certain best practices for human resource managers which would help in handling the impact of foreign immigrants in the UK organizations. The first practice is to be responsive. An HR professional must have the quality and tendency to be responsive at all times for the immigrants as they have several questions and they need support. The manager must know how to answer all his questions and solve the queries. The second most important practice is to learn to make lives of immigrant employees easier. The guidelines, reports and other important documents must be given to the workers in clear language and formats so that they can take their time in reading them and understanding them (Pinnington, 2010, p. 98). HRM professionals are aware and knowledgeable about the immigration law issues and it is their responsibility to educate the other employees about these laws and policies. In order to ensure that the workers are working efficiently and legally in the organization in order to provide a beneficial shift to the economy, the HR managers must ensure that they are aware of the laws and rules. Moreover, the HR manager must also educate the employee about the laws and policies of the organization to ensure that certain acts of discrimination and unfairness are not practiced (Thomas, 2013, p. 65). It is also merely the responsibility of the HR manager to be creative and create a team atmosphere at workplace with the workers of several different backgrounds. HR managers must adopt strategies that help workers to work together towards common goals ignoring any personal differences that they have with one another. They should be motivated to work for the company and for mutual aims rather individual performance. Creative ways would include planning meetings, parties, trips, and other activities together so that the employees spend more time together to know one another and provide support. It is very important to create a personal relationship which would help the employees to work together. Immigration in the UK has affected the HRM policies and strategies greatly. The organizations in the UK that give a chance to the immigrants and promote their skills tend to adopt strategies that promote multi-cultural bonding and collaboration (Raymer, 2010, p. 228). The British have adopted ideas of multiculturalism in their school curriculums as well which educate the children about the important of a multicultural society. In a similar way, the HR professionals tend to educate the employees about the importance and value of multiculturalism in the British society and economy. It promotes new ideas, different styles, different ideologies, and different approaches which tend to make work more creative and diversified (Kahanec, 2009, p. 41). Mass immigration in the UK affected a number of areas including the economy and the labour market. Internationally the HRM has also been affected by the increasing number of migrants in the country. With the application of fundamental principles of HRM, the businesses of the UK were able to boost their production and benefit their economy to improve the national debt. Immigrants are still a huge portion of the UK labour market and businesses are successfully boosting their performance in making the economy better and stable (Smith, 2003, p. 195). Thus, the British government highly encourages working class and skilled immigrants even though at times it can have an adverse effect on the British-born workers. The advantages of having skilled immigrants are much higher than the critiques. Conclusion: However, immigrants that have entered the UK labour market ever since the 1940s have greatly contributed in the stability of the economy. They have highly impacted the labour market positively as they bring more skill and diversity in the organizations. The impact of immigration on the HRM is also noticeable as the HR managers have to adopt new strategies and policies in order to manage the diversified workforce but successful strategies of many organizations have lead to a successful boost in the UK economy due to immigrations. References Adesina, K. 2008. A Simple Guide to UK Immigration. UK: Lulu.com Briscoe, D. 2012. International Human Resource Management. UK: Taylor & Francis Dickmann, M. & Muller-Camen, M., 2006. “A typology of international human resource management strategies and processes”. Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol.17, Issue. 4, pp. 580-60 Din, I. 2012. The New British: The Impact of Culture and Community on Young Pakistanis. UK: Ashgate Publishing Dustmann, C. & Fabbri, F., 2005. “The Impact of Immigration on the British Labour Market”. The Economic Journal, Vol. 115, Issue 507, pp. 324-341 Ham, M. 2010. “Ethnicity and Integration”. Understanding Population Trends and Processes, Vol. 3, pp 1-27. Kahanec M. 2009. EU Labour Markets After Post-Enlargement Migration. UK: Springer Nowotny, E. 2009. The Integration of European Labour Markets. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Paul, S. 2010. “The role of the corporate HR function in global talent management”. Journal of World Business Volume 45, Issue 2, pp161-168 Pinnington, A. 2010. International Human Resource Management. UK: SAGE Raymer J. 2010. Demographic Aspects of Migration. London: Springer Smith S. 2003. Labour Economics. London: Psychology Press Thomas, D. 2013. Essentials of International Human Resource Management. UK: SAGE Publications Vargas-Silva, C. 2014. The Fiscal Impact of Immigration in the UK. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford. 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