Cultural Analysis and Its Impact on International Human Resources - Essay Example

Cultural analysis and its impact on International Human Resources Module coordinator: Marticulation: Word count: 1728 The purpose of the paper is to illustrate the perceptions of Human Resource functions of staffing and selection among Swiss and Indian organizations. It analyzes cultural characteristics of these two countries and illustrated how they apply HR functions of staffing and selection for the effective management of applicants and candidates. The aim of the paper is to provide an understanding and awareness of how Switzerland and India use HR functions for of staffing and selection processes management. The findings of the paper will be captured through research of academic journals, books and online resources. Suggestions will be made to prove the interrelation between the HR functions and organizational performance in the Swiss and Indian organizations which impact the economic well-being of a certain country. Table of contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 4 Cultural and economic characteristics……………………………………………….4 HRM practices of staffing in Switzerland…………………………………………. 6 HRM practices of staffing in India………………………………………………….7 Selection in Switzerland and India………………………………………………….8 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...9 References………………………………………………………………………….. 10 Introduction Within the last decades there have been numerous research conducted with the intention to focus on the relationship between the HR functions and organizational performance. Since human resource represents a valuable asset for organization’s ability to be achievement-oriented, it is essential for companies to be able to manage their human potential starting with such processes as staffing and selection (Lussier & Hendon, 2015). In times of changeable business environment, organizations struggle with challenges of staffing in order to increase the knowledge work, reduce labor retention, be more competitive among other companies and diversify the workforce to meet the modern requirements of business world. To solve these challenges, HR functions are called to focus more on staffing and selection (Sultana & Razi, 2012). The following paper will illustrate how HR functions of staffing (recruitment) and selection are applied by Swiss and Indian organization and what impact they have on the organizational performance of these two counties. Cultural and economic characteristics Being a modern market economy, Switzerland has low unemployment rate and high skilled labor force with the GDP per capita highest in the world (Switzerland: economy, 2015). Its labor force comprises 4,697,282 people in 2012. India has the critical mass of highly skilled people who speak English and are good at science. Having the impressive diaspora, Indian creates connection between its valuable knowledge and potential for other world. The employment Source: Switzerland: economy (2015) comprises 481,235,956 in 2013. Its economic regime gives many opportunities for entrepreneurship and free enterprise, creating a strong infrastructure for private enterprise and for capital markets (Dahlman & Utz, 2005). Despite the inability of professional workforce to find suitable employment because of the knowledge and real practice gap, India can nevertheless be proud of its IT sector, the percent of which grew from $1.73 billion in 1995 to $19.9 billion in 2004 providing employment for more than a million people (Dahlman & Utz, 2005). Source: India: economy (2015) Speaking about the cultural characteristics of Switzerland and India, it is useful to compare both by means of Hofstede’s framework Hofstede (2011), which defines culture in the ways of collective programming and where its members can be distinguished from the people of other group. Thus, the power distance dimension of Switzerland indicates that Swiss society believes in inequalities among people should be reduced as they feel certain independence and hierarchy is for convenience only, the rights are equal and coaching leader is more acceptable. Employees are expected to receive appropriate consulting and the perfect chief Source: The Hofstede centre, (2015) or boss is the benevolent autocrat. In terms of individualism, people are expected to take care of themselves rather than being dependent on the power. The level of masculinity speaks that people of Switzerland are living in order to work, which is also explained by the inner want of people to work and lower level of uncertainty avoidance. Such approach is oriented on long term and people are tend to encourage themselves with the efforts to be put on the modern education and future success. Unlike Switzerland, India’s dimensions express the attitude toward misbelief in equality and the real power is more centralized with fewer rights for managers and obedience of team members. There is a collectivism dimension developed in India where groups are supposed to take care of them in exchange for loyalty. The individualist aspect is seen as the call of dominant religion; hence employees and employers relationships are based on loyalty and almost familial protection by the manager. Power and visual display of success speaks about the high level of masculinity where work is the center in their lives and thus it is very important. However, due to the India perception of imperfection, there are many rules that are often in place or are adjusted to different circumstances. There is completely other presentation of long term orientation of Indian people, as most believe in Hinduism as more than a religion but a way of life where ideas and views are directed on the long term. Despite this, the dimension of indulgence is very low and speaks about the pessimism and retrained society where unlike Switzerland an attention is not given the aspects of leisure but control over desires (The Hofstede centre, 2015). HRM practices of staffing in Switzerland Despite the fact that the 21st century presents many challenges for HR functions such as staffing and selection, this process is extremely vital for most organizations as it reflects collective efforts in attracting and selecting the right person in order to influence the organizational performance in general (Ployhart, 2011). According to HRM country profile (Switzerland, 2015), public employment is ruled by the Federal Personnel Act of 24 March 2000 and certain employment is covered by the Law of Obligations. It follows the position based type of recruitment system with the Federal Office of Personnel which is responsible for standardization of recruitment and skills profiles. In the public service recruitment is made through the direct application and interview for the certain post and competitive explanations are used in the Department of Foreign Affairs. In Switzerland, there can be found the decreasing tendencies of managerial positions need to be filled. In the recent decades companies have become more global oriented and this cross-cultural factors should be taken into consideration during the process of recruitment. Thus, as a result of globalization, the need to fill the positions of managers within Switzerland is low. As to the interview process, face-to-face meeting is the main way to see and talk to the candidate in Switzerland. This is called by the congenial culture of Swiss where interpersonal factors are taken into account during the meetings of applicant and potential employer (Mayrhofer, Brewster & Morley, 2007). HRM practices of staffing in India In India the HRM functions of recruitment have given an importance as this market is known for abundance of labor where qualified employees are hard to find. However, in their striving to search for a job, Indians are tend to use such common resources for job finding as employee referral, campus recruitment, advertising, agencies and consultants, websites with job posts and similar company websites, as well as social media (Sinha & Thaly, 2013). As reported by Sinha and Thaly (2013), existing employees are usually rewarded with the bonus because they recommend the company reliable professionals who are already aware about the company they enter. Besides, using schools, universities and other educational establishments are fine places where it is possible to find good specialists. There is also an opportunity to apply the employment agency, where, historically, more positions were represented and it was possible to choose more “physical” position and initiate interview with the preferred employers. In the ear of technologies, more ads about the available position can be found through website of certain agency and company and also through social networks such as LinkedIn. However, due to the saturated hob market with poaching and raiding practices, HR specialists of India are facing challenges in terms of finding the best candidate for an organization. The other issue is the quality of workforce. Despite millions of graduates and post-graduates of Indian universities, there is actually small number of employable talents and HR specialists should find out new ways to sort these talents from others (Rabu & Eimani, 2014). Among the main challenges that HR managers are facing in recruitment in India are adaptability to globalization, lack of motivation, process analysis and strategic prioritization. The problem of adaptation to the global requirements is still a weak point to Indian employees. Besides, recruitment process can be wasteful as despite an organization has certain results, there can be no expected professionals found for the particular position. That calls for lack of motivation among HR employees as they see no good result at the end of this process. While many organizations are expecting the process of recruitment will go faster, there appear challenges with the right candidate search, which at the same time makes the process less flexible, adaptive and responsive for the good result. With the emerging systems that give opportunity to adapt process of recruitment, it also creates a challenge for HR professionals in terms of constant reviewing staffing needs and task prioritization (Rabu & Eimani, 2014). Selection in Switzerland and India HR has an important role in assisting the process of selection the candidate. This means that HR is professional in selecting committee throughout the selection process and giving an expert advice with the final decision (Anyim, et al, 2012). Price (2007) states that as a part of selection process, many employers invite their applicants for informal interview, during which professionals have an opportunity to discuss the nature of job and working environment, ask for possible prospects for further development and promotion. During this period there is an opportunity to reject the job offer if a candidate is not ready to accept it. In India there such techniques as psychological tests known for selection of candidate in the Armed Forces. The other way to select the right person was to put the candidate in the situations where there would be miniatures of the real cases. These techniques are transformed into the not military and are widely used now during the selection process (Lall, 1952). Conclusion With all the challenges in the HRM in India, the recognition of human potential became the pivotal to global success. However, with the globalization, Indian companies became more aware of how to capture the world trends in recruitment and selection of right people. With its cultural peculiarity, HRM professionals of India realize that in terms of industry size, business vulture and political issues, all these factors play insignificant role in the country’s ability to nurture high quality professionals and then recruit them. Unlike India, Switzerland is a developed country and the HRM functions are developed to the level to satisfy its people. The economic stability and raise of labor force, Switzerland is able to achieve success in many industries. The findings of this paper revealed the cultural and economic characteristics which explain the need in HRM functions and how people usually perceive the process of recruitment and selection. These factors include dimensions of power, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty and the long term perspective. The further research will reveal the changes in the perceptions of both countries to the HRM functions and their impact on the organizations of Switzerland and India. References Anyim, F. et al, 2012. The role of human resource planning in recruitment and selection process, British Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol.6(2), [pdf] Available at:http://www.ajournal.co.uk/HSpdfs/HSvolume6(2)/HSVol.6%20(2)%20Article%207.pdf [Accessed in June 26, 2015]. Dahlman, C. and Utz, A. 2005. India and the Knowledge Economy Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities, Finance and Private Sector Development Unit of the World Bank’s South Asia Region and The World Bank Institute, [pdf] Available at: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/145261/India_KE_Overview.pdf [Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Hofstede, G. 2011. Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context, Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1), [online] Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=orpc[Accessed on June 26, 2015]. India: economy, 2015. The Global edge, [online] Available at: http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/india/economyhttp://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/india/economy[Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Lall, S. 1952, Personnel selection, Defence Science Journal, Vol.2, N.2, [online] Available at:http://publications.drdo.gov.in/ojs/index.php/dsj/article/viewFile/3376/1811[Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Lussier, R. and Hendon, J. 2015. Human Resource Management: Functions, Applications, and Skill Development, SAGE Publications Mayrhofer, W., Brewster, C. and Morley, M. 2007. HRM in Europe, Routledge Ployhart, R. 2011. Staffing in the 21st Century: New Challenges and Strategic Opportunities, Journal of Management, 32: 868, [pdf] Available at: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/wilton/Online%20readings/Chapter%206/Ployhart%20article.pdf [Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Price, A. 2007. Human resource management in a business context, Cengage Learning EMEA Rabu, M. and Eimani, A. 2014. Human Resource management: a challenge scenario in the Indian context, International Journal of Research in Applied, Vol. 2, Issue 2, [Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Sinha, V. and Thaly, P. 2013. A review on changing trend of recruitment practice to enhance the quality of hiring in global organizations, Management, Vol. 18, 2, pp. 141-156, [pdf] Available at: https://www.efst.hr/management/Vol18No2-2013/9-Sinha.pdf[Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Sultana, N. and Razi, A. 2012. Is recruitment and staffing decision are crucial to success? Global Journal of Management and Business Research, Vol.12, Is.20, [pdf] Available at: https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume12/11-Is-Recruitment-and-Staffing.pdf [Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Switzerland, 2015. Human Resource Management Country Profiles, [online] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/gov/pem/OECD%20HRM%20Profile%20-%20Switzerland.pdf [Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Switzerland: economy, 2015. The Global edge, [online] Available at: http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/switzerland/economy [Accessed on June 26, 2015]. Read More