Understanding Cross National Employment: the of M&S - Case Study Example

The Impact of al Perspective & Cultural Perspective on Analyzing & Understanding Cross National Employment – the case of M&S Introduction In accordance with Dowling (2004), Human Resource Management has been a hot topic of discussion within the course of business administration in the past decade or so. More critically with the rise of awareness of rights and the concept of right-sizing or downsizing, has moved human resource management (HRM) from a point where it was considered a not-so-important activity to the time where it is considered a major driver of the organizational productivity – the role of HRM has raced leaving behind other support functions. This assignment aims at analyzing how the institutional perspective as well as the cultural aspect would have helped the management the management in analyzing and getting a grip on the cross boundaries employee relationships, and applying the said conceptual thinking to the case, a critical review of the M&S case would be presented as for how things would have been made better. The following section briefly explains the institutional perspective and how human resources should be managed in accordance with the systems – the concepts of g-localization. Institutions and Cultural Perspective vs. HRM According to Harzing (2010), the role of HRM in an institution existing within a region is by no means less vital and responsible than any other support function’s significance to its regulators – there are regulations binding HRM as well. The regulatory authority here is the ministry of labor of the respective region. In certain countries, the ministry of labor allows the formation of labor unions while in others, it is mandatory by law to have one, whereas in certain cases, the labor ministry opposes this idea. In any of these three cases, the institution is bound to take care of employees; in the first two scenarios via the labor union while in the later, in a direct form. Interestingly, researches reveal that more disputes arise where labor unions are present, despite the fact that these are intended to be a bridge between the management and employees. Traditionally, as stated by Mendenhall (2006), the institutional management and administration is renowned to be inclined towards using labors as ‘slaves’ with the thought of maximizing profits by cutting costs on spending on labors; this also forms the corner stone of the formation of labor unions i.e. with the slogan of fight for right. The activities of labor unions mainly include negotiation with the administration, management and other authorities for getting their rights and calling strikes to hamper productivity, thus, triggering a reaction from the management or administration. Today, this theory has changed, though it won’t have existed in such a cruel means for the past two or three decades at least. However, the labor union mind set still remains the same. Beyond the discussion of the act of labor unions, Briscoe (2004) states that the business or the institution owes a responsibility to the country of their presence as stated in the quote: when in Rome, be a Roman. The arguable fact remains that an organization, such as in this case, having its base in UK, moving to another region such as France or Canada, should be abided by the laws as settled by their head quarters; the debate is very interesting. In accordance with Engle (2008) , on a generally, when an institution when moving in the global arena, has to abide by both the rules i.e. the ones set by ‘head-quarters’ as well as those set by the local regulators; however, in case of a conflict, the local rules have higher priority associated, and thus the same should be followed. Various states and regions have varying degree of regulations associated to labor laws and labor ministries. Some regions are very cautious about the labor laws, and subsequently, as mentioned previously, they allow and at times make it compulsory to have labor unions. Other regions tend to make institutions and organizations responsible for their self audit and monitor such activities under the head of corporate social responsibilities. According to Evans (2010), the major stakeholders in the society concerning this are the Trade Union Congresses and the Government Entities (such as government itself, the labor ministry, and so on). Amongst the regions where M&S expanded its business beyond the geographical boundaries of the UK, UK itself is compared with France primarily on the basis of the regulatory environment The following section presents an institutional perspective on how the two environments differ, and the then section illustrates the cultural perspective. Institutional Perspective The government of UK gives a hand free kind of an attitude in a deregulated environment to organizations to work with. This implies that the organizations are responsible for taking care of their employees and not an external regulator by law, imposing their regulations. This is similar to the case of empowerment, whereby responsibility is allocated to make employees more responsible. The history of this subject within the UK illustrates the fact that devoting the responsibility of ‘care’ to the organizations in the UK have hardly backfired, subsequently, organizations are known to be socially responsible with the tag of corporate social responsibility, with their name. Along the similar lines, in accordance with the case study, M&S gave tremendous benefits along with compensations to the ones whose jobs were eliminated. The business is known as a good employer since the third decade of the 1900s, when it introduced the ‘welfare’ services for its employees that included benefits such as pensions, funds, health care, subsidized staff canteens, outings, picnics, etc. In accordance with the fundamentals of managing people, such techniques are very useful in making employees feeling cared about, and adds to the motivation of employees. In a similar example, when the graduate recruitment program was eliminated, one month salary was given to the individuals whose offer letters were withdrawn. A former chairman stated that we treat our men like human beings, not like working beings; these and many more similar statements being about an internal feeling of care amongst the employees, and most importantly words being backed by actions as stated above. France is almost an opposite scenario to that of UK with higher degree of regulations, and regulatory authorities being very stringent in the application. There is higher degree of trade union involvement and additionally, the higher level decisions to be made by the management need to have prior consent from the labor unions. Fundamentally, both unions and management should proceed hand in hand, in a cooperative manner to ensure that the productivity maximizes, but unfortunately, it turns up to be a hostile partnership. The government itself interferes rationally or otherwise, and the major underlying reason is to keep check and balance on the levels of unemployment, and the tools utilized for the same are trade unions and work force delegates. The most interesting and critical aspect of the French Laws relating to the labor issues is the Consultation Law, in accordance with which the management needs to coordinate and consult the labor unions prior to making any major decisions. These would include downsizing activities, bonus announcements, any major hiring or firing activities, and so on. This law gained extreme importance and limelight because it brings the unions into power and in a bargaining position against the management team, and gives them command. This is a prime example of how stringent the French laws are in-favor of the labor and workers. This does not pose any threat, on a general note; however, there are strategic decisions that need to be kept private and cannot be discussed with the labor unions, because of the unethical practices of leaking out the information. And this is more like a sword hanging on the head of the management. It is true that this keeps the management under checks and balances, but at some times it does not seem a viable option. The modern versions of management theories state that the phenomenon of empowerment leads to a better outcome to be associated with efforts then the work that is done with personal influence and imposing regulations. Cultural Perspective Culture is an integral part of a society’s proceedings because these are the cultural values that define the path in accordance with which the individual members of a society act. When it comes to management, there exists a wider degree of difference in the mind set of both managers and labors, when compared UK vs. France. For the purpose of comparison, Hofstede’s Cultual Dimensions are used; these dimensions are: Small vs. Large Power Dimension Britain has always had a caring culture for employees, and the British rule in the past also cared for their loyal. UK would be categorized as a culture whereby large power dimension exists. This implies that within power relationships, individuals expect consultation, democracy, care and respect. France on the contrary would fall in the small power dimension, implying the fact that the power relationships would be more autocratic in nature. In the former case, there is hardly any need of regulations imposing unions and other similar issues for the management but the mutual respect brings about the feel that union intends to impose, like in the case of France. Individualism vs. Collectivism The British culture, hereby, can be illustrated as an individualistic culture, whereby there are no unions and the individual group and development is looked after. France, on the contrary, is a collectivism culture because it tends to keep all labors united under a single umbrella along the likes of unions, etc. Masculinity vs. Femininity This mainly deals with the ratio of males vs. females which is not included in the scope of discussion in this essay. Weak vs. Strong uncertainty avoidance Considering the definition, UK would fall under the weak uncertainty avoidance, whereby individuals prefer implied regulations, flexi system and informal guidelines and activities. France on the contrary would fall under the category of strong uncertainty culture because here explicit regulations are applied, with strong emphasis on pre-defined rules, and moving by the books. Long vs. Short term orientation Having analyzed the case of M&S, it can be concluded that the UK individuals are long term oriented, while the French men are assumed to be short term oriented. This can be assumed from the fact that UK labor concerned authorities have left the case to the organization to take care of their employees, while France on the contrary has defined its regulations. UK’s solution is long term because laws and regulations keep changing and alterations come and go with the passage of time. At the same time, France wants to keep a constant check and balance about the proceedings. This can be seen by means of the protests conducted as a consequence of the reaction by M&S; though as per its ‘habit’ and tradition, M&S would have compensated the employees but the employees retaliated giving a bad signal and impact about the organization and the region itself towards the foreign investors. Conclusion Conclusively, it can be stated that the institutions need to be very careful in this regard or context, as they need to juggle with these balls simultaneously, in accordance with Tayeb (2005), keeping a balance amongst all. A de-regularized economy is easy to deal with, comparatively, while a regulated forum is where the true skills of a business and its strategic thought process comes into play. At times, in accordance with Schuler (2008), even big businesses are unable to grasp a small issue that ultimately leads to loss of business and reputation. The case of M&S is a classical example of how one lapse in making a strategic move can cost the organization a great deal. Things could have been managed in a much better stance, only if the local regulations were kept under consideration while making such a strategic move. References Anne-Wil Harzing, Ashly Pinnington (2010) International Human Resource Management. Sage Publications Dennis Briscoe (2004) International Human Resource Management. Routledge M. Mendenhall (2006) Reading and Cases in International Human Resource Management. Routledge Monir Tayeb (2005) International Human Resource Management: A Multinational Company Perspective. Oxford University Press Paul Evans, Vladimir Pucik, Ingmar Bjorkman (2010) The Global Challenge: International Human Resource Management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin Peter J. Dowling, Denice E. Welch (2004) International Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning Business Press Randall S. Schuler, Dennis R. Briscoe, Lisbeth Claus (2008) International Human Resource Management. Routledge Stefan Gröschl, Peter J. Dowling, Marion Festing, Allen Engle (2008) International Human Resource Management: A Canadian Perspective. Nelson College Indigenous Read More