The Global Context of Human Resources and Human Resources Development - Literature review Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents……………………………………………………..……………………1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..2 Policy transfer and policy borrowing………………………………………………………2 HRM and HRD policy transfer & borrowing in the UK…………………………………..5 Facets of globalization……………………………………………………………………..6 Usefulness of best practices in regional policy on human resource……………………….8 Culture and the transfer of practices from country to another…………………………….9 Work practices and the experience of work…………………………………………....…10 Critique of the cultural policy transfer approach…………………………………..…...…11 Constraint factors influencing the transfer……………………………………….....…….12 Policy borrowing and development of education and training systems…………..…...….14 Theorizing globalization-Social theory……………………………………………...…....16 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..…..17 Introduction Globalization has become a common phenomenon in the world today. Globalization refers to the process whereby integrations and interactions exist among companies, governments and people from various nations. It is driven by investment, international trade and it is strongly supported by information technology. The process affects the culture, environment, political systems, prosperity, economic development and the physical well being of people in various societies in the world. The transfer and borrowing of policies have a big contribution to globalization. This happens when policies and practices converge. Many nations in the world both advanced and developing are partakers of the borrowing and transfer of policies. The UK has had a lot of influence in its HRD and HRM policy and practices when it comes to policy transfer and borrowing Beck (1999). Globalization has various facets which are discussed in this paper. There are various hindrances to the transfer of policies. Culture and institutional frame work are among them. This paper examines these issues plus others such as theorization of globalization, work practices and the experience of work, as well as the cultural approach to the transfer and borrowing of policies. Finally it also carries an exposition on the assessment of the usefulness of best practices in regional policy on human resource. Policy transfer and policy borrowing Policy transfer is explained as a process through which policies, knowledge and administrative arrangements are moved from a given nation or even a policy domain to a different nation or policy domain. This process is believed to be intentional and it involves learning and not just an unintentional evolutionary process in which those governments that have similar issues discover the same solution. It is also believed to be voluntary even though it may be coercive. It is common practice to various countries especially those that believe they can make things better by emulating the practices and policies being used by another country that seems to be successful in the area concerned. Policy transfer is harmless as long as it is well carried out and all the possible constraints are put under check. Many examples abound of countries that have borrowed or transferred policies and practices into their own systems Dale (1999). The UK has been a borrower of education policies from the USA even though this practice has not given them the success that the same policies produce in the United States. China has slowly allowed western economic practices to permeate its formerly strongly guarded borders and today certain Western characteristics are evident its management of institutions and organizations. However large scale policy transfer and borrowing has been hampered by communism and cultural issues such as language. In a national government, lower government levels and various sectors can be compelled to emulate the practices of others. Policy transfer may lead to convergence of policies hence globalization Dale (1999). Policy borrowing on the other hand may not be very much different from policy transfer. The small existing difference comes in when the recipient of the policies being transferred is the object of focus. Policy borrowing therefore is the process of obtaining knowledge, policies as well as administrative arrangements from one nation or one government sector. Just as policy transfer, policy borrowing also leads to globalization when policies converge. Policy transfer in many cases is used to refer to the process of giving away policies to another nation that is willing to borrow those policies. Policy transfer therefore is carried out by established nations as they give out policies to younger nations. It follows that policy borrowing on the other hand is done by younger nations that are interested in establishing themselves by emulating their chosen role models. Dale (1999) says that as policy transfer can be influenced by the desire by established countries to see younger countries grow, the desire for growth in these countries can trigger policy borrowing as well. In new democracies the level of transition through transforming government policies and institutions, political environments that are insecure, desire for reforms and many other challenges of transition are the things that drive policy borrowing. Policy borrowing can be caused by domestic problems unlike policy transfer. Both policy transfer and borrowing can be voluntary or be caused by pressure. Both policy transfer and borrowing are dictated by the stage of development of the country. The transfer of policies and practices from countries in the North to countries in the South of the globe has its constraints which are the same to those of transfer from developed to less developed countries. Where there is underdeveloped infrastructure then the barriers to transfer and borrowing are greatly reduced Ashton and Green (1996). There are more problems where advanced training techniques are being transferred to other environments that in which the industry is lowly developed and where there are no wider institutional support for employment and training. The transfer or borrowing of training practices that is supposed to help in the process of modernization or even take part in increasing the level of skills can possibly fail due to lacking support systems for it. In such cases the countries in the south would view the training practices originating from the North as not appropriate because they are at totally different development stages in their sectors and national systems. Research has indicated that where support structures for imported programs given by advanced systems are absent causes to some degree of dependency on that organization or country that gives out the policies. HRM and HRD policy transfer & borrowing in the UK British governments have been victims of borrowing and transfer of policies and practices for some time now. In the last two decade these governments have been looking to America for provision of political symbols or urgent fixes to immediate problems. As a result ideas that have been transferred produce flawed and contradictory policy. The case of evidence based practice in the area of education explains the process of raising the level of internationalization of policy in education through generic agenda iteration Ashton and Green (1996). It also gives an example of the proclivity of the British Government in learning expediently and selectively from the rest of the contexts so that they can realize their political goals. The UK has also been involved in transfer of practices from its health sector. British education policy makers tend to seek controlling mechanisms from America. Many case study materials about Anglo-American policy borrowing and transfer shows that whenever British governments borrow policy instruments instead of rhetoric, symbols and broader discourses from the USA they seek means for taking control of specific policy domains. The UK as an established nation has also been a source of policies and best practices which have been borrowed by other nations especially the young democracies. Owing to the advancement on economical and political fronts the UK is in a good position of being emulated by upcoming countries. According to Ashton and Green (1996), post communist countries in Europe have found the UK to be a good source of best practices and policies some of which have been transferred to those countries. These countries that were formerly under soviet rule have been struggling to fit into the European Union something that has made them accept the pressure to democratize their system of governance so that it can look like that of the rest of the countries in Western Europe. Facets of globalization Globalization can be explained as the process of doing good work compared to your competitor in the satisfaction of the needs of the consumer and their quality demands regardless of their place of residence. It also means the creation of the infrastructure and network for efficient competition in the worldwide market place which is increasing in homogeneity. Globalization is actually divided into various facets Cogburn (1998). Deterritorialization is an important facet of globalization. It refers to the devaluation of territorial geographical boundaries as far as the activities of man are concerned. Many things can be done by people these days through telecommunication, the internet and so forth that are not restricted by geographical territories. Actually the meaning of globalization is the ability of the world to work and do things together without the limitations of distance or territorial boundaries. Deterritorialization as a facet of globalization explains this possibility. Market and production globalization are very significant pieces of the globalization puzzle. However there are other factors that significantly spark globalization. Decline in the barriers to trade is one sub-factor. This model is very popular. Since the Second World War, goods services and capital have been flowing freely under this model. International trade is the exchange of services and products between countries. International trade has a huge barring on the economy of any country. To add to this, with advanced transportation and technology globalization has penetrated everyday life all over the world. There are various theories to the success of globalization. One of these is free trade model or theory which is used highly in several countries among them the US. Actually free trade can be considered as a facet of globalization. It enables people from any corner of the globe to trade freely without the barriers that restricted such international trade in the past. After the Second World War the big economies were out to safeguard their own interests in the commercial world. The US and others nations had worries concerning this protection which led to their relaxation of trade barriers Cogburn (1998). What resulted was the formation of an international trade system. Free trade helped in developing both world and domestic economies. Other countries in the world were now able to trade and benefit from non taxed products. The spread of health concerns and diseases around the world represents another aspect of globalization. In a globalized world a country with a disease outbreak can possibly pass that disease to other countries around the world in a matter of days. This is because of the high level of travel and interactions that are facilitated by technology today. The economic fates and the health of many people are dependent on the flows and ebbs of the current globalization. Wealth could be created but also be destroyed within seconds. Products, information and ideas are cheaply and quickly disseminated to far places of the world just as a contagious pathogen that is uncontrolled wrecks havoc all over the world. Globalization therefore binds everyone. Technology is an important facet and driver of globalization. Communication such as video conferencing, telecommunication, the internet and other advanced technologies are important in facilitating globalization. Another different aspect that drives globalization today is migration which results from many reasons. Famine and war together with the desire to lead a better life makes thousands leave their homes. Emigrants take back home billion dollars as they closely try their domestic economies to the rest of the world Stiglitz (2006). When the USSR collapsed there developed an ideological fault line which lies along globalization and it divides the right from the left. This division is reasonable because modern globalization has to do with rapidly increasing expansion in capitalism alongside its problems. A business based and economic explanation of this phenomenon is comparable to the description of a blind man of an elephant as column made of leather and has big toes. Usefulness of best practices in regional policy on human resource Best practice to some people is a business buzzword that is used in the description of the process of development and adherence to a standard format of doing things which can be used by multiple organizations. Best practices are important in maintaining quality instead of using legislated standards that are mandatory and they may be based on benchmarking or self assessment. Best practice happens to be a feature of management standards that are accredited like ISO 14001 and ISO 9000 Bogan and English (1994). Best practices in Human Resource Management are important for the welfare of any region. Businesses, organizations and governments all depend on best practices in order to streamline the human resource policies relevant for operations in the region. Best practices could be informal but they can bring quality to regional policy by introducing better actions which could be lacking in regular policies. Collective best practices in the various societies and nations that constitute the region make up the regional best practice policy. Culture and the transfer of practices from country to another According to research there is a difference between companies in different countries based on their practices and policies in Human Resource Management. Researchers have also found out that the process of transferring HR policies and practices from country to another may involve a lot of problems. The biggest challenges encountered have to do with the institutional and cultural environment of the country involved. Although the prominence of the management theory of America makes people believe in universal management practices which are applicable in any place, research indicates that behaviors, values and managerial attitudes differ from one national culture to another. There exists no one specific way in which an organization can be managed because differences in factors such as culture call for different practices of management. A good example can be drawn from the case of America and Britain. Education policy transferred from America to Britain fails since it is informed by the practice of the Americans and that the socio-cultural, administrative and political specificity of the place of origin are totally different from those in Britain. Many writers on management adopt a cultural view on organizations. This approach teaches that countries or societies differ from one another and that the difference can be seen in the ways of managing organizations. It is difficult to isolate organization and management from their specific environment. Just like many management practices, Human Resource Management Practices are founded on cultural beliefs which reflect the fundamental values and assumptions of the culture of the nation that hosts an organization. The question that arises here is what will happen when multinational corporations intend to transfer certain HRM practices to other countries more so when the assumptions behind these practices are not in line with cultures in the recipient countries. If HRM practices are not adapted to the culture of a host country then there can arise negative which can hider the performance of a subsidiary. Available research shows that multi National Corporations adapt to some level to the cultures of the nations they operate in. To add to this, those subsidiaries whose management is consistent with the expectations of a national culture register high performance in comparison to those with a different management. Work practices and the experience of work. Different Human Resource practice sets are applied on various occupational groups. According to studies based on research, the Human Resource practices show a major impact on the attitudes and behavior of employees and the impact can be mediated by the work experiences of employees. It is expected that research will help in the identification of paths that can link the behaviors and attitudes of employees to individual practices. Best practices are those generally accepted techniques, processes or methods which are informally standardized and have been proven over some time to accomplish certain tasks. Depending on common sense, the practices are mostly used in cases where there is no formal methodology or the methodology that is there does not adequately address the existing issue. Work best practices do evolve and become better with time as improvements are made. Every work practice should be upgraded to a best practice. Where there are proper processes, testing and checks there can be desired outcomes being delivered in a effective way with lesser problems and complications that cannot be seen. Good practices and the experience of work are necessary in order to nurture proper management and performance of organizations. Work experience means there is accumulated knowledge and skills gathered from hands on experience at work. Work practices and work experience can generate substance which can be transferred of borrowed by another organization or country. For transfer and borrowing of policies and practices the two are critical as long as they are of high quality and can be used by others to better the performance of their systems. Many organizations would be looking for work experience and best practices in order to borrow them or transfer them to their own side. Critique of the cultural policy transfer approach The approach of cultural policy transfer has it that best practices and policies cannot be easily transferred because of the difference of cultures from one society to another. As much as this could be very true, it cannot be accepted as the case over all situations. The reason for this is that various practices and technologies have been borrowed and transferred from a culture to a different one and they have worked excellently. Even though culture is seen as a constraint, the difficulty it presents can be overcome. It is obvious that policies have been transferred from the west to other countries in Africa and Asia and good results have come out of it. Instead of taking cultural differences as an impediment, governments and leaders of organizations should device means working around it. Learning and borrowing of policies entails adaptation and assimilation among other things which ensure that the technology fits in place in the new culture. Actually there is no place in the world where every cultural practice is similar to that of another place. Therefore is a policy or a practice is borrowed from anywhere even if from the outside it is seen that the cultures of these two places are the same, there must be underlying issues invisible to the eye which could potentially be problematic. Everything new has to be learnt and used in a way that it will cause less friction. Policy assimilation also demands that attention be given to learning. Besides it is not a must that the policies and practices should be borrowed and assimilated the same way they are obtained from the mother country. Policies and practices can be altered to fit in the new society and culture depending on the needs of the country or society in which they are being taken. Constraint factors influencing the transfer Recent studies based on survey have continued to show that even though several companies take part in benchmarking the adoption of the best practices has not gone as high as one would expect. There are some factors that can affect the adoption of practices. These factors can be divided into organizational factors, factors of behavior and culture as well as environmental factors. Environmental factors are economic uncertainty, political instability, management infrastructure and the openness of society. Organizational factors are management systems and organization structure that is incompatible, availability of information and reliable data and shortage of managers that are qualified. The decision of adoption is strongly influenced by adoption costs, external pressures and the satisfaction with the practice that already exists. Transfer of best practices of Human Resource Management from one organization, country or society to another is also influenced by various factors like culture and social structures which act as constraints. These are the factors that determine the behavior of people by taking the role of constraints to those people. This happens through the positions and roles in institutions and the role of these institutions in the bigger social system. Social systems can systematically influence the practices of a company and result into processes and structures which carry a reflection of the national patterns. The transfer of HRM practices can either be inhibited or facilitated by institutions or national business systems of the host country. In an institutional framework that is permissive and has a small number of formal institutions MNCs have very few constrains in the introduction of the practices of the country of origin. The legal regulations in the host country have huge environmental pressure which they exert on the subsidiaries of MNCs. Legal environments in which the subsidiaries are found could become constraints to the transfer of Human Resource Practices from the parent organization. Culture is another hindrance to the transfer of practices. The cultural environment of the host country is a very strong determinant of whether policies and practices will be transferred or not. Since different societies and countries have different cultures it follows that there can be a problem in trying to introduce a set of cultural practices in a foreign country which do not agree with the cultural set up in that country. In such a case culture will hinder the transfer of practices. Policy borrowing and development of education and training systems Policy borrowing and the transfer of practices is still causing various problems for practitioners and policy makers as well. Actually, in principle there exists a lot to be gained through the study of best practice belonging to other countries practically it is not easy to extract these practices or policies from their broader societal conditions and have the same effect being produced in a different environment Cavusgil and Yavas (1984). A concern about the transfer of practices and training policies across training and education systems has been growing together with the increase in globalization of the economy of the world. In the last few decades countries with less development and more advancement economies have tried to learn from the practices they consider as more effective and efficient in other countries. This has been triggered by what is thought to be the link between investing into education and training and success and growth in the economy. For those nations that are older and industrialized this seen as a desire to continue dominating the economy by pursuing the strategy of high skills while those countries that are less developed have endeavored to borrow education and training policies that resemble those of developed countries so that they can drive economic development faster. This they do with the help of supranational authorities like the World Bank. From the borrowing of a given training practice up to the bulk importation of the training system transfer, all the time apart of development of the national training systems is now being taken by practitioners of HRD and policy makers that work in the ET arena. Research in technology transfer, education management practice fields must make people more cautious of the results of transferring training practices. Comparative education provides a good source for studies on ET programs and policies importation to countries that are still developing. Many of these have shown the hardships as well as the inappropriateness in the transfer of the ET system components. This position is even evident in the programs and policies that the World Bank has and how they rely on human capital theory Cavusgil and Yavas (1984). In management studies we also find literature on the issues associated with the transfer of management practices between organizational and national settings. A lot of this literature has to do with the differences in culture in various national settings. Studies into the transfer of technology focuses on power relations found within the process of transfer and cautions that it can produce some kind of underlying dependency. Research has shown that cultural borrowing or transfer has its many difficulties. Where transfer is done with a certain level of success it has to pass through an adaptation and implementation process which includes the tailoring of the basic principles to the recipient environment and thereafter process monitoring and intervention where necessary. Researchers Raffe and Rumberger (1992) say that analytical abstraction is a very important thing for transfer and borrowing to take place successfully. They also say that the adaptation is proportionate to the level of contextual and institutional differences. The consensus and power issue is also important. For example transfer in European programs gives a specific set of relations among the partners taking part in collaborations which are not replicated anywhere else. In the UK and Europe in general for example, partnerships are consensual in that project partners don’t need to accept practices or models of the other partners and have the ability to define their needs very well. The transfer can therefore be rejected for being inappropriate Ashton and Green (1996). Transfer must also be viewed at the level of occurrence and also the extent that major actors have wider or strategic influence on their own environment or have to take it the way they are given. Theorizing globalization-Social theory From the mid 1980s there has been a tendency whereby social theorists have been moving from the underdeveloped character on former reflections on annihilation or compression of space in order to offer a globalization concept that is rigorous Beck (1999). The biggest disagreements can still be found within the nature of the forces that cause globalization. David Harvey (1989 1996) builds directly on the explanation of globalization developed by Marx as others like Giddens (1990) question the focus on the economic factors that are prominent in the approach taken by Marx. However there is an emerging consensus about the fundamental rudiments of the globalization concept. Contemporary analysts have associated globalization to deterrritorialization which dictates the way some social activities occur regardless of where the participants are located geographically. Globalization is the increase in the ability of people to act on situations whereby longitudinal and latitudinal locations do not affect the social; activity being done Castells (2001). Deterrritorialization shows itself through various social spheres. Territory as a location that can be identified geographically does not constitute social space that human activity occurs in. In this sense then globalization is that social activity that is non territorial. Theorists see globalization as being linked to the increase of social interconnectedness across the current political and geographical boundaries. Globalization depends on degree because any social activity can have influence on events close or far away. It also must have reference to the velocity of the social activity taking place. Interconnectedness and deterritorialization at first look spatial. However it is not hard to see the way these spatial shifts are linked to acceleration of important social activity forms. Connecting together and expansion of social activities over national borders thought to result from the fast movement of people, goods, capital and information Stiglitz (2006). High speed type of technology has an important role in the speed of the affairs of man. However several other factors have contributions to overall speed and pace of social activity. Deterritorialization and expanding interconnectedness are closely linked to social life acceleration while social acceleration takes several different forms. Globalization then is just a matter of degree Castells (2001). The speed of the flow, movements, and interchanges across boundaries cannot vary more than their magnitude, regularity or impact. The triad formed by detterritorialization, social acceleration and interconnectedness do not represent a recent or sudden event in social life. Currently intellectual interest of the present day in globalization may be tied directly to the discovery of new technologies with high speed which minimize the importance of distance and increase the deterritorialization as well as social interconnectedness. Conclusion To conclude, this paper contains a discussion on globalization and the way transfer or borrowing of policies and practices contributes to the phenomenon. Various issues on these have been discussed with various other issues being unearthed. Globalization has various facets such as technological advancement, detteritorialization and free trade among others. Transfer and borrowing of practices and policies has various constraints such as culture which may interfere with the process. However culture as a hindrance can have its effects reduced through learning and assimilation. Not all the contents of the policy or practice being transferred must be adopted after all. Transfer of policies and practices has been a contributing factor to globalization. As much as it goes on the process of globalization will continue. Globalization has brought mankind closer and closer to each other. This occurs through the advanced technology which facilitates communication and transport even between people who have thousands of miles between them. Consequently globalization has become an agent of development and advancement even though it is a product of technological advancement. Bibliography Ashton, D. and F. Green (1996), Education and the Global Economy (Cheltenham, Edward Elgar). Dale, R (1999) ‘Specifying globalization effects on national policy: a focus on the Mechanisms’, Journal of Education Policy, 14, 1, 1-17. Hurst, P. (1975), ‘Three Criteria for the Selection Stage of the Transfer of Educational Innovation’, Comparative Education, 11, 1, 63-71. Castells, M. 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