Major International Human Resource Management Related Issues - Assignment Example

International Human Resource Management Student Name Institution Course Date Abstract In the globalization era, business firms do not confine themselves in one nation. To be able to explore novel opportunities and markets, firms expand their global operations. In the management of subsidiaries across diverse nations, the approach to operations, marketing, production, finance and most importantly human resource management functions must be tailored in accordance to the local environment within which the subsidiary operates. Firms are about people and to be able to grow and survive in global markets, they must adapt their human resource management practices for effective implementation of strategies. International human resource management tackle issues emerging from the internationalization of business, along with human resource management practices, strategies and policies which an organization pursues in reaction to the internationalization of business. Introduction Business organizations constantly expand their global operations for profitability and sustainable growth. Effective management of human resources in organizations that operates internationally needs cultural awareness as well as the capability to respond swiftly within dynamic environments. Human resource managers usually handle the selection, recruitment, hiring, development and training of staff that organizations require to accomplish their business goals. The managers also have the responsibility of establishing the procedures and policies designed to make sure that there is a fair, productive and safe working environment. Managing employees in global settings needs inspiring and motivating staff to work together, even if they do not reside and work in a similar location (Sherman et al., 2013). Question 1 Major International Human Resource Management Related Issues Recruitment Attraction, hiring and retention of a skilled labor force are the most important issues of human resource management. Organizations that identify the worth of their employees greatly invest in the staffing function of the human resource. This is because a firm team of staff is capable of raising the profile of an organization, assist it to attain profitability and enable it to run efficiently and effectively. The staffing policies of international human resource management define the procedure through which the multinational corporation assigns the overseas work to the most suitable candidate (Hill, 2013). Bosch majorly relies upon hiring and developing talents form inside the company. It focuses upon the acquirement of skilled university graduates to meet a broader array of probable future managerial needs. Training of expatriates Expatriates are workers who relocate from home country to a foreign nation for job completion. Mendenhall et al. (2011) argues that selecting appropriate individuals is vital because wrong persons may lead to the early return of expatriates to their home countries and difficulties in global business operations. Training of employees and expatriates involved in the global business is a crucial factor in deciding the performance and quality of human resource in global business. Bosch currently has over two thousand expatriates working worldwide. Majority of expatriate employees are assigned as a result of the process and technical expertise. However, some assignments are made for career advancement and training reasons. Benefits and Compensation Management of compensation and benefits is a function of human resources. The internationalization of organizations in the 21st century has a proposition that human resource should now adjust to novel ways of offering benefits to employees in the organization. Non-traditional benefits like flexing working hours and vacations are schemes to motivate existing workers and to attract and maintain new and skilled employees. Balancing benefits and compensation for a firm’s labor force is a vital international human resource function since it needs an understanding to the needs and wants of different groups of individuals. The host country of Bosch Kazakhstan has an economically active populace and comparably low cost of labor. Employees are usually paid around 527 dollars monthly. Employee development Professional development is an important human resource function. It is closely connected to training but while the needs of training are centered on the procedures and processes of an organization, professional development is concerned with offering workers with education and growth opportunities on a personal basis. Bosch Kazakhstan understands that the development of employees is a consistent process of maintaining and developing workers’ qualifications required to deal with current and future challenges. Bosch utilizes management potential review in employee development. This procedure ensures full exploitation of the firm’s reserves of high-potential workers and tracks employee development as well career progression measures. Question 2 Staffing requirements of Bosch- Kazakhstan The philosophy of Bosch group is to promote the intellectual, physical and moral development of its human resources. The company believes in developing the existing employees in the company other than getting new hires from outside the company. Thus, much time is used in developing talent than the company already has. Bosch Kazakhstan possesses four production sites for gasoline, security, diesel motors and Bosch-Rexroth in diverse locations. The company is faced with numerous staffing predicaments. The labor market is extremely small, and the probable local candidates do not have the international and national experiences. In addition, current competent Bosch staff Kazakhstan sites unappealing as a result of a petite labor market for the competent specialists and managers. The major spoken language in Kazakhstan is Russian, The ethnocentric staffing and 2.4 percent of the population is Germans. All top managers are expatriates, who are employees working away from their home countries (Festing & Froehlecke, 2008). There are three major approaches to staffing within multinational corporations namely polycentric, ethnocentric and geocentric. Polycentric staffing approach to global management is the policy that involves the employment and promotion of workers who are nationals of the host nation. This approach entails low recruitment and training costs with fewer setbacks of communication and adjustment because all workers are from one region. Ethnocentric staffing approach is utilized in multinationals that have global strategic orientation. While polycentric approach upholds worker from one region, ethnocentric entails sending workers from the parent or home nations to the host nation. The Geocentric approach is taken up when organizations execute a transnational. In this approach, individuals are recruited based upon their experiences and skills regardless of their nationality (Moorheadb & Griffin, 2012). Bosch Kazakhstan can meet short term and long term staffing requirements by having a placement of extra expatriates through the recruitment of potential persons in the manager development plan (MDP) and junior management program (JUMP) in Germany. These individuals should have an understanding of Kazakhstan values and culture, and they should address both long-term and short-term staffing requirements. The staffing problem can also be solved by placing Kazakhstan employees in both the JUMP and MDP for a shorter duration and to offer six months to one year stay in the Bosch Germany facility so as to attain greater experience. To meet short-term staffing requirements, Bosch Kazakhstan can hire third country nationals to come in the region and offer training to the locally employed workers on the culture and operations o the company. As a result of Kazakhstan culture, language and location the company should bring in staff from its Russian headquarters. The long-term staffing requirement can be met through the regiocentric solution by minimizing the obstacles between the German headquarters and Kazakh subsidiary through offering an impartial third party division (Russia) which is properly acquainted with the firm, its language and culture of Kazakhastan. The polycentric solution be used to meet the long-term staffing requirements through hiring locally via internationally recognized institutions in Kazakhstan that offer degrees in engineering and business and promotion and development of host country nationals via training programs and management development. Question 3 The most suitable staffing strategy for Bosch-Kazakhstan Perlmutter EPRG model of internationalization entails three key typologies distinguished by their global orientation. In Ethnocentrism or home country orientation typology, all overseas markets are viewed as secondary, which might permit disposing of surplus productions. The underlying presumption is that overseas markets are not different from the penetrated local markets, which result to an adaptation of every strategy. Regarding human resource management, home country employees are recruited and offered professional development for the major positions in the secondary markets (Randhawa, 2012). The polycentric typology is different from ethnocentrism, and it follows a scrutiny and recognition of individual diversities in every market. Every overseas market is treated as unique having its individual management strategies. Customized products to suit domestic market is a strategic issue, like promotion and price that are fixed on locally. Major positions are occupied by locally employed and trained workers with local nationality. Nevertheless, the geocentric approach focuses upon the whole world as a single market. The geocentric typology aims at the recognition of the individual divisions in a market. In geocentric approach, a company looks for opportunities on an international scale. Other than focusing upon the manner in which business is conducted in a particular nation, it looks at ways of conducting business all over the globe, based upon universal schemes of communication (Randhawa, 2012). The best staffing approach that Bosch Katkhastan can use is geocentric approach which entails the strategy of the recruitment of the most appropriate individuals for the available positions, regardless of their national global company. Crawley et al. (2013) points out that global organization adopt the geocentric approach because it uses an internationally incorporated business strategy. The approach is also appropriate because expatriates find the Bosch sites unattractive while local candidates lack the required skills and experience. The main advantages of geocentric approach enable the firm to have a huge pool of talents. The disadvantage of his approach is that hiring employees of all nationals is capable of diluting the culture and values of the firm. Question 4 Importance of Bosch-Kazahkstan understanding the compensation practices of their host country International remuneration of workers has a major role in getting and retaining new employees. Reynolds (2012) argues that as multinational corporations expand globally, whether via growth, cross-national alliance or acquisition, the independence of their global operations can lead in considerable diversities in the types and levels of benefits and compensation programs offered by each region or country. The conventional of remuneration to attract, motivate and retain staff has remained the same. Nevertheless, the emphasis has moved from the functions of attraction and retention to motivation functions. As a multinational subsidiary Bosch-Kazakhstan should ensure that skilled workers are remunerated for attaining goals those results to the success of global business operations. Because diverse countries have diverse models of employee remuneration, the Bosch-Kazakhstan must carefully consider the motivational utilization of rewards and incentives amongst global community (Wetlaufer, 2009). Question 5 Action plan explaining how to meet Bosch-Kazakhstan staffing targets Bosch-Kazakhstan must maximize the effectiveness of its operations by responding to the opposing demands for nationwide responsiveness and international integration. A key scheme of establishing and maintain both incorporations along with control over global expansion operations is subsidiary staffing. Particularly, a multinational corporation utilizes parent country national expatriates, third country nationals and host country nationals to balance its strategic requirements for local responsiveness and international integration (Crawley et al, 2013).According to Scullion (2010) amongst these three groups of workers, parent country nationals expatriates possess the highest possibility of influencing the performance of the subsidiary as a result they fill the positions of strategic leadership. In addition, they transfer the headquarter knowledge to the subsidiary and they have the potential of boundary spanning amid the host subsidiary and the headquarter. The dependence on host country nationals is high in Bosch-Kazakhstan because the host country nationals do not have the skills and experience required by the subsidiary. Therefore, the company should retain the parent nation national expatriates by providing favorable working conditions since they deem the sites unattractive. This can be achieved through training.The most vital element of training of expatriate should be cross-cultural training. This form of training will prepare the expatriates to reside and work in a diverse culture since being able to cope with a new working environment is highly challenging than being able to undertake a new job. Expatriates are highly effective when their companies offer training to them on how to prepare for work and life abroad. Lack of proper and adequate training is the key cause of the failure of expatriates to perform in foreign countries (Randhawa, 2012). Bosch-Kazakhstan can also utilize the host country nationals to meet their staffing targets. Because there are local candidates who lack the required expertise, the company should offer training and development to these candidates to enable them fulfill organizational goals. To maximize the effectiveness of training, it is vital to consider the way trainees learn efficiently. Cultural factors strongly influence training practices in diverse regions of the globe. Conclusion Management of human resources in global organizations may be intricate issues. Multinational corporations consistently strive to promote their international human resource management strategies. They must recruit, train and develop the appropriate employees for overseas assignments. Bosch-Kazakhstan has employee training and development programs which aims at equipping employees with the right skills and prepare them to be future managers. List of References Sherman, A., Bohlander, G., and Snell, S, 2013, Managing human resources, Cengage Learning, New York. Wetlaufer, S, 2009, Foreign subsidiaries: Determining executive compensation, Harvard Business Review, 11-12 Hill, C., 2011, International Business, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Mendenhall, M., Dunbar, E., & Oddou, G, 2011, Expatriate selection, training and career pathing: A review critique, Human Resource Management, 26(3), 331-345. Scullion, H, 2010, Why Companies prefer to use expatriates, Personnel Management, 23(11), 32-35 Crawley, E., Swailes, S., & Walsh, D, 2013, Introduction to International Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Randhawa, G, 2012, Human Resource Management, Routledge, London. Moorhead, G, & Griffin, W., 2012, Organizational behavior: managing people and organization, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Reynolds, C. 2012, Expatriate compensation in historical perspective, Journal of World Business, 32, 118-132. Festing M, & Froehlecke, M, 2008, Strategic forecasts and staffing formulation: Executive and managerial planning for Bosch-Kazakhstan, International Human Resource Management, 2-9. Read More