International HRM: A Cross-Cultural Approach - Research Paper Example

?Project Table of Contents Introduction 3 Diversity in the Workplace 4 Influence of Cultural difference in Global HRM 4 Influence of culture difference on the expatriates 5 Challenges of cultural complexity 5 Culture Shock 6 Diversity capabilities reduce culture shock 6 Conclusion 7 Reference 8 Introduction The world of the 21st century exists in a highly competitive environment, which is powered by rapid growth and filled with fast paced development The tremendous penetration of the internet in the last couple of years along with the rapid development of various kinds of technological gadgets has resulted in the process of faster and better connectivity in the markets around the world. The global connectivity has helped in developing interconnectivity and linkage among the markets around the world, and has successfully transformed the world into a well connected single entity. It is relevant to mention that the better levels of technology based connectivity are resulting in the successful diffusion of various global trends, which emerges from various markets around the world. Because of faster evolution of the globalized trends, the consumers are getting increasingly aware of their needs and wants. It needs to be stated that the better and well developed connectivity is helping in the process of rapid dispersion of global trends to the emerging markets from the well established markets, thereby creating the opportunity for development of consumer demands. This increase in consumer demand is having a direct impact on the level of competition existing in the market place. Faced by growing domestic demands in the marketplace, companies with various homogenous kinds of product and services offerings which are located in various world markets are focusing to enter the new markets as they promote significant amount of business opportunity. It is important to state that because of the entrance of companies in new markets, the level of market competition has significantly increased. It is highly interesting to state that the rise in competition in the market place has created the demand for talented workers as well as significant job opportunities. Working class masses that have the necessary skills and experience that are needed for working in the competitive corporate environments and were previously residing in various rural and sub urban locations in multiple countries around the world are strongly migrating to the new cities. Because of this shift for jobs, people from various cultures, religion as well as varying personal faiths and beliefs are coming to the newer cities and taking the jobs in the business organizations present there. This automatically triggers diversity in regards to culture in the workplace. This research paper intends to focus on the theme of whether the cultural differences influence the human resource management practices of the organizations. Diversity in the Workplace In the workplace, diversity comprises of people with diverse cultural backgrounds, language, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief and other values. Diversity is also reflected when people belong to variety of educational fields, work experiences, personality, socio-economic context, marital status etc. The diversity in the workplace involves accepting the individual differences and utilizing the diversities in a positive manner for managing the workplace. It is important to state that the diversity in the workplace need to be handled with care and should be sustained with the introduction of proper human resource management system as well as conflict resolution procedures. Organizations around the world have already introduced many different approaches to introduce and sustain diversity within its functioning while promoting diversity in the workplace. The adoption of a diversity promoting human resource policy IN the organization will transform the human resource practices of an organization more on the lines of global human resource management. Influence of Cultural difference in Global HRM While trying to analyze the influence of cultural difference in the field of global human resource management, it is important to consider about the various differences that exists in various cultures around the globe. The management guru Hofstede has figured out that at least four different cultural factors exists. The first one is in regards to individualism and collectivism. Explaining about these concepts, it needs to be highlighted that the cultural values of an individual is largely dependent on the family values inculcated to him. In specific societies, like Peru and Taiwan, the focus is more on group achievement and welfare rather than the specific focus on the individual. This is the attitude of collectivism. On the other hand, the individualism attitude is largely reflected in the fast paced western countries like Australia and United States. In these countries, the individuals focus largely on individual achievement of goals and strides of success and development (Jackson, 2004, p. 14). The second factor is in regards to power distance. The power distances experience a tremendous amount of variation across various cultures. Talking in association with the scenarios in the workplace, the power distance is high in large offices as compared to the smaller ones. The next major factor related to cultural difference is the avoidance of uncertainty. It needs to be stated that the cultures of countries like Portugal and Japan has a high level of uncertainty and thereby the masses of these region have a greater amount of tendency to control the outcome of future events. On the contrary, masses of the regions has a low tendency towards avoidance of uncertainty are more likely to take risks on a daily basis. This makes the masses with low avoidance of uncertainty more compatible to work in flexible situations. The fourth factor is the factor of masculinity. This particular factor focuses on the division of roles in regard to the females and males. It is important to highlight that the masculine cultures have highly skewed sex specific roles while the feminine cultures have a lack of proper definition of roles. It has been noticed that the masculine based cultures of Japan and Austria suffer from lack of efforts in regards to integration of women in senior level management position as compared to that of the feminine cultures prevalent in the countries of Sweden and Norway (Ivancevich, 2008, p. 100). Influence of culture difference on the expatriates While discussing about HRM practices of the organizations and the influence it suffers for the cultural difference in the workplaces, the factor of expatriates has to be taken into account. The expatriates’ factor has to be given considerable amount of importance as the organizations around the world are increasingly entering various numerous markets and are transferring some of their best employees working on a domestic location to manage the complex business issues for the company in the newly entered market which normally has high market attractiveness. Senior level expatriates of an organization oversee alliances, international joint ventures and overseas subsidiaries. It is important to state that the expatriates engage themselves in the activities of international business in host environments which is different from parent company (Harzing, 1995, pp.461-463). Challenges of cultural complexity The greatest challenge to expatriates is the cultural complexity of the operational environment. Direct impact with new values systems and beliefs as well as ways of managing things may be different to the expatriates as compared to their home country. This variation creates high complications in the global business environment. Development of cross cultural capabilities of expatriates is necessary for success in global business. Managing productive diversity leads to the process of development of cross cultural capabilities by expatriates. It has been found that expatriates with roots originating from region or country of their posting readily adjust themselves to their assignments as compared to those who have little experience of their new cultural environment. Such individuals also tend to be more effective than the ones who struggle to adjust to foreign cultures. Culture Shock Many expatriates experience culture shock. They face inexplicable behaviour from an uncertain and new environment which is managed by a culture they find difficult to decode. The lack of comprehensive and elaborate mental models to understand the local culture inhibits their awareness of behaviour in regards to either appropriateness or inappropriateness. The expatriates realise that their past problem solving tactics do not work in new culture. This creates immense frustration, high level of anxiety and confusion. They experiences confusion specifically when they are unable to speak local languages (Brewster and Harris, 1999, p.118). Culture shock is an outcome of multiple stresses like emotional, intellectual and physiological. It places the expatriates under high pressure which freezes their functional ability. Alleviation of culture shock happens when expatriates accustoms and fits into their new surroundings. While the expatriates adjust themselves, the period undergoes with reduced productivity. Diversity capabilities reduce culture shock The impact of culture shock can be reduced on the expatriates by diverse organisations through selection of expatriates sharing the cultural background of host country. Less amount of surprises are presented by the host culture as expatriates have existing mental modes to decode their surroundings. It helps the expatriates to easily relate to others in local language and in culturally appropriate ways. They develop familiarity with the cultural norms of their host country co-workers and this promotes smooth and fast transition. Enhanced expatriate adjustment and reduced culture shock benefits the bottom line of firm by boosting productivity (Edwards and Rees, 2006, p.180). Conclusion On a concluding note, it can be stated that the cultural trends do have a high impact on the human resource practices of an organization. The presence of a diversified working population in both the developing as well as the developed market along with the factor of expatriates being sent to work in the new markets that are entered by the business organizations creates the need for global human resource practices (Armstrong, 2012, p. 69). It can be expected that the global approach of human resource management will help in addressing the factors of a diversified work culture, which is an outcome of masses working together in the work place while having diverse cultural trends. Reference Armstrong, M. (2012) Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. USA: Kogan Page. Brewster, C. and Harris, H. (1999). International Human Resource Management. London: Routledge. Edwards, T. and Rees, C. (2006). International Human Resource Management. New Jersey: Pearson Education Ltd. Harzing, A. (1995). The persistent myth of high expatriate failure rates. United Kingdom: Routledge. Ivancevich, J.M. (2008). Human Resource Management 10E. India: Tata Mc-Graw Hill. Jackson, T. (2004) International HRM: A Cross-Cultural Approach. USA: Sage Publications. Read More