Development of Global Managers: Impact upon Human Resource Management Practice - Research Paper Example

 Development of Global Managers – Impact upon Human Resource Management Practice The rapid pace of technological advancements is changing the traditional ways of managing business all over the world. In the era of globalization the concept of cross border and international business has become very popular (McNally and Parry, 2000). In this evolving situation, the business entities now require much more strategic approach towards their businesses in remain to remains stable and competitive around the world. The companies now need strategic capabilities in three major business areas including global scale efficiency, local responsiveness and capability of leveraging worldwide. The notion of global manager is not very new however it has got momentum is recent time when the business world all over globe are witnessing the transformational changed led by the technology advancements. The concept of global managers has evolved over the time with the expectation of fulfilment of these objectives however, it is also a fact that no single global manager could perform all of these tasks for a business and generally group of specialized managers is developed for the management of company matters worldwide (Steers, et al, 2010). . The development of global managers is an important issue for the companies operating internationally because the global managers are made and not born. The development of the global managers appears to be foremost question for the corporate managers because they have to assure that the right person has got the right training and capabilities to work at the right place for generating the desired results. The concept of global managers is not very new and since the development of the notion there is extensive research work conducted around the topic in order to explore the issue from various perspectives (Bartlett and Ghoshal 2003). It has been unveiled that mainly these used to be three types of global managers including business manager, country manager and functional manager. The global business or product division manager has the responsibility to build efficiency and competitiveness of the company all around the world by recognizing cross border opportunities and risks. The country managers work as building block for worldwide operations of the company by providing detailed understanding and interpretation of local markets and building local capabilities and resources. The third type of global manager is worldwide functional specialist that transfers the expertise from one unit to another and works for leverage learning, generation of good ideas and best business practice of the companies (Kediaa and Mukherji, 1999). Development of Global Managers – Current Issues The international business operations require constructing internationally competent workforces that must be comprise of the people having adequate information about the business. This requirement is also fulfilled by the global managers that are expected to be highly flexible and open minded. The building of such team is not a simple task and sometimes the companies take years to come up with the team of perfectly chosen global managers to organize their worldwide operations in adequate manner (Steers, et al, 2010). It is now impossible for the multinational companies to consult and reply upon single manager or specialist for effective management of their operations in any country because they must have team of global managers with multicultural experience so that they could recognize the cultural differences affecting the business activities and communication as well as working relationship within the company (McNally and Parry, 2000). Traditionally the businesses use to reply upon single country managers or expert for the management of the cross border business matters however, the increased trend of international business has changed the situation and the companies are required to give special attention towards allocation of management duties to competent people. Now days the companies commonly hire team of professionals having expertise in the field of international business management so that they could monitor and manage the business operations of the firm across the border with the help of the skills and knowledge of different working cultures. The global managers have to face lot of challenges in the highly competitive marketplace of today. The business world has now become more fragments that at any other time since the Second World War because it has been widely riven by the ideologies, mistrusts, cultures and religions. Despite all these differences the cross border expansions of the businesses are on peak and the business managers have to perform much more strategic and effective job in the challenging scenario (McNally and Parry, 2000). They have to figure out the ways through which they could run the business with efficiency, maximum productivity and competitiveness. At the same time they have lots of other responsibilities to fulfil. The global managers face the challenge of balancing the local, regional and global demands that their company has to consider and fulfil in order to operate successfully across the borders of many countries of the world (Kediaa and Mukherji, 1999). Analysing the Impact upon HR practice and major challenges The development of team of global managers is a tough job that must be performed adequately by the human resource management specialists. The HR practice is highly affected from the evolution and development of the concept of global managers because they have to carefully select the competent people as global managers so that the international business operations of the company could be adequately managed. There are several challenges faced by the human resource management specialists in the development of the global managers. Among them three major challenges include difference in the labour laws, deciding reasonable financial package and scanning the candidate for right capabilities (Steers, et al, 2010). The human resource managers have to assure that the hired global manager has to flexibility and open mindedness to learn and adjust in the cultures of other nations and also has the ability to handle the problems and issues raised due to the cultural differences in the stakeholders of the company (McNally and Parry, 2000). Generally there are differences in the labour laws of the foreign countries that should also be considered while selected the global managers for the company. The selected global managers should also be offered reasonably attractive financial package so that he will find it better to accept the job offer of the company. The HR managers have to offer competent salaries to the global managers also with other benefits and compensations like looking at the family issues and medical coverage etc. (Bartlett and Ghoshal 2003) Statement of Agreement/Disagreement The above discussion includes some important issues related with the development of the global managers. It has been unveiled that in the era of large scale globalization there is critical need of developing global managers with global perspective so that they could adequately work for better management of the companies’ business all over the world. The global managers must have global mind set and adequate competencies, skills and knowledge to effectively manage the global operations of the companies. The perceptive regarding the importance and challenges of development of global managers discusses above seems logical and there is overall agreement with these perceptions because it is observed that the international business expansion has become very common now days due to which there is rapid increase in the tough competition among the companies operating internationally. In this situation it is not very easy for the companies to survive with the help of traditional management tools but they require competent and skilled global managers so that the success of their international operations could be assured. The human resource managers have the responsibility to select the right person for the job of management of global operations and from this perspective the development of global managers has evolved as an important and challenging issue for the human resource managers because along with the general analysis they have to perform careful scanning of the candidates to identify their multicultural adjustment capabilities (Kediaa and Mukherji, 1999). Dessler’s Position Dessler (2002) also pointed out that the development of global managers insists upon the need of global human resource management because the international businesses confront wide array of HR management challenges. There are some obvious differences in the global and local HR practice and the HR professionals must be aware of the effects of inter-country differences upon the HR practice. The HR specialists can support the international business operations of the companies by appropriate practice of global HR management. They have the train as well as maintain the international workforce of the company especially providing adequate training to the global managers is very important task for the HR professionals associated with the international business (Dessler (2002). He further clarifies that there are three major challenges faced by the HR managers of the international business. At first they have to assure the easy availability of the right skills according to the requirements of the company regardless of the geographical location. Secondly, they have to spread their own knowledge and practice throughout the organization without considering the origin. The third important HR challenge in to identifying and developing the talent in global basis to pick the people that could function effectively in the global organization and management of their businesses (Dessler (2002). Recommendations It is unveiled that the development of global managers inevitable in the current era of globalization. The global managers have become the necessary part of the management teams of the businesses of today. However, better practice of human resource management calls for strategic approach towards the selection of global managers because the development of competent team of global managers possesses great importance in maintaining and strengthening the position of the companies at international level. It is recommended that the HR professionals must attain complete information about the skills and competencies to look in the global managers. The responsibilities of HR managers are not limited to the selection of global managers but it is also very important that they should arrange workshops and training programs for the global managers so the global managers could cope up with the evolving trends of the international business industry. The evolution of global manager has added to the responsibilities of the HR professionals. It is also important to provide benefits and compensations to the global managers so that they could be motivated to perform efficiently for the organization. Hence, the responsibilities of the human resource managers have increased due to the emerging concept of development of global managers and they are required to have closer and more careful look at the capabilities and performance of the global managers in contrast with the global requirements of their businesses. References Bartlett , CA, Ghoshal S. (2003). “What is a global manager?” Harvard Business Review, 2003, Aug; 81(8):pp101-8, 141 Dessler, G. (2002). Human Resource Management (9th Edition), NY: Prentice Hall Kediaa, B. L. and Mukherji, A. (1999). “Global managers: developing a mindset for global competitiveness”, Journal of World Business, 34 (30): pp230-251 McNally, B. and Parry, K. (2000). “Global managers? Meeting the Transnational Challenge: An Investigation into the Development of Transnational Competencies in the New Zealand Finance Sector”, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 38(1): pp84-101 Steers, M.R., Carlos J. S., Luciara N. (2010). Management across Cultures: Challenges and Strategies, London: Cambridge University Press Read More