Impacts of Globalization on the Management of SABMillers Employees - Case Study Example

SABMiller Company Name Student ID Course Instructor Date SABMiller Company Impacts of Globalization on the Management of the SABMiller’s Employees Globalization refers to the act of interaction and integration amongst nationalities, organizations, and governments of distinct countries, an activity assisted by global trade and venture and facilitated by information technology. It is the global movement towards fiscal, business, and communication integration. It means unlocking of narrow and nationalistic views and beliefs to a broad perspective of an interrelated and interdependent world with complimentary movement of capitals, goods, and services beyond country territories. SABMiller is a global company that manufactures and purchases brew and beverages whose headquarters are located in London. It the globe’s second biggest brewing company in terms of revenue and it is the main bottler of the Coca-Cola Company. The SABMiller plc originated in South Africa over 10 decades ago. The company operates in over 80 nations across the Africa region, America, Europe, and Asia. The company has more than 70,000 employees and it sells more than 140,000 bottles of beer in a day. The growth of SABMiller has been complex; around the apartheid period, the company was not allowed to make any investments outside South Africa. It later grew across the globe and the transition included winning the hearts and minds from different regions across the globe (Luo and Tung, 2007. p. 485). Globalization integrates a company’s activities processes, and stratagems into a wide range of cultural practices, goods and services, and perspectives (Klein and Wöcke, 2007, p. 320). Due to its stress on diversity, globalization has an extensive effect on the way the organization manage its employees. Taking into consideration the impact of globalization on human resources, globalization has helped the SABMiller Company manage and equip the company for the constantly growing global business environment. In majority of the African countries, the management of human resource has not been taken with the seriousness it requires. In most instances, most of people who deal with human resource issues are not properly qualified to deal with matters from the context of diverse culture and social backgrounds. With the increased globalization, the SABMiller Company is constantly required to interact with its customers and stakeholders from various regions, cultural settings, ethnicity, and social setting. Due to this, it is necessary for a company to hire staff from a variety of distinct backgrounds. As a global company, SABMiller engages in diverse recruitments because they recognize the benefits of having people who can easily interact with their customers. Also, it is recognized that having employees from diverse cultures leads to establishment of diverse ideas and influence within the company. In addition, effect of globalization on the company has included a need for professional development. Professional development includes provision of opportunities for the staff so that they may achieve their career objectives. The company strives to offer finances for employees to acquire university degrees, conference training, and networking activities. Professional development is vital for the company to competent effectively in the global market because it leads to establishment of a win-win environment (Klein and Wöcke, 2007, p. 321). While the employees benefit from the acquired skills, the company also benefits. Moreover, the company experiences greater emphasis for training. Training majorly focuses on the requirements and professional aptitude of the certain team’s employees within the company. For example, there will be need to hold language lessons to offer the call centre staff some briefing that would involve telephone sales. Also, employees may be taught on how to use and operate various global software platforms. The stress on training presents the SABMiller with a competitive edge in the global environment by putting into consideration the global needs of potential customers. The last effect of globalization on the SABMiller will require the company to understand and make application of laws from various jurisdictions to the respective activities (Klein and Wöcke, 2007, p. 330). In the US, the federal government has defined tax and labor statutes that companies ought to conform to which also applies to various companies. Hiring staff from different regions across the globe will certainly alter the requirements of minimum wage, tax allowances, and working time. The management of the SABMiller will require understanding of such provisions which are significant to the organization’s operations. Violation of any of such provisions would have significant effects to the reputation and the profitability of the company. Labor Laws Relevant To the Global Operations Just as other international companies, SABMiller Company is faced by a wide range of foreign labor and employment statutes and regional ethnic considerations that facilitate proper achievement of the commercial goals. Paying attention to the legal, commercial and fiscal threats linked with international labor and employment matters, the company ought to carry out careful monitoring and maintenance of its offshore activities and be confident that its labor and employment scheme and strategy run lawfully and successfully around the globe. Various labor laws are important for the company with the extensive growth in globalization. The SABMiller Company should know that labor and employment statutes have become globalized as the case with trade. Considering the popularity of the internet and the social media, the faulting of employment activity of the organization in one region, leads to significant effects in all across the globe (Valticos, 2013). International labor standards put ahead the development of people. The standards hold that labor is not a product. The international labor law is of great significance as SABMiller Company extends its global relation. It refers to a model of regulations which span public and private global statutes involved in the rights and obligations of employees, employers, organizations, and governments in monitoring work environments. The two major agencies responsible for the reformation of labor markets include the international labor organizational and the world trade organization. The international labor organization coordinates principals of intercontinental labor statute through issue of conventions which unify labor statutes on various issues. As the company undertakes its international business, it ought to comply with the core convention that has been ratified by the specific country (Felbermayr, Prat, and Schmerer, 2011, 40). There is a universal agreement that all global businesses from all countries must portray respect to freedom of association and proper recognition of union benefits, support abolishment of all forms of forced labor, elimination of child labor and elimination of workplace discrimination. The ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work endorsed in Geneva about a decade ago puts significant emphasis on these principles in details. Reports indicate that workers in the third world countries do not have fundamental labor rights such as right to join union and rights to safety, that majority of workers in the developed countries tale for granted (Barrientos, Gereffi, and Rossi, 2011, p. 320). The company should consider that weak and improperly implemented labor standards are considered unfair for employees since partial just for employees is related to poor wages. In most instances, global organizations move their activities to nations with the cheapest source of labor and lowest production expenses. A low production expense is majorly manipulative as the company is only concerned about reducing its costs. Recent labor propositions hold that countries should be allowed to reject imports from a country that violates the international global standards of labor protection. It is argued that such warning would assist in the advancement of labor standards and improvement of work setting conditions in the developing countries. The international labor standards are majorly governmental tools which governments seek to establish and execute labor law and social regulations so as to conform to the internationally recognized standards. For majority of the countries, the process starts by ratification of ILO convention. The enforcements of the ILO are not strong enough and there has been the suggestion of adoption of labor standards in WTO undertakings. The SABMiller Company should be aware that there are numerous issues which arise as employees leave home countries to work abroad. If an employee carries out their role in different countries, an employer may decide to typify the work agreement as being directed by the provisions of the country where there is least favor of the employee. Various countries have distinct provisions for employment matters. The EU law has complex framework of labor statutes (Barrientos, Gereffi, and Rossi, 2011, p. 320). However, it does not address wages, dismissal, and union matters. It provides working directive of 28 days of compensated holidays, prohibits workplace discrimination, and holds that proper consultation should be conducted prior to finalization of economic dismissal. Even though the activities of industrial relations have similar components in countries across the globe, each country approaches its issues differently. In some countries, the laws are clearly defined and stated, others offer sufficient opportunities for inventiveness (Harzing and Ruysseveldt, 2004, p. 167). The number and nature of employees who are unionized vary significantly amongst various countries. The challenge in identifying the authority of unions in different countries results from irregularity amid countries in the way they calculate membership. For instance, retired employees are part of the union in Scandinavian countries. Likewise, labor relations vary significantly across the globe. In countries such as Canada and Japan, unions’ processes are entirely economic but in countries such as Italy and England, unions are basically political and attain their goals through political act (Harzing and Ruysseveldt, 2004, p. 168). Bibliography Barrientos, S., Gereffi, G. and Rossi, A. 2011. Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: A new paradigm for a changing world. International Labour Review, 150(3‐4), pp. 319-340. Felbermayr, G., Prat, J. and Schmerer, H. J. 2011. Globalization and labor market outcomes: wage bargaining, search frictions, and firm heterogeneity. Journal of Economic Theory, 146(1), pp. 39-73. Harzing, A. and Ruysseveldt, J.V. 2004. International human resource management. London ; Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publication. Klein, S. and Wöcke, A. 2007. Emerging global contenders: the South African experience. Journal of International Management, 13(3), pp. 319-337. Luo, Y. and Tung, R. L. 2007. International expansion of emerging market enterprises: A springboard perspective. Journal of international business studies, 38(4), pp. 481-498. Valticos, N. 2013. International labour law. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media. Read More