International Human Resource Management - Essay Example

The most striking feature of international human resource management is the incorporation of two key ideas in the department. On one hand coordination of human resource management policies in all the subsidiary branches is ensured to bring harmony in operations. On the other hand, there must be some element of flexibility in order to accommodate policy differences that arise from business and cultural variations (Sims, 2002). International human resource management is primarily similar to domestic human resource management, but modifications are made to ensure that international scope of operations is comprehensibly taken care of.

According to Schuler et al as cited in Sims (2002), while domestic human resource management influences come from internal forces, international human resource management is influenced by more external sources. A greater level of risk element is involved in international human resource management than its counterpart. The management functions become numerous and more heterogeneous due to the constant changes in business perspectives at the international arena. An engineering service providing company which is mainly capital intensive in comparison to many other service industries has critical questions to address (Becker et al, 1997, p39).

The human resource director at Mango, a British Engineering multinational company with headquarters in London, highlights the following preparations for the creation of new a plant in Perth, Australia. The general manger will conduct the job analysis for a general manager in order to come up with a job design specifying that the manager will be a UK national currently located in the UK. The reason for nationality criteria is to ensure that the manager has sufficient understanding of operations of the company.

The business cultural setting of the company in the UK bears an important role in the job design