Is the Iberoamerican HR system prepared for a management revolution?

Abstract

The motivation for this symposium is to unearth the relationship between corporate development and professionalization in the field of human resources management (HRM) in Iberoamerica. In this instance, prominent scholars have emphasized, for example, the strategic implications of managerial staffing and the need to match managers with strategies (Kerr and Jackofsk, 1989). Vassolo et al. (2011) argue that the analysis of this geographical region has been systematically neglected in studies within the international business field. However, there remain many challenges in this region characterized by late industrialized economies of which there is very little data available (Vassolo et al. 2011). We suggest there is a strong relationship between the professionalization of the HR function and its strategic importance. This becomes obvious when the HR practices and policies are developed consistently in alignment with the HR function and its strategic expectations. Therefore, this symposium intends to contribute towards explaining the human resource management role in the formulation of companies’ strategic objectives. The specific challenge that this study entails is rooted in the difficulty to evaluate human resource solutions to strategic problems as compared to the more traditional approach of using human resource management-based solutions as strategic solutions. We argue that the participation of the HR director in the board of directors, and the implementation of HR practices that go beyond the traditional administrative function of HR, will contribute to the development and the sustainability of the corporate activity in Iberoamerica. Indeed, as Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall (1988) pointed out, competitive advantage encompasses those capabilities, resources, relationships and decisions that permit a firm to capitalize on opportunities and avoid threats within its industry (Hofer and Schendel, 1978). Most Latin-American countries challenge business strategies due to the high economic volatility and politic instability risks. So even if firms possess competitive advantages, the sustainability of successful strategies is not ensured. In this regard, we propose that human resource policies should be tailored to reflect the needs of the business environment rather than to mirror current trends or best practices from the past. As Vassolo et al. (2011) postulate, it is important to understand how business operate in Iberoamerican countries and their own specific dynamics which motivates empirically our choice for both a best practices prescriptive approach and an innovative, customized human resources management framework. There is an increasing need to take into consideration that the context in which people management takes place around the globe, especially in the emerging markets, is significantly different from the US context where much of the HR policies and practices have been developed. For this reason, we bring new empirical evidence about the state of development of HR policies and practices in Iberoamerica as we are currently gathering data through a large-scale survey in 10 countries from this region. In this symposium we will present the first insights of this cross-national study through 4 of the papers that the researchers involved in this network are currently developing. The state of the HR function and its strategic role in multinational companies in Latin-America Presenter: Maria Jesus Belizon; IESE Business School Presenter: Lourdes Susaeta; IESE Business School The importance of training in operationalizing HR policy: An Iberoamerican Research Presenter: SERGIO JOSE NOGUERA GOTOPO; U. of Carabobo Internal communication as a corporate challenge: A comparative analysis in Iberoamerica Presenter: Sandra Idrovo; INALDE Talent Management in Iberoamerican countries Presenter: Paula Apascaritei; IESE Presenter: Jose Ramon Pin; IESE Business School Presenter: Esperanza Suárez; IESE Business School High Performance HR practices in Iberoamerica Presenter: Isis Olimpia Gutierrez-Martinez; U. de las Americas-Puebla