International Human Resource Management Practices Research Articles

International Human Resource Management - Germany and China

In the age of globalization, most businesses are looking to expand by setting up businesses in different parts of the world. However, all organizations require strategic human resource management (HRM) to focus on the success of such organizations. Strategic international human resource management (IHRM) is nothing but an extension of HRM practices that can work globally for the organization (Nankervis, Compton & Baird 2002: 617). IHRM focuses on understanding the policies, culture, and practices that a multinational enterprise need to master to better manage their local and non-local employees in different countries where the organization has set up branches (Dowling, Schuler & Welch 1994). Since Excelsia International Hotel and Leisure Group are hoping to expand their business from the United States to European countries and non-European countries, they need to understand the IHRM practices in these countries for better management of their employees. Currently Excelsia management have no operational experience of working in other countries, hence they need to focus on understanding the hotel and leisure industry regulations, labour legislations, employment conditions and expectations prevalent in the European Union (EU) countries and non-EU countries. This business report suggests that Excelsia International Hotel and Leisure Group expand their business in Germany of Europe and China in Asia to begin operations in other countries. This report analyses the market conditions for staffing, employment regulations and employee culture in these two countries to explain the IHRM practices that Excelsia management should implement while expanding their operations in these countries. From the business report, it is evident that EU provides great avenues for expansion as the hotel and tourism market is growing. China too is a growing hub for hotel industry. However, the industry practices are not necessarily similar in both nations and Excelsia management must consider the IHRM practices described here to achieve success with expansion of their hotel business.

International Human Resource Management Practices in Automotive Industry in Pakistan: Implications for Economic Growth

The purpose of this article is to examine the drivers of global standardization and localization of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) practices internalized by Pakistan’s automotive industry leading to sustainable economic growth. The authors have studied the IHRM determinants influencing the automotive manufacturers, and have assessed its impact on sustainable economic growth. Analysis is developed on the antecedent IHRM theories and literature in the backdrop of Pakistan’s automotive industry. The study highlights the paramount aims of host-country IHRM practices viz global standardization and localization, its impact on host-country organization’s performance and resultant effect on sustainable economic growth. The article has focused, in subtle manner, on improving the explicit understanding on IHRM practices viz global standardization and localization drivers to achieve both growth for the industry and sustainable economic development of the country. The study is based on already generated literature thereby limiting the generalizability thereof, and provides a review of IHRM practices and outcomes in automobile sector in the growth context. The results have presented guidelines to researchers and practitioners doing research in human side in automotive industry providing impetus for growth, both at industry and country level.

International human resource management in the Arab Gulf States – an institutional perspective

This paper seeks to explore the increasingly dominant role of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) policies and practices of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) operating in the emerging economies of the Arab Gulf States and, more specifically, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The existing literature on institutions suggest that MNEs are under influence and pressure to adopt HR practices that are viewed as being appropriate for the context and situation. However, distinctive institutions in the Arab Gulf States such as the UAE, and their impacts on MNEs’ people management have been largely overlooked in prior work. Hence, with a particular focus on institutional theory, this work explores the effects of home-country institutional factors on IHRM in foreign subsidiaries. Furthermore, the paper aims to examine how regulative, cognitive and normative institutional dimensions affect the IHRM choices of MNEs. In-depth interviews with 26 Human Resource (HR) managers located in the head offices of the participating MNEs were conducted, revealing that IHRM practices in this institutional setting are built upon fragile, dependent and uncertain conditions, and they are not grounded in the sort of deep and stable institutional foundations prevalent in most developed economies. As a result, we propose a more nuanced institutional framework that captures the peculiar aspects of the Arab Gulf States.

The contingent role of distributed leadership in the relationship between HR practices and organizational ambidexterity in the cross-border M&As of emerging market multinationals

This paper investigates the effect of human resource practices on organizational ambidexterity in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Previous research suggests that human resource practices play an important role in improving organizational performance, but that there may be contingency factors that interact with human resource practices, leading to different performance outcomes. We focus on one such potential contingency factor: distributed leadership as a key moderator that interacts with human resource practices, leading to organizational ambidexterity in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. We examine 84 deals of emerging economies cross-border mergers and acquisitions. We found that human resource practices positively influence the acquired firms’ ambidexterity, but when we take into account the contingent role of distributed leadership, the effect of human resource practices becomes much stronger, indicating the importance of distributed leadership as a key variable that can explain variations in the success of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The findings have important implications for international human resource management practices in the acquired subsidiaries and for individual leadership styles adopted by parent firms during the post-acquisitions period.

Comparative international human resource management: Future research directions

There are numerous under-researched topics that fall under the umbrella of comparative international human resource management (IHRM) theory and practice. We address three in particular: talent management (TM), international mobility, and diversity. The degree of convergence of HR practices with Western-style so-called “best practices” is a topic of much dispute. We argue that sociocultural and institutional factors are critical determinants of HR practices, and we underscore the importance of the sociocultural context in IHRM. The reality unfolding is that of multiple factors, not exclusive to international best practices, playing a role in the development of HR practices in various international contexts.

A social institutionalist perspective on HR diffusion: historical and cultural receptivity to HRM in a post-communist context

This research considers cross-national diffusion of international human resource management (IHRM) ideas and practices by applying an emergent frame of sociological conceptualisation – ‘social institutionalism’ (SI). We look at cultural filters to patterns of diffusion, assimilation and adoption of IHRM, using Romania as a case study. The paper considers the former Communist system of employment relations, suggesting that through institutionalisation former ways of thinking have a residual influence on definitions and practice of people management in post-Communist Eastern Europe. The paper provides a new perspective on HRM by discussing the value of SI as a general model for understanding cross-cultural receptivity to HR ideas, sensitising the HR practitioner and academic to institutionalised culture as a historical legacy influencing absorption of international management ideas.

International human resource management of Japanese multinational corporations: Challenges and future directions

Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) enjoyed global success until the early 1990s, but recent trends have presented many challenges, necessitating adaptations to international human resource management (IHRM) and other management practices. In reviewing recent changes in the IHRM of Japanese MNCs by focusing on ‘internal internationalization’ at headquarters and ‘external internationalization’ in foreign subsidiaries, we develop a framework that elucidates these processes through the characteristics of industries and Japanese MNCs. Moreover, we discuss future research avenues for a deeper understanding of Japanese IHRM and generating new knowledge in the IHRM field.

New perspectives on human resource management in a global context

In the past three decades or so, globalization/regionalization, migration and reverse migration (also referred to as “brain circulation”), the ascendancy of emerging markets, the demand for people with a global mindset, and the worldwide war for talent have brought about fundamental changes to the nature, magnitude, and raison d’etre for human resource management (HRM) in a global context. These changes require us to adopt new lenses to fully understand the dynamics that impact international human resource management (IHRM) policies and practices. This paper presents new perspectives on IHRM as they relate to research on multicultural teams under the three dimensions of diversity (separation, variety, and disparity) posited by Harrison and Klein (2007), and brain circulation in the context of movement of peoples across countries. These perspectives go toward the traditional approach of studying expatriates, whether company-sponsored or self-initiated assignments. The paper discusses how these new perspectives can set the agenda for future research on IHRM.

The management of Chinese MNEs’ expatriates

Purpose – Expatriate management is a popular topic in international human resource management (IHRM) because expatriates play a critical role in a firm’s international business operations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the existing studies that often examine the expatriate management of developed country multinational enterprises (MNEs), aiming to help them identify, employ, prepare and retain expatriates and address challenges these MNEs may face, while how MNEs from emerging countries manage their expatriates is understudied. Design/methodology/approach – The knowledge of expatriate management from emerging market MNEs (EMNEs) may help us understand whether there is anything new for IHRM theory and practice. This conceptual paper aims to address this research gap by selecting China, a leading emerging economy, and reviewing the existing literature in both English and Chinese to examine the status quo of the expatriate management in Chinese MNEs to highlight challenges facing these MNEs in managing their expatriates when conducting outward foreign direct investment (FDI). Findings – This paper aims to make theoretical contributions by generating research propositions to address an under-researched area, i.e., how EMNEs manage their expatriates and the role of their expatriates in the outward FDI. Originality/value – No other person’s work has been used in the main text of the paper. This paper has not been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma in this or any other tertiary institution.

Exploring the impact of international human resource management practices on firm performance

In the recent decade, the global tourism industry is showing trends of increasing visitor arrivals in the developing countries. On one hand, this implies that more tourist dollar is coming into small island developing states; on the other hand, it means that there will be more need for accommodation facilities and tourist attraction sites. In the case of Fiji, majority of the five star hotels in Fiji are owned and operated by foreign multinational hotel chains. Against this backdrop, this research will examine the human resource management practices adopted by the multinational hotels in Fiji and how each innovative employee management practices has a causal impact on firm performance, employee retention and customer satisfaction.

A comparison of international HRM practices by Indian and European MNEs: evidence from Africa

By comparing the HRM practices in Indian and European MNE subsidiaries located in four of the Southern African Development Community countries, this paper tests the relevance of the country-of-origin effect and analyses the strength of institutional and firm-level influences. Examining data from 865 MNE subsidiaries obtained from the World Bank enterprise survey data, the paper finds that Indian MNEs have higher labour costs in relation to total sales than their European counterparts, that Indian MNEs make more use of temporary labour than their European counterparts, that Indian MNEs invest in less training than their European counterparts. No support is found for the hypothesis that Indian MNEs have a lower ratio of skilled workers in comparison to European-owned subsidiaries. The study shows that country-of-origin effects are weakened if they are not consistent with host country ideology and that as economies evolve so too do their expectations of HR policy and practices.

International human resource management practices adopted by multinational corporations in the hotel sector of Fiji

Managing human resources in the international context is a challenging task for human resource managers. Majority of the five-star hotels in Fiji are internationally owned by multinational corporations from France, USA, Hawaii, Hong Kong and Singapore. Multinational companies from different countries behave differently in the way they manage their employees and handle employment relations issues. The tourism sector of Fiji is the largest employer in the service sector. Employees from the tourism sector are from skill level and experience. It is mostly seen and noted in the extant literature that human resource management practices adopted by multinational corporations are better than local companies because local companies do not have financial resources to invest in human resource management. The main aim of this paper is to examine international human resource management practices used by multinational corporations in the hotel sector of Fiji.

Constructing differences in a cross-cultural context: National distance, social differentiation or functional distinction

This article develops theory about the perspectives through which expatriate managers and their employees socially construct differences in a cross-cultural context. On the basis of qualitative research on three kinds of organizations – multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and start-up companies – we identify three perspectives on differences in a cross-cultural context: the national distance perspective, the social differentiation perspective and the functional distinction perspective. Each perspective relates to a specific basis for categorization (nationality, status and function), focus of attention (values, attitudes and expertise) and definition of diversity (separation, disparity and variety). We find that international experience and country experience on one side, and the purpose of business (business development, business creation or business turnaround) on the other side, explain why some expatriate managers and their employees adopt one perspective or another, sometimes as default. The passing of time, as reflected in growing country experience, growing work experience and growing company tenure, can be the motor of transition from one perspective to another. Our findings contribute to cross-cultural and diversity studies, to social constructionism, and have consequences for international human resource management research and practices.

Humanizing Humanitarian Supply Chains: A Synthesis of Key Challenges

Business collaboration is increasingly the focus of management scholars and practitioners alike. Collaboration brings both benefits to organizations and numerous challenges. In disaster management, the response to events that impact people, communities and businesses frequently involves the response of multiple organizations. Collaboration in this chaotic and uncertain environment is difficult. Humanitarian supply chains are part of a service- based industry, thus interactions and relationships with people are necessary, further increasing the management complexities. Managing humanitarian supply chains is a people business that still appears to be anchored in an efficiency paradigm focusing on cost reduction. This paper examines challenges and issues involved in collaboration and coordination in the context of the humanitarian supply chains through the lens of international human resource management practices. It suggests greater emphasis on developing an effectiveness paradigm that focuses on value creation, knowledge sharing and collaboration. Understanding collaboration in the complex context of humanitarian supply chains provides opportunities for application of this learning from the business world.

International human resource management policies and practices of South Korean MNEs: a review of the literature

This paper systematically reviews the literature on international human resource management (IHRM) policies and practices of South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs). It reveals that South Korean MNEs adopt an ethnocentric staffing approach, but are increasingly using more host-country nationals (HCNs). Korean MNEs pay great attention to language training for expatriates, and there is an emphasis on international experience when selecting expatriates. South Korean MNEs tend to adopt home-oriented selection procedures and criteria, performance appraisal and reward-and-compensation schemes for HCNs. A range of training and development programmes are provided to HCNs in order to develop more local managers. However, studies concerning IHRM of South Korean MNEs are scarce and only a few expatriate-related IHRM issues have been empirically examined. As a result, how South Korean MNEs manage IHRM and what is the rationale of their IHRM policies and practices remain largely unknown. This review paper calls for more empirical research and discusses the implications for future research.

IHRM in developing countries: does the functionalist vs. critical debate make sense South of the Equator?

A recent debate has taken place in International Human Resource Management (IHRM) theory and practice between the so-called functionalists and the critical approaches. This paper reviews the literature on mainstream, functionalist IHRM and the critical approaches, and theoretically discusses their fit to emerging countries' realities and multilatinas experience. The essay's main objectives and contributions are: (a) to argue that this debate, overly typical of the American-European context, may not be fully applicable to ambiguous and contradictory contexts, such as most developing countries and, particularly, Latin America; (b) to argue that the disputes between both functionalist and critical IHRM theorists, in equally richer countries, is inadequate for other (non-rich-involving) contexts; and (c) to propose redirection possibilities for this debate, particularly, in Latin America.

Interaction effects of globalization and institutional forces on international HRM practice: Illuminating the convergence‐divergence debate

AbstractIn the face of globalization, scholars continue to debate about whether a convergence in human resources practices will prevail, or a trend of divergence perspective will persist. Building on institution theory, this article helps to explicate this debate by examining how globalization may interact with different dimensions of local institutional forces to lead to convergence, divergence, or crossvergence in international HRM practices for enhanced performance. We also present useful propositions for guiding future empirical research and theory development on the interaction between globalization and different forms of local institutional forces, which in turn influence the formation of successful international HRM practices. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Subsidiary Interdependencies and International Human Resource Management Practices in German MNCs

Using the resource-based view, this paper links the degree of interdependence that exists between subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) to the use of various International Human Resource Management (IHRM) practices. We assume that in many MNCs this interdependence has increased the need for cross-border coordination. We analyze to what extent MNCs use IHRM practices in order to enhance their coordination capability across national borders. We present a framework that addresses these effects and empirically test it using data from a questionnaire survey among 142 majority-owned overseas subsidiaries of German MNCs. The findings show that the degree of interdependence is related to the level of international experience of staff employed in subsidiaries, the use of third-country nationals, the provision of training, the use of cross-cultural management teams, and the choice of employee evaluation and reward methods. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for IHRM practitioners and scholars as well as the limitations of our study.

Customers cocreating value with the firm: implications for IHRM

The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical framework for governing an organization's relationships with customers engaged as contributors to the organization's business processes (i.e. customers as quasi-employees). Based on our suggested framework, we explain how appropriate customer-centric HRM practices can support more cost-effective and accommodating adaptations in the organization's governance of its relationships with customers. We complement these propositions with practical examples illustrating how customers who take different cooperative roles will increasingly become valuable organizational assets. The collaborating customers not only provide the information necessary for the successful performance of the service exchange, but also contribute human and social capital in performing tasks that are a complement to or a substitute for employee tasks. In conclusion, we outline implications for international human resource management (IHRM), as well as future research directions for examining the relationships among customer governance, role configurations, and IHRM practices.

Expatriate Managers: Powerful Or Powerless?

This presentation will focus on expatriate managers for whom successful cross-cultural adjustment is imperative in overall effectiveness during overseas postings. Unfortunately, employers often blame the individual when assignments fail rather than taking responsibility themselves (Deresky 2002; Hodgetts & Luthans 2006; Swaak 1995; Tung 1987). A study of Canadians employed in international non-government organizations in Indonesia will be presented. This research focussed on describing the lived experience of these managers using their own words. Written descriptions were analyzed/synthesized using Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method (Giorgi 1975; 1985; Giorgi & Giorgi 2003). One of the research findings was the paradoxical feelings of powerfulness/powerlessness as experienced by the participants. Intriguingly, the expatriate manager’s position as foreigner (readily identified through ‘observable differences’), brings power and status, but also feelings of being powerless in certain situations. At the same time, awareness of one’s ‘minority status’ in combination with the large cultural differences between Canadians and Indonesians provides a potent and challenging lived experience for the expatriates (Mendenhall & Wiley 1994). The new knowledge uncovered may result in alterations of present international human resource management practices and strategies in relation to expatriation, thereby improving the performance of expatriates and organizations.