Initiating Human Resource Activities in Global Environment
Question:
Discuss about the Human Resource Activities In Global Environment.
The purpose of this task is to provide a brief overview about the human resource activities initiated in the global environment. In the current business context, it has become difficult for the organizations to initiate their activities in the environment and gain success. Many aspects present in the environment affects the growth of an organization. In global context as the organization diversifies so the problems related to company also increases. In international environment, a company faces issues of cross culture environment and training and development of employee (Kultalahti, & Viitala, 2015).
Further, the below mentioned paper provides information about the challenging issues like diversity management and the culture of a country. Further, it also talks about the international performance management. Training and development is also included in it and lastly recommendations for the same. Further, the paper provides an illustration of the similar issues affected in an aircraft’s organization, according to given case study. The paper critically evaluates the theories and concepts of HRM, more details about the paper are discussed below:
Diversity at workplace refers to the act under which people of different countries come together and work under the same environment in an organization. With the changing effects of the environment, it has become important for the organization to initiate the activities of diversity at workplace. This can help them to repeatedly increase their market share and gain large customer base in the market. But apart from various positive aspects, diversity management at workplace also negatively hampers the growth of the organizations. The companies that find it difficult to manage diversity in human resource management face major difficulty in this case (Gannon, Roper, & Doherty, 2015).
Further, it should be noted that it many organizations initiates these activities to succeed in the target market and gain advantage but instead they are unable use the diversity management techniques properly due to which the whole organization suffer. When an expatriate joins the organization, they leave their native place, culture behind and come forward to the work in the organization but instead if they will feel discrimination in the organization or if they will cultural shock then they will definitely move back to their native place (Boxall, 2018). Thus, in order to successfully initiate the diversity management activities, it is important for the management to use the techniques to solve discrimination present in the environment and convince the existing employees to welcome the new employees. Relating it to the given case study of the ‘No Name’ aircrafts, it should be noted that initially the organization is involved in the industry where it is very important for them to employ diversified human resource in their business to initiate sales. Diversity will help the people to initiate their sales and increase the market competitiveness as well. But the company faces issues in acquiring diversity due to which they growth process is depleting (Vaiman, & Brewster, 2015).
The employees of the company have a resistant behavior towards the working of the organization. They do not like to work with some other person who does not belong to same race, culture and ethnicity. Thus, it should be noted that as the employees are not co-operative due to which it becomes difficult for the employees (expatriate) to stay in the organization and work. Also there is lack of adequate communication in there organization that induces the employees to move towards the problem of cultural shock as well (Rowlands, & Iles, 2017). The headquarter along with their subsidiaries should employ different people from different countries for the ultimate growth of the organization but the nature of employees and organizational discrimination do not make them stay in ‘No Name’ aircrafts for too long. The company should train their employees to effectively co-operation with them to manage diversity at workplace. Also they should aim to reduce the difference between different cultures and not increase it. Lastly, discrimination is the most important issue due to which it gets difficult for the organization to manage diversity. Thus, the human resource management should aim to resolve it and satisfy all the employees as well (Kang, & Shen, 2017).
Challenging Issues in Diversity Management at Workplace
Further, the resource based theory of diversity management explains that how implementation of diversity will affect the organizational resources. There are basically four types of resources that are physical capital, human capital, financial capital and corporate capital resources. These resources can either support or resist the activities of the organization (Dickmann, Brewster, & Sparrow, 2016). The companies need to use the resources in such a way that core activity of the business is assisted with improvement in growth. This theory suggests that the organizations that are more diverse tend to gain better advantage than homogenous organizations. Also, this practice helps organizations in using innovation practices in their business and gaining success (Kang, & Shen, 2016).
Further, it should be noted that the aircrafts organization is based in Australia. The culture and background in which an organization prevailing also strong helps the employees in holding back and resisting. Explaining the Australian culture through Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, it should be noted that there is low power distance (36) in the country which shows that the powers I the country are distributed unequally resulting to which more powerful members institutes activities in the society. Further, the aspect of individualism says that the people of the country are country are more concerned about ‘I’ rather than ‘We’. The score is 90 is this case which explains that people only take care of their immediate family and do not look up to their extended family. Masculinity says that people of the country are money oriented; they only get satisfied when they are benefitted monetarily in an organization (Deresky, 2017). High score of 61 in this case says that the society believes in becoming the best in every field. Uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to which people of the country control the future upcoming situations. The country scores 51 in this case. Another aspect of long term orientation says that to what extent people of a country focus on the future while holding the past. Australia scores 21 in this case which says that the people have of this country have normative thinking. Lastly, indulgence versus restraints talks about the extent to which people welcome changes and react to it. People of this country try to control all the activities and do not changing the environmental conditions even if it is for the good (Vance, & Paik, 2014).
In addition, relating it to the culture of ‘No Name’ aircrafts, it should be noted that the people are more restraint due to which they oppose entrant of expatriate in the company due to which the aim of diversification fails. Also the employees feel communication barriers due to which they are unable to share their opinion with the superior authority (Story, Barbuto, Luthans, & Bovaird, 2014). Also, the organization does not efficient products and services in the environment. Thus, it should be noted that if people with different background come together for the same motive then the organization will definitely gain growth. Also, innovations in company will improve the quality of product. Effective communication will solve the problems easily and circulate the instructions of the superiors as well. Thus, diversity management can reduce all the problems of the organization (Theodorakopoulos, & Budhwar, 2015).
Resource-Based Theory and Diversity Management
Managing the performance of the employees is a task for the organization as it is one of the major aspect that satisfies them in the organization. The organization needs to implement strategic decision making process that can positively impact the growth of the employees and ultimately the organization also grows. Human resource are most important asset of the organization due to which whole system works and if that asset does not perform their functions and duties actively then company might face failure. The performance management team helps the organization in effectively identifying the work done of the employees of the employees and rewarding them for that. The rewards can be in monetary as well as non-monetary term. The international organizations incur heavy costs to procure the human resource so as to employ diversity in organization. Resulting to which, they expect these employees to outshine the activities of the company with their talent (Pudelko, Reiche, & Carr, 2015).
Further, an international organization encounters many challenges while initiating their performance management activity. According to the total company versus part of it theory of the performance management, it should be noted that the human resource management team of the company should provide differential policies to the company and their subsidiaries depending upon the place where they are (Horwitz, & Budhwar, 2015). As the policies implemented for one part of the system might not be as good for other subsidiaries. Thus, depending upon the favorable conditions the management shall initiate such policies. Thus, the problem arises in this dichotomy is decision making that if policies are implemented differently then the performance appraisal process should also be implemented differently (Welch, & Björkman, 2015).
Relating the international performance management process to the given case, it should be noted that the organization also involves many performance management issues in their system. The international performance management system is closely related to the appraisal system. In every organization after completion of a year, the employees wait to get their performance review and appraisal accordingly. These appraisals are always a motivating factor for the employees as it bring monetary and non-monetary rewards for them (Brewster, Houldsworth, Sparrow, & Vernon, 2016). But if an organization lacks in reviewing the performance of the employees then the employees will start getting demotivated which will impact on their performance. Their low performance will ultimately result in low performance of the company. Thus, the aircrafts organization lacks in having a proper format of performance appraisal which is hampering the overall organizational growth (Rees, & Smith, 2017).
The headquarter of the company follows an ad hoc approach and does not take into any other factor like economic conditions, environment etc. This results in lack of interest of employees in organization which decreases growth. Like, the country has its subsidiary in China and headquarter in Australia, it should be noted that manpower is very cheap in China as compared with Australia. But if the organization will use same format for performance appraisal for all parts of the organization according to the total company versus parts of it concept. Then the employees of China will receive more income than expected and the employees of Australia will get less paid to maintain uniformity. This will reduce the satisfaction level of the employees of the company present in Australia and they will ultimately leave the organization. Thus, under the process of international performance management, it is important to have consistency in the system by applying adequate practices according to the differential environments (Farndale, et. al., 2017).
Australian Culture and its Diversity Management
Training and development are the two most important aspects that help an international organization to collaborate with the activities of the subsidiaries and effective management business. This theory helps the employees in getting knowledge about the workplace and the mission and vision of the organization. Training and development is the learning phases when the employees learn to work so as to provide benefits to the company in future. This activity helps the organizations in increasing their efficiency but it can be challenging for the organization as well. It is not easy to train the employees who come from different culture and background. Different employees have their different belief and understanding, as one might agree to an opinion while other might strong oppose (Brewster, 2017).
So, it becomes difficulty for the management team to tackle different opinionated people. Further, as discussed above culture is also one of the major issues. Similarly, culture hampers the training and development process as well, suppose in the country Australia people do not Islam preaching then the person having Islamic background might feel insecure and believes that the Australian culture is overlapping their culture. This might raise a conflict at workplace that can create major issues for organization (Bader, Schuster, & Dickmann, 2015).
Further, it should also be noted that the organization should providing training and development facilities to the employees depending upon the area in which they live. Like, in the given case, the expatriate training for the Australians who are leaving to work in China, Singapore and Vietnam is very limited. Instead, the HR should properly train them about the culture, ethinicity, type of working and environment. This will help them to properly settle in the country and initiate the activities. Lack of training creates many issues for the organization (Allen, Lee, & Reiche, (2015). If the company will provide proper training on the initial level then the employees will not face any problem during the job. Lack of training makes the employees disinterested in the work which decreases their efficiency. Also, with the help of training seniors can let people know their experience and tell them their mistakes which they should not repeat. If a person gets training while working then they can easily start off their work and increase efficiency, but if a person do not get can training then it becomes difficult for them to understand the system by own and then work (Reiche, Stahl, Mendenhall, & Oddou, 2016). Thus, it should be noted that training and development is a major aspect of an employee’ job cycle.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, it should be noted that there are many issues that are attracted to an international organization while initiating their activities in the business world. Some of these issues are discussed above, further it should be noted that these issues can be resolved by the management actively participating the human resource activities of the business. Further the essay adequately discusses the requiems of the task. Thus, below mentioned are the recommendation with the help of which organization can solve their HRM issues.
Critical Analysis of Diversity Management in ‘No Name’ Aircrafts
Training and development is the most important aspect that can solve all such problems. Cross cultural training programs should be implemented in the organization so as to help the employees to know about different cultures and it will also help the expatriate to recover from cultural shock
The companies should organize meetings with their subsidiaries to incorporate unity in the organization. Also, the management had should properly monitor the activities of all parts of the company and tell the issues where the company is lacking behind.
Effective communication should be initiated in the organization along with flexibility. This will reduce the employee turnover and help them to seek redressal of their problems as well. Proper format should be defined for the appraisal schemes of the organization. This scheme should differ from country to country so as to initiate credibility.
References
Allen, D., Lee, Y. T., & Reiche, S. (2015). Global work in the multinational enterprise: New avenues and challenges for strategically managing human capital across borders. Journal of Management, 41(7), 2032-2035.
Bader, B., Schuster, T., & Dickmann, M. (2015). Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource Management: Danger and risk as challenges for HRM: how to manage people in hostile environments.
Boxall, P. (2018). The development of strategic HRM: reflections on a 30-year journey. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work, 1-10.
Brewster, C. (2017). The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy. In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.
Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P., & Vernon, G. (2016). International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Deresky, H. (2017). International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson Education India.
Dickmann, M., Brewster, C., & Sparrow, P. (Eds.). (2016). International Human Resource Management: Contemporary HR Issues in Europe. Routledge.
Farndale, E., Raghuram, S., Gully, S., Liu, X., Phillips, J. M., & Vidovi?, M. (2017). A vision of international HRM research. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(12), 1625-1639.
Gannon, J. M., Roper, A., & Doherty, L. (2015). Strategic human resource management: Insights from the international hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 47, 65-75.
Horwitz, F., & Budhwar, P. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook of human resource management in emerging markets. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kang, H., & Shen, J. (2016). International performance appraisal practices and approaches of South Korean MNEs in China. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(3), 291-310.
Kang, H., & Shen, J. (2017). International Performance Appraisal Policies and Practices. In International Human Resource Management in South Korean Multinational Enterprises (pp. 113-140). Springer, Singapore.
Kultalahti, S., & Viitala, R. (2015). Generation Y–challenging clients for HRM?. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(1), 101-114.
Pudelko, M., Reiche, B. S., & Carr, C. (2015). Recent developments and emerging challenges in international human resource management.
Rees, G., & Smith, P. (Eds.). (2017). Strategic human resource management: An international perspective. Sage.
Reiche, B. S., Stahl, G. K., Mendenhall, M. E., & Oddou, G. R. (Eds.). (2016). Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
Rowlands, K. E., & Iles, P. (2017). MANAGING IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT. Strategic Human Resource Management: An International Perspective, 466.
Story, J. S., Barbuto, J. E., Luthans, F., & Bovaird, J. A. (2014). Meeting the challenges of effective international HRM: Analysis of the antecedents of global mindset. Human Resource Management, 53(1), 131-155.
Theodorakopoulos, N., & Budhwar, P. (2015). Guest editors’ introduction: Diversity and inclusion in different work settings: Emerging patterns, challenges, and research agenda. Human Resource Management, 54(2), 177-197.
Vaiman, V., & Brewster, C. (2015). How far do cultural differences explain the differences between nations? Implications for HRM. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(2), 151-164.
Vance, C. M., & Paik, Y. (2014). Managing a global workforce: challenges and opportunities in international human resource management. Routledge.
Welch, D., & Björkman, I. (2015). The place of international human resource management in international business. Management International Review, 55(3), 303-322.