Impact of International HRM on HRM Practices
The majority of the research is present about the effects that IHRM has on the several practices adopted by enterprises established in developed countries. Based on this Gomes et al. (2015) states the different practices of human resource management in developing countries such as India and others. The Indians are said to be replicating the ways of the western countries in their approach to human resources management and the practices that they conduct in the field. The process of recruitment and selection have also seen several changes depending on the benefits that it offers to the country. Different countries have different was that they approach their field of human resources. According to Al Ariss et al. (2014) South Korea depends on their past practices to shape the future of the present HRM scenario. However, the country has gone through several changes economically which has forced it to change the ways that it approaches HRM in different firms. The country had to then build new relations between the government and the enterprises so that the practices of the business were able to align with the government policies regarding the practices. Determining the economic condition of the country is very important for an enterprise so that the business does not fail in the country.
Jackson, Schuler and Jiang (2014) discusses about the different political, technological, economic, socio-cultural and legal changes that have occurred in different countries which have created a huge impact on the HRM of every country ultimately leading to an interdependency between the countries policies and the HRM practices. Albrecht et al. (2015) further discusses about the several instances that international HRM have helped the countries to positively grow in their economic conditions through the recruitment of talents who work for the development of the organisation as well as contributes to the economy of the country. People who possess the proper skills and knowledge about the country that the organisation operates in will help the company with a deeper understanding if the views of the local people.
Alfes et al. (2013) also states that international human resource management also faces several issues that are evident in the international context and organisations should adopt those practices which can be helpful in eradicating those issues. In the context of international HRM the companies should also have a good understanding about the culture and the values of the people of the country that they are based in. The employees who are derived from the locality can contribute to the understanding of the company and help them to function in the right way and form strategies which will be for their own benefit. Therefore, internal HRM can help to get a deeper understanding about the way that the functions should be aligned to the goals of the company.
Cultural Factors in HRM Practices
The most common example of an organisation that deals with HRM in an international context is Coca Cola according to me. Coca Cola is a multinational company who deals with beverages and operates in more than 200 countries all around the world (Coca-cola.com, 2018). They have a huge expertise in the concept of IHRM. Coca cola has to adopt ways for the operation in both local and international markets and adhere to the needs of both groups of people. The most important concept for coca cola is globalization which they integrate in their HR context as well. They aim to employ the local people in every country so that they do not have to spend more time and money on the training about the culture and the views of the countries. Instead they focus more on the training and development of the skills of their employees so that they are able to perform better and contribute their own knowledge and views as well to help in the success and the development process of the company.
There have always been a relationship between the corporate and the society and with the coming years there have been several changes in those relationships. This has given rise to many concepts such as corporate social responsibility, sustainability and others which defines the different strategies that are adopted by organisations for the benefit of the society. The intention of every organisation has always been to run their operations profitably but without harming the society and its population. For this to happen the company has to adhere to certain ethical practices which can be good for both the company and the society.
Companies have paid major attention to the concept of ethics and sustainability to the society but mainly under the banner of corporate social responsibility. Organisations have always contributed a portion of their profits for the betterment of the society. Perera and Chaminda (2013) states four levels of CSR in the form of a pyramid stated by Carroll which depicts the different building blocks of the CSR concept. The initial stage of the pyramid is the economic responsibilities of the company which the company has towards the society and is required by the people. This is the responsibility that is mandatory for the company to fulfil towards the society. The next stage of the pyramid are the legal responsibilities of the company where they must obey the laws of the state or country that they are operating in. The third stage are the ethical responsibilities of the company which is not a mandatory step but is always expected by the society. In this stage the company must not do any harm to the people and should practice in ways which are ethical and fair. The last stage of the pyramid are the philanthropic responsibilities of the company which states that the company should be a part of the society that they are operating in and be a good citizen like the other people of the society.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics in HRM Practices
As further stated by Choi and Yu (2014) organisations should look beyond these four steps and also fulfil the external responsibilities of the society such as protecting the environment and maintain their relationship with the stakeholder. Moreover, it is also seen that these practices could have an impact on the attitude and the behaviour of the employees of the organisation. Ethical practices often put a positive impact on the perception of the employees and motivate them to work harder in an ethical way. Baumgartner (2014) proposes that sustainability is also a way of creating value for the company and the society. This is because the company has to make several savings for making the society ecologically efficient. The investments that they would make at the beginning would help them to gain value and profits in the future as eco efficiency is of value to the company as well. This means that adopting sustainable, ethical and responsible practices would not only benefit the society but will also help in developing the company.
Servaes and Tamayo (2013) moreover proposes that CSR and sustainability practices can help to contribute in the success of the business as they will be able to gain a competitive edge over the other players in the business. These practices helps in shaping the corporate behaviour of the organisations which will help them in the long run.
However, there have been several arguments to the concept of CSR and the benefit that it has for the companies. Schaltegger and Burritt (2018) suggests that there have been many speculations regarding the alignment of business practices to that of the social responsibility practices and whether these practices do in reality contribute to the profitability of the business. It also further states that the economic performance of the company may be affected by the corporate practices and not always for the better.
To critically understand the concept of CSR, sustainability and ethics, I have divulged into the CSR practices of Deloitte. Deloitte is an accounting organisation and has one of the largest network for professional services in the field of revenue and employees a huge number of professionals (Deloitte.com, 2018). The CSR practices of Deloitte involves in the sector of the environment and involving the people of the communities around them. Deloitte have always strived to give back to the society because of whom they were able to get their profits. Their CSR strategy is to partner with different organisations of the community and the people of the company into volunteering for the CSR activities every year.
Importance of Knowledge Management in Organizations
The industrial revolution have changed the way that companies work in current times and the way they manage their human resources. Knowledge have become an important part of organisations and the way that the knowledge is managed by the employees is of utmost importance to them. The human resource management of the company should be strategically aligned with the knowledge of the organisation to give them the desired success. Proper technology has to be adopted by the companies so that they can meet their desired goals. Management of the organisational knowledge is mandatory and hence this becomes a part of strategic human resource management as it needs to be understood by the employees of the organisation.
Alegre, Sengupta and Lapiedra (2013) defines knowledge management as the sharing and storage of wisdom and expertise which is present in an organisation in their operations and techniques that they have adopted with the years. They propose that it is important for the organisations to manage their knowledge that they have gained over the years as they can become a competitive advantage for them. This knowledge should not be available to the outside sources as this might lead to the loss of the company’s secrets. Technology should also be used by the companies to manage this information as it is unique to every different company. Knowledge management is also not a new concept since this has been existent in family businesses for centuries where the older generation have passed on their business secret to the newer generations who have taken the reigns of the companies. However, in current times this has become a more strategic concept. Afiouni (2013) proposes that knowledge management is not only necessary for the organisation but also for its employees. This is because each employee possesses certain skills and knowledge which are unique and can be used for the development and benefit of the company. This knowledge of the employees is derived from their education, personal experiences and background which should be channelized and managed in the right way.
Fu (2015) discusses that knowledge management is very critical to the success of every firm. The input of this knowledge happens amongst the staff who produces the output by providing good quality client services. New ideas can be developed by the staff to give new results to the client and peak their interest level. It also helps to retain the older clients and gain new ones which will be successful and profitable for their business. F?nd?kl?, Yozgat and Rofcanin (2015) further proves this in his research by stating that strategic human resource is largely related to the concept of knowledge management as the employees play a big role in the process. The author points out four concepts of knowledge management which if connected together would help to gain proper insights and derive success. These four components are technology, people, process and knowledge. Knowledge is the most important part of the management, people being the second as they are the sources through which the knowledge is derived.
Deloitte’s CSR Practices
Abd Rahman et al. (2013) specifies the importance of proper training facilities for the employees of an organisation so that they are able to make better use of their knowledge and this knowledge should be out to use by the organisation. SHRM becomes an important part of knowledge management as it is important to align the three components together to get the desired results which is the job of the SHRM aspect. The components are the organisation goals, the employees and the knowledge. Proper training and skill development would help the employees to understand their full potential which they will be able to use for the god of the organisation.
To understand the relation between SHRM and knowledge management, I have taken the example of Infosys which is an information technology company with a huge employee base (Infosys.com). The company has an internal market for knowledge which is known as K-Shop. This market is placed within the organisation and is used to purchase and sell knowledge. The employees of the company can submit their research on any topics, their experiences of the projects that are being handled by them and several other kinds of knowledge that they incur on a daily basis through a website that is set up by the company. These submitted documents are then reviewed by experts and published. A currency unit known as knowledge currency unit or KCUs which is paid by every reader who uses the document for informational purpose.
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