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Chapter 1 : Introduction
Background of IHRM
IHRM is about the world wide management of human resources been managed efficiently either
locally or internationally. It gives the knowledge and capabilities to analyze problems and
evaluate alternative strategies, relevant to organizations of various constitutions and
characteristics in what is sometimes referred to as late modern society, relating to work and
employment trans-nationally and internationally. Specifically, IHRM helps organizations and
individuals to understand the following:
The critical awareness of the economic, socio political and regulatory factors enabling
and constraining organizations internationally;
To develop an advanced understanding of the role and impact of Human Resource
Management in a global socio economic context.
To develop the strategic and practical skills mix required for effective human resource
management in an international arena.
Just like any other institution, international human resource management has been
criticized for having its own problems. Which some of this problem are stated in this
report and also solutions to solving them. Because an organization operating globally
can not be succeful if its resources are not well allocated by a human resource manager.



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Chapter 2 : Issues in International Human Resource Management
Defining the issues in IHRM
1) International HR Staffing
A company will be unsuccessful which lead to cost associated with failed assignments
and replacement of the expatriate, damaged relationships with customer and suppliers in
the foreign country, and cost related with high turnover after repatriation. Many
expatriates leave shortly after repatriation which means the particular company loses a
lot of talented and experienced international staff. The companys return on investment
is no longer long term when repatriated expatriate managers leave shortly after
repatriation. It will lead to more costly for the company to send people on international
assignment and when these people do not stay in the company and make use of their
experience, skills and knowledge becomes even more costly to the company.
2) Repatriation
Repatriation is the final process of expatriation and this activity involves the move of the
expatriates back to the parent country or company from a foreign country when they
complete their assignments. Repatriation is a harder process for internal assignees
because repatriates need to experience cultural or work adjustment. This will make
repatriate to leave the organization. Lack of career development is other issue of
turnover because most of repatriates often have their own career plan for future and the
organization fails to provide better opportunities to them. Besides, MNCs paid less
attention on repatriation process which means that most organizations still view the
problem of repatriations are minimal and often neglect their repatriates. That is the
reason why most repatriates still has troubled with re-entry converse adjustment and
resulted high repatriate turnover of the organization.

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3) Compensating the Expatriates
Managing expatriate compensation programs has always been complex. The main
problem raised upon expatriates is how to handle differences in pay when, for instance,
individual who transferred from a less developed country to a country such As United
States where pay rates are among the highest. Expatriates pay systems are often very
different from those used for host country employees. There are some expatriate
employees make more money than HCNs who have jobs of equal. These differences will
lead to a feeling of unfair among the host country employees.
4) Training and Developing
The expatriates fail on international assignments because of their inability to adapt to the
foreign culture. The expatriates have lack of obtain cultural awareness information on
the host culture, inability to provide the practical information on living conditions in the
host country, lack of information on political, economic, and cultural facts about the host
country and eventually lack of experiential learning activities that combine cognitive and
behavioral techniques.
Furthermore, the expatriates having poor cross cultural training, along with language
training which were the most significant factors in the success of expatriates. US MNC
engage in less training than Europe and Japanese. It is because Japanese multinational
companies signifying that they send abroad managers who are far better prepared and
more adapt at working and flourishing in a foreign environment.



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5) Appraising Performance
Appraising expatriates performance failed because of the nature of the oversea job, the
degree of support from and interaction with the parent company, the nature of the
overseas environment in which the performance occurs and the degree of expatriate and
family adjustment. All these factors impact the ability of any global organization to
achieve a good appraisal performance. International assignees often receive
inappropriate performance appraisal because the performance criteria common in their
countries are applied to expatriates even though those criteria might not related to the
foreign country.

6) Assimilating new employees
In a particular environment organization needs to pay more attention for hiring new
employees. The basic strategy of the organization is to keep the employees for long
time. This process should start before the offer is made, and many companies have
assimilation plans for at least the initial six months on the job. This is especially
important in group and relationship cultures as it helps the new employees feel
welcomed into the group and gives them time and structure to establish relationships
that will be important to the employee as well as anchor their loyalty to the company.
7) Globalizing the HR function: HR staff development
As organization are globalize, their hr departments need to understand the challenges of
working in and serving a global organization through consulting behind the scenes for hr
professionals to support them as they serve the needs of their global organizations.
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Furthermore, web content hr professionals can use to sell to, train or explain about and
be a better global business partner.
Chapter 3 : Effective Strategies:
1) International HR Staffing
Human Resource Professional needs to develop strategies to help women to cope
up with international assignments. One proactive strategy is to identify traits which
are typically associated with successful female expatriates. While successful female
expats can be any age, they all tend to have a distinct understanding, an admiration
and even a respect of world culture. These seasoned expats are able to manage
most aspects of the settling in process on their own while their independent spirits
help them cope with potential gender-related issues in their professional lives. For
the less worldly expat females, relocation packages should include comprehensive
intercultural training. According to article The Crown Voice (2008)stated that The
female expatriates should understand to react to gender related situations and will
enjoy a smoother settling in period and quickly add value to her role and her
organization. According to the article of Review of Business (2002) stated that
Organization support needed for expatriate assignment adjustment.

2) Repatriation
According to Frazee (1997) stated that the line managers should be involved
throughout the assignment to make sure the assignment will not exceed mutual
expectation. Information in a repatriation agreement should include agreement
about compensation, transportation, accommodation, and in country support.
Besides, the company should monitor the repatriates job opportunities, it also
important to offer them the possibility of managing their own careers while abroad.
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This can be done through keeping them informed about internal vacancies,
establishing contact through the intranet, providing home leaves, the mentor
program, and other contacts to colleagues at home as well as setting up resource
center and vacancy database which can help expatriates take their future to their
own hand. Moreover, planning ahead and linking the overseas assignment to the
long term career plans for expatriates will create commitment and give a sense of
security on both sides.
3) Compensating the Expatriates
According to the article Corporate United(2010) stated that Expatriates salary
should be based on his/ her home country salary structured. This enables
expatriates to maintain the same purchasing power in the host country that they
enjoyed back home. Besides, the expatriates should also pay as what local
employees in the destination country earn for a similar job. This is can be done
through pay a local salary plus a few ongoing allowances such as education or
housing for the first few months on assignment. Companies also should put all of
their expatriates on the same compensation scale, regardless of their home country.
4) Training and Developing
Companies should require expatriates to undergo training and language programs to
ensure that they have skills needed to operate effectively in the new environment.
MNCs must develop a longer term orientation with regard to expatriate assignments,
overall planning, and performance assessment, must provide more comprehensive
training programs to prepare their expatriates for cross cultural encounters.
According to the article of Cross Cultural Training Trends and Issues by David Kent
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Norman stated that Leadership training should conduct which focus on developing a
new set of skills for a new culture.

5) Appraising Performance
Failed international assignments can be extremely costly to an organization. So,
each international office should use a different appraisal system. Employers should
not take a performance appraisal system that was designed for appraising domestic
employees and try to modify it for use with expatriate employees many variables
need to be understood and taken into consideration when assessing an expatriate
employees performance.
According to the article of Goliath Business Knowledge on Demand (2007) stated
that HR department should work with the managers responsible for expatriate
employees to develop a critical professional profile for each employee who is placed
on international assignment. This profile must be clearly outlined what the
companys expectation and productivity standards are in area such as profitability
and operation efficiency.
6 ) Assimilating new employees in the organization :
One of the HR responsibilities is to ease the stress of the employee first day and to
be prepared for them. Provide the employees their office or work space ready as well
as any tools they will need to do their job; such as a computer, printer, uniform. The
other important thing HR can do is assign new hire a mentor. Mentor should be
responsible for training, showing your new hire around, making introductions and
checking in with the new hire periodically throughout each and every shift to be sure
the training program is getting completed. Implementing change in an organizational
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environment that is already employee-oriented, with a high level of trust, is a huge
plus. Understanding and responding to the range of human emotions during times of
intense change, is also cited as critical.
Chapter 4 : Conclusion
Although research in IHRM has discussed many topics, but it has also brought to
light many other matters which are yet to be researched. This literature review was
centered on the prospect that IHRM will become a source of competitive advantage
for MNEs in global as well as multi-domestic markets.
Improving our understanding of the approaches that MNEs use to satisfy the
competing needs for integration and differentiation in their operations is essential. It
has been found that an increasing proportion of published OB/IHRM research
focuses on interactions among organizational members from different countries. The
prospects of satisfying both needs can be enhanced by improving MNEs ability to
manage cultural interactions.
IHRM policies of staffing and training have predominantly been the focus on most
research done in the field. The literature review points out other areas where future
research can be of advantage. Emphasis has also been made on linking
international HRM policies empirically with behavioral and financial outcomes, firms
performance in individual business units and the overall firm.
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References
1) Palmer, Teresa M (2000) Review of Business. Available through : Google Online
[Accessed on 15 October 2011]
2) Proactive Strategies for Female Expatriate Assignments. The article of the crown
voice issue 4 (2008). Available through : Google Online [Accessed on 15 October
2011]
3) Strategies for Successful Repatriation The article of Goliath business knowledge on
demand (2005). Available through : Google Online [Accessed on 15 October 2011]
4) Norman, D.K (2011) Cross-Cultural Training Trends and Issuees. Available
through : Google Online [Accessed on 15 October 2011]
5) Selmer, J. (2002). Career Management issues of female business expatriates.
Available through : www.emeraldinsight.com [Accessed on 15 October 2011]