Imagine that you’re a HR manager in a locally based company that had decided to operate internationally.

The company has assigned you to sought out human resource management matters in Subsidiaries Company
that the company will operate in different countries. Indicate your suggestion to the company
Introduction
Human resources managers face a number of common challenges, including legal requirements,
diversity and employee motivation. When you tHuman Resourceow "international" into the mix,
as is the case with a global company, the issues escalate. human resource managers must
coordinate human resource strategy, systems and processes consistently and effectively across
national borders. Operating human resources across geographic and cultural boundaries can often
prove difficult for small-business owners and managers. Nonetheless, with the widespread use of
technology, the ability to communicate with anyone around the world and access to new and
varied markets, international human resource issues are important to grasp.
According to P.V.Morgan (2006) International or global human resource have tHuman
Resourceee dimension i.e. Human resource activities, Types of employees and Countries.
Human resource Activities
Human resource activities in global human resource managemment are broadly divided into
tHuman Resourceee activities which can be easily expanded into typical six human resource
activities. These are: Procurement, Allocation, Utilization.
Types of employees
There are tHuman Resourceee categories of employee when we look the employee of an
organization from global perspectives. Host-country nationals (HCNs) Parent -country nationals
(PCNs) Third -country nationals (TCNs)
Countries
The country categories involved in Global human resource management are: The host country
where a subsidiary may be located. The home country where the firm is headquartered and Other
countries that may be the source of labor, finance and other inputs.
Suggestion of Human Resource Management Issues on International Firm
The Long way from Home Issues
Away from home by long distance is one of the greatest international human resources issues.
Building a cohesive company culture and providing consistent policies and training around the
world is difficult. Human Resource Manager may have variable talent pools in different
countries for certain positions, which can lead to major talent gaps in different office or business
locations. Additionally, International firm often must provide infrastructure and technology tools
for colleagues to communicate from global locations. In marketing, for instance, colleagues
around the world must collaborate on goals, strategies and tactics.
Diverse of Culture Issues
Organizational culture is the intangible atmosphere that develops in a business from shared
norms and values. human resource professionals often assume primary responsibility for helping
build an effective, positive and cohesive culture. When you have employees in countries and
from backgrounds with different cultural perspectives and rituals, this is especially difficult. You
don't have the ability to bring employees together for company retreats or events in a central
location. Instead, you have to focus on core values such as innovation or elite service and try to
instill them in each market.
Increase of Expenses Issues
Managing Human Resource globally is more expensive than doing so locally. It takes much
more research and development to put together policies that are fair and consistent across the
board, addressing different laws and standards in local markets. Travel costs to send employees
to different locations or for training are also typically higher. The technology, including
computer systems, virtual team software and other hardware and software programs is expensive
as well.
Legal Parameters Issues
Employment labour laws vary significantly around the world. For example in The United States
is generally a pro-employee society. Several laws, including Title VII, the Americans with
Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination Act protect employees in hiring, promotion and
management. Depending on where you operate, human resource professionals may deal with
more protective laws or often less employee-friendly laws. Wages are notoriously low in some
Asian markets. Maintaining a consistent standard company-wide but abiding by each country's
laws and regulations is a major undertaking.
Compliance with International Laws
Expansion of firm into the global marketplace or as they hire employees from diverse geographic
and cultural backgrounds, they may have to adapt to new labor laws and tax liabilities. Hiring
employees who are non-naturalized Tanzania citizens might require Human Resource to apply
for work visas and report economic data to the government. Compliance with international law
can be an issue for the under-educated business owner or Human Resource manager, because
these laws tend to be complex and sometimes difficult to implement on various human resource
issues. Keeping well-informed of the legal requirements for the business's operations can help
alleviate some of this complexity.
Cultural Diversity
Among the sensitive issue in international Human Resource is understanding and maintaining
cultural diversity. Working with people from different locations or from different cultural
backgrounds mean adapting the business's work style to new ideas, new ways of communicating
and unfamiliar social practices. If you hire an employee from England, for example, the
employee might have different ideas about how to manage employees or on how to run
technology processes based on her experiences back home. Being open to new work styles and
cultural differences is the hallmark of cultural diversity in Human Resource.
Benefits and Compensation
Benefits and compensation are the backbone of any human resource strategy, but in international
human resource, benefits and compensation are even more important in focusing on the work-life
balance of employees. The idea behind work-life balance is to provide employees with programs
and initiatives that improve both their personal and professional lives. This is considered part of
international Human Resource, because many multinational companies have already
implemented programs such as flexible working time, paternity leave, extended holidays and on-
site childcare. In fact, many nations around the world, including much of Europe, mandate these
programs by law. Implementing them on the local scale is one of the challenges and, ultimately,
rewards of international human resource.
Training and Development
Related to the idea of benefits and compensation in international human resource are training and
professional development programs. Training programs typically encompass in-house seminars
and meetings designed to give employees on-the-job knowledge of skills that are important to
doing business globally. Human Resource might offer language classes, for example.
Professional development encompasses the "extra" training that human resource provides to its
employees, such as allowing them to attend networking events and conferences, global training
seminars and other specific competency-based programs. Professional development helps
employees to hone their skills in global marketing, international business development and
finance trends.
Conclusion
Globalization of business is taking place at faster rate which is forcing mangers to tackle with
complex issues as they seek to gain or sustain a competitive advantage. Due to unprecedented
level of foreign competition at home and abroad, firms are beginning to recognize not only that
international business but also finding and nurturing the "Human Resources" required to
implement an international or global strategy is of critical importance. Effective human resource
management (Human Resource) is essential, especially for small and medium firms where
international expansion places additional stress on limited resource, particularly people.
References
Briscoe D.R., International Human Resource Management, Prentice Hall, 1995.
Cleveland J.N.; Murphy K.R.; Williams R.E., Multiple Uses of Performance Appraisals:
Prevalence and Correlates, Journal of Applied Psychology, No. 74, 1989, pp. 130 – 135.
Dowling P.J.; Schuler R.S.; Welch D.E., International Dimensions of Human Resource
Management, Belmont, Wadsworth, 1994.
Francesco A.M.; Gold B.A., International Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall, 1998.
Gomez – Mejia L. R.; Balkin D. B.; Cardy R. L., Managing Human Resources, Englewood Cliffs,
Prentice Hall, 1995.
Gomez – Mejia L. R.; Balkin D. B., The determinants of managerial satisfaction with the
expatriation and repatriation process, Journal of Management Development, No. 6, 1987, pp. 7 – 18.

Internationalization increases the complexity of an organization and of the environment it is concerned

with.

Defining Global HUMAN RESOURCEM:

Typically HUMAN RESOURCEM refers to those activities which utilize human resource effectively in an
organization. These activities would include the following: Human resource planning Staffing
Performance management. Training and development. Compensation (remuneration) and benefits.
Industrial relation
This is a typical HUMAN RESOURCEM, but when HUMAN RESOURCEM goes global or international some
of the above mention activities changes.

The Need for Global HUMAN RESOURCEM:

Globalization:

Due to globalization business process is expanding which require improvement in temporal and
functional flexibility in the business processes and to accomplish this corporate are spreading their
recruitment net even beyond their state boundaries.

The search for skills and the competencies at the middle level managers and upwards has today become
an international affair. This resulted in greater diversity among the human resource deployed at various
workplaces within and outside the nation. A need thus arises to manage these cultural and institutional
differences between countries where the business has spread, so as to keep the productivity and
profitability on par with global competition.

In the age of globalization, strategic management of human resources is becoming critical for
organizational survival. Global business environments demand flexibility and rapid response. There is
growing realization that the human dimension provides the key to flexibility and adaptability in
organization.

Intercultural management:

Orientation to the organizational culture is a vital for all new joiners. Managers need to understand the
dynamics of cross cultural adaptation. Intercultural management requires the ability to get inside the
head of people from other to know how and why they view the world with their basic values and beliefs
and solve problems.

Intercultural communication and the management skills cannot be learnt by simply gathering
information about other cultures. This may reduce some uncertainty and decrease prejudice, but it does
not give authentic cross - cultural knowledge. The only way we learn intercultural communication and
management is tHuman Resourceough some sort of experience, coupled with cross-culturally validated
management principles.

SHuman Resourceink in product life cycle:

In a globalized business environment, product life cycle have sHuman Resourceunk to months
demanding everything to happen faster. Consumers today want services at the speed of thought. In this
fast paced e-world, decisions are required to be made in real time, which means instantaneous
communication between businesses located in different countries and also affording accesses to
information and knowledge to all associate with decision making.

There is a time to integrate the functionally and geographically separate units by securing the
cooperation of the entire workforce tHuman Resourceough effective communication.

To organize, inspire, deploy, enable, measure, and reward the value-operational work, there must be an
effective communication from corporate headquarters to different units located in different countries
and cultures and to accomplish this HUMAN RESOURCEM should invariably get internationalized. It is
only tHuman Resourceough a clear understanding of difference between countries in terms of culture
diversity and value- system that managers can effectively communicate with the employee pool of
international horizon and accomplish business goals.

MECHANISMS OF GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCEM INTEGRATION

While control has been defined as any process in which a person, group or

organisation determines or intentionally affects what another person, group or

organisation will do , coordination refers to the means tHuman Resourceough which the different parts
of an organisation are integrated or linked together to accomplish a collective goal .
In line with the approach by Kim , the present study views global integration as comprising both the
above tools of control and coordination that are used to achieve consistency of business activities
overseas. An overview of different mechanisms of HUMAN RESOURCEM integration is now presented.

For the purposes of structure and clarity, Kim et al.'s (2003) classification of four global integration
modes -

centralization

formalization

information based

people based

The four categories of integrating mechanisms are conceptually independent, collectively exhaustive,
and detailed.

Centralisation-based mechanisms

Centralisation is generally referred to as the most direct form of control and is widespread in
classifications of control in the international management literature.

In terms of centralisation as a means to integrate HUMAN RESOURCEM, empirical studies have

highlighted the exercise of headquarters authority in determining senior management pay, recruitment
and development as well as other financially sensitive HUMAN RESOURCE issues like headcount and
salary expenditure. However, in qualitative studies, such direct forms of centralised parent control are
found to be rare compared to other more 'unobtrusive'forms . Case study evidence suggests that rather
than being determined in a purely mechanistic way, centralisation should be viewed as an
outcome of the dynamic parent-subsidiary negotiation process whereby the source of centralization
may in fact lie at the regional, not the global level .

Formalization-based mechanisms

Formalization-based mechanisms refer to the standardization and thus codification of work procedures
and policies on a global basis . Representing a largely impersonal and indirect form of control,
formalization-based mechanisms

have been labeled in different ways such as impersonal coordination , often in association with the
Weberian notion of 'bureaucratic' control that seeks to limit subsidiary management's role and authority
.

The formalisation, or 'bureaucratisation' of HUMAN RESOURCEM in MNCs, characterised by attempts to

devise and implement common international HUMAN RESOURCE structures and guidelines, has been
shown to be commonplace.

While some studies depict global HUMAN RESOURCE policies as a means of creating a common
language across countries , others argue that such formalisation efforts are dependenton other less
formal 'social' control mechanisms for their overall effectiveness . As an extension of centralised control,
illustrate how policy creation and implementation are also negotiated processes, reporting increasing
subsidiary involvement in the former and some scope for interpretation of the latter.

Information-based mechanisms

This category includes those tools that facilitate the international flow of information whether it is via
simple databases or via more complex electronic data interchanges. Information-based integration has
been interpreted as a means for headquarters to communicate and regulate information that is central
to strategic decision making. Hence this is one of the key areas tHuman Resourceough which the
HUMAN RESOURCE function could position itself is in its role in global HUMAN RESOURCEM.

Information-based integration of HUMAN RESOURCEM was mostly restricted to the use of databases
shared internationally (e.g. corporate intranet) or via electronic communication tools. THuman
Resourceough these media information was stored on a range of HUMAN RESOURCE-related topics,
including employee information, culture surveys, training material and company HUMAN RESOURCE
policies.

People-based mechanisms

People-based mechanisms incorporate the transfer of managers and the various forms of committees or
taskforces whose mandate is to integrate business operations. While the use of expatriates has
traditionally been viewed as a personal form of monitoring and supervision, more recent research
suggests that MNCs deploy expatriates for much broader purposes including the fostering of shared
values and the transfer of knowledge. While some studies have demonstrated expatriates' significance
in effecting the resemblance between parent and subsidiary HUMAN RESOURCE practices. The
integration of HUMAN RESOURCEM in this group format is suggested to be on the increase in
connection with the rise of informal networking and knowledge transfer 'spaces'.

Four major tasks of Global HUMAN RESOURCEM

Staffing policy

Management training and development

Performance appraisal

Compensation policy.

Staffing policy

Staffing policy

Selecting individuals with requisite skills to do a particular job

Tool for developing and promoting corporate culture

View People as Resource ($in profit out)

Types of Staffing Policy

Ethnocentric

Polycentric

Geocentric

Ethnocentric policy

Key management positions filled by parent-country nationals

Advantages:

Overcomes lack of qualified managers in host nation

Unified culture

Helps transfer core competencies (and skills back)

Disadvantages:

Produces resentment in host country

Can lead to cultural myopia.

Polycentric policy

Host-country nationals manage subsidiaries

Parent company nationals hold key headquarter positions

Best suited to multi-domestic businesses

Advantages:

Alleviates cultural myopia.

Inexpensive to implement

Helps transfer core competencies

Disadvantages:
Limits opportunity to gain experience of host-country nationals outside their own country.

Can create gap between home-and host-country operations

Geocentric policy

Seek best people, regardless of nationality

not always possible

Best suited to Global and trans-national businesses

Advantages:

Enables the firm to make best use of its human resources

Equips executives to work in a number of cultures

Helps build strong unifying culture and informal management network

Disadvantages:

National immigration policies may limit implementation

Expensive to implement due to training and relocation

Compensation structure can be a problem.

The expatriate problem

Expatriate: citizens of one country working in another

Expatriate failure: premature return of the expatriate manager to his/her home country

Cost of failure is high: estimate = 3X the expatriate's annual salary plus the cost of relocation (impacted
by currency exchange rates and assignment location)

Inpatriates: expatriates who are citizens of a foreign country working in the home country of their
multinational employer

Strategic Role of

International HUMAN RESOURCE

Strong fit between HUMAN RESOURCE practices & strategy is required for high profitability

Sustained source of high productivity & competitive advantage in the global economy

HUMAN RESOURCE policies need to be congruent with strategy - 4 Strategies pursued by international
business

Multi-domestic = create value by emphasizing local responsiveness

International = transferring core competencies overseas

Global = realizing experience curve & location economies

Transnational = doing all these thing simultaneously

Molex - transnational strategy - building a strong corporate culture & informal management network for
transmitting information within the organization.

International Labor Relations

Concern of domestic unions about MNEs

company can counter its bargaining power with the power to move the plant to another country

International business will keep highly skilled tasks in the home country & farm out low-skilled tasks to
the foreign plants

International business will attempt to import employment practices & contractual agreements from its
home country

Organized labor has responded by

Trying to establish international labor organizations

Lobbying for national legislation to restrict MNEs

Achieve international regulations on MNEs tHuman Resourceough UN

Not very successful because

Unions want to cooperate but compete with each other for jobs
Wide variation in union structure

Divergent ideologies about role of union in society & class conflict

1.) Lead with Confidence - During these troubling financial times, it's natural to want to take the
backseat until the road ahead becomes clear. However, companies need strong leadership to prosper,
now more than ever. Providing direction inspires confidence in your employees and helps build a faithful
staff. Businesses that lead effectively now will retain loyal staff to meet their present and future
challenges.

2.) Communicate effectively - Making sure people have the information they need is the foundation for
any good relationship. Being honest and open with employees is especially important at a time when
they may be dealing with serious concerns outside of the office. Present worries might include a laid off
spouse, the possibility of their own layoff, fears about not being able to pay the bills, etc. As their leader
you have the responsibility to lessen any stress they might be feeling by communicating openly about
the outlook for staff members at your company. Don't forget to communicate frequently because your
employees' financial positions might be changing quickly right now.

3.) Recruit purposefully - The anticipated global shortage of workers has not gone away: it has just been
postponed. The reason ? Baby boomers are choosing to work a little longer because their retirement
savings have been deflated. Once the market comes back fully, you should expect a mass exodus as the
boomers leave the workforce. Companies who make severe staffing cuts and don't keep their HUMAN
RESOURCE people connected to potential hires will be caught severely short staffed. Savvy companies
have a great opportunity right now to hire talented people who have been down-sized by other
organizations.

4.) Make cuts strategically - Consider outsourcing the functions you can to help reduce costs, but don't
forget to take good care of any employees you might eliminate. Generous packages create goodwill and
increase loyalty from those who remain. What's more, the departing employees just might be more
willing to return to work when times are better and your company faces the global staffing shortages
that the recession postponed. Generous packages might seem out of the question in tight times but you
should give serious consideration to offering the maximum that you can. Your company will be better
able to recruit new staff in the future if its reputation is bolstered by how it treated people during the
2009 recession.
5.) Be strategic about delivering PD - Use your slower times to sharpen the skills, technical and personal,
of your employees. This will help keep staff members engaged and equip them to provide the
exceptional service that can sustain your company now and contribute to its prosperity later (see 6).

6.) Take great care of your customers - Remember the days when you attended networking events to
stay connected, while secretly hoping you would not get too many new engagements because you did
not know where you would find the staff, time or energy to provide the service? It all seems like a
distant memory but it was probably less than 12 months ago.

What most business owners wouldn't do if they could just have that problem again!

Instead you're seeing business decline and you're wondering how to regain it. Part of the answer is in
training your people to be customer service specialists. Step back to the times when you only hired
people who would go the extra mile to give your customers exceptional experiences with your company.
Re-new your company's customer focus now!

7.) Avoid layoffs with creative strategies - Before you cut staff, consider alternative ways to save money
while still saving jobs. A day off without pay, work sharing arrangements, worker sharing with other
companies, salary cut-backs, government assistance programs - these are only a few of the numerous
possibilities that may work for you and your employees. Get creative!

Whether you consider yourself to have moxie or not, the current recession calls for courageous and
inventive thinking. Implementing ideas like the seven above can not only help your company weather
this global storm, but position it for full sail ahead when the storm has passed.

Problem faced in Global HUMAN RESOURCEM:

Almost in every field of HUMAN RESOURCEM, there is one or two problems occurs when domestic
HUMAN RESOURCEM goes globally. Some of them are as follow:

Training and Development:

The transfer of training techniques across cultures is fraught with difficulties for both trainers and
trainee. Trainers working within multicultural setting need to be especially sensitive to their trainees'
needs and socio-cultural learning backgrounds. Both trainers and participants in the workplace bring to
training courses a baggage of past and present educational experience that impact their reaction to
organizational learning approaches.

Recruitment and selection:

Due to globalization many organization begin with the simple but difficult situation of having multiple
candidates for each international position instead of a single choice. International human resource
professionals often report that it is difficult enough to identify one employee, who can perform the
international job, will accept the assignment.

Most international selections are still being made almost exclusively by line management, who do not
share this decision - making process with IHUMAN RESOURCE. This can mean that IHUMAN RESOURCE is
seen only as policy implementers and not as strategic business partners. Best practice here is for
IHUMAN RESOURCE to employ a value-added assessment selection system, to be consulted reviewed
and included in these decisions.

Career planning and management :

In these days of globalization, rapid change, mergers and acquisitions is very difficult to accomplish
career planning and management.

In fact, many excellent international assignment candidates are demanding to know what is next for
them if they accept the international assignment. They want to ensure the company will value their
international experience and, to the extent possible, help them with next steps in their career.

Compensation and benefits policies:

International assignment compensation and benefit policies vary widely across organizations. Many of
them offer very lucrative packages; apparently making the assumption that financial incentive leads to
superior international performance. The risk here is that this type of policy may attract those who see
the financial reward as the single or most important motivation for the international assignment. The
best practice is to seek candidates who see the financial reward as the single or most important
motivation for the international assignment. The best practice is to seek candidates who balance
financial motives with those of career development and international experience.

Domestic HUMAN RESOURCEM Vs Global HUMAN RESOURCEM:

Managing people globally is not the same as managing people in the domestic context. Though there is
no difference between domestic and global HUMAN RESOURCEM in terms of functions such as human
resource planning, staffing, performance evaluation, training and development, compensation,
industrial relation. Bit global HUMAN RESOURCEM is more diverse, complex to practice than domestic
HUMAN RESOURCEM. Moreover, global HUMAN RESOURCEM is highly susceptible to change.

Dowling et al (1993) suggest that global HUMAN RESOURCEM differs from domestic HUMAN
RESOURCEM in the following factor:

Global HUMAN RESOURCEM involves more functions and activities.

It has broader scope and a global view of issues.

Employees' lives are more involved i.e. employees' family lives are also taken into consideration in the
international relocation and training decisions.

It involves change in emphasis as the domestic business evolves to become global firm.

It involves exposures to risk that arise out of different political, socio-economic, cultural environments.
It is subject to more external influence in the form of state actions, ideological, cultural difference across
the nations.