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International Human Resource

Management
Lecture 1
Introduction to Human Resource
Management
Aims & objectives of the session
 To introduce the teaching team.
 To answer your questions about this module: Where? Why?
When? How? Who? What?
 To direct you to where the information about the module
may be found.
 To provide an overview of the module.
 To discuss some of the key ideas which underpin the module.
 To briefly introduce the assessments.
 To present materials for our first week of tutorials.
Teaching team
 Module leader/ tutor
Dr Hilary Drew
Email: Hilary.Drew@uwe.ac.uk
Office: 6X206 (please email to make an appointment)
 Tutors
Dr David Beard
Email: David.Beard@uwe.ac.uk
Office: 6X212 (please email to make an appointment)
Dr Mahwish Khan
Email: Mahwish.Khan@uwe.ac.uk
Office: 6X214 (please email to make an appointment)
Teaching team IHRM experience
Europe Asia
Belgium, Cyprus, China, Hong Kong,
France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Macau, Pakistan,
Lichtenstein, Malta, NL, Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand
Sweden, Switzerland, Middle East
UK Bahrain, Israel, Jordan,
Kuwait, Oman,
Africa
Palestine, Qatar, Turkey,
Botswana, Egypt,
UAE
Ethiopia, Ghana,
Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Americas
Mauritius, Barbados, Costa Rica,
Mozambique, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago, St
Nigeria, Rwanda, Lucia, Suriname, USA
Sierra Leone, South Specialist IHRM Australasia
Africa, Swaziland, expertise in the ICT Australia, New Zealand,
Tanzania, Uganda, sector Papua New Guinea
Zimbabwe, Zambia
Why is Blackboard so important?
We will use Blackboard to post the following:
 all materials for the module. Please note all materials for the
module are electronic as this is an environmentally friendly
module (see module FAQ for more about this!).
 useful/interesting articles
 information about assessments
 details of/changes to the next sessions
 materials for the forthcoming lectures and seminars

Please make sure that you check Blackboard regularly.


Outline of sessions
 Each week you will have 1 x lecture + 2 x tutorials.
 The lecture will cover the topics of the module and introduce
you to some of the key theory.
 The aim of tutorials is to give you the opportunity to build
on the theory presented to you in the lectures, to ask for
clarification and to engage in wider discussion around the
topic areas. More about this in the next slide!
 We will be monitoring attendance unofficially (link between
good attendance & good grades in IHRM).
Tutorials/seminars
 You will have been assigned a tutorial group. Please stick to this
tutorial group!
 Students are expected to attend seminar sessions and to arrive
prepared to discuss the topic.
 Sessions will involve further discussion and examination of the
topic covered in the lecture.
 Tutorials are based around a range of readings, case studies and
interactive sessions. Tutorials materials will be issued via
blackboard.
 Students who attend tutorials regularly usually do better in the
assessments than students do miss sessions.
 Seminar/tutorial 2 will devote some time each week to discussing
the assessment (more of this later).
 Please note, for the most part, that slides used in tutorials WILL
NOT be posted on Blackboard.
Supplementary & further reading
 The recommended text (available via library, Google Books,
Amazon, UWE bookshop)for the module is:
Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. & Engle, A.D. (2011). International Human
Resource Management. South-Western.
 A list of suggested reading is provided for you on Blackboard. The
aim of this list is to support you in your reading for the IHRM
module.
 Any essential reading (e.g. for tutorial/seminars) will be posted on
Blackboard in the form of journal articles, management reports
and other documents.

NB: As UG3, we expect you to be able take responsibility for your


own wider reading, especially for the portfolio assessment.
Module assessment
The module assessment comprises of a portfolio (70%)
and a 2-hour examination (30%).
Portfolio (70%)
 Builds on the content of lectures and seminars.
 6 tasks relating to module topics.
 Submission in week 12 (date to be confirmed).
Exam (30%)
 Exam to be held in January next term.
 Tests students’ knowledge across the range of topics covered
in the module.
 There will be a lecture and a seminar towards the end of the
module which cover examination preparation.
Aims of the module
The module aims to provide students with a clear understanding of the context,
strategies and issues of international human resource management. By the end of
the module you should be able to understand, critically assess theoretical debates in
the field of IHRM and comprehend the HRM issues and problems arising from the
internationalisation of business. In particular, we will focus on the following topics:

 Global challenges and IHRM


 Managing expatriates and expatriate failure
 National culture
 Managing global talent and the selection of international assignees
 Expatriate training
 Expatriate reward
 Managing expatriate performance
 Female expatriates
 Ethics
 Future developments in IHRM
Why are human resources important?
Firms seek….. Marketing based
strategies
1. Viability (Porter 1985)
2. Sustained advantage

Resource based strategies


(e.g. Barney, 1991)

Resources need to be…..


Valuable – deliver superior results
Inimitable – hard to copy
Appropriable – capable of benefiting shareholders
Why is Human Resource
management important?
Creates the conditions within the employment relationship for human
resources to contribute to organisational effectiveness

How does HRM work?

 Creating a ‘strong’ organisational climate (Bowen and Ostroff, 2004)

 Encouraging discretionary behaviour (Purcell et al. 2007)

 Positive psychological contract (social exchange theory)

 Creating meaning in the employment relationship (Keenoy, 1999)


3 decades of debate on relevance of HRM
 Huselid, (1995).‘The impact of human resource management practices on
turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance’, Academy of
Management Journal, 38, 635-672.
 Foote, D. and Robinson, I. (1999).‘The role of the HR manager: strategist or
conscience of the organization?’ Business Ethics: An European Review, 8(2), 88-98.
 Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2000).‘Strategic Human Resource Management:
Where have we come from and where should we be going?’ International Journal
of Management Reviews, 2 (2), 183-203.
 Ulrich, D. and Beatty, D. (2001). ‘From Partners to Players: Extending the HR
Playing Field’, Human Resource Management, 40 (4), 293-307.
 Rynes, S. (2004). ‘Where do we Go from here: Imagining New Roles for
Human Resources’, Journal of Management Enquiry, 13 (3), 203-213.
 Welch, C.L. and Welch, D.E. (2012). What Do HR Managers Really Do?
Management international review, 52(4), pp.597-617.
 Harris, C. and Tregidga, H.(2012). HR managers and environmental
sustainability: strategic leaders or passive observers?. The International Journal of
Human Resource Management, 23(2), pp.236-254.
International HRM (Dowling et al. 2011)

IHRM in the MNC

Cross-cultural Comparative HR and


management IR systems

 HR systems in MNC just one part of the internationalisation of


business

 Interaction between the three elements


What is international human resource
management?
 Country/region level: comparative HRM. This involves an
analysis of different national/regional business systems and
employment systems.
 Individual level: cross-cultural management. This involves an
analysis of topics as leadership, communication, teamwork,
communication from the perspective of the individual
manager
 Firm level: international HRM. This level of analysis focuses
on company policies and practices such as
recruitment/selection, training/development,
reward/compensation, talent management, employee
relations and performance management.
How does IHRM differ from HRM (1)?
 Activity
In both, similar activities and functions are carried out, for
example recruitment and selection, HRD, career
management, performance management, reward, etc
 Function
Extent to which there is a strategic alignment of HR policies
and practices with the overall direction of the organisation is
pertinent to both.
 Location
Home or the host country? Cultural and institutional differences, as
well as geographical dispersion and differences in time zones.
How does IHRM differ from HRM (2)?
What about the people involved?
 HCNs – host-country nationals or locals
 PCNs – parent-country nationals (of which expatriates are a major
subcategory)
 TCNs – third-country nationals, neither locals nor expatriates but
citizens of a third country.

If Guinness Nigeria employed Irish expatriates, these would be PCNs (as Guinness
is headquartered in Ireland).
The majority of the workforce would be Nigerians. So the Nigerian workers
would be HCNs, or locals. If a British or Dutch employee was the operations
manager, or a South African the HR director, they would be TCNs.
What leads to differences between HRM and IHRM?

Cultural
environment Primary
industry
Domestic and
International HRM
activities

Reliance on Complexity of
home-country employing different
market nationalities

Attitudes of
Senior
management

Dowling (1999)
Questions?
Never be afraid to ask questions…..
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes……
We’d prefer you to ask for help sooner than later…..
Bibliography
 Bowen, D. E., and Ostroff, C. (2004). Understanding
HRM–firm performance linkages: The role of the
“strength” of the HRM system. Academy of management
review, 29(2), 203-221.
 Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. and Engle, A.D. (2011).
International Human Resource Management. South-Western
 Keenoy, T. (1999). HRMism and the languages of re-
presentation. Human Resource Management: Critical
Perspectives on Business and Management, 1: 246.
 Boxall, P., Purcell, J., and Wright, P. (2007). Human
resource management: scope, analysis, and significance.

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