Category: HRM

As the world is becoming more interconnected, many companies find themselves having to make a decision regarding further expansion across the borders. According to statistics, 79% of private companies rely on foreign markets for at least a part of their revenue, while a little less than a half (43%) generate more than one-quarter of their revenue overseas (Nanney 2018). The World Trade Organization projects a 3.2% annual growth rate of global trade for the next few years (World Trade Organization 2018).

Payment and reward systems are a significant aspect of HRM because, as indicated by recent evidence, both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are associated with work engagement, trust, and employee retention (Victor & Hoole 2017). At this stage, the problem arises whether to set similar payment and reward standards in all host countries or localize HRM practices. This essay argues that consideration for cultural differences will make HRM more robust.

One of the major challenges that multinational corporations (MNCs) face is the tension between two forces: the influence of the host country (push force) and the vision and the strategy propagated by the headquarters (pull force). Chiang, Lemański, and Birtch (2017) argue that at the moment, there is a general consensus regarding host countries’ influence on MNCs’ HRM. MNCs exercise control over the subsidiaries to the degree that allows for steering them in a direction that is consistent with MNCs’ objectives (Yahiaoui, 2015).

However, what often happens is the emergence of hybrid HRM in each host country that adopts the larger vision passed down by the headquarters but adapts it to its social, political, legal, and cultural realities (Thite, Wilkinson & Shah, 2012). In this case, a middle ground is found between the exportive and ethnocentric approaches, and HRM becomes rather polycentric (Thite et al., 2012).

Regardless of the selected approach, HRM transfer is a complex process that is shaped by a number of factors. Nakhle (2011) notes that on the whole, HRM varies from country to country based on business structure, the legislative contexts, HRM competence and decision-making, and the national cultures. When it comes to its transfer, in particular, Thite et al. (2012) classify all factors into external and internal. External factors include home vs. host country factors (economic strength, national culture, global image), host country management practices, environmental variables (legislative context, the openness of business systems, bureaucracy), and industry-specific factors (Thite et al., 2012).

Emerging economies experience a “double hurdle” due to the “liability of foreignness” and the liability of having a poor global image (Engardio 2008, p. 100). As for internal factors, Thite et al. (2012) point out corporate strategies, organizational culture and leadership, roles played by subsidiaries, headquarters’ diffusion capacity, ease of knowledge transfer, and the ability to involve expatriate managers.

First and foremost, the objective of payment and non-monetary rewards is to make employees feel recognized and cover their needs, from the most basic to high-order ones, such as self-actualization. Managers who lean toward standardizing compensation may be ignoring the fact that different cultures have different ideas about happiness and satisfaction in the workplace (Flamm & Kihl 2010).

Eskildsen, Kristensen, and Antvor (2010) utilize Hofstede’s (1993) cultural dimensions to understand the association between job satisfaction and national culture. For instance, the power distance dimension signifies the level of acceptance for unequal distribution of power by the less-powered of the organization (Hofstede 1993; Eskildsen et al., 2010). Another relevant dimension is uncertainty avoidance, which means a culture’s attitude toward uncertainty and unpredictability (Hofstede, 1993).

Cultures have different combinations of these dimensions, and it is hypothesized that their intersections may predict employees’ reactions to payment and compensation. Eskildsen et al. (2010) have found that cultures that score high on power distance and low on uncertainty avoidance, such as Asian (Japanese, Korean) cultures, lean toward seniority-based pay. In this way, people gain more confidence from the fact that their pay will be proportional to the years of experience. Conversely, in countries, such as the USA and Canada where power distances are shorter and uncertainty is more accepted, seniority-based pay may face reluctance among employees (Eskildsen et al., 2010). They would rather not equate the time a person has spent in a specific role or field with accomplishment.

Another way to look at the problem of localizing payment and reward practices involves drawing a line between collectivists and individualistic cultures. In collectivist cultures, the needs of the group are emphasized; its interests take precedent over the interests of an individual (Triandis, 2018). Conversely, individualistic cultures revolve around the self, personal interests, and independence, therefore, the interests of the group come second to the interests of an individual (Kyriacou, 2016). Andreassi, Lawter, Brockerhoff, and Rutigliano (2012) found that depending on where a country stands on the individualism-collectivism spectrum, its residents will expect different benefits from work. For instance, Asian cultures are largely collectivistic, which means that they give priority to group interests (Andreassi et al., 2012).

Therefore, HR managers would not miss if they introduced a system of variable payments based on group performance. However, as noted by Singh, Amish, and Singhi (2015), individualistic cultures, especially Anglo-Saxon ones, often prefer to have individual performance as a basis for employee appraisal and compensation. Therefore, if attention is not given to the cultural determinants of happiness, reward systems may as well fall flat and have little to no effect on employees’ satisfaction, engagement, and, ultimately, retention.

Some other issues that HR managers may encounter when establishing payment practices overseas are the degree of involvement from employees and the time factor in shaping compensation patterns. To address these questions from a cultural standpoint, Yeganeh and Su (2011) peruse Hofstede’s (2001) definition of culture as “the collective programming of the mind, which distinguishes the members of one group or category from another” (p. 131). However, they utilize dimensions developed by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961) when carrying out their research.

Yeganeh and Su (2011) found out that the time orientation of culture may serve as a predictor of the preferred compensation structure. The USA has a future time orientation, which is why Americans prefer the payment to be based on skills and individual performance and lean toward incentives. Japan, on the other hand, has a past orientation leading to job-based, hierarchical, short-term, and fixed compensation policies. This information may be perused when deciding on which share of the salary will become variable. The future orientation countries may appreciate a little uncertainty but an emphasis on a personal effort. Future-oriented employees will not mind calibrating their work capacity to yield a higher income. However, if employees are rather past-oriented, they want stability here and now. Having guaranteed remuneration gives them peace of mind as it is more in line with their values.

The question arises as to, given that compensation preferences vary this much, whether it makes sense to include employees in the decision-making process. Yeganeh and Su (2011) associate the involvement factor with Kluckhohn’s and Strodtbeck’s (1961) “good” and “evil” cultural orientations. The “good” orientation suggests that people are generally trustworthy. In the workplace, the said orientation manifests itself through the flattening of organizational structures in which employees of all levels can have a say. On the contrary, countries leaning toward the “evil” orientations do not see employees as reliable, therefore, preventing them from accessing the decision-making tools. It is readily imaginable how the headquarters could meet reluctance in host countries with an “evil” orientation when trying to promote organizational democracy.

Lastly, compensation policies should be in line with not only the wants but also the needs of employees. Kapur (2018) describes two content theories – Maslow’s pyramid of needs and Clayton Alderfer’s Existence-Relatedness-Growth theory in relation to job satisfaction. Based on these two theories, it is safe to suggest that humans have existence, psychological, and relatedness needs. In developed countries, existence needs are often covered, which makes compensation and benefits aim toward offering valuable intangibles (Pyrillis 2011). However, as explained by Pyrillis (2011), in developing countries, employees may appreciate benefits that cover their more basic needs. For example, a toaster may be a good gift in India but a misunderstood one in the United Kingdom(Pyrillis 2011). Therefore, HR managers have to understand the realities of host countries when deciding on compensation policies.

Conclusion

Global trends imply that even more business entities will consider expanding their operations and tapping into foreign markets. Going multinational is a serious step for any corporation as it requires thoughtful planning of human resources management (HRM) practices transfer. Payment and reward systems are subject to the impact of cultural factors, which is why HRM should be localized. Compensation is closely tied to job satisfaction; however, the understanding of job satisfaction varies from culture to culture. Besides, there are many cultural dimensions, such as power distance and uncertainty avoidance, that impact compensation preferences. Lastly, payment and benefits should cover the needs of different orders, which may also be contingent on the host country and its culture.

Reference List

Andreassi, JK, Lawter, L, Brockerhoff, M & Rutigliano, P 2012, ‘Job satisfaction determinants: a study across 48 nations’ in Proceedings of 2012 annual meeting of the Academy of International Business-US North East Chapter: Business Without Borders, Fairfield.

Chiang, FF, Lemański, MK & Birtch, TA 2017, ‘The transfer and diffusion of HRM practices within MNCs: lessons learned and future research directions’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 28, no. 1, pp.234-258.

Engardio, P 2008, Chindia: How China and India are revolutionising global business, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.

Flamm, D & Kihl, P 2010, ‘“Cash is not king in every country” – the effect of cultures on compensation systems’ (PhD Thesis), the University of Göteborg. Web.

Hofstede, G 2001, Culture’s consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations (2nd ed.), Sage, Thousand Oaks.

Hofstede, G 1993, ‘Cultural constraints in management theories’, Academy of Management Perspectives, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 81-94.

Kapur, R 2018, Factors influencing job satisfaction.

Kluckhohn, FR & Strodtbeck, FL 1961, Variations in value orientations, Harper Collins, New York.

Kyriacou, AP 2016, ‘Individualism–collectivism, governance and economic development’, European Journal of Political Economy, vol. 42, pp. 91-104.

Nakhle, S 2011, ‘The transfer of human resource practices from American and European multinational companies to their Lebanese subsidiaries: a study of the host-country effects and of the standardization-adaptation dilemma,’ (PhD Thesis), The University of Fribourg. Web.

Nanney, R 2018, ‘Private companies plan to go more global in 2018’, Global Trade, 2021. Web.

Pyrillis, R 2011, ‘Avoid culture shock when rewarding international employees’, Workforce.com, 2011. Web.

Singh, AP, Amish, AP and Singhi, N 2015, ‘Role of life events stress & individualism-collectivism in predicting job satisfaction’, Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, pp. 300-311.

Thite, M, Wilkinson, A & Shah, D 2012, ‘Internationalization and HRM strategies across subsidiaries in multinational corporations from emerging economies — a conceptual framework’, Journal of World Business, vol. 47, 2, pp. 251-258.

Triandis, HC 2018, Individualism and collectivism, Routledge.

Victor, J & Hoole, C 2017, ‘The influence of organisational rewards on workplace trust and work engagement’, SA Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 15, p.14.

World Trade Organization 2018, WTO upgrades forecast for 2017 as trade rebounds strongly. Web.

Yeganeh, H & Su, Z 2011, ‘The effects of cultural orientations on preferred compensation policies’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 22, no. 12, 2609-2628.

Yahiaoui, D 2015, ‘Hybridization: striking a balance between adoption and adaptation of human resource management practices in French multinational corporations and their Tunisian subsidiaries’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 26, no. 13, pp. 1665-1693.

Introduction

The role of human resources in our lives today can not be underestimated, human resources are being “reinvented” today as written in the book “Reinventing Human Resource Management”, especially when the market of human resources is full of potential employees and reputable employees for them. Burke et al., 2004) As stated in “Human Resources: What’s Your Plan?” it is not easy to find a high-quality job, with all expected benefits. (Fountaine, 2005) Furthermore, the book “Insecurity and Work Intensification”, which is devoted to the insecurity of the job nowadays, takes us to the conclusion, that the importance of the job agreement, as the main indicator of job quality, rises. (Burchell et al. 2002).

Recruitment process

The recruitment process is a key procedure in getting the right people, this idea is performed in the book “Human Resources in Initial Public Offering Firms: Do Venture Capitalists Make a Difference? “(Cyr et al., 2000). Also as it is said in the book “Benchmark Tasks for Job Analysis”, organizations want to employ the best workforce and job agreement shows the level of responsibility and the award for the completed tasks to the future workforce. (Fine et al., 1995) The article “Job Search Correspondence” highlights the importance of careful job search in the market of human resources and discussion of the terms with possible employers. (Hagevik, 1998) The situation below is an example of conflict between employer and its potential employee, and a possible solution to the emerged problem.

A case of Harry Youngs

The problem has emerged due to the difference between what was written in the contract and what was said to Harry Young. Harry Young was sure to get certain benefits from this job, like the relocation allowance and airfares. However, according to the formal contract he was not supposed to have them, which was a shocking disappointment for him. On the one hand, the head of the Management Department, Dr. Mark De Chillo exceeded his authority by promising to Harry Young much more than it is stated in the contract. On the other hand, Harry Young made a significant mistake by not reading attentively the formal contract, which resulted in the following situation.

This problem could have been avoided by strictly following the contracts’ terms from the side of Dr. Mark De Chillo and a thorough study of the contract from the side of Harry Young. Harry Young should have asked for a written contract right after the conversation with Dr. Mark De Chillo to make sure that he received the full information with all the necessary details.

The problem which Harry Young faced is very common nowadays. The contract today can be written or oral, and the main terms in them can take three forms – written, oral or implied, or even a mixture of them. However, written terms secure both employee and employer not to have an obvious misunderstanding, and avoid potential conflicts, like this shown in the story. Though if terms are too obvious and anticipate ethical issues or others, they might not be specified or discussed in the contract.

The formal contract is an integral part of the relationship between the employer and the employee. Ideally, a firm offer from the side of the employer is written to avoid the problem, which is shown in this story, so the employee will clearly understand all the conditions. Moreover, it is stated in the Terms of Employment Act that every employer is ought to give each new employee a written statement with the necessary statement of terms and other relevant information.

So Harry Young had the right to demand a written contract to study all the details, however, he did not ask for it and it was the most significant mistake.

Harry Young is not in the best situation now, when he is disappointed with the real contracts’ terms. However, since he has not signed it yet, he has the choice of either refusing or protecting his rights.

One thing that can be advised to Harry Young, which is to ask for help from the trade union. Trade unions are representing the interests of not only those who are already working for the employer but future employees too. Harry Young could receive consultation from the representative of the trade union and decide whether he has the right to demand airfares and allowance or not.

The representative of the trade union will provide Harry with the possible solutions to his problem. Contract terms were verbally agreed upon by both parties, however, later there were modifications of the contract terms’, which changed the situation for Harry Young. So, Harry Young has full right to refuse this job offer. Unfortunately, the terms which were mentioned in the conversation with the Head of Human Resources department were not outlined in the actual contract agreement, so Harry Young has no right to ask neither for the airfares for him and his family nor for the allowances.

Another question that will be clarified by a trade union representative is how valid the contract is. The main problem is that this contract was only discussed by the telephone between two parties- the employee and the employer- however; there was no act of signing the written statement by any of the sides of this agreement. Furthermore, not all the provided information was correct, especially from the side of the employer.

To sum up, a trade union representative will investigate whether this contract can be considered valid. If this contract is considered to be official, then Harry Young should argue about the modifications of the agreement, the difference between what was offered during the first conversation and what was written in the agreement contract. These modifications are significant enough to ask for reimbursements for airfares or for events that caused suffering from the side of the employee.

If this contract is not considered to be valid, then Harry Young should contact the employer again and speak with a more qualified and experienced specialist of this company. If Harry Young still wants to work for this company, he should discuss his future job, his rights, and responsibilities with this person. Not to make this mistake, again he should receive his agreement contract before he talks to the manager to find out all questions that interest him. It would be wise to discuss the issue of airfares and allowances with the new specialist, even if it is not stated in the contract. If Harry Young is not going to apply for this job position again, this situation should be a good lesson about the importance of a written job contract and the procedure of signing the contract with the employer.

Certainly, if Harry Young finds a violation in the written contract, he may ask for full coverage of his rights as an employee of this company. A written contract should include the following items, required by the law: his salary, hours of work, information about both disciplinary and grievance rules, sick pay arrangements and notice periods, holiday entitlements. Harry Young should find out whether his children according to the law have the right to get medical insurance. Harry Young is supposed to receive a part-time job, which duration is two years. Part-time employees’ rights are violated at the highest level since they are not considered to be regular personnel. This is the main reason why Harry Young should study all his rights and responsibilities. For example, a part-time employee has the right to get the wage and holiday entitlement at the same rate as other workers at this company; secondly, the part-time employee can have the same break or holiday schedule as full-time workers. Harry Young will have the right to be treated with the same level of respect and favor as other workers.

Furthermore, Harry Young, even not a regular worker, should receive the equal opportunity of the organizational promotion. And if Harry Young needs training for this future promotion, he should receive it fully.

Ethical questions

There are certainly ethical questions, which are involved in this situation. First of all, the head of the Management Department is obliged to give full and accurate information about the employer’s offer, so it was his responsibility to provide Harry with the concrete terms of the contract. As a highly qualified specialist, he had to send his future employee the written contract to avoid all possible interpretations and misleading. So, this situation has emerged partly due to his unprofessional management of the situation.

If the responsibility of providing future employees with information about companies’ job position is not included in the list of his duties, or he doesn’t have enough resources to answer such question, then it was a significant violation from his side, and he should be fined for exceeding his authority. Moreover, Harry Young has the right to sue the company for providing him with inaccurate information about the job and the contract.

Harry Young should not have said that his family was going to move to Hong Kong. By giving such information to Dr. De Chillo, he was hoping to be a more attractive employee for this company, but these words provoked the fact, that employer decided not to pay for his airfares. These ethical problems now resulted in a very unpleasant situation for Harry Young and caused his dissatisfaction with his future employer. (Teo, 2005).

In the end, it is important to emphasize the fact that the role of the Human Resources Department has not decreased over time, as it is stated in the book “Creating a Strategic Human Resources Organization”. (Lawler, 2005) The job contract is one of the main tools of the organization to attract a new workforce, which will help this organization make more profit: “Every organization competes for its most essential resource: qualified, knowledgeable people” (Drucker, 1992).

Unfortunately, as it is shown in this situation, many cases of misinterpretation and misunderstanding can occur during the communication between the employer and employee. Besides, as it is described in the book “Managing Human Resources in Cross-Border Alliances”, conflicts can even emerge inside the organization and can lead to significant conflict, that’s why the wise management of human resources, the procedure of recruitment and its tools is one of the most complicated processes on the enterprise. (Schuler, 2003).

Summary

The article “Human Resources Management Perspective at the Turn of the Century “ summarizes that the human resources department has the future, and its importance will inevitably rise with years. ( Lipiec, 2001).

References

Burchell, Brendan, David Ladipo, and Frank Wilkinson, eds. 2002. Job Insecurity and Work Intensification. London: Routledge.

Burke, Ronald J. and Cary L. Cooper, eds. 2004. Reinventing Human Resources Management: Challenges and New Directions. New York: Routledge.

Cyr, Linda A., Diane E. Johnson, and Theresa M. Welbourne. 2000. Human Resources in Initial Public Offering Firms: Do Venture Capitalists Make a Difference?. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice 25, no. 1: 77.

Fine, Sidney A., and Maury Getkate. 1995. Benchmark Tasks for Job Analysis: A Guide for Functional Job Analysis (FJA) Scales. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Fountaine, Dave. 2005. Human Resources: What’s Your Plan?. Public Management, 25.

Hagevik, Sandra. 1998. Job Search Correspondence. Journal of Environmental Health 60, no. 6: 32.

Lawler, Edward E., Susan Albers Mohrman, Alice Yee Mark, Beth Neilson, and Nora Osganian. 2003. Creating a Strategic Human Resources Organization: An Assessment of Trends and New Directions. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Lipiec, Jacek. 2001. Human Resources Management Perspective at the Turn of the Century. Public Personnel Management 30, no. 2: 137.

Schuler, Randall S., Susan E. Jackson, and Yadong Luo. 2003. Managing Human Resources in Cross-Border Alliances. New York: Routledge.

Teo, Stephen T.T., and John Crawford. 2005. Indicators of Strategic HRM Effectiveness: A Case Study of an Australian Public Sector Agency during Commercialization. Public Personnel Management 34, no. 1: 1.

Key Business Issues and the Impact of Various Factors

Main Problems of Business Development

One of the most significant problems hindering the development of any business is the political situation within the state. Entrepreneurs tend to be dissatisfied with the complex bureaucratic system, the taxation system associated with unreasonably high taxes, regulatory agencies and high levels of corruption. The second problem in the way of business development is financial policy. Even if a business grows, profit increases monthly and there is no staff turnover, it does not mean that everything is stable and will always be so.

It is assumed that the most optimal national economic programme is the creation of flexible and dynamic markets of labour, goods and capital able to quickly and effectively adapt to the changing environment, reflected in the profitability and competitiveness of enterprises. No one is immune to such risks as a new player with more attractive prices or an expanded offer appearing in the market. As can be seen from this, some business projects are unable to withstand competition or financial oppression as a result of, for example, wrong management strategies or income distribution. The result is that an entrepreneur has two development scenarios left – losing an economic race or reconsidering business and possibly switching to a group of goods with higher margins.

A large pool of problems may be related to the technical difficulties of the enterprise. Lack of necessary equipment or its regular breakdown steer the business off its course, and as a result, there is a regression. The solution to such a problem can be hidden in maximising the alignment of business processes, including internal and external ones. A big problem of modern business is also the socio-psychological policy of management. Today, increasingly more international companies are adopting a D&I programme that defines diversity and involvement of employees in corporate culture.

The Company for this Assignment

The company that is investigated as an example for this purpose refers to the oil and gas industry. As it is known, the world economy directly depends on the volume of oil and gas production, as well as the ability to process them into high-quality fuel.

Companies that work in this area, including those related to this field, have a large scale of production and a large staff. A large department of the Saudi Aramco is connected with HR activities because such a number of employees should be coordinated. HR managers are the critical link between employees and management department. The work of this department includes the organisation of training and development of employees, participation in operational management and solution of current issues, as well as improvement of corporate culture, working conditions and analysis of HR policy efficiency.

Factors that Define the HR Function of a Business

A competent personnel policy of the organisation, which considers the internal and external factors affecting it, will allow the preservation of the competitiveness of the organisation and ensure the high quality of its staff. Considering the factors influencing the HR policy will help to align the economic benefit, which is the goal of the employer, and the needs of employees, increasing their motivation and involvement.

Political Influence

The political picture within the state or on the international scene plays a vital role in the existence of the business. The introduction of new laws restricting the functions of small and medium-sized companies hurts the development of the company. Power is a mechanism that regulates companies in both positive and negative contexts. On the other hand, however, politics is often seen as a derivative business, as big business is involved in political games.

Economic Influence

The economic policy of the states in the sphere of business management has a significant influence. The state of the world economy affects the cost of all inputs and the ability of consumers to buy certain goods and services. If, for example, inflation is projected, management may consider it desirable to increase the inventory of resources supplied to the organisation and negotiate with workers on fixed wages to contain the growth of costs shortly. If an economic downturn is projected, the organisation may prefer to reduce stocks of finished goods because it may have difficulty marketing them, reduce some workers or delay expansion plans until better times.

Technological Impacts

Technological innovations affect the efficiency with which products can be manufactured and sold, the speed at which products become obsolete, how information can be collected, stored and distributed, and what kind of services and new products consumers expect from the organisation. Organisations dealing directly with high-level technology, knowledge-intensive enterprises, must be able to respond quickly to new developments and offer innovations themselves. Today, to remain competitive, all organisations have to keep up with at least those developments on which their effectiveness depends.

Development of Organisational Strategy for the Business

The Forces Shaping the HR Department’s Agenda

The agenda of the current head of the recruitment service includes not only the tasks of finding and selecting employees but also issues of increasing productivity, optimising the structure of the company and the development of corporate culture. Without analytical research and data processing, it is not easy to make informed decisions and improve business performance and efficiency. By measuring and analysing key parameters, HR departments can make business decisions based on facts, use accurate figures when developing business cases and form requests for resources. Also, HR directors can timely inform top managers about the state of human resources and argue the effectiveness of the HR service.

HR policies are directly influenced by the business objectives set by management. HRM must meet the goals which are designated as the business mission. This can be done by recruiting staff with the right skills and by fostering a business culture. Furthermore, stakeholder demands also have a direct impact on the HR agenda. Human Resources professionals must understand the interests that are championed by management to meet these expectations and needs.

Most companies measure indicators of staff turnover, involvement and satisfaction of employees, labour productivity and evaluation of investments in HR projects. Moreover, the monitoring of personnel’s attitude to the administration, work and various aspects of business activities, control over personnel qualification level, the cost of outsourcing services, activity of service centres, the number of operations carried out by HR-department, staffing process, implementation and efficiency of training programmes and various types of promotion is on HRM’s agenda (Collings, Wood and Szamosi, 2018).

As a result, the objective of such studies is to audit the company’s strengths and weaknesses in human resources management. Based on the results of such an analysis, the need for changes in the management process is determined.

Ulrich Model

To assess the effectiveness of the company’s HR-function, several models are offered, providing a variety of approaches. The most famous among these is D. Ulrich’s role model, the first version of which was proposed by him at the end of the last century.

Figure 1 shows that HR is an integral part of human resources management, ensuring its successful functioning, and it plays one of the critical HR roles. For structural changes, Ulrich proposed to divide necessary human resources operations between three primary organisational services (Harrop, 2017). This approach is widely known as the three-legged stool model. Ulrich’s three-legged stool of human resources management rests on three pillars: strategic partners (solve strategic tasks), a centre of expertise (have technical knowledge and skills) and a shared services centre (solve various operational tasks) (Harrop, 2017). In turn, business partners who use this model have four roles to play: strategic partner, change agent, employee advocate and HR process administration expert.

The HR specialist roles envisaged by Ulrich’s concept cover both the entire traditional range of business and employment support activities of the HR specialist, as well as the fundamentally important strategic aspect of HR and the principles of initiative and innovation repeatedly mentioned as an additional source of effective HR (Harrop, 2017). From business practice, the main advantage of the “HR – business partner” model in the sophisticated approach is the unification of all areas of HR-department work into a single mechanism correlated with the organisation’s strategy and working to improve its effectiveness.

Regarding the business model of the author

The oil and gas distribution industry is a satisfying large business. As a rule, the companies working in this sphere, have the prominent organisational structure, it also concerns that company on which example the current analysis is carried out. The mentioned company has its HR-department, which performs classical functions for HRM. This is a rather complex model, requiring careful preparation for all the links in the business. To implement it, the author’s business concept requires the presence of several roles in HRM, which is complicated by the small size of the enterprise.

Harvard Model

Specialists developed the 4C model as a means of investigating HRM issues in a broader business environment rather than using the generally accepted objectives of recruitment, selection, training, certification and personnel records management. According to the Harvard scheme, HRM policy should be based on an analysis of stakeholder needs and several contextual factors, as depicted on Figure 2. This theory assumes that since an organisation is owned and operated by different stakeholder groups, the objective of management is to achieve a reasonable balance between the interests of those groups. An example of stakeholders would be shareholders, different categories of employees, customers and users of products, creditors (including banks), trade unions and possibly local or state authorities.

Situation factors include labour market conditions, employee morale and motivation, a management style that itself depends partly on the culture of the local community and the technologies and methods used in production. Labour market conditions are critical for the analysis. The labour market brings together all those who are looking for work and all companies that are in search of workers. Labour markets operate at the regional, industry, national and international levels. There are also sub-markets for different categories of employment, qualifications and educational levels.

Stakeholder expectations and situational factors should be considered when developing a human resources strategy. They should influence HRM policies to address issues such as the remuneration system, the degree of supervision of workers and the preference for employment-intensive over capital-intensive work methods. The growing intensity of competition in business may force a company to increase productivity, resort to redundant dismissals or restructure the administrative system.

Regarding the business model of the author

For small businesses, this model seems technically challenging to implement because it requires the use of many resources. Company managers must have the qualities of politicians and diplomats: they must be able to establish good relations with each group of stakeholders and develop the ability to persuade, create alliances and represent one part of stakeholders to another. There is a wide variety of variables potentially suitable for almost any human resource situation. It is often simply impossible to identify the key factors that determine the true nature of a human resource situation.

Michigan Model

One of the first statements about the HRM concept was made by the Michigan School, which believed that HR systems and organisational structure should be managed in a way that is consistent with the organisational strategy. The described model was called the “HR compliance model”, within the framework of which the concept of human resources cycle was given. The Fombrand model, which consists of four main processes or functions performed in any organisation, includes selection, certification, reward and development, which is shown in Figure 3. First, selection involves matching human resources available to jobs.

Secondly, certification is defined as the management of the performance of a company. Third, remuneration is used to incentivise organisational performance; it is essential to note that it encourages both short-term and long-term achievement, bearing in mind that the enterprise must operate well today to succeed in the future. Finally, development is responsible for the professional development of employees and the improvement of their skills and competencies.

Regarding the business model of the author

This model seems to be suitable for application to the author’s model, since it covers most HR functions and roles, while not requiring many resources.

Warwick Model

This human resource management model is a modified continuation of the Harvard model. The basic idea behind this model is to divide the role of HRM into five components: external context, internal context, business strategy content itself, HRM context and HRM content. The explanation of how certain factors may affect the business is fundamental to this model. Figure 4 depicts that Warwick model is the most comprehensive and shows the relationship between the different components of HR and business strategy.

Regarding the business model of the author

This model, although seemingly complex at first sight, may be suitable for the author’s business strategy, as it fully reflects all kinds of business development scenarios.

As a rule, companies combine different ways of obtaining HR-analysts: they conduct internal researches independently or with the involvement of a contractor, use publicly available information on the labour market (mass media, Internet, professional conferences) and official data of research companies and state services.

Business Environment Analysis Tools

Business analysts often use various tools in their work to determine the economic profitability and effectiveness of the business model. The strategic analysis is defined as the way of processing the information on the internal and external environment of the company, level of its development and weaknesses and strengths. The purpose of such analysis is the development of an effective strategy of the management of the enterprise. Tools used to achieve this goal may include SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, Boston Matrix, Sigma analysis and others. The Table 2 shows a comparison of the two most popular types of strategic tools: SWOT analysis and PEST analysis.

The analysis of this table shows the fundamental difference between the two instruments. Despite the greater complexity of execution, PEST is a more accurate analysis method. Also, SWOT analysis is often based on the data obtained during PEST. SWOT analysis, in turn, has a wide range of the business picture covered. PEST focuses on external environmental factors that affect the business, while SWOT analysis focuses on internal and external factors. PEST explores the political and legal environment, looking at employment laws, political issues, taxes and regulations that affect the business.

Stages of Strategy Development

The process of designing and planning the future of the company is closely connected with the use of various organisational tools. To develop a strategy for HRM, it is necessary to clearly understand the level at which the company is now, where it is moving and what actions are being taken to run the company to the desired level. For these purposes, there is a system of five-step analysis, including analysis, formulation, evaluation, implementation and monitoring. A more detailed analysis of each stage provides insight into how a particular resource will be used.

Analysis

At the first stage of development, the current situation within the company is analysed. It can be said that analysis is about collecting a lot of useful information that could potentially help the development of the company. HR-strategy should be based on a qualitative assessment of the enterprise organisation (Uhl and Gollenia, 2016). HRM’s role at this stage is to identify factors that may, in a positive or negative context, affect the achievement of the objective. The SWOT or PEST analysis can be used for the assessment, aimed at identifying strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities. Moreover, strategy makers should focus on the disadvantages and benefits of the enterprise personnel, with attention to their potential.

Formulation

The transition from a discussion of the current situation to the prospects that await the company is underway at this stage. The organisation’s mission must be appropriately designed to build a path to the goal in the subsequent steps. The HR department plays a vital role as it carries out educational work with employees aimed at demonstrating the new strategy of the company. It is possible to create a register of the most critical issues in terms of their priority, and then try to answer the question of what will happen if they cannot be solved. It should be remembered that not only the HR-department decides about what course of development the company should choose, but also its superiors.

Evaluation

The work that has already been done as part of the development of the company’s strategy must, at some point, be evaluated for effectiveness. At this stage, a secondary analysis of materials is being carried out. HR is involved in the assessment through the creation of a form of measurement, which allows the assessment procedure itself. At this stage, a risk assessment is also performed, as the proposed solutions should not lead to the company collapse.

Implementation

The most formal and standardised stage is this one. In fact, it is the use of data obtained during the previous three steps. Emerging issues and new challenges need to be corrected; HRM’s task is to monitor changes. To do this, a Force-field analysis method is generally used to prioritise issues that arise. Finally, for all problems, options should be proposed for the management team. It is imperative that professionals do not dwell on outdated methods of work, but try to find something new, getting rid of all stereotypes.

Control

The last step is to monitor the implementation of all available plans and to assess the performance of the human resources department continuously. The final goal of the development is that all the planned goals can be fulfilled on time, and there are no contradictions between them. This is one of the most critical stages, as it can be used to predict whether a development strategy created will lead to success or not.

The HR department at the last stage helps to make a quantitative and qualitative assessment of changes, based on which decisions on implementation of such strategies will be later built. Furthermore, the HR strategy should be formed in such a way that all functions performed by the HR department are relevant and harmoniously complement each other. For example, bonus and payroll systems can be combined with employee training and further professional development. There will be no benefit from training if it later becomes clear that the company cannot help its employees to achieve harmonious development in personal and professional terms.

HR’s Contribution to the Company’s Business Corporate Ethics

It is known that many different complexities can lead to unwanted behaviour in business. Companies and personnel are currently facing a range of challenges that create an environment conducive to ethical dilemmas and conflict. It is appropriate to note that the sources of such problems may be the existing economic difficulties, motivating a person to achieve excellent results in any way.

All this in one way or another creates an environment in which several social issues related to business and corporate ethics are manifested. These include artificially creating inequality among partners, attempts to reduce competition and difficulties associated with trying to meet the demands of many shareholders, including in terms of performance. In such conditions of doing business, ethical problems quickly arise.

Business Ethics Development as an HRM Function

HR-manager in terms of formation and maintenance of corporate ethics within the enterprise at different stages can contribute to the formation of the ethical corporate culture. This is done by hiring personnel who will subsequently set the ethical tone in the organisation, as well as maintain an ethical climate and corresponding values.

Besides, it is essential to understand that HR-specialists do not finish their work in search of new employees, but continue to lead employees on their professional way, resolving all kinds of ethical conflicts and working with their consequences. It is also interesting to note the formation of D&I policy, which is directly related to the HR-department work. A modern business company needs to meet current trends, that is why by applying the principles of diversity and involvement among employees, HR not only form the necessary social environment but also increase the public rating of the company.

Accountability is one side of the business competence influenced by HRM. Of course, it is not possible to make staff accountable to each other, but it is possible to instil this culture and HR forms the right environment. Reporting on personnel is one of the critical tasks of an HR specialist, and he or she should promote the tendency to be open and honest among employees. To maintain the culture, which values accountability, the HR specialist must be aware of what the company believes in, and they must fully understand their mission. It is HR, as the first person to be confronted by a recruit, who can impose the right values. It is essential to understand that HR is almost the most prestigious department, which has properties to influence all employees and all departments.

Business performance assessment and the role of HR

Enterprise Performance Indicators

Assessment of business performance can be carried out in various ways, most often emphasising financial and non-financial indicators of success. These are complex systems that are divided into sub-sections. The table below shows the factors to which these indicators are divided.

Table 2. Financial and non-financial performance indicators (created by the author).

The above list of non-financial indicators can be continued for quite a long time – everything depends on strategic goals and the resulting direction of the company’s development. Such signs describe personnel work as labour standard, time standard, personnel movement, work satisfaction, workplace safety, and working conditions. Non-financial indicators related to production include marriage parameters, material supply volume, inventory structure, average order size, load and shift rates. A large number of non-financial indicators refer to the description of processes related to equipment downtime and production stoppages. It can also include the percentage of defective products that remain after production.

On a completely different plane lie the financial performance indicators. Comparing the company’s revenue with the market situation and with the receipt of its competitors, one can conclude commercial success and business potential. The second absolute indicator, which can be seen in the profit and loss statement, is the gross income, as well as marginal profit. Gross profit is essential because it allows us to understand what benefits a company derives from selling a unit of production and whether this profit, multiplied by the number of units sold, covers the number of overhead costs. The turnover indicators are designed to show how intensively a company uses its assets and its capital.

Turnover indicators can be calculated for current assets, assets, work in progress. And for each of these indicators, it is possible to monitor and improve the performance of a particular part of the production process. Cost of training is most connected with HR work as it shows expenses of the company on receiving highly competent employees.

Business Planning and HRM

Business planning should assess the possible risks that could accompany change. In addition to financial risks, it is also important to consider human resources (Uhl and Gollenia, 2016). Prevention of personnel risks is based on correct HR-policy of the company, monitoring of compliance with labour legislation, familiarisation of all personnel with the peculiarities of the production process and safety techniques, organisation of professional development of employees and rotation of personnel. The Figure 5 shows which sources form the environment for business planning. HR can be included in a business planning strategy at an early stage.

The function of the department will be to define key performance indicators. With the help of HR metrics, the managers making decisions concerning planning will be able to get better acquainted with the company’s budget. HR performs an analysis of the current labour supply on the labour market, forecasts the demand for workers in the company and provides the best match between employees and workplaces.

Moreover, there is a three-step planning theory, usually using an ice cube as an example. Defrosting is a stage where the manager’s actions are aimed at making people recognise the need for change. The second phase is movement, or the practical implementation of change, which requires careful planning and wise management. The final stage is freezing when new standards of behaviour are set. It is important to note that this phase may require changes to control systems that authorise the use of old models and encourage staff to apply new ones.

Planning for Change and HRM

The modern world is changing very rapidly, and new technologies, new ways of information and communication are appearing daily, the demographic situation is changing, the structure of consumer demand is changing. Some changes give rise to others – and so with increasing speed. On the one hand, some of these changes make it easier to do business, and on the other hand, some of these changes make it more complicated so, if the company-manufacturer can have problems if the competitor has changed in technologies that can accelerate business processes.

When introducing changes, the assessment of business efficiency is of great importance. In case the change is implemented, HR-department and management should analyse how the modified business model is applied not only to the company’s position in the external market, but also in the internal environment. Close interaction with business is the most important task of HR at any time, but in the period of changes, its role as a business partner – adviser becomes most actual (Uhl and Gollenia, 2016). The functions of HR in such a case are to initiate changes, help managers to implement them, communicate with staff and monitor people’s attitude to changes, as well as to retain critical employees.

A vivid example of integration of change management and planning functions in business is the theory of change agents at Yahoo. The HRM implementation strategy to facilitate the transfer of changes by the company and employees is non-standard: Yahoo recruits people who serve as “change agents”, i.e. those who stimulate change, coordinate changes in processes and systems. Typically, these employees are outsiders and are outside the management vertical within the company, but the change agent is the employee.

The second example, connected with the introduction of HR-department in business planning of the organisation, is company IBM, one of the first who has created a post of the manager on work with people. Such managers were not managers in the typical sense but instead allowed the strategic department of the company to interact more actively with employees when planning future changes in business processes. An essential function of the HR department for business planning is the retraining of personnel to obtain new competencies, which is included in the further development program.

Impact of External and Internal Data Sources

Table 3. Examples of external and internal sources for planning and their impact on the company (created by the author).

It is wrong to assume that any sources of business and context information, regardless of their type, have a positive impact on the development of the company. Using the above table, it can be noted that each such source can have both positive and negative impact. HRM’s function here is to balance the extremes and choose a path that does not bring risks to the company.

Internal sources, such as the accounting system, have great potential for making decisions about planning and change management. The system allows us to see the financial policy of the company in a cross-section, but the system requires careful analysis, as incorrectly presented information can negatively affect the development of the organisation. HR can conduct internal surveys of employees who will also provide useful subjective data about the company.

However, such opinion polls are rarely objective and require in-depth analysis. Besides, they require a significant investment of resources. The same applies to external sources of information: analysis of the oil and gas market price policy helps a company create its competitive strategy. However, the cost of services is often subject to dramatic changes due to, for example, the economic crisis in a country or currency depreciation. Assessing regulatory parameters is more difficult for international business as it requires knowledge of the laws and regulations of other states. However, predicting possible changes at the state level can improve a company’s success rate.

Reference List

Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T. (eds) (2018) Human resource management: a critical approach. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.

Harrop, J.J. (2017) ‘Assessment and recommendations for effective HR service delivery model implementation for organizations’, Middle East Journal of Business, 55(4022), pp.1-5. Web.

Shingal, T. (2019) ‘Managing HR roles: David Ulrich’s HR model’. MettlBlog.

Uhl, A. and Gollenia, L.A. (2016) A handbook of business transformation management methodology. Abingdon: Routledge.

In the era of globalization and worldwide mobility, quite a lot of companies set on the next step in their development and become multinational corporations (MNCs). According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), MNCs generate around one-third of the annual global economic output (OECD, 2020). When expanding, they inject resources into the economies of host countries and often elevate local communities by providing them with employment opportunities. The dilemma that MNCs often face is the choice between global integration and local responsiveness in human resources management (HRM) practices, especially recruitment. Indeed, there are two juxtaposing trends in an international arena: while many cultures become homogenous, others carve an even stronger identity that affects the business environment. Therefore, the question arises whether recruitment practices should be standardized across all countries in which an MNC operates or rather adapted to integrate and respect the cultural specificity of host countries.

The existing literature provides several approaches toward the conceptualization of the global transfer of human resources management practices. It should be noted that there is not a single approach that dominates the modern paradigm, but it is rather, they should be combined to improve the understanding of the transfer process (Groutsis & Ozturk 2014). Chiang, Lemański, and Birtch (2017) point out five stages: configuration, the decision to transfer (by the headquarters), negotiation process, implementation, and internalization. According to the researchers, each stage is associated with certain difficulties.

In order to pinpoint what makes a transfer successful, Susaeta and Pin (2008) draw attention to external (contextual) and internal factors. Hofstede (1993) describes culture as the “crystallization of history in thoughts, feelings, and actions of the current generation (p. 5)”; it is the culture that often informs and guides employees’ and executives’ behaviors. As a contextual factor, culture is central to the cultural approach that argues that the effectiveness of HRM practices is contingent on their coincidence with the national value system. The comparative institutional approach narrows its scope down to the differences in the different national business systems and relevant institutions that influence labor and financial markets.

From a cultural perspective, an argument for the adaptation of recruitment practices is the cultural differences in what makes people happy in the workplace. Liu et al. (2020) opine that writing a good job posting is a crucial step in the recruitment process. A company on the search for qualified cadres cannot limit the job description to what it wishes to see in the candidate. Instead, there should be a balance between prerequisites and benefits for the potential employee when comparing Western multinational companies with regard to their recruiting strategies. Edwards, Sanchez-Mangas, Jalette, Lavelle, and Minbaeva (2016) notice that North American and North European countries lean heavily toward standardization. In particular, MNCs of today aim their job postings at a stereotypical Western millennial (Coffy et al., 2018).

Recent research shows that the youth entering the workforce seeks more than just a decent remuneration – if it is the only benefit that a company has to offer, younger employees do not think twice about “job-hopping.” Stewart et al. (2017) note that Zoomers and Millennials are drawn to social justice causes and personal growth. They want to make a positive impact on the organization that they are working for and help it to tackle social and environmental challenges (Stewart et al., 2017). Therefore, MNCs, especially tech giants such as Apple and Amazon, often stress individualism and the ability to contribute to their job listings.

However, the research by Andreassi, Lawter, Brockerhoff, and Rutigliano (2012) that covered 48 nations shows that different cultures look for different benefits in terms of career. For instance, collectivist cultures, such as Chinese or Japanese, view teamwork and collaboration above personal achievement. Andreassi et al. (2012) explain that for such cultures, contribution to the group matters more than individual contribution. Individualistic cultures concentrate more on what benefits the person, not the group. According to Andreassi et al. (2012), people in such cultures prioritize family and work-life balance. Countries in Latin America, Japan, and Germany score high in uncertainty avoidance, so they tend to adopt strict codes of behavior (Jang, Shen, Allen, & Zhang, 2018). Conversely, the US is an uncertain acceptance culture, which influences communication from the management (Jang et al., 2018). Because these aspects predict job satisfaction and, hence, retention, they should be communicated during the recruitment process.

Interviewing is a key recruitment practice that needs to be adjusted based on a host country’s cultural intangibles. Lim, Winter, and Chan (2006) opine that while managers are formally aware of cultural differences, they may be unprepared for handling them in real life. Using an example of the Canadian tourism and leisure industry, Garrick and Smith (2016) argue that when conducting interviews, human resources managers have to pay regards to cultural variables and let them inform not only verbal but also non-verbal communication. Discrete cultural variables include hierarchy, context, the role of pauses and silence, gestures, and stereotypes. In turn, specific variables are eye contact, voice tone, facial expressions, and choice of words (Garrick & Smith, 2016). Garrick and Smith (2016) provide an example of how neglecting cultural differences may lead to the misinterpretation of an interview’s profile and potential. In Western countries, such as Canada and the United States, eye contact is encouraged. In contrast, in Vietnam and China, an interviewee may avoid eye contact out of respect for hierarchy.

Further, Garrick and Smith (2016) explain that cultures can be roughly divided into low- and high-context. Cultures belonging to the former type are characterized by direct communication, verbality, and unrestrained expression of opinion. On the contrary, high-context cultures assign a special role assigned to non-verbal communication and unwritten rules. To illustrate how the type of culture may impact the recruitment process, Garrick and Smith (2016) compare American and Asian approaches to passing an interview. A candidate coming from a high-context Asian country may rely on body language and pauses to make their point. Moreover, it may be uncommon for such a person to continue speaking beyond what is asked. However, an American candidate used to the specifics of their low-context culture may use their verbality and ability to elaborate as their strong point and proof of confidence. It is readily imaginable how the parties could misinterpret each other’s behavior as either unusually imposing or not confident enough in one’s abilities. Therefore, without adjustment, HR practice transfer may as well prove ineffective and fail to attract suitable candidates.

The comparative institutional approach may also explain why recruitment processes should be localized. Ghotbi (2011) studied the activities of Western companies headquartered in the countries of Benelux, such as Unilever, in Iran. The researcher found that generally, the main recruitment steps (job posting, screening, interviewing) are similar in Iran and Belgium. However, there are certain differences in how these steps are completed (Ghotbi, 2011). For example, at the Belgian Unilever Office, 50% of personnel come from management trainees and graduate students. However, in Iran, Unilever cannot build the same pipeline as it does not have access to universities. Therefore, talent attraction has to be localized: most candidates are found either via word-of-mouth or on websites, such as Iran Talent and Job Agah websites. Unilever’s inability to hire from universities is an external hurdle. Therefore, working around social, legal, and bureaucratic issues require localization of HRM practices.

Nowadays, companies no longer hire from an existing pool of locals but rather look wider and search for suitable candidates globally. Another common scenario in the age of globalization is becoming a multinational corporation that has offices around the globe. Transfer of HR practices is understood through several approaches, out of which the cultural and the comparative institutional are the most relevant in the context of this paper. HR recruitment practices require localization because only attention to and respect for a foreign culture allows for pinpointing culture-specific job satisfaction factors that play a role in talent attraction. Culture variables, such as context, hierarchy, gestures, and facial expressions, impact the effectiveness of communication during the hiring process. From a comparative-institutional perspective, hiring practices established by the headquarters may face legal, social, and political hurdles in host countries. Therefore, MNCs should consider adjusting their HR practices to the realities of a new operating country while staying true to their core values.

Reference List

Andreassi, JK, Lawter, L, Brockerhoff, M & Rutigliano, P 2012, ‘Job satisfaction determinants: a study across 48 nations’ in Proceedings of 2012 annual meeting of the Academy of International Business-US North East Chapter: Business Without Borders, Fairfield.

Argote, L & Fahrenkopf, E 2016, ‘Knowledge transfer in organizations: the roles of members, tasks, tools, and networks’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 136, pp. 146-159.

Chiang, FF, Lemański, MK & Birtch, TA 2017, ‘The transfer and diffusion of HRM practices within MNCs: lessons learned and future research directions’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 234-258.

Coffey, L, Compton, J, Elkins, DM, Gilles, EE, Herbert, S, Jenkins, JL, Reese, ME, Sun, W, Strawser, MG, Szczur, S, & Watkins, B 2018, Recruitment, retention, and engagement of a millennial workforce, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham.

Edwards, T, Sanchez-Mangas, R, Jalette, P, Lavelle, J & Minbaeva, D 2016, ‘Global standardization or national differentiation of HRM practices in multinational companies? A comparison of multinationals in five countries’, Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 47, no. 8, pp.997-1021.

Garrick, AM & Smith, SL 2016, ‘Mis-steps in the dance of differences: problems and potentials in cross-cultural job interviews’, in Travel and Tourism Research Association International Conference, University of Massachusets Amherst.

Ghotbi, D 2011, Standardization and localization of HRM in Western MNCs in Iran, Master’s thesis, University of Twente.

Groutsis, D, Ng, E & Ozturk, MB 2014, ‘Cross-cultural and diversity management intersections: lessons for attracting and retaining international assignees’, in International human resources management, pp.23-46.

Hofstede, G 1993, Cultural constraints in management theories, Academy of Management Perspectives, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 81-94.

Jang, S, Shen, W, Allen, TD & Zhang, H 2018, Societal individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as cultural moderators of relationships between job resources and strain, Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 507-524.

Lim, CH, Winter, R & Chan, CC 2006, ‘Cross‐cultural interviewing in the hiring process: challenges and strategies’, The Career Development Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 3, pp.265-268.

Liu, L, Liu, J, Zhang, W, Chi, Z, Shi, W & Huang, Y 2020, ‘Hiring now: a skill-aware multi-attention model for job posting generation,’ in Proceedings of the 58th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pp. 3096-3104.

OECD 2020, Measuring multinational enterprises.

Stewart, JS, Oliver, EG, Cravens, KS & Oishi, S 2017, Managing millennials: embracing generational differences, Business Horizons, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 45-54.

Susaeta, L & Pin, JR 2008, The five phases in the transfer of HR policies and practices within MNCs.

Introduction

The contemporary period of time is the epoch of rapid economic growth and development, with innovative technologies, strategies and techniques of conducting business affairs that let the countries succeed and gain competitive advantage in the world economic arena. The 20^th century has been marked by a series of changes that reshaped the picture of power distribution in the world – it is enough to mention the collapse of the USSR and the drastic change it brought about. Thus, the world image is evolving and the economic potential appears to become more dynamic, affluent and changing.

The country’s potential traditionally depends on a set of characteristics that include, first of all, a set of governmental policies on economic growth, the approach to arrangement of education and training, employment and working conditions, the system of attracting the intellectual potential of the country and preventing it from migrating to more attractive countries etc. It goes without saying that a country that chooses economic growth as a major perspective for the nearest future has to take all these factors into consideration – in other way the strategy of innovation and growth will become a complete failure.

The subject of the present paper is China – this country has recently moved from a reactively constructed communist structure of arrangement of economic activity, with the Chinese government realizing the power of innovative approach to conducting business affairs. The two major legislative breakthroughs that marked the beginning of the new era in economics in China were the Labor Law of 1994 and the 2007 Labor Contract Law.

Actually, these two new laws express the radical shift in the Chinese attitude to human resources that used to be highly traditional and diminished the importance of individual peculiarities, rights, freedoms and privileges of the Chinese. According to the changes undertaken in the country’s economy in connection with adoption of these two laws it is possible to efficiently assess the level of economic development of China and define whether it has successfully moved to market economy.

Within the past decade the country underwent a profound change in its economic structure, being oriented at rapid economic growth, thus adopting a set of innovative policies concerning wages, labor conditions, arrangement of the system of education and nurturing the experience at various stages of the production process. At the present moment it is possible to say that much has been done in the discussed context, so the current situation needs thorough assessment in order to understand whether the initial goals of China have been achieved.

Assessment of the current economic situation in China

The assessment of the current economic situation is a complex and multi-faceted issue in the process of which many elements have to be taken into consideration. According to the opinion of Zhou Jianxiong (2009) speaking about the innovative development stages in China the process comprises the following set of characteristics that have to be taken into consideration.

“The commonly recognized elements may include abundant capital, solid industrial bases, strategic energy and raw materials, a high level of science and technological development and, above all, talented human capitals. Of all the resources that a country can rely upon to maintain its development, talented individuals are the most vital ones”.

Thus, it is necessary to take a thorough look at the elements of the economic process that underwent the deepest change and that were realized as the prime movers of progress so desired by China. However, one should understand that the analysis should be undertaken from the point of view of legislation – the laws mentioned in the introductory section had the major impact on the change, thus becoming the main perspective of the research.

Wages

As one can see, the growth of wages was drastic within the past 15 years, affecting the overall level of well-being and public welfare very positively – with the legislative elimination of lifetime employment working places could be obtained on a competitive basis, thus the free labor market began to emerge, with growing salaries making work in particular organizations more attractive. The second figure shows that the stability in growth was achieved by the end of the period, by the decreasing tempos of change and leveling the situation with the GDP level and salary fluctuations.

Note: from Waldman, C. (2004). ‘The Labor Market in Post-Reform China: History, Evidence, and Implications’. Business Economics, 39(4), pp. 50-62.

It is notable that some specialists attribute a key role to wages in the context of economic growth of China, because this indicator has more potential than some people may have suggested. As, for example, Waldman (2004) states that “wage levels in China will undoubtedly have some impact on the future of production outsourcing from the United States and other industrialized nations, as well as the development of new Chinese consumer markets. Wage growth is fundamentally important to the future of China as a global economic force”.

However, the main emphasis of the economic breakthrough was made on the national growth, which attracted enormous sums of FDI and made the company attractive not for outsourcing but for investment and collaboration.

Note : from Waldman, C. (2004). ‘The Labor Market in Post-Reform China: History, Evidence, and Implications’. Business Economics, 39(4), pp. 50-62.

According to the results of Waldman (2004) it is possible to assess the dynamics of change in wages in the following way. Looking at the pre-reform China in 1952-1977, it was clear that no positive dynamics was observed in the growth of ages: real wages grew at the rate of 0.1%. Economy was isolated, self-focused and governmentally structured. The failure of state sector to satisfy consumer tastes was realized in 1980s, so the leading position was decided to be given to private, collective and foreign-invested ventures (Waldman, 2004).

In the 1990s weak labor market and negative conditions did not affect wages, with state sector wages growing at 11% per year, with 9-12% in the manufacturing sector. Urban collective sector was also marked with strong growth (6.5-7.5%) (Waldman, 2004). The researchers state that the main source of the Chinese wage dynamic is labor supply.

Making an inference from everything that has been said in the present section, it is possible to admit that China is moving to the market economy, but still it cannot be assessed as such. Chinese wages are still too different from region to region; the labor force movement from rural to urban areas is highly evident; the rate of wages is surely growing but still remains inadequate as compared to average payment for the same work in other developed countries. So, the forecasts for future are positive, provided the employee education is paid adequate attention to; but at the present moment too much has to be done to call the Chinese economy a market economy from the point of view of wages.

Labor conditions

The main factor to be taken into consideration while speaking about the Chinese labor conditions is the fact that before 1970s the economy was government-planned. So the change initiated in this context involved transformation from the lifetime employment to the contract-based employment. China existed under the socialist rule that presupposed security of jobs, so people were hired for the lifetime, at times even being able to pass the job down to their heirs, thus exercising employment inheritance (Ngok, 2008).

Despite the seemingly good labor conditions providing the security and protection of working places by the government (especially under the Ordinance of Labor Insurance of 1951) the result of these actions was negative – state-owned enterprises had low labor productivity as people were not motivated (Ngok, 2008).

The system was stagnating, productivity was shrinking, so the government decided to create an innovative system of employment and labor opportunities by giving workers a chance to create job opportunities themselves. The need for a labor market was continuously recognized, and the National Conference on Labor and Employment in 1980 was a logical conclusion for the tendencies evident in the state. As bonuses and wages used to be not linked to performance, it was decided to arrange an experimental innovation and to introduce the labor contract system in 1980. The first labor contracts were concluded in 1986 and were a real breakthrough for China that has never experienced such liberalization before (Ngok, 2008).

“remuneration was linked to worker’s performance. The state controlled the total amount of wages and salaries and the system of guaranteed minimum wages and salaries, but the employers had the right to determine the levels of wages and salaries… labor law began to play an increasing role in regulating labor relations. More and more labor policies took the form of labor legislation…the danwei system practiced in SOEs was dismantled, which meant that workers had to make their own contributions to their welfare and benefits” (Ngok, 2008).

The 1990s also brought about the diversification of labor relations, growth of non-governmental sector of the Chinese economy, so together with positive changes negative tendencies also began to be observed: labor disputes, strikes and protests became a natural reaction of employees to the failure of the state to keep to the rules the government created to rearrange the labor market. Everybody realized the need for a general, unified law that would protect the employees and would provide them with freedoms and rights. Finally, the Labor Law was adopted in 1994.

“To sum up, the Labor Law was China’s first attempt to establish a relatively sound basis for the development of labor relations suitable for a market economy without democratization” (Ngok, 2008).

However, the Labor Law appeared to be not completely kept to, so the number of labor disputes grew at an astounding speed and mostly concerned the issues of insurance, benefits, remuneration etc. The largest drawback of the Labor Law was in its inability to provide protection for migrant workers who were exploited and discriminated in the urban areas (Ngok, 2008).

The activist movement headed by Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao was mostly concerned over the issues of social justice and equality of rights for migrant workers. Their activities brought about another set of regulations to be established in 2003 that cared for the abolition of discrimination of migrant workers, provision of training for them to gain a chance to struggle for better-paid jobs, and for strengthening of control of justice (Ngok, 2008).

The result of the whole process was the adoption of the Labor Contract Law in 2007 – it took into consideration both the interests of employees and employers and became a rational solution to the existing range of labor problems in China. However, looking at the current employment and labor conditions situation, one can see that even despite the adoption of these two laws that became a breakthrough for the socialist China, still there are many cases of discrimination, exploitation and unfair terms for Chinese workers. An example may be taken from observations of Hong Xue (2008) in the electronics production area of Stone Town famous for its being one of the leading manufacturing regions in China:

“Working conditions are rather terrible in most of the electronics factories in Stone Town, especially in small ones. The local government fails to enforce labor standards effectively and even turns a blind eye to the exploitation of migrant workers” (Xue, 2008).

Thus, it is possible to suppose that the dispute over labor conditions is continued in China, as the discrepancies between the legal side of the issue and the actual state of affairs are drastic, making people seek protection of the government failing to provide it. Work on the change is still being done as China is moving forward in its long-term economic growth plan, so there is still hope that the system of provision of employment will be reformed to a more sufficient level. So far it is impossible to state that the Chinese labor market corresponds to the world pattern of market economy, and this aim can be achieved only as soon as the legislation is brought into coherence with the real state of affairs in employment and provision of fair labor conditions.

Talent and education. The role of universities

It goes without saying that in the context of the contemporary change and innovation the economic system of China is going through the country badly needs talented and educated employees who would be able not only to perform some executive functions at the modernized enterprises but would be able to organize the management and marketing process in the country. China lacks administrative staff due to certain cultural peculiarities and lack of appropriate education that was not arranged on the legal basis for a long time – “the Cultural Revolution created a “missing generation” of talent aged 45 to 55, so expatriates fill most jobs at the top” (Ready et al., 2008).

Besides, the country experiences huge lack in marketing specialists because of insufficient economic education that appeared only about half a century ago thus not managing to provide substantial theoretical and empirical basis for further activities and research in the economic sphere. Marketing is one of heading professions needed in the process of economic growth and development. But China, with its socialist history, has no economic potential in education, so the question is raised on where it should take qualified personnel to perform these functions.

“Ironically, perhaps, marketing in China does have a history; it stretches back over sixty years. Marketing was first found as a course in Chinese universities in the 1940s. The first Chinese language marketing textbook was published in 1943, and a marketing curriculum had been introduced in Chinese universities before 1949” (Basu and Guo, 2007).

Curriculum for the MBA degree was created in 1998, independent doctoral degree programs were established in 2002, so the active work on the creation of local economic education and its intensive promotion are evident. So, now marketing is a very important discipline, counting for more than 15 business schools offering MBA education (Basu and Guo, 2007).

However, the practical side of this knowledge implementation is a weak point o Chinese education. Lack of empirical knowledge makes education non-applicable, depriving students of practice and diversity. This fact constitutes a grave problem because the country urgently needs practical marketers who will be able to enhance the country’s economic development, will adapt and implement innovative series of products generated in China and will detect and correspond to the changing consumer needs in the free global market of the 21^st century (Basu and Guo, 2007).

The country experiences deep deficit at upper and middle management levels, such as regional and country leadership because of lack of skills due to the recent historical and cultural background of China. The country seeks development but has no human resources to guide it. On the contrary, the lowest levels of employment are experiencing surplus in labor supply. The reason for this again lies within the borders of organization of education in China:

“Young workers are flooding the marketplace, but because education quality varies greatly among schools, many of them have inferior preparation or lack language skills” (Ready et al., 2008).

It is widely known that a developed market economy requires professionals in the economic sphere as it cannot function without the intellectual potential, having only labor resources and production capacities. Consequently, the way to establishment of a developed economy involves practical, professional education in all spheres connected with economic growth and development, which is unfortunately not observed in China so far.

Experience in various functions and levels

Technological development of China goes without saying as it is the issue being paid major attention to under the conditions of economic growth. According to the opinion of Hui Yongzheng, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China voiced in 2006, the governmental plan is to revitalize the country through science and technology, thus reinforcing its economic potential. So the main focus of economic growth is made on such fields of activity as “computer software, telecommunications, environmental protection, finance, computer-aided services, technological consulting, education and professional training industries” (Zhao, 2008). The country has good opportunities for creation of technological potential, but the issue of human resources is more problematic, so it acquires central attention nowadays:

“The current conditions are as follows: first, the capacity of the market restricts the demands of corporations and society for human capital; second, physical capital assists the formation of human capital from the two aspects of employment opportunity and salary level; third, the desire and reasonable expectation for a high salary will influence the formation of human capital; fourth, time and preference have some effects on the demand for human capital formation” (Zhao, 2008).

The sphere of management also experiences lack of human resources so the country is urged to attract foreign managers to administer the process of economic formation o the country. Though education in the leading economic fields is intensified and promoted, there is still no human resources capital to provide for the growing needs of China in the sphere of top management positions.

Conclusion

Analysis of findings about China being a market economy or not, the level of its development. Assessment of risks and opportunities for partnering countries.

It goes without saying that the production potential is the guiding force in the success of China in the world arena. A set of reforms in labor legislation as well as the arrangement of education and modernization of the production process all contribute to the establishment of a new pattern of Chinese economic activity. The tempos of annual GDP growth allow international specialists in economy speak about the potential dominance of China in the world market in the nearest future. However, since the topic of the present paper is human resources management, it is worth mentioning that still the major power China has as its potential for further growth is seen in its growing labor supply.

Since infants born in 2005 will enter the work force in 2021, forecasting China’s working-age population to 2025 is not difficult (see Table 1). China’s workforce, defined to include nonstudents aged 16–65, will continue to grow slowly until about 2015 and then begin to decline, resulting in a 2025 figure that matches the projected total for 2010 (Perkins and Rawski, 2008).

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the advantage of China in labor supply is seen not only as quantitative, but as qualitative as well. It is projected that in the nearest future the rate of educated people in China will grow and senior high education diplomas are projected to be held by 20.2% (2015), 21.7% (2020), 23.2% (2025). Tertiary education is planned to become the privilege of 7.2% (2015), 10.8% (2020) and 14.7% (2025) (Perkins and Rawski, 2008).

Discussing the level of economic development of China and assessing its being a market economy, one should admit that the introduction of the Labor Law in 1994 and the Labor Contract Law in 2003, together with the movement of the country towards a more liberal and privatized economy during the past couple of decades, brought about much positive change in the framework of economic activity of the country, making it more developed as compared to the planned economy the country used to have.

However, it is surely evident that the country still experiences major problems in the sphere of human resources management because of the traditional ay of thinking and arrangement of the working process, reluctance of employers to transform to more democratic and humane working conditions and to provide the employees with fairer pay and treatment. Legislative basis for this shift has been created but its implementation into everyday practice is hard and long-lasting.

One more problem that should be taken into consideration is lack of managing personnel of local origin, which limits understanding of overall market tendencies by foreign managers occupying leading positions in Chinese companies.

Lack of local intellectual potential in strategically important spheres of economics, management and marketing moves the country backwards on the way of its economic development, so even under the conditions of economic growth and development China cannot be called country with a developed market economy. Investors and potential partners planning collaboration with Chinese organizations should surely take into consideration the fact that the manufacturing potential of the country is tremendous, the country is moving along its way to becoming an economically developed country, but it still has many problems connected with management of human resources in a democratic, competitive way.

Bibliography

Basu, K., and Guo, G.-G. (2007). The Need for Reforms in Chinese Marketing Education. Ivey Business Journal, 1(6), 7 pp.

Jianxiong, Z. (2009). All Roads Lead to Home. Beijing Review, p. 2.

Ngok, K. (2008). The Changes of Chinese Labor Policy and Labor Legislation in the Context of Market Transition. International Labor and Working-Class History, No. 73, pp. 45-64.

Perkins, D.H., and Rawski, T.G. (2008). Forecasting China’s Econoic Growth to 2025. China Business Review, pp. 34-39.

Ready, D. A., Hill, L. A., and Conger, J. A. (2008). Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets. Harvard Business Review, pp. 62-70.

Waldman, C. (2004). The Labor Market in Post-Reform China: History, Evidence, and Implications. Business Economics, 39(4), pp. 50-62.

Xue, H. (2008). Local Strategies of Labor Control: A Case Study of Three Electronics Factories in China. International Labor and Working-Class History, No. 73, pp. 85-103.

Zhao, S. (2008). Application of human capital theory in China in the context of the knowledge economy. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(5), pp. 802-817.

Outline

• Introduction
  • contemporary changes of the global economy
  • Chinese innovative approach to economy and HR management
• Assessment of the current economic situation in China the need to perceive change in a complex way
  • Wages
    • tendencies in wage growth in pre-reform China
    • the emergence of non-state sector
    • wage dynamics in 1990s
  • Labor conditions
    • government-paned economy
    • creation of labor market
    • the Labor Law of 1994
    • the Labor Contract Law of 2003
  • Talent and Education. The role of universities
    • lack of administrative, top management personnel
    • young sphere of marketing education
    • education promotion
  • Experience in various functions and levels
    • directions of economic growth
    • crisis of management
• Conclusion. Analysis of findings about China being a market economy or not, the level of its development. Assessment of risks and opportunities for partnering countries
  • – the necessity of tracking Chinese development
  • – predictions of labor supply
  • – educational forecast
  • – conclusions and implications for partnering countries.

Introduction

The interview package urges to identify the way of a man’s destination, in order to fulfil the major goals concerned with a company and an interviewee as its possible member. In other words, any of the interview type can outline the correspondence of a person to a provided vacancy. This is why it is so necessary to have an idea of a good interview package and instructions to be adhered to as well. The report deals with the definite work position, with all structured agenda of how to promote the interview and to evaluate it then. The tips are taken into account, so that to show the reliance and peculiarities of the profession represented in the application with more information on the way to make the interview full and effective for both: employee and employer.

Vacancy

Job type: Permanent Full-time

Company: SteppingStones Recruitment

Category: Audit Senior

Qualification: CA/ACCA/CPA

Location: Grand Cayman

Opening date: 24 August 2009

Closing date: 12-Sep-2009

Salary per

Annum: $49900 – $57300

Salary per

Fortnight: N/A

Salary other: 3% from a salary per one top-tier client

Total

Remuneration: according to the monthly volume of work done

Job duration: Ongoing

Document/s: Passport, Driver’s Licence, Certificate

Contact name: Ciara Neill

Email: [email protected] (Best Jobs Australia, 2009)

Interview Package

Behavioural approach in provision of the interview package is a technique which presupposes its efficiency mainly during the selection interviewing (HRMT19023 – Module 7, 2009, p. 57). Its advantage over an unstructured interview is considered to have more points for an employer to focus on the person of an interviewee and focus on the possibility of employment. This method is implemented to define which capabilities are common for an interviewee, so that to compare person’s experience in previous times under similar to a new vacancy conditions. Behavioural technique is used under the slogan: “past behaviour is a reliable predictor of future behaviour” (HRMT19023 – Module 7, 2009, p. 57).

In this respect four main responsibilities should be taken into account by an interviewee. Among them are: keeping terms with clients before, during, and after auditing; distinctive leadership abilities; respect; integrity and development (Gold Coast Health Service District, 2009). An interviewer, on the other hand, should follow the instructions of behavioural approach while providing a definite interview:

An important feature of the behavioural question is to use adjectives designed to trigger a response/recall from the interviewee. Words like most, least, and toughest are used to stimulate the recall of specific events (HRMT19023 – Module 7, 2009, p. 58).

So the prospect of rightly intended motivation is considered within the company as one of the core elements needed. “Consideration of the interviewee in relation to their needs, motivation, experience and their level of exposure to the interviewing environments is also important” (HRMT19023 – Module 5, 2009, p. 39)… Dress code and the approach to this issue remains one of the most significant for the company image within the international community. This is why the appropriate standards should be applied. While preparing for the interview an interviewer should follow a schedule for making optimal efforts in pursuing the process of interviewing on the whole. This approach presupposes a well-structured plan of actions, namely:

1. Promote sufficient time and place information;
2. Find a quiet and confidential place and surrounding;
3. Determine the main questions to be asked (for example, as in the GROW model) with a structure concerning open, discussion, agreement, and close (HRMT19023 – Module 8, 2009, p. 68).

An interviewer in this respect should be primordially aware of the goals about the interview and main questions considering it are: What purpose do you haunt before, during, and after the discussion? Another question for an interviewer concerns his/her awareness of the understanding of probable effects and in-time evaluation of them from different sides. The prospects on proper options needful to change the situation is another point to be taken into account by an interviewer. In making up the idea of possible questions one should rely on the personal experience in this field of activity considering the outcomes to be taken out of the discussion (HRMT19023 – Module 8, 2009, p. 68). Good preparation for the interview and being aware of the type of it an applicant can be allowed to gain as much information as possible due to the logical evaluation made previously (Carter & Lewsen, 2004). One should bear in mind that the intentions and motivation of an interviewee should coincide with the aims of an interviewer in ideal.

One more touch should presuppose the type of the interview. In fact, an interviewee is better to have an idea of the structural part among different interviews. Such approach can help in working out of the main goals which are determined by the company and specifically by a vacancy of an audit accountant. In this respect there are five types of the interview. Selection interview is the most frequently used type of interviews (HRMT19023 – Module 5, 2009). It highlights the ability of an interviewee to possess the material about the main points on working as an accountant, for example. One should adhere to the reliable and confident norms and rules as of rationality in provision of interview. According to the reading 7.3 an interview guide should be composed with the following elements:

• Introduction (with brief content of an interview, taking notes)
• Recent Experience Review (previous positions along with their evaluation)
• Behavioural Dimensions (teamwork, work standards, administration, communication);
• Confirmation of Licences, Membership and Qualifications (as of the position);
• Referee General Question (illuminates the points one needs to point out);
• Confirmation of Referees;
• Explanation of the Position (with a thorough ‘marketing pitch’ about the vacancy);
• Opportunity for Interviewee Questions;
• Confirmation of Application;
• Final Questions (for provision of one more chance for an interviewee to have the last say);
• Interview Close (outline of the next date for contact) (HRMT19023 – Module 7-3, 2009, p. 62).

During the interview there should be no limits for the idea expression. An applicant should speak convincingly and without long gaps in the speech, which may notice for the employer a bit of unawareness or lack of competence. Furthermore, language skills and excellent command of special terms and concepts which are incorporated in the language etiquette and capacities of the company are the must. In this case it is vital to point out the necessity of answering rightly on such questions as: What are your priorities in life? Why do you want to work in our company? In this respect one should not think that it is so easy to go through such procedure. Frivolity is a bad helper in this case. An interviewee should rally thoughts over the main purpose, namely: to convince each interviewer that you are a desired employee for the required position and to assure that suchlike passion is entire (Nierenberg, 2005).

While concentrating attention on successful beginning and ending of the discussion an interviewer should point out the use verbal means as well as non-verbal for making efforts to be sure that an interviewee feels convenient in a definite environment and is able to listen (HRMT19023 – Module 6, 2009). In this case it is vital to maintain different kinds of making open part of the interview efficient. For this purpose an interviewer should use “encouraging, paraphrasing and summarising” (HRMT19023 – Module 6, 2009, p. 51). Special questions are most efficient for the open and close part. For example, an interviewer may ask an interviewee first question after being ready to start as follows: What can you suggest to the company? Questions should be open as well as closed with leading and summarizing colouring (HRMT19023 – Module 6, 2009, p. 52). For instance: Do you really want to cope with lots of papers? Summarizing question may be as such: What possibilities and requirements were agreed in the discussion? All in all open and close parts are the most significant for evaluation of an interviewee’s listening and reaction skills.

Conclusion

Posing all statements mentioned above one should realize the versatile nature of an interview. It is a significant challenge which can evaluate further intentions of an applicant along with the capacities and limitations to be worked out. In this respect the point of rightly scheduled and related preparations plays a great role. Physical and psychological readiness is a passport to success. Moreover, it presupposes an opportunity of positive feedback from the side of an interviewer. Interaction along with personal integrity and awareness of a person about the company and vacancies it proposes gives more possibilities to get a job, notwithstanding current experience and skills.

References

1. Best Jobs Australia. (2009). Stepping Stones Recruitment. Web.
2. Bright, J. (2007). Land that job in Australia: successful job-hunting for migrants. Melbourne: Tribus Lingua.
3. Carter, P. J., and Lewsen, S. (2004). Lippincott’s Textbook for Nursing Assistants: A Humanistic Approach to Caregiving. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
4. Gold Coast Health Service District (2009). Queensland Government. Web.
5. HRMT19023-Module 5. (2009). Assessment item 2 – Interview Package.
6. Information Package for Applicants. (2009). Queensland Government. Web.
7. Jaray, S. (2005). Marketing (Australia Wide). Sydney: Career FAQs.
8. Lustberg, A. (2002). How to sell yourself: winning techniques for selling yourself– your ideas– your message. New York: Career Press.
9. Mumford, C. J. (2005). The medical job interview: secrets for success. Ed. 2. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
10. Nierenberg, A. H. (2005). Winning the interview game: everything you need to know to land the job. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

The term of self-efficacy is applied to evaluate the confidence in a person towards the ability to accomplish a certain assignment. It has an impact on the assignment determination, perseverance, conveyed attention to the assignment, and the stage of objective exertion designated to a performance. Despite the importance of the self-efficacy and its impact on the job, little consideration has been provided towards its managerial insinuations. The article ‘Self-efficacy: Implications for organizational behavior and human resource management’ by Marilyn Gist aims to provide an evaluation of the self-efficacy perception and then, consequently, investigates its hypothetical and practical insinuations for managerial performance and human resource administration.

According to the author of the article, self-efficacy is based on the continuing attainment of compound perceptive, communal, linguistic, and corporal abilities by the means of the existing knowledge. The people seem to scale, assimilate and assess the existing data about their skills; as a consequence, they make an attempt at regulating their elections and exertions in accordance with this knowledge. The concept of self-efficacy consists of three extents: magnitude, strength, and generality. Furthermore, self-efficacy is based on the perceptive assessment of one’s competencies. According to the authors, “self-efficacy affects one’s choice of settings and activities, skill acquisition, effort expenditure, and the initiation and persistence of coping efforts in the face of obstacles” (Gist, 1987, p. 474).

Undoubtedly, the position of self-regulatory thought is a primary component in the practice of self-efficacy model. A number of academics have confirmed the optimistic outcomes of the establishment of an objective on the presentation in administrative situations. The assemblies with precise, detailed, and stimulating objective constantly have exposed more sophisticated levels of presentation than the assemblies with no objective at all, easily attained objective or “do your best” objectives. Self-efficacy is established with the help of communal learning courses. This practice in sequence results in more fecund objective establishment. It seems to be that criticism is imperative during the expressing of the effectiveness discernments that interrelate with the objective establishment to improve the stimulus of the performance. Inherent concentration is abstracted as the necessity for capability and self-purpose. In an explicit examination, it was established that self-efficacy is connected confidently to inherent concentration.

For high inherent concentration to be existent high individual power and high proficiency are required. Self-efficacy could be now and then mixed up with consequence prospects in expectancy theory. Bandura outlined these notions in the subsequent method: “an efficacy expectation is a judgment of one’s ability to execute a certain behavior pattern, whereas an outcome expectation is a judgment of the likely consequences such behavior will produce” (Gist, 1987, p. 476). It was established that self-efficacy projected the presentation of the transactions; however, the consequence prospects failed to do the same. The Pygmalion effect denotes to the improved acquisition or presentation subsequent from the optimistic prospects of other people. Self-efficacy could be related to the Pygmalion effect be the means of the convincing inspiration and encouragement of others that are bearing optimistic prospects. From time to time, behaviorism admits the judgments as epiphenomenal embellishments of habituated autonomic reactions. Despite the fact that the social learning approach does not postulate a stationary connection between autonomic reaction and performance, the part that the cognition possesses in self-directive is unambiguously recognized. For that reason, self-efficacy concept can moderately clarify when support will be applicable and efficient.

Self-efficacy seems to be pertinent to collection in a number of habits. Due to the assortment of high-acting persons and its importance to various establishments, self-efficacy, as a forecaster of presentation, could be accommodating. As soon as the selection mechanisms are applied, a number of valuations of self-efficacy could be beneficial in combination with a sequence of other events. Work meetings appear to be an impending background for the evaluation of the self-efficacy, even if the answer falsifying might be needed and measured. A competency-founded tactic towards leadership has advanced from the occupation examination notion in the management of the workers. In the article, Boyatzis stated that “job competency as an underlying characteristic of a person that results in effective or superior performance in a job.

Managerial competencies could be categorized into three classes: technical, conceptual, and human relations” (Gist, 1987, p. 477). In the framework of each class, an abundant number of various assistances are obligatory for competence at diverse stages. The insinuations of self-efficacy for teaching are wide-ranging. First of all, low self-efficacy could identify an explicit preparation requirement. Furthermore, in cases when the accomplices can be involved in minor assembly work meetings, the involvements are from time to time different from the concrete capabilities that are obligatory in their work places. One more insinuation of self-efficacy in the preparation range is that particular difficulties occasionally could be related to the low self-efficacy. Self-efficacy tactic towards the vocational advocating can be applied to supplement interest events. Those who are hesitant towards the different career instructions can be verified for apparent capabilities in a diversity of professions. Administrative purposes of performance assessment structures consist of performance enhancement, worker expansion, and inspiration by the means of objective establishment.

References

Gist, M. E. (1987). Self-efficacy: Implications for organizational behavior and human resource management. Academy of management review, 12(3), 472-485.

Abstract

In the essay, Convergence, Divergence or Middle of the Path: HRM Model for Oman, Khan describes the current state of Human Resource Management (HRM) in Oman. He explains that this field of research and policy-making is undergoing rapid development in the country. The factors affecting it are cultural and religious norms, a significant expatriate proportion in the workforce, and influence from foreign HRM practices (Khan, 2011). He further explains that currently, it is uncertain whether Omani HRM research and policies should follow a path of development that is convergent with successful global practices or one that diverges from them. In discussing this question, Khan (2011) comes to the conclusion that neither option is viable on its own, and a “middle of the path” approach is required. This approach would integrate global practices while accounting for the local sociocultural context.

The Paper’s Merit

The paper arrives at its conclusion after providing a thorough description of the local and global factors that affect the development of HRM practices in Oman. In particular, it draws attention to the differences in those factors between Oman, other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and Western economies in terms of their HRM development. The essay’s main argument is that local socio-cultural conditions have influenced the formation of existing HRM practices (Khan, 2011). As these conditions in Oman and GCC countries, in general, are different from the ones in Europe, the U.S., and other nations, a fully convergent approach appears impossible (Khan, 2011). However, external pressures from global corporations and foreign stakeholders also play a significant part in the development of HRM, preventing a fully divergent approach that ignores them from arising, as well (Khan, 2011). These arguments, although somewhat obvious, present a compelling case for HRM models distinct from the Western Model arising in any country or region as it adapts to its local conditions.

The Case for Saudi Arabia

The argument in Khan’s paper can be applied to any country or region with developing HRM practices and culture different from the Western European template. Therefore, the same principles can be applied to Saudi Arabia. The original paper lists the country’s predominantly Muslim population and a high percentage of expatriate workforce as major factors affecting the development of HRM in Oman (Khan, 2011). Saudi Arabia is also a Muslim state with a large expatriate community, which constitutes similarities in the cultural background of HRM development (Central Intelligence Agency, n. d.). Because of these similarities, a divergence in HRM methods with the Western Model can be advocated for this country. As suggested by Khan (2019), a proposed model should seek to integrate the existing social and cultural context in regard to Islamic values and work ethics.

The Middle Eastern HRM Model

An argument exists that no distinct Middle Eastern HRM model currently exists. As Budhwar and Mellahi (2006) and Khan (2011) corroborate, HRM is less developed in the region, and there is insufficient research to formulate practices and policies that account for the local conditions. However, the influence of global and international forces creates a base that, by interacting with local cultural and religious values and ethics, shapes the development of a Middle East-specific HRM model. Ultimately, local researchers and policymakers decide the extent to which global practices are adopted and to which this new model will diverge from them.

References

Budhwar, P., & Mellahi, K. (2006). Managing Human Resources in the Middle East. Routledge

Central Intelligence Agency. (n. d.). Brazil. In The world factbook. Web.

Khan, S. A. (2011). Convergence, divergence or middle of the path: HRM model for Oman. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12(1), pp. 76-87.

Introduction

The implementation of human resources management (HRM) programs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may differ from those used in large corporations. Approaches to interaction with personnel require assessing various factors, including both external market trends and internal aspects of development. Moreover, in the modern HRM environment, the variability of methods and tools of intervention distinguishes this sphere from that in earlier periods. Strategically designed and targeted approaches are the typical drivers of successful HRM in SMEs in the 21st century.

Antithesis

A strategic approach to organizing HRM in modern SMEs can be justified in the context of the specifics of business models that various firms promote. For instance, according to Reid et al. (2002), in enterprises with family management practices, the unique characteristics of interaction among employees are supported, which are not typical for standard organizations. Also, when evaluating the relationship between HRM and performance outcomes, one can cite the arguments of Ogunyomi and Bruning (2016) who state that both these indicators correlate directly with each other and should be considered in a single context. Moreover, the assessment of the specificity of SMEs proves that in small firms, managers often promote individual practices and procedures for interacting with subordinates, which cannot be implemented in large companies (Edwards and Ram, 2009). Therefore, the value of productive HRM in SMEs is justified by an opportunity to maintain a favorable microclimate in the team by creating a unique work environment.

At the same time, while evaluating a strategically targeted approach to HRM in SMEs, one can mention some potential disadvantages. For instance, as Georgiadis and Pitelis (2012) argue, it is more difficult for small firms to implement advanced personnel management practices than for large corporations due to a less stable material base and fewer available resources. In addition, according to Doherty and Norton (2014), the ideology of individual SMEs’ leaders is based on the imitation of large market participants’ behavior, which, in turn, cannot always be realized within a small business. Therefore, strategically targeted HRM practices are not always favorable for all SMEs without exception.

However, despite potential shortcomings, the HRM model under consideration has more positive than negative aspects in the activities of SMEs in the 21st century. Jarvis and Rigby (2011) state that preliminary analytical work is a productive background to use all available development indicators, for instance, geographic or size parameters, to implement and maintain an optimal HRM system. Strategically targeted approaches eliminate any unforeseen situations and allow establishing a unique mode of interaction among employees, which reflects the specifics of the business and its distinctive characteristics. According to Psychogios et al. (2016), the value of this practice for SMEs is explained by both external factors, for example, economic or political drivers, and internal developmental features, including short-term and long-term goals and objectives. As an example, the authors cite the countries of the south-eastern European region and note that the post-communist background has had a particular influence on the development of local SMEs, which grow distinctly from small Western firms and apply individual work planning strategies (Psychogios et al., 2016). Therefore, the considered approach to HRM in SMEs is a valuable tool in today’s market environment.

Summary

In modern SMEs, strategically targeted HRM approaches based on preliminary analysis and the assessment of business specifics are effective tools for successful staff interaction. The unique characteristics of companies are taken into account, and appropriate interventions are aimed at maintaining positive communication between managers and subordinates. Despite potential shortcomings, for instance, the ideology of imitation or a weak material base, strategic HRM practices meet the developmental characteristics of SMEs in the 21st century.

Reference List

Bacon, N. and Hoque, K. (2005) ‘HRM in the SME sector: valuable employees and coercive networks’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(11), pp. 1976-1999.

Doherty, L. and Norton, A. (2014) ‘Making and measuring “good” HR practice in an SME: the case of a Yorkshire bakery’, Employee Relations, 36(2), pp. 128-147.

Edwards, P. and Ram, M. (2009) ‘HRM in small firms: respecting and regulating informality’, in Wilkinson, A. et al. (eds.) The Sage handbook of human resource management. 1st edn. London: Sage, pp. 524-540.

Georgiadis, A. and Pitelis, C. N. (2012) ‘Human resources and SME performance in services: empirical evidence from the UK’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(4), pp. 808-825.

Jacobs, K. (2014) HR and the SME growth cycle. Web.

Jarvis, R. and Rigby, M. (2011) Business advice to SMEs: human resources and employment. Web.

L’Écuyer, F. et al. (2019) ‘Strategic alignment of IT and human resources management in manufacturing SMEs’, Employee Relations: The International Journal, 41(5), pp. 830-850.

Molina, D. C., Déniz-Déniz, M. C. and García-Cabrera, A. M. (2019) ‘The HR decision-maker’s emotional intelligence and SME performance’, Management Research Review, 43(1), pp. 56-81.

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Where data and detail matter (2020). Web.

Introduction

The importance of effective Human Resource (HR) management in local government service cannot be overrated. HR management is argued to be “the most critical activity in local government (Stenberg et al., 2007)”. Despite its critical function, it can be stated that HR management in government services has its own set of problems and dilemmas. North East Wessex District Council is a local agency that provides government services to a small population in southern England, and which had several HR management issues. As a response to the request of analyzing the situation in North East Wessex District Council, the present report will attempt to provide an overview of the main HR issues that were identified through analysis of the case. Accordingly, the present report summarizes the identified issues and provides recommendations on resolving them.

Recruitment

One of the main problems in the organization can be seen through its organizational culture. In that regard, the root of the problem can be seen through the recruitment practices employed by North East Wessex District Council. One of the sources of the problem is the resistance of civil service culture, which is a common problem in the public service in the UK (Gilson et al., 2010). Bringing innovations into the organization’s culture can be seen through diversifying the sources of new ideas in the organization. The latter should be specifically concerned with the entry to the senior positions. The attraction of younger talents should be paid attention to, considering the absence of motivation to work in the government. Government jobs in general face recruitment challenges, mostly due to recruiting systems being passive, time-consuming, and having too much bureaucracy (Pan Suk Kim, 2008). Limited focus on web applications can be seen as one of the problems in the Council, where the use of the Internet and other technologies should be integrated more closely into the HR function across the board (Condrey, 2010). Considering that more than 50 percent of new hires are being sourced from the internet, the implementation of new technologies should utilize the behavioral patterns of the younger generation (Pan Suk Kim, 2008).

Performance Measurement, Motivation, and Rewards

Another HR problem that can be identified is the absence of a suitable system for performance measurement. It can be stated that measuring performance can be linked to the system of rewards and appraisal, which in turn can be linked to the motivation of employees. The lack of motivation can be seen as one of the characteristics of the staff in North East Wessex District Council. Accordingly, the lack of a performance measurement system is one of the main problems, which prevents providing a suitable system of appraisal, and accordingly, influences motivation. A suitable audit system, for which a wide range of indicators might be developed, can serve as the basis for a system of measuring performance in the organization. The example of the National Health Service (NHS) can be seen as a way for driving innovations in the field. In the NHS example, “Hospital Boards have to account to external, government-appointed auditors for performance against a wide range of indicators including mortality rates, bed occupancy and the quality of patient food” (Exton and Totterdill, 2009). Accordingly, the system of appraisal, in this case, is certainly outdated, while abandoning performance-related pay and rewards is a central point in the HR issues identified in the organization. Another problem can be seen through the conflict between supervisors and subordinates when evaluating performance (Stenberg et al., 2007). Such a case might be solved through unions, an approach that was adopted in Hamilton County, Ohio (Stenberg et al., 2007). In addition to payment, the organization should utilize the motivation to serve society as an important factor in HR management. Attracting people who are motivated to work is an important element, as shown in recruitment campaign in the Netherlands, “workers with such a motivation (‘public service motivation’ or PSM) are more committed to the organization, more willing to exert effort and have a higher perception of their performance” (Leisink and Steijn, 2009).

Career Development

The present issue can be seen as one of the core aspects of HR management in government services. The significance of career development can be seen through its interrelation with other HR management problems. As an example of the latter, the glass ceiling is one of the consequences of the absence of career development opportunities for women. The gender gap is one of the issues that the council should focus on. The stated issue is characteristic of the public sector in the UK in general, where despite women forming the majority of employees, the gender gap is very pronounced. The latter is linked to the that women turn into part-time jobs and concentrate on lower-grade positions, due to “the lack of possibilities for training and promotion and severely under-developed career paths” (Lyonette et al., 2010). Abandoning the focus on training by the middle ranks is a serious issue in the organization, as well as the male domination in such aspects. Training and development should be perceived as an investment in employees, which at the same time might serve as a motivational factor (Redman and Wilkinson, 2009). An example demonstrating how employees can be developed, other than training, can be seen through promoting open communication and conducting focus groups to improve the working environment, an initiative that was adopted in Champaign, Illinois (Stenberg et al., 2007).

Recommendations and Conclusion

The findings of the report outline several recommendations on the actions and steps that North East Wessex District Council can take to improve HR management practices in the organization. First of all, the organization should focus on new technologies in recruiting new employees, in an attempt to diversify the workforce and subsequently the organizational culture in the Council; “better benefits, better career development programs must be provided for public officials and prospective candidates” to attract new employees. Developing a feasible indicator system, based on which performance measurement t can be established is another step in reforming HR management in the organization. Accordingly, the organization should utilize rewards and the motivation to serve society as both appraisal and attraction mean in recruitment. Finally, the organization should focus on providing equal opportunities for career development, and suitable development options so that such opportunities might arise.

The present report reviewed HR management practice in North East Wessex District Council to identify the issues that might require intervention. The report identified several aspects in areas of recruitment, performance measurement, rewards, appraisal; and career development. Several of the identified issues were interrelated and accordingly were characteristic of the public sector in general. Nevertheless, it is recommended that such an aspect should be resolved, with the steps proposed to North East Wessex District Council including the focus on new technologies in recruitment, developing a performance measurement system that will allow performance pay approach, provide equal opportunities for career development.

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