Human Relations Issues for Global Operations

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Introduction

When expanding their operations abroad, companies can choose from a variety of staffing methods including ethnocentric, polycentric geocentric, and regiocentric staffing methods. The ethnocentric staffing method involves hiring staff within the parent company and posting them abroad. Polycentric staffing involves hiring from among workers in the host country. Geocentric staffing involves hiring the best people to fill open positions without regard for where they come from. Finally, regiocentric staffing involves hiring people from the same region(Briscoe et al., 2022).

Pros and Cons of Ethnocentric Staffing

Ethnocentric staffing involves filling key management positions and other critical positions with staff from the parent company. This method of staffing has several advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages of ethnocentric staffing is that the organization can tap employees with core competencies for roles in overseas subsidiaries. Secondly, because the hired staff already know and understand the organizational culture of the company, there is usually no need to introduce a new culture to match the local one. Finally, this staffing method ensures that the company hires the best and most qualified candidates even if the local labor market has no such competencies. However, the company runs the risk of developing cultural myopia. Further, hiring expatriates only creates bad blood among the locals and their government and the organization.

Pros and Cons of Polycentric Staffing

Polycentric staffing means that an organization hires from among the local population to fill all open positions in the overseas subsidiary. Hiring locals has some advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages is that the difficulties of helping expatriates adjust to the host country are eliminated. Secondly, hiring from the local population allows an organization to gain critical knowledge of the market leading to higher productivity. Thirdly, it increases morale and it is also inexpensive to hire locals compared with hiring expatriates. However, polycentric staffing is fraught with disadvantages such as inadequate coordination with the parent company because of a lack of a bridge that connects the two. Further, the hired locals may lack the critical skills necessary for the effective performance of the job. Finally, cultural differences between the staff at the parent company and the hired local help in the subsidiary negatively affect effective communication (Briscoe et al., 2022).

Pros and Cons of Regiocentric Staffing

In regiocentric staffing, HR hires staff from one region rather than one country to fill out the open positions in the subsidiary. Like other staffing methods, the regiocentric staffing method has several advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that it is less expensive compared to hiring expatriates. Secondly, the staff hired have a relatively similar culture when enabling teamwork and communication. Thirdly, managers from the same region may work better and may be in a better position to influence the management of the parent company concerning decisions on the regional market. However, the regional team may have communication issues because of different languages. In addition, they may not understand the perspectives of the managers at the head office. Finally, they may lack the international experience necessary to successfully run a subsidiary(Reiche et al., 2022).

Pros and Cons of Geocentric Staffing

The geocentric staffing method emphasizes the hiring of the best people for the job without regard for where they come from. This international staffing method has several advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages include the fact that it reduces bias and increases racial diversity in an organization. Secondly, it adds to the culture of the organization as people from different and diverse backgrounds are hired.

Thirdly, this method leads to the hiring of the best people for the job. However, like other staffing methods before it, geocentric staffing has several disadvantages. The first disadvantage is that it is very expensive to implement geocentric staffing. Secondly, it is expensive to train the staff hired through this staffing method. Finally, this option is only available to multinational companies because they are the only ones with the requisite resources to undertake geocentric staffing (Reiche et al., 2022).

Competencies for Global Assignment

An ideal candidate for an international assignment must have characteristics such as managerial competencies, they must be willing to be trained and learn on the job, and they must be adaptable to unfamiliarity. Companies take great care when selecting individuals for international assignments because the wrong candidate could cause a catastrophic failure of the relationship between the company and the government of the host country. They could also negatively impact the motivation of staff in the host country, fail to optimally use the market, and increase the costs associated with training and relocation of employees. Consequently, the right candidate for an international posting must have the following competencies: they must have cultural and language experience, they must have experience working abroad, and they should be extroverted and tolerant of stressful situations (Briscoe et al., 2022).

Pre-Departure Onboarding Opportunities

International human resources is a difficult undertaking as it upends the norms and forces a company to think of all possible ways to help its employees cope with international assignments. However, change in how things are done, adapting to a new culture, and mitigating risks of failure requires certain pre-departure onboarding activities to be carried out. These include cultural sensitization to help the expatriates relate and be able to interact with the local employees and other partners. Language training is also necessary to help the employee polish up on their local dialect for effective communication. Finally, cultural sensitivity training for the family of the employee is necessary to ensure they settle without any difficulties (Briscoe et al., 2022).

Training and Development for Global Assignment

Multinational companies often send managers to work in foreign subsidiaries. This relocation of staff is done to aid in their professional development or to expand the company’s reach and market. In both cases, failure could mean an abrupt end to the career of a promising leader and a negative reputation for the company. To avoid any of these outcomes regular training is necessary. Some of the training and development opportunities necessary for success include documentary training, cultural simulation training, and field simulation training (Reiche et al., 2022).

Repatriation Policies

To ensure the acquisition and retention of high-quality talent, an organization should be careful to have the right repatriation policies in place. These include incorporating repatriation clauses in the letter of assignment, removing all immigration barriers, and paying all due at the end of an assignment (Cicek & Turkmenoglu, 2021).

Conclusion

Citizens working outside the United States are not protected by the US Equal Employment Opportunity laws. Instead, any citizens working outside the US are protected by Title VII, ADEA, and ADA laws (Reiche et al., 2022). Some of the ethical considerations when doing international staffing include confidentiality, diversity, safety, and a safe working environment.

References

Briscoe, D. R., Tarique, I., & Schuler, R. S. (2022). International Human Resource Management Policies and practices for multinational enterprises. Routledge.

Cicek, B., & Turkmenoglu, M. A. (2021). Contemporary global issues in human resource management. Emerald Group Publishing.

Reiche, B. S., Harzing, A.-W., & Tenzer, H. (2022). International Human Resource Management. SAGE.

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