Managing the Global Workforce

Soft Skills

• Essential skills include persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and time management

Ethical Communication and Cooperative Learning

• Mutuality involves developing a common space through understanding each other's perspectives
• Non-judgmentalism entails openly expressing oneself and being receptive to others' ideas
• Respect means developing sensitivity to understand the needs and wishes of others

Human Resource Management (HRM)

• Involves all management decisions affecting the relationship between an organization and its employees

Key HRM Concepts

• Hiring (recruitment and selection)
• HR planning
• Training and development
• Career development
• Performance management
• Reward management
• Retention and turnover
• Job design and employee engagement
• Diversity management
• Managing employment relations

Managing Individuals and Groups

• Employment contracts define terms of employment
• Employment practices encompass recruitment, selection, training, performance management, compensation, exit, and retirement
• Employment relations cover industrial action, discipline, and grievance procedures

Organizing Work

• Includes job design, workflow and logistics, skill development, motivation, and engagement

HRM as a Management Function

• Involves aligning human resources with business strategy
• It is performance-oriented, focusing on individual contributions to organizational performance
• It includes a moderate level of professionalization with in-house versus specialized HR services

International Human Resource Management (IHRM)

• Focuses on managing geographically dispersed workforces to leverage HR resources for local and global competitive advantage

International HRM Examination

• Focuses on how international organizations manage human resources across countries
• Includes a focus on multinational corporations
• Involves transferring work practices across subsidiaries, considering home and host country effects
• It involves designing and adjusting core practices when firms go global
• Includes international assignments and expatriate management

Development of IHRM

• IHRM development is associated with the management of multinational corporations (MNCs)
• An MNC is a company operating in multiple countries but managed from one home country

Key IHRM Challenges

• Balancing global business consistency with the need to adapt to cultural and institutional diversity
• Institutions and culture shape HR practices differently across nations
• Transfers of HR practices across units may provide a competitive edge
• Balancing centralized HRM strategy control with local responsiveness

Challenge 1

• Human work is increasingly replaced by smarter machines in the era of automation
• Automation leads to the obsolescence of narrow job specializations and some HRM functions
• Human-machine collaboration is becoming more common
• The application of robotics and AI is transforming the strategic value of HRM

Challenge 2

• Localism is on the rise
• Capital's freedom to move is a factor
• There is a focus on state spending to build national labor markets
• Integration between economies is being challenged

Challenge 3

• The rise of flexible firms
• International HRM has been focused on a small group of 'global managers'
• Focus on internal labor market is inadequate
• There is a need to coordinate more diverse employment relationships and changes in regulations

Factors Pushing HRM Convergence

• Technological pressures leading to the spread of new technologies and innovations
• Market pressures intensifing competition, leading to cost standardization and economies of scale
• Internationalization of firms and financial markets causing corporate practice benchmarking
• Greater labor mobility emphasizing flexibility
• Institutional changes resulting in declining unions, regulatory shifts, and changing employer interests

Cross-Cultural HRM

• Shaping HR policies with each context's differences and uniqueness
• It explores the role of culture in shaping contexts for multinational corporations
• Assumes people in different cultures react differently and prefer different HR practices

Comparative HRM

• Focuses on the similarities and differences between countries' public and private sector institutions
• Examines why and how HR practices differ across countries
• Explores the extent of HR differences
• Institutional differences matter, including labor markets, employment law, education, training, trade unions, and business associations
• Working time practices between France and the UK are compared

International Mobility

• International HRM, global mobility, and migration
• Expatriates are employees working and temporarily residing in a foreign country

Types of Expatriates

• Organizational, self-initiated, organizational self-initiated, and expatriate entrepreneurs

Key Differences

• Expatriates vs. migrants depends on rights to permanent residency
• Migrants change their country of usual residence

Migratory Patterns

• 'Voluntary' migration vs. ‘assignments’; The latter refers to high-skilled personnel sent abroad by a company for >2 years, known as ‘international assignees’
• Self-initiated expatriate vs. migrant depends on geographical origin, destination, forced or chosen nature, period of stay, and connotations

Boundary Fluidity

• Self-initiated expatriates can be forced to leave due to limited opportunities
• New migrant types include qualified and transnational knowledge workers, not forced to move or stay permanently

Definition of Immigrant

• Non-residents entering a country to establish residence

Expatriate Failure Defined

• Early return from an assignment due to problems experienced by the expatriate, their family, or problems created for the organization

Expatriate Failure Reasons

• Culture shock, differences in work norms, isolation, family issues, health care, housing, and cost of living

Language Challenges at Work

• Communication between workers in MNCs obstructed by language barriers
• Differing language skills impact communication and career progression

Language Challenges Outside Work

• Expatriates' social lives and interactions with locals are greatly impacted by language barriers
• It can prevent socialization and assignment failure

Language Challenges: Importance for Expatriates

• MNC executives use language to develop, disseminate, and implement strategies and policies
• Multinational enterprises are multilingual communities

Language Standardization

• Adopting a common corporate language facilitates reporting
• It enhances information flow between subsidiaries with different native languages
• It can foster a sense of belonging to a global family

Drawbacks to Language Standardization

• Performance appraisal, training, and development
• Success requires balancing language and technical skills by hiring people with the required skills

Concerns of Expatriates

• Loss of social capital and key networks negatively impact their future careers

Expatriate Adjustment

• Normal adaptation to cultural stress, involving anxiety, helplessness, and irritability

Dimensions of Adjustment

• Work adjustment to job responsibilities and expectations
• Interaction adjustment to socializing with host country nationals
• General living adjustment to housing and shopping

Factors Influencing Expatriate Success

• Expatriate and family adjustment quality

Company's Requirements for International Assignments

• Filling positions in developing countries when qualified local nationals are unavailable
• Developing individual employees
• Transferring knowledge between subsidiaries and modifying/sustaining organizational structure

Selection of International Assignees

• Recommendations from peers and supervisors
• Skills and competencies
• Assess personality, language, family, and international experience

Beneficial Experiences

• More contact with host nationals leads to better cross-cultural adjustment
• Prior international experience aids adjustment

Family Situations

• A key factor in expatriate adjustment and assignment success
• Asking about family circumstances is illegal in some countries due to fairness issues
• Predeparture training for family members addresses language and cultural differences indirectly

Realistic Previews

• International assignees often lack realistic expectations
• HR needs to inform potential expatriates of the downsides such as living conditions and isolation
• Repatriates can discuss and share their experiences

Definition of a Migrant

• A migrant is defined as a person moving across an international border or within a State, regardless of legal status, the voluntary nature of the movement, the causes, or length of stay

Recruiting Workforce: Scenario 1

• German MNE in Hungary uses workers from Mongolia and Vietnam instead of Eastern European countries

Recruiting Workforce: Scenario 2

• Australian electronics firm in Malaysia relies on migrant workers from Nepal

Recruiting Workforce: Scenario 3

• US high-tech multinational in Silicon Valley faces challenges with H1-B visas, entry restrictions, talent competition, and salary demands

Statistics

• International migrants numbered around 281 million in 2020; ~2/3 were labor migrants
• Both high- and low-skilled labor shortages increase, making labor migration a key topic for businesses

Practices of Businesses

• Most migrant-receiving countries require companies to hire workers still in their home countries
• Intermediary recruitment agencies are used
• Guest workers pay significant fees to obtain work visas

National Political Intersections

• Firms are engaging in direct hiring to avoid recruitment agencies
• HR staff must be trained and based in countries where migrants originate to select new hires, oversee health screenings, and onboarding
• Increased HR oversight is necessary for performance management, grievance processes, and dormitory management

Sociocultural Intersections

• Companies that reflect on or reshape societal attitudes toward immigrants
• Assimilation: Diversity is a risk, requiring adaptation by immigrants
• Multiculturalism: Values diversity, allows migrants to retain cultural identities
• Integration: Adaptation by migrants, accommodate the receiving society

Global Recruitment and Performance Management

• Global staffing addresses multinational corporations' critical issues in employing home, host, and third-country nationals
• This covers filling key positions in headquarters and subsidiaries

Recruitment Aims

• Affect the number of people who apply for positions
• Affect the type of people who apply, i.e., their skills and qualifications
• Affect the likelihood of hirees accepting roles

Recruitment Methods

• Direct applicants and referrals
• Local, national, and international newspapers
• E-recruitment via platforms like jobs.ac.uk and LinkedIn
• Employment agencies including public, temporary, and recruitment consultants
• University "milk-rounds" for high-potential hires and word of mouth

Global Performance Management

• Global performance management involves evaluating and consistently improving MNE performance against specific goals and targets'

Performance Management Components

• Setting goals
• Performance appraisal
• Providing feedback
• Motivating employees

Performance Appraisal at MNCs

• Supervised by immediate supervisors in HQ (unfamiliar with subsidiary operations)
• Host-country managers have clearer pictures of expatriate performance
• Usage of multiple raters is also a method

Appraisal Frequency

• Most commonly annually
• Timely and regular feedback are critical to meeting targets and making revisions.
• Combination of formal and informal feedback.

Future Trends

• Regular one-on-one performance conversations initiated by employees
• Frequent feedback from peers and managers
• Near-term objectives set and reviewed regularly.

Performance Reviews

• Forward-looking performance reviews provide a focus on development and coaching
• Mobile-friendly online performance management software, coupled with dropping performance rankings, is also used

The Alternative to Performance Management

• Shift from focusing on gaps to leveraging strengths
• Empower employee growth and match strengths to business needs
• Focus on conversations to establish trust and evaluate capabilities
• Shift the focus from “doing” to “learning”

Learning by Doing

• Prioritize HR to unite employees and manage operations without disrupting normal operations

HR Actions

• Abandon evaluations and provide default ratings or continue evaluations

Diversity Management Strategic Initiative

• Align workforce heterogeneity to value employees and enhance organizational justice

Importance of Diversity Management

• It reflects a diverse society, offers equal opportunities, addresses work life, creates inclusion, and leads to performance

Managing Diversity

• The concept of difference in management must include visible and invisible attributes
• It must include religion, sexual orientation, disability, and personality
• All must be respected including historically unprivileged groups

Diversity Breakdown

• Age, gender, ethnicity, ability, orientation, physical characteristics, income, education, status, beliefs, location, upbringing, personality, language

Diversity Differences

• Diversity is what you say, inclusion is what you do, DM addresses a specific problem and recognizes organizational, national, and individual contexts

Diverse HRM Initiatives

• Recruiting talent to make multinationals open to talent and leveraging profits and innovation
• Recognizing that diverse boards are more effective

Gender-Neutral Organization

• Recognize that women view high-level positions as attainable but less desirable
• Understand that others can perceive female subordinates to be lower in motivation
• Promoted female managers may have higher performance ratings

Race and Ethnicity

• Used to classify and recognize groups
• Note that biology is often associated with race and culture with ethnicity
• Be aware that racism often ascribes different opportunities and rights without reason

Race Inclusion Efforts

• Treat race as having the same importance as other differences
• Take social structures into historical context
• Highlight that organizations are not race-neutral

Disability Inclusion

• Create more adaptive environments
• Note that practices meet implementation resistance

Future of Work Lecture

• Sustainability is creating shared value

Brumadinho Dam Collapse

• The Fundão tailings dam, owned by Samarco, collapsed in Mariana, Brazil in 2015
• 19 lives were lost
• The livelihoods of 23,000 families and perhaps 3 million more were devastated.

Sustainable HRM

• Adopt HR strategies that enable financial, social, and ecological achievement
• It must reach outside, reach inside, and cover a long time horizon

Sustainable HRM Themes Breakdown

• Environmental: Structure and instruments to minimize impacts and promote Green HRM.
• Economic: Cost-effective recruitment, HR development, and efficient feedback
• Social: Instrumentally achieve organization business and provide positive safe conditions
• Worker: Opportunities for growth, good communication, safe setting and management