There are two major resources that can ensure the success of any business venture in the modern world of economics. The first is the material resource which includes both natural and capital resources. The second and which is the most strategic is the human resource.
Human resource is the most crucial since man has the ability to manipulate the former (Ferris, Buckley, & Fedor, 2002, p.23). Man, with his ingenuity and diligence can manage to overcome the unpredictable and sometimes unreliable forces of nature.
This fact, therefore, calls for the appropriate management of this special and crucial resource. Human resource management can be defined as the sum total of activities undertaken by any business firm with an aim of attracting, developing, motivating, and retaining its employees (Ferris, et al., 2002, p.3).
It comprises of aspects such as human resource planning, staffing, evaluating, rewarding, and training. It involves the positioning of people in their most productive categories suited for their respective potentials.
A number of other contextual factors such as social and political systems, legislation, the influence of labour unions, and trade associations have played a role in shaping the management of human resource (Leung & White, 2004, p.475).
This essay attempts to compare and contrast the contextual environment of human resource management practices in two Asian states; Hong Kong and Singapore.
Singapore has asserted itself as one of the leading economies in the greater Asian continent in the recent past. This has been facilitated by her determination and renewed vigour in the management of the resources at her disposal coupled with its strategic geographical positioning.
The management of human resource in Singapore has evolved with the dynamic and competitive market environment especially since the mid 1990s to present time (Wan, 2003, p.129). The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis played a central role in the development of human resource in Singapore (Budhwar, 2004, p.5).
National HRM policies and strategies were formulated with an aim of maximizing human capital in order to facilitate meaningful transformation. The Singaporean government has for a long time embraced the centralized system of managing its human resource and has seen the continued influence by foreign investment.
Currently, there are key issues and challenges facing the Singaporean employee relations. These include; continued dependency on foreign man power, the ageing labour-force, the privatization of government-linked corporations, and the relocation of industries demanding more human resource to foreign countries (Wan, 2003, p.135).
The reason behind the employment of foreigners is the imposition of levy and quota system in Singapore. The extension of retirement age by the Singaporean government has seen an increase in the retention of older workforce. This has created a conflict with the employers who regard them as less productive yet expensive and hence they demand the review of wages.
On the case of industry relocation, less skilled workers are the usual victims. Proposals have been made for the retraining of the less skilled workers to counter this major problem but it is yet to be fully embraced by the government (Ho, 2005, p.36).
On an overall analysis of economic performance, Singapore’s economic growth has not been greater compared with that displayed by Hong Kong. This reflects, to some degree, the impact of their differences as far as HRM is concerned.
In fact, the centralized management by the government has seen industries grow at a very high rate at the expense of proper management of human resource (Wan, 2003, p.143). This context has impacted negatively on the HRM system in Singapore over the recent past.
On the contrary, Hong Kong has her peculiar ways of managing the human resource especially after the new environment that followed her reunion with the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong has principal systems of employment which characterizes the HRM practices.
It was during Hong Kong’s industrialisation period from the 1950s to the 1970s when various human resource management practices were institutionalised (Law, Wong, & Wang, 2004, p.642).
Within this context, there was an open economy, less involvement by the government in the affairs of businesses and the labour market in general. The trade union movement was also very weak during the time.
However, there were notable changes in the HRM systems in Hong Kong following the economic, political, and labour market transformations from the early years of 1970s through the mid-1990s (Chiu & Levin, 2003, p.32).
Most employers were forced to review their human resource management practices in order to catch up with the overwhelming restructuring process. Talking of transformation, Hong Kong has seen its economy change to a service-based right from a manufacturing-based economy hence resulting in increased demand for manual labour.
This has opened up opportunities for many people including myself since there is rigorous recruitment of manpower at the company that I work with. The then existing human resource had to be retrained in order that they would be readmitted in the labour market.
Hong Kong has established the Employee Retraining Board (ERB) which ensures the continued training, assessment, course evaluation, and general monitoring of employee performance.
In 1997, the onset of the infamous Asian Financial Crisis had significant impact on the HRM practices both in the public and private sectors in Hong Kong (Chiu & Levin, 2003, p.33). Furthermore, human resource management practices were affected by the change of sovereignty over Hong Kong in the same year.
These crises impacted on key aspects of human resource management which include; job security, training, compensation techniques, promotion, and employment relations. According to Chiu and Siu (2001, p.845), small and medium-sized enterprises in Hong Kong had diverse human resource management practices at given stages of acquiring the right sizes.
Moreover, Hong Kong is characterised by the localization of her human resources especially in China-owned enterprises and transnational corporations (Law, Wong, & Wang, 2004, p.634). This move to localize human resource has resulted significant success in many corporations especially as far as expatriate positions are concerned.
In the recent past, however, restructuring in the public sector has seen the systematic elimination of rigid human resource management practices. Their employment approaches are most likely to resemble those used in the private sector (Chiu & Levin, 2003, p.43).
Despite the clear contextual differences depicted in the above discussion of HRM practices in Hong Kong and Singapore, they share some similarities in their systems. Both were greatly affected by the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997.
Furthermore, Singapore and Hong Kong have consistently been ranked at the top of the Index Economic Freedom implying that their respective HRM systems have been a success.
This essay has broadly discussed the human resource management practices in Singapore and Hong Kong and how they have been and continue to be contextually influenced in one way or another.
The HRM systems have been shaped mainly by the historical events, social relations, government policies in relation to employers, employee training, and other key transformational experiences in the respective countries and in the greater Asian continent.
Hong Kong and Singapore share some human resource management practices following their shared historical events and transformations.
Reference List
Budhwar, P. S. 2004. Managing human resources in Asia-Pacific. 3rd ed. Routledge, Pp. 3-56.
Chiu, S. K. & Levin, D. A. 2003. HRM in Hong Kong since 1997. Asian Pacific Business Review. 9 (4), pp. 32-54.
Chu, P. and Siu, W. S. 2001. Managing the Asian economic crisis. International Journal of Human Resource Management.12 (5), p. 846.
Ferris, G. R., Buckley, M. R., & Fedor, D. B. eds. 2002. Management of Human resources: viewpoints, contexts, and functions. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:Prentice-Hall. Pp. 3, 23-78.
Ho, G. C. 2005. Embracing the value of people: themes and perspectives of HR management in Singapore. Singapore: Singapore Human Resources Institute; Pp. 34-76.
Law, K S. Wong, C. S. and Wang, K. D. 2004. An experimental test of the model on managing the placement of human resources in Hong Kong. International Journal of Human Resource Management. 15 (5), pp. 634-643.
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Wan, D. 2003. HRM in Singapore: change and continuity. Asian Pacific Business Reviews. 9 (4) pp. 128-145.