Introduction
International human resource has gained a lot of attention among the researchers in the recent past. The world has been reduced into a small village due to technological advancements. Technological advancements, especially in the field of transport and communication have had a massive effect on human resource.
Human resource can therefore, move from one geographical location to another with a lot of ease.1 The improved communication system has also brought about scenarios where a firm can employ individuals who are miles away from the company. It is currently a common phenomenon to find a situation where an Australian company employs an Indian staying in India as a customer service officer who receives calls and give direction to customers on phone.
This has resulted in what is popularly referred to as international human resource management.2 There is need to manage employees beyond the borders. This is especially so when it comes to globalized firms which have operations going beyond the borders of the parent country.
The world is experiencing radical changes in the labor environment. International human resource management globally is an area that is vital and requires special attention for it is the backbone of all sectors of the economy of any given country.3
This has become one of the legislative areas, calling for many political leaders to spend much of their time and brains in finding solutions to issues that emanate from work and labor. In search for the same, countries like the Australia have established several education centers that aim at expanding public understanding on important issues affecting the working group. In these institutions they admit under graduate who take studies in areas related to human resource management.
In Australia, laws have been enacted to guide the labor market. Managing employees in this century needs an understanding of various societal factors within the organization. It is important to understand different social settings of different employees in order to be able to understand their behavior within the organization. Understanding organizational behavior is the key to having employees working as a unit.
Managing and Developing Employees in International Setting
The current world is experiencing a lot of changes in the labor market. The competition in the international labor market is becoming stiff each day.4 Globally, technology has posed both positive and negative impacts in the global labor market. Although it has made the work easier, it has again replaced the human labor that is vital in the world market.5
Economically, international or local trade is the backbone of any stable nation. In the working environment, employees have been faced with several challenges that need to be addressed by any nation seeking to compete in the world market. It is important to understand how both the expatriate and local employees. This is elaborated as stated below.
Expatriate Employee
The current world has greatly encouraged international trade. People from different countries meet together in the world market, competing with an aim of maximizing their output. There is an exchange of business experts from one field to another moving from one country to another, others reside in foreign countries for business purposes.
When dealing with the expatriate, it will be important to understand their social background in order to predict their behavior. The management should act having a clear understanding that expatriates have a number of factors that make them unique from the locals. This should be put into consideration when managing them.
Local employees
The local employees are always easier to manage than expatriates.6 Managing the locals involves understanding the local forces that affects their behavior. This would involve understanding the social factors that have direct impact to the human resource. Local employees have the capacity to transform the parent firm which should be a guide to other branches.
There are regulations that the Australian government has put in place to ensure that the rights of employees are respected, irrespective of their citizenship. These regulations protect both the locals and the expatriates working in this country. The following are some of the highly observed regulations in this country.
Regulation of Employment Relationship
The law clearly spells the type of relationship that should exist between various institutions within an organization. Within an organization, the two common types of relationship that exist are the employer-employee relationship, and employee-employee relationship.
There is a way in which the employer should relate with his or her employees.7 There should be mutual respect between the employer and the employee and each should ensure that they do not infringe into the others right. The employer should respect the right of the employee and ensure that he or she is appropriately compensated for the work done.8 The employee on the other hand has the responsibility to meet the standard expected of him or her at the workplace.
Regulation of Discrimination in Employment
Discrimination of whatsoever form is strictly prohibited by the law of the land. The law clearly states that the employer should not discriminate on any basis when hiring or directing the employees. The country has enacted law that prohibits employers from discriminating employees based on race, gender, religion, age or any other demographic basis.9
The affirmative action was meant to demonstrate further that employers are not allowed to discriminate against women at their workplace simply because they are women. This is so even when a firm is dealing with expatriates. Legislation was enacted that protects employees both locally and in the international forum. Such an employer who engages in discriminative acts may face litigation in a court of law.
Regulation of Employment Environment
It is always very important for an employer to ensure that the working environment is safe enough for the employees. In various occasions, employees are always subjected to working environments that are not conducive to their health or such other factors based on their country of origin.10
The employees have right to their privacy. As such, it would be going against the law for the employer to intrude into the privacy of the employer. It would be wrong for the employer to demand information that can pass as confidential from the employees if the information does not directly relate to the task. This is irrespective of whether this information is gotten directly from the employee by inquiry, or through the third party, the employer is not allowed obtain information from the employer against the employees wish.
Occupational Safety and Health
An employee should be safe when working in various units of the organization irrespective of their country of origin. At no given point should the general well being of the employee be at risk. The employer has the responsibility to ensure that the safety of all employees is well taken care of both within the plant and when sent on duties outside the firm. The employer must also factor in health of the employees.11 At no point should the employees be subjected to working conditions that may have adverse effects on their health.
Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act was a legislation that was meant to help the employer and the employee relate well. The employer needs perfection from the employees for the compensation paid on a monthly or weekly basis. On the other hand, there is a capacity that an employee should have. The law regulates the expectation of the employer and the output of employee to ensure fairness.
Importance of IHRM to Organizations and Individuals from a Practical Perspective
From a practical perspective, international human resource management is very important both to individuals and organization. To an organization which hopes to venture into international markets, there is need to understand international human resource management in order to operate successfully in the international market.12
The organizational factors that are considered locally are very different from that that affects the labor market internationally. It would therefore, be important to understand the labor market of each individual country because it would always be unique from others. This would require unique treatment in order to achieve the desired results.
Implementing the Strategies
For a long time, labor has not been given its rightful position in many organizations. Many of the managements have not thought of viewing their employees as very important asserts. However, the happenings of the recent past have proven that labor force is one of the most important asserts to any given organization.13
When the management lays down objectives to be achieved, it is always the employees who are expected to implement the policies that would bring the desired results. It is this work force that would be expected to turn the policies from paper to reality. Therefore, retention of employees is very important. Employees should be retained within the organization to ensure that the firm’s operations are consistent. High turnover rate of employees is not healthy for the firm’s prosperity.
This is because it does not only affect the smooth implementation of policies within the firm, but also leads to increased cost of training new employees. It is even worse that the employees would go away having learnt the strategies of the firm, making the firm vulnerable to its competitors.14 The management should therefore device methods of hiring qualified employees and retaining them within the firm. One of the best ways to achieve this is through motivation. It is through motivation that employees will feel attached to the firm and therefore feel committed to the firm. Motivation is very important in international human resource management.
Relationship between Employee Motivation and Success of a Firm in the Global Market
Employees are the implementing arm of the organization. While the top executives formulate the policies to be implemented by the organization, most of their tasks always end in the paper.15 It is upon the employees to make these blueprints a reality. In his words, employees are the engine of the organization.
When well taken care of and put in a proper condition, they would always give the best of the results to the organization. However, when they are neglected and left to ‘rust’ they will always give leap service and the output will be very disappointing. Motivating employees within the organization is very important.
There is a direct link between employee motivation and success of a firm. It is very important that a firm increases the rate of employee motivation because of a number of reasons. In most of the occasions, policies are always developed to last for one whole year.16 However, these policies are always units in the larger vision of the firm.
A vision may be developed to be achieved in a time span of say thirty year or so. This duration is long and the firm may not take a direct approach towards achieving this vision. It therefore has to split this vision into yearly strategic objectives. When the year begins, the firm would plan with its current work force.
When some of the employees leave along the year because of lack of motivation, it would be a blow to the success of that year’s strategic objectives. The firm would be forced to look for a replacement and train them and make them understand the objectives to be achieved. This is time consuming and costly venture that would reduce the success of the organization. Changing the employees on a yearly basis is not good either.
This is because in so doing, the vision of the firm will be lost. It will not be possible to realize the vision because every year, the firm would be forced to start with new employees who may not understand the vision, and how it was developed in the first place. This minimizes chances of achieving expected goals within the organization.
Strategies of Employee Motivation
To ensure that there is a constantly motivated workforce, it would require the management to employ the right strategies that would ensure that it succeeds in this. It may appear as a simple task of making employees happy.17 However, it goes beyond this, especially when it comes to managing employees in overseas countries.
To motivate employees within the firm, there are a series of strategies that a firm should employ in order to ensure that employees are constantly satisfied. The secret behind retention lies in ensuring that the employee is satisfied and feels challenged with the present task. This will cause the drive in him to want to come tomorrow and beat the challenge.18 The recommendations below gives a detailed strategy of how to employ the right individuals to the firm, and how such individuals should be retained, once employed.
Conclusion
International human resource management has become very relevant in the current global society. The world has been reduced into a small global village where labor can move from one part of the country to another. Firms are also investing in the global market. This means that human resource managements should have a sound understanding of the global labor market in order to operate successfully in the global market.
Bibliography
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Barney, John. “Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage.” Journal of management, 17.1 (2010): 99.
Baruch, Yusuf. “Response rate in academic studies-A comparative analysis.” Human relations, 52.4 (2006): 421-438.
Boselie, Paul. “Commonalities and contradictions in HRM and performance research.” Human Resource Management Journal, 15.3 (2005): 67-94.
Brewster, Charles. “A continent of diversity.” Personnel management London, 5.9 (2008): 36-40.
Budhwar, Prisca. “Rethinking comparative and cross-national human resource management research.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12.3 (2006): 497-515.
Cutcher, Gershenfeld. “Impact on Economic Performance of a Transformation in Workplace Relations.” Management Journal, 44 (2007): 241.
Evans, Paul. The global challenge: international human resource management. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2011.
Fey, Cecil. “The effect of human resource management practices on MNC subsidiary performance in Russia.” Journal of International Business Studies, 32.1 (2012): 59-75.
Grobler, Pieter. Human resource management in South Africa. London: Thomson Learning, 2006.
Guest, Daniel. “Human resource management and performance: a review and research agenda.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8.3 (2009): 263-276.
Guest, Edwin. “Human resource management and industrial relations.” Journal of management Studies, 24.5 (2001): 503-521.
Guthrie, James. “High-involvement work practices, turnover, and productivity: Evidence from New Zealand.” The Academy of Management Journal, 44.1 (2002): 180-190.
Hamill, Jane. “Labour relations decision making within multinational corporations.” Industrial Relations Journal, 15.2 (2006): 30-34.
Hedlund, Gerald. “The hypermodern MNC—a hierarchy?” Human resource management, 25.1 (2004): 9-35.
Jensen, Titus. “The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance.” Academy of management journal, 38.3 (2011): 635-672.
Marchington, Moses. “Involvement and participation.” Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, 7(67): 280-305.
Stahl, Günter. Handbook of research in international human resource management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers, 2012.
Footnotes
1 Hedlund, Gerald. “The hypermodern MNC—a hierarchy?” Human resource management, 25.1 (2004): 9-35.
2 Pieter Grobler, Human resource management in South Africa (London: Thomson Learning, 2006), 28.
3 Marchington, Moses. “Involvement and participation.” Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, 7(67): 280-305.
4 James Guthrie. “High-involvement work practices, turnover, and productivity: Evidence from New Zealand.” The Academy of Management Journal, 44.1 (2002): 180-190.
5 Titus Jensen. “The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance.” Academy of management journal, 38.3 (2011): 635-672.
6 Edwin Guest. “Human resource management and industrial relations.” Journal of management Studies, 24.5 (2001): 503-521.
7 Daniel Guest. “Human resource management and performance: a review and research agenda.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8.3 (2009): 263-276.
8 Jane Hamill. “Labour relations decision making within multinational corporations.” Industrial Relations Journal, 15.2 (2006): 30-34.
9 Paul Evans, The global challenge: international human resource management (New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2011), 34.
10 Cecil Fey. “The effect of human resource management practices on MNC subsidiary performance in Russia.” Journal of International Business Studies, 32.1 (2012): 59-75.
11 Prisca Budhwar. “Rethinking comparative and cross-national human resource management research.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12.3 (2006): 497-515.
12 Gershenfeld Cutcher. “Impact on Economic Performance of a Transformation in Workplace Relations.” Management Journal, 44 (2007): 241.
13 Paul Boselie. “Commonalities and contradictions in HRM and performance research.” Human Resource Management Journal, 15.3 (2005): 67-94.
14 Charles Brewster. “A continent of diversity.” Personnel management London, 5.9 (2008): 36-40.
15 Günter Stahl, Handbook of research in international human resource management (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers,( 2012), 56.
16 Joan Arthur, “Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover.” The academy of management journal, 37.3 (2008): 670-687.
17 John Barney. “Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage.” Journal of management, 17.1 (2010): 99.
18 Yusuf Baruch. “Response rate in academic studies-A comparative analysis.” Human relations, 52.4 (2006): 421-438.