Countries
of the world have clear cultural differences. Multi-national companies as well as
others need to respect and recognize these cultural differences to smoothly
manage their business process and employees.
Business functions including HR practices needs to be designed in such a
way that they will be successful in their host countries and also across the
globe.
“As a company extends its base to a foreign shore, the impact
of that globalization on HR procedures will extend to current workers and also
to new employees” (Natter, 2018). When catering to a wider range of audiences
across the world, companies need to adapt their thinking and practices based on
cultural differences, foreign regulations, rules and technological
developments.
Challenges to HR
“When
companies expand into new markets especially into developing regions business
practices that are acceptable locally may be at odds with the values of the
company and the laws of its regulatory agencies” (Wilkie, 2015). The challenge
for HR is to gain complete understanding of the new environment and its
accepted business practices. Protocols need to be customized for each region
and be communicated appropriately right throughout the organization and other
divisions.
When
conflicts arise between practices “HR needs to be the voice of the individual
and ensure that the company maintains its integrity, even when this goes against
the potential economic value” (Wilkie, 2015). The organization is capable of
succeeding, if only it adjusts itself in this way in order to capture its new
market.
Another challenge for HR is to make sure employees that have
been transferred from the headquarters are adjusting well to the current
environment. HR should ensure that they are targeting and attracting talent
from the new geography. Rules and regulations surrounding different types of
employment also vary from one country to another. Hence special care needs to
be given so as to meet those expectations.
Even though the internet assures
that barriers to globalization is minimized, time zones act as major constraint
to timely delivery of information across countries. HR must device some
mechanism so that seamless flow of communication is guaranteed without expecting
expatriates to be available at odd times. “HR departments can meet this
challenge by limiting same-time communication to emergencies only, and setting
up email alerts that arrive at the beginning of the remote employee’s work day”
(Johnston, 2019).
References
Johnston, K. (2019). The Effect of Globalization on HRM. [online] at https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/effect-globalization-hr-5430.html
[Accessed 8 Jun 2019]
Natter, E. (2018). Effects of Globalization on Human Resource Management. [online] Available
athttps://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-globalization-human-resources-management-61611.html
[Accessed 8 Jun. 2019].
Wilkie, D. (2015). Globalization Presents Complex Challenges for HR Managers. [online]
at https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/Pages/Globalization-Presents-Complex-Challenges-for-HR-Managers.aspx
[Accessed 8 Jun 2019].
Facing globalization is inevitable for a majority of corporates. Success or the failure of going global solely depends how well the organizational leaders understand culture of various nationalities. adjusting to new cultures is vital and retaining expatriates as well as attracting new talent is equally important. These points have been beautifully discussed in the article. A very good post
ReplyDeleteThe HRM Function has to make its policies, procedures and processes to work on the global level. Currently, most of the HRM Policies is focused on the concrete country, but the employees have to start to move from the country to another country and the HRM Processes have to be able to support such a need in the organization. The globalization has a huge impact on the HRM Function and the it is usually not ready to take more responsibility in the movement of the workforce around the Globe.
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