Comparison of staffing approaches.
International human resource management is one of the important functions of international business. HRM refers to the activities an organization carries out to u its human resources effectively. The activities include staffing policy, performance evaluation, management training and development, compensation policy. Rearches had suggested a strong fit between human resources practices and strategy is required for high profitability. Twild and younghis essay focus on the function of HRM in the international business context, especially concerns on staffing policy bad on the three strategies and the role of expatriates played in international business.
Rearch has identified three types of staffing policies in international business. An ethnocentric staffing policy is one in which all key management positions are filled by parent-country nationals. Firms pursue ethnocentric staffing for veral reasons. First, the firm may believe the host country lacks qualified individuals to fill nior management positions. Moreover, the firm may e an ethnocentric staffing policy as the best way to mai
ntain a unified corporate culture. Third, if the firm is trying to create value by transferring core competencies to a foreign operation, it may believe that the best way to do this is to transfer parent-country nationals to the foreign subsidiary. This is compatible with an international strategy becauhfs international firms are trying to create value by transferring core competencies from home to foreign subsidiaries. However, the ethnocentric policy is now on the wane in most international business for two reasons. First, it limits advancement opportunities for host-country nationals. This can lead to rentment, lower productivity, and incread group turnover among that group. Second, an ethnocentric staffing policy can lead to ‘cultural myopia’, the firm’s failure to understand host-country cultural differences that require different approaches to management. The adaptation of expatriate managers can take a long time, during which they may make major mistakes.
igmCompared to ethnocentric approach, a polycentric staffing policy recruits host-country nationals to manage subsidiary. In some areas, a polycentric approach is a respon to the shortcoming of an ethnocentric approach. One advantage of adopting polycentric approach is to alleviate cultural myopia. Host-country managers are unlikely to make mist
akes arising from cultural misunderstandings to which expatriate managers are vulnerable. Therefore, the polycentric policy may be effective for firms pursuing a localization strategy as it focus on local responsiveness. A cond advantage of polycentric approach is that it may be less expensive to implement, reducing the costs of value creation. Expatriate managers can be very expensive to maintain. In the ca of ABB in China, to respon to the local condition and be nsitive to important cultural objectives such as Chine “guanxi”, ABB hires local Chine employees who know their local markets and have contacts with government officials中级口译考试时间. Nevertheless, a polycentric approach has its drawbacks. Host-country nationals have limited shutdown是什么意思opportunities to gain experience outside their own country. As in the ca of an ethnocentric policy, this may cau rentment. Perhaps the major drawback, however, is the gap that can form between home- and host-country managers. Language barriers, national loyalties and a range of cultural differences may isolate the corporate headquarters staff from the foreign subsidies. The result can be a “federation” of independent units with minimal links to headquarters.
A geocentric staffing policy eks the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality. This policy has a number of advantages. First, it enables the firm to make the best u of its human resources. Second, it enables the firm to build a cadre of international executives. Creation of such a cadre may be a first step toward building a strong unifying corporate culture and an informal management network, both of which are required for global standardization and transnational strategies. In addition, the multinational composition of the management team that results from geocentric staffing tends to reduce cultural myopia and to enhance local responsiveness. Thus, other things being equal, a geocentric staffing policy ems the most attractive. ABB is typified by a culturally diver t of managers with a mixture of managerial ideas, derived from the different managerswholeheartedly’ national backgrounds, different values, and different methods of working. Its identity is supported by an elite cadre of 500 global managers, which the top management shifts through a ries of foreign assignments. Their job is intended to knit the organization together, to transfer experti around the world, and to expo the company’s leadership to differing perspectives. However, some problems limit
the firm’s ability to pursue that policy. Many countries want foreign subsidiaries to employ their citizens. Therefore, national immigration may limit the implementation. A geocentric staffing policy also can be very expensive to implement. Training and relocation costs increa when transferring managers from country to country. Compensation structure for global managers can be a problem.
In the context, two of the staffing policies v– the ethnocentric and the geocentric – rely on extensive u of expatriate managers. Expatriates are citizens of one country who are working in another country. The key reasons for using expatriates are position filling, management development and organization development. The u of expatriate can be regarded as a bureaucratic control mechanismsafeba, where the primary role is that of ensuring compliance through direct supervision. Global firms such as P&G and Samsung originally followed it. It can be important in ensuring subsidiary compliance, enabling strategic objectives for local operations to be achieved. Second, the role of expatriate is related to the u of corporate culture as an informal control mechanism. There is an implicit expectation that expatriates assist in transfer of shared value and beliefs. This is especial
ly important to firms pursuing global or transnational strategy that strong organizational culture is needed to facilitate coordination and cooperation. Third, expatriates are considered boundary spanners becau they can collect host-country information, act as reprentatives of their firms in the host country and can influence agents. Lastly, expatriates assist in transferring competence and knowledge. It is important to management and organizational development, and for realizing location economies, experience effects and multidirectional transfer of core competencies under transnational strategy.
However, the success of using expatriates cannot be achieved easily. Lots of difficulties associated with expatriate who carries international assignment, the may include difficulties with new environment, inability of manager or spou to adapt, inability to cope with larger overas responsibilities, alienation or lack of support from headquarters, family problem and the like. Therefore, to increa the effectiveness of expatriates, management development is intended to develop the manager’s skills over his or her career with the firm. A manager might be nt on veral foreign postings over a number
of years to build her cross-cultural nsitivity英语常用交际用语 and experience. Cultural training, language training, and practical training all em to be required for the true global managers. Cultural training eks to foster an appreciation of host-country’s culture; language training can improve expatriate’s effectiveness and build rapport with local employees; practical training ea into day-to-day life of the host-country. In a n, the success of the expatriate is largely attributed to appropriate lection and training programs, it is also a result of intelligent planning by the human resource management. The effective HR activities may include develop an effective performance appraisal system, a compensation structure with a standardized international ba pay (e.g. the u of balance sheet approach, which aims to equalize purchasing power so employees can enjoy the same living standard in foreign postings that they had at home), whoops怎么读and a policy accompanying expatriates’ future career development and the like.
