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Chapter

Copyright© 2004 Thomson Learning All rights reserved

10International Human Resource Management

Copyright© 2005 South-Western/Thomson Learning All rights reserved

Learning Objectives

• Know the basic functions of human resource management

• Define international human resource management• Understand the difference between international and

domestic human resource management• Know the types of workers used by multinationals


Learning Objectives

• Know how and when to use expatriate managers• Know the skills necessary for a successful expatriate

assignment• Understand how expatriate managers are

compensated and evaluated• Appreciate the issues regarding expatriate

assignments of women managers


Learning Objectives

• Know what to do to make the expatriate assignment easier for their female expatriates

• Understand e.HR systems and how they can be useful in IHRM

• Understand the relationship between choice of a multinational strategy and international human resource management


Human Resource Management and Functions

• HRM: deals with the entire relationship of the employee with the organization

• Recruitment: process of identifying and attracting qualified people to apply for vacant positions

• Selection: process of filling vacant positions in the organization


Basic HRM Functions

• Training and development: giving employees the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully

• Performance appraisal: system to measure and assess employees’ work performance


Basic HRM Functions

• Compensation: organization’s entire reward package, including financial rewards, benefits, and job security

• Labor relations: ongoing relationship between an employer and those employees represented by labor organizations


International Human Resource Management

• All HRM functions, adapted to the international setting• Two added complexities compared to domestic HRM

• Must choose a mixture of international employees• Must decide the extent of adaptation to local

conditions


Types of Employees in Multinational Organizations

• Expatriate: employee from a different country • Home country nationals: expatriate employees from

the parent firm’s home country• Third country nationals: expatriate workers who come

from neither the host nor home country


Types of Employees in Multinational Organizations

• Host country nationals: local workers who come from the host country where the unit is located

• Inpatriate: employees from foreign countries who work in the country where the parent company is located


Key Questions Regarding Local Employees

• How can we identify talented local employees?• How can we attract these employees to apply for jobs?• Can we use our home country’s training methods with

local employees?• What types of appraisal methods are customary?


Key Questions Regarding Local Employees (cont.)

• What types of rewards do local people value?• How can we retain and develop employees with a high

potential as future managers?• Do any local laws affect staffing, compensation, and

training decisions?


The Expatriate or the Host Country Manager

• Multinationals must decide whether to use expatriates or home country nationals

• Need to look at some questions• Given the firm’s strategy, what is the preference for

the position?


The Expatriate or the Host Country Manager

• Using expatriate managers• Do parent country managers have the appropriate

skills?• Are they willing to take expatriate assignments?• Do any laws affect the assignment of expatriate

managers?• Using host country managers

• Do they have the expertise for the position?• Can we recruit them from outside the company?


Is the Expatriate Worth It?

• Decisions must take into account costs of such assignments• High cost• High failure rate


Exhibit 10.1: Paying for the Expatriate Manager: Indices of Cost of Living Abroad


Reasons for U.S. Expatriate Failure

• Individual• Personality of the manager• Lack of technical proficiency• No motivation for assignment

• Family• Spouse or family members fail to adapt• Family members or spouse do not want to be there


Reasons for U.S. Expatriate Failure (cont.)

• Cultural• Manager fails to adapt• Manager fails to develop relationship with key

people• Organizational

• Excessively difficult responsibilities• Company fails to pick the right person• Company fails to provide the technical support


Strategic Role of Expatriate Assignments

• Helps managers acquire international skills• Helps coordinate and control operations dispersed

activities• Communication of local needs/strategic information to

headquarters• In-depth knowledge of local markets


International Cadre: Another Choice

• Separate group of expatriate managers who specialize in a career of international assignments• Have permanent international assignments• Move from international assignments to international

assignments• Recruited from any country• Sent to worldwide locations to develop cross-

cultural skills


Key Success Factors for Expatriate Assignments

• Technical and managerial skills• Personality traits• Relational abilities• Family situation• International motivation• Language ability


Exhibit 10.2: Expatriate Success Factors and Selection Methods


Priority of Success Factors

• Assignment length• Technical and professionals skills are key for short

assignments• Cultural similarity• Required interaction with local people• Job complexity and responsibility


Exhibit 10.3: Selecting Expatriates: Priorities for Success Factors by Assignment Characteristics


Training and Development

• Cross-cultural training: increases the relational abilities of future expatriates and their spouses and families

• Training rigor: extent of effort by both trainees and trainers required to prepare the trainees for expatriate positions


Training and Development (cont.)

• Low rigor training• Short time period• Lectures and videos on local cultures• Briefings on company operations

• High rigor training• Last over a month• Experiential learning• Extensive language training• Includes interactions with host country nationals


Exhibit 10.4: Training Rigor: Techniques and Objectives


Expatriate Performance Appraisal: Challenges

• Fit of international operation in multinational strategy• Unreliable date• Complex and volatile environments• Time difference and distance separation• Local cultural situation


Steps to Improve the Expatriate Performance Appraisal

• Fit the evaluation criteria to strategy• Fine-tune the evaluation criteria• Use multiple sources of evaluation with varying periods

of evaluation


Exhibit 10.6: Evaluation Sources, Criteria, and Time Periods for Expatriate Performance Appraisals


The Expatriate Manager: Compensation

• The balance-sheet approach• Provides a compensation package that equates

purchasing power• Allowances for cost of living, housing, food,

recreation, personal care, clothing, education, home furnishing, transportation, and medical care


Exhibit 10.7: Balance Sheet Approach To Expatriate Compensation


Additional Allowances and Perquisites

• Foreign service premiums• Hardship allowance• Relocation allowances• Home-leave allowances


Expatriate Manager Compensation: Other Approaches

• Headquarters-based compensation: paying home country wages regardless of location

• Host-based compensation system: adjusting wages to local lifestyles and costs of living

• Global pay systems: worldwide job evaluations, performance appraisal methods, and salary scales are used


Repatriation Problem

• Difficulties faced coming back home• Three basic cultural problems—“reverse culture

shocks”• Adapt to new work environment and culture of home• Expatriates must relearn own national and

organization culture• Need to adapt to basic living environment


Strategies for Successful Repatriation

• Provide a strategic purpose for the repatriation• Establish a team to aid the expatriate• Provide parent country information sources• Provide training and preparation for the return• Provide a home-leave policy to encourage expatriates

to make regular visits to the home office• Provide support for the expatriate and family on return


International Assignments for Women: Two Myths

• Myth 1: Women do not wish to take international assignments.

• Myth 2: Women will fail in international assignments because of the foreign culture’s prejudices against local women.

• Successful women expatriates• Foreign not female—emphasize nationality not

gender


International Assignments for Women: Advantages

• More visible• Strong in relational skills• Wider range of interaction options


International Assignments for Women: Disadvantages

• Face the glass ceiling• Isolation and loneliness• Constant proving of themselves, working harder

than male• Need to balance work and family responsibilities• Need to worry about accompanying spouse


More Women in the Future?

• Women expatriate managers are expected to grow• Acute shortage of high-quality managers• Increasing number of women provide role models


What Can Companies Do To Ensure Female Expatriate Success?

• Provide mentors• Provide opportunities for interpersonal networks as a

form of organizational support• Remove sources of barriers• Provide support to cope with dual-career issues


Multinationals and Electronic Human Resource Management

• Electronic human resources (e.HR): automation of various aspects of the human resources system of a company


Strategic Benefits of e.HR Systems

• Reduce HR and administrative system cost• Boosts productivity• Improve HR services to employees• Employees take control of their own data• Repository of the wealth of knowledge and skills of

expatriates• Employee tracking for career management and other

HR purposes• Repository of information for outside stakeholders


Proper Steps to e.HR Implementation

• Develop business case to justify using e.HR or upgrade to e.HR

• Make the system customer-focused• Be proactive• Organize collected data in ways that is useful to the

organization


Multinational Strategy and IHRM

• IHRM orientation: company’s basic tactics and philosophy for coordinating IHRM activities for managerial and technical workers


Exhibit 10.8: IHRM Orientation and IHRM Practices for Managers and Technical Workers


Multinational Strategy and IHRM

• Ethnocentric IHRM: all aspects of HRM for managers and technical workers tend to follow the parent organization’s home-country HRM practices


Benefits of Ethnocentric IHRM

• Little need to recruit qualified host country nationals for higher management

• Greater control and loyalty of home country nationals• Key decisions centralized


Costs of Ethnocentric IHRM

• May limit career development for host country nationals

• Host country nationals may never identify with the home company

• Expatriate managers are often poorly trained for international assignments and make mistakes

• Expatriates may have limited career development


Regiocentric and Polycentric IHRM

• Regiocentric IHRM: region-wide HRM policies are adopted

• Polycentric IHRM: firm treats each country-level organization separately for HRM purposes

• Greater responsiveness to host country differences


Benefits of Polycentric and Regiocentric HRM Policies

• Reduces costs for training of expatriate managers from headquarters

• No investment in language training • Fewer problems with adjustments to local cultures• Less expensive


Costs of Polycentric and Regiocentric IHRM Policies

• Coordination problems with headquarters• based on cultural, language, and loyalty differences

• Limited career-path opportunities for host country and regional managers

• Limited international experience for home country managers


Global IHRM Orientations

• Recruiting and selecting worldwide• Assigning the best managers to international

assignments regardless of nationality


Global IHRM Orientations

• Benefits• Bigger talent pool• Develops international expertise• Helps build transnational organizational cultures

• Costs• Importing managerial and technical employees not

always possible• Added expense


IHRM Orientation and Multinational Strategy

• Early stages of internationalization—ethnocentric IHRM

• Multilocal strategies—ethnocentric or regiocentric• Regional strategy—regiocentric, polycentric or global


Exhibit 10.9: IHRM Orientations and Multinational Strategies

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