International Human Resource Management

Dr Katalin Illes

Overview

• Competencies of the HR manager

• The matrixed role of the of the HR manager

• The place and role of the HR function in organisations

• Shifting paradigms

• Future direction

Key aspects of IHRM

• Global workforce• International context• National context• Strategic issues• Operational issues• IHRM career• Competencies• The future

Competencies of the Human Resource Manager

• Business competencies– Industry knowledge– Competitor understanding– Financial understanding– Global perspective/knowledge– Strategic analysis– Partner orientation– Multiple stakeholder sensitivity

Competencies of the Human Resource Manager

• Leadership competencies– Strategic visioning– Managing cultural diversity– Creator of learning culture– Planning and decision making skills– Value shaper

Competencies of the Human Resource Manager

• Change and knowledge-management competencies– Network building– Designing and working in flexible structures– HR alignment– Managing and learning knowledge transfer– Consulting/influencing– Group/process facilitation– Organisation development/effectiveness– Managing large scale change

Competencies of the Human Resource Manager

• Professional/technical competencies– Staffing– Performance management– Education/development– Remuneration/reward systems– Employee relations– Employee communications– Succession planning– Union relations– Safety/health/wellness– Diversity management

Evans (2002) The Matrixed “Split Egg” Role of the Manager

Some of the Dualities Confronting Organizations

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CEO EXPECTATIONS FROM HR

•Involvement in managing overall business.

•To look at business priorities before functional priorities.

•HR is in the same boat with other Management Team members.

•HR targets inseparable from business targets.

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How HR Links to Overall Strategy?

Assessing Organisations

Executing Strategy

Managing Change

Assessing LeadersCoaching Leaders

Developing Leaders & Teams

Attracting & Selecting Talent

Developing Careers & Managing Performance

Retaining Talent & Managing Succession

Source:Right Management Consultants

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What’s the reality?

Behind the scene...

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HR Reality

HR has had “Bad Press”:

• Line Management not involved/interested.• HR People too detached from business.• ‘One size fits all’ approach.• Perception of limited added value.• No clear link between HR efforts and shareholder value.

HR is like a WOLF…..everybody hears about it but nobody sees it!

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HR work today

• Communicating effectively.

• Collating HR reports for Management Information.

• Managing admin issues.

• Keeping the company out of court.

• Executing change programs.

“BUT HR IS STILL TRANSACTIONAL”

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What are the key HR Challenges?

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It is a balancing act

The needs &expectations of employees

Theresources &directions of the company

HR gets pulled in both Directions

HR Role in Change programs

• Change demands common vision, understanding and behaviour to keep focus during the transition

and beyond.

• HR must provide clear, consistent leadership.

• HR must show a consistent face to the internal customers.

• HR must find a balance between stability and uncertainty.

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Talent Development

Define your Star of Today.

Develop your Star of Tomorrow.

SYMBOLS

The gap is your development needs.

Make the Star shine.

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Work/Life Balance

The most cherished values:

•Happiness •Inner Peace •Fulfillment •Feel Good

 

Why are these values never

mentioned in any mission

statement?

Work / Life balance

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The New Roles Of Human Resource Management

Operational

Strategic

Strategic Business Partnertranslates business strategy into action, assesses and aligns systematically HR practices with the business strategy.

Change Agentlistens to employees and finds the right balance between demands on employees and resources available to employees, and promotes employee contributions.

Administrative Expert improves processes, applies the principles of BPR to HR processes, rethinks value creation, and measures HR results in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

Performance Coach understands the theory and applies the tools of change, leads transformation by doing it first within the HR function, serves as catalysts and facilitators of change.

Pro

cess Peop

le

Based on D. Ulrich, Human Resource Champions, Boston 1997

HRrotation

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Can HR get un-stuck?

Yes! Only if...

Shifting Paradigms

• What’s Out:• Last Port of call.• Job Analysis.• Personnel Management.• Rulemaker.• Functional Orientation.• One Size Fits All.• Centralised Decisions.• Mutual Distrust.• Focus on Tasks.• Following.• Transactional HR.

• What’s In:• First Port of Call.• Competency Assessment.• HR Management.• Consultant.• Business Orientation.• Tailored Programs.• Framework for Others to

Decide.• Partnering.• Focus on Impact.• Leading.

• Transformational HR.

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Can HR survive?

HR Etiquette for future survival

• Break and let go of bureaucratic patterns; move away from administrative, transactional, and policy elements of HR work.

• Focus on achieving organisational outcomes.• Facilitate organisational change.• Create efficient HRM and HRD processes.• Promote people as a valued resource.• Grasp the bigger picture: Be visionary.• Plan effectively, reach decisions and set goals.• Alignment of HR Programs and Practices with Strategic

Directions.

IHRM approaches

• Ethnocentric: key positions filled by nationals of parent company

• Polycentric: host country nationals recruited to manage subsidiary in their own country

• Geocentric: best people recruited, whatever their nationality

• Regiocentric: best people recruited within region in which the subsidiary operates (e.g. EU, USA)

Decentralised IHRM

Advantages

• Groups within the subsidiary can gain in status

• Groups within the subsidiary become more cohesive, fostering group identity

• IHRM takes place within a culture appropriate to the local workforce and customers

Disadvantages• Tendency to become

‘exclusive’• Loss of central control,

higher administrative costs as HRM function is sent ‘down the line’

• Loss of organisational control and organisational identity

Cross-cultural awareness

Supports for employees moving to overseas

subsidiaries

1. Environmental briefings

2. Cultural orientation

3. Cultural assimilation

4. Language training

5. Sensitivity training

6. Field experience

Appraisal

• Identifies individual’s strengths and weaknesses

• Reveals organisational obstacles blocking progress

• Provides feedback to improve human resource planning

• Improves communication

Food for thought

• Whose responsibility is the HR function?

• Organisational culture, change, trust, respect, knowledge sharing , knowledge creation

• Organisational and Personal Development

• Work life balance

Recommended reading

• Key text : Wall and Rees (2004) International Business, Pearson, chapter 9

• Further reading : Evans, et al (2002) The Global Challenge, Frameworks for International Human Resource Management, McGraw-Hill