Assignment 220
Delp10
B207BPowerpoint-Week2.pptxB207B
Shaping Business Opportunities II
Block 2 Session 11: Employee relations and globalization
Session 11.3: The international labor market
The international labour market
Globalisation has created an increasing international labour market demand.
Individuals are applying for jobs across the world, no longer restricted to simply choosing opportunities in their own country
Organisations are progressively transnational with divisions, operations and contracts that span internationally regions.
Employers and employees must be aware of global employment trends
Growth of an international labour market
The growth of an international labour market offers organisations and its members a number of new possibilities.
For example, personally and professionally, individuals have the opportunity to use their career to travel, relocate and experience diverse cultures first-hand.
The spread of organisations into new global areas can create enhanced opportunities for individuals to gain the skills that will help organisations successfully engage in such cultural exchange.
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is a significant modern-day value.
Multiculturalism reflects desires for the inclusion, respect and safety of populations marked by ethnic and cultural differences.
Organisations is composed of multiple cultures as they operate in numerous parts of the world and their members are from various international backgrounds.
It represents the ways organisations must manage and take advantage of this multiculturalism if they are to be globally competitive.
Importance of HR Management Multiculturalism
HR Management help organisations to navigate these diverse cultures
HR Management are key forces for assisting firms to attract an international workforce and meet their diverse needs and desires.
HR Management are, moreover, important information brokers, in terms of highlighting contrasting regulations and cultural expectations between nations and regions.
HR Management foster a broader culture of ‘organisational learning’ that encourages institutions to not only adapt to but also benefit from this greater diversity.
Block 2
Session 12: HRM in a global context
Stakeholders and globalization
Aspiration for modern organizations is trying to create a ‘win–win’ situation for employers and employees
Attempting to balance the interests of shareholders, executives and owners with that of their workforce
Innovation is found in discovering new ideas and practices for achieving a ‘win–win’ result.
Making sure that all voices of stake holders are heard and all their needs are met as much as is institutionally possible.
This wider stakeholder perspective highlights the tensions between financial and non-financial priorities
HRM in stakeholders and globalization
HRM stands out as a crucial force for navigating these often competing organizational demands.
It proposes and champions corporate social responsibility both in terms of the firm’s internal processes and external impact.
It can encourage ‘inclusiveness’ by bringing outside voices to the attention of decision-makers; including voices they may not be aware of as well as those of members who may feel marginalized.
Promote strategies that better connect how these private and public priorities can be mutually beneficial in the long term
The role of HRM in globalization
Globalization has reinforced the importance of HRM for organizations
Same time limiting its ability to set organizational strategy and priorities
The emphasis on the ‘free market’ has led to declining worker protections and wages.
It has also created the conditions for massive job insecurity.
This naturally provides employers with greater power to determine working conditions.
HRM therefore must work with managers
Obstacles
Globalization also creates new obstacles to organizational survival and success.
For private companies, maximizing profit becomes not only a desire but a requirement.
This means that even if senior managers wanted to introduce more ‘balanced’ priorities they would be restricted in doing so by global competitive pressures.
It also means they have to be able to manage complex international pressures and an international workforce
Example: unpredictability of foreign markets to coping with the needs of the diverse context they are operating within
For public institutions and NGOs, it means often placing fiscal concerns above and beyond their original purpose to realize a public good.
Progress or race to the bottom
Globalization is supposed to result in shared prosperity and international development
The universal adoption of the ‘free-market’ would break down national economic barriers and allow for greater movement between nations and regions.
It would also free up countries with outdated bureaucracies and ‘unaffordable’ welfare systems to new sources of capital and entrepreneurship.
It would encourage ‘good government’ fighting corruption and oligarchs.
It would also potentially lead authoritarian regimes to naturally embrace liberal democracy.
Realities of globalization are very different
Billions of people have been lifted out of poverty, global inequality has risen dramatically
Countries are forced to accept ‘pro-business’ policies that takes funds away from and negatively impact on healthcare, education and public welfare
It has endorsed the privatization of key services – leading them to cut corners and produce worse outcomes in order to maximize their profits
There is a worrying rise in ‘authoritarian capitalism’ ranging from state-led autocracies to the higher levels of policing in established liberal democracies
In this respect globalization encourages a ‘race to the bottom’ rather than common international development.
Disincentive to Innovation
It focuses the possibility of organizational change to simply optimizing financial returns.
It often uses this as a pre-condition for the conception or implementation of other new ideas or practices.
It thus prevents ‘out of the box’ thinking from occurring in favor of simply accepting a global capitalist status quo.
In this respect, globalization represents less a competition between organizations for the best innovation as it does the channeling of innovation to meet the needs of fiscal competition.
Race to the Top
Human Resource Management has some potential to help reverse this trend.
It can be a crucial force for promoting a ‘race to the top’ where companies use better working conditions, a stronger commitment to ethics and inclusiveness in order to attract employees and consumers.
It is questionable whether it would have the organizational power and overall desire to effectively do so.
It also raises questions of whether HRM is the best force for addressing these global challenges.
