HRP#8

MHR 6451, Human Resource Management Methods 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

3. Assess the role of culture in human resource management practices within a global organization. 3.1 Determine how culture impacts human resource management in a global organization. 3.2 Determine the impact of employee rights and laws in potential expansion countries. 3.3 Compare and contrast foreign cultures to determine the best fit for global expansion.

Course/Unit Learning Outcomes

Learning Activity

3.1, 3.2, 3.3

Unit Lesson Video: HR Basics: Organizational Culture Article: “Multinational Corporation Strategies and International Human

Resources Practices: Bringing IHRM to the Bottom Line” Article: “Motivation, Leadership, and Organization: Do American Theories

Apply Abroad?” Web page: “Employee Rights When Working for Multinational Employers” Unit VIII Project

Required Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. The videos, articles, and webpage below provide insight on the role and impact of culture on human resource management in a global organization. The also examine how foreign employee rights and employment laws must be considered when expanding globally. These resources will assist you in the completion of this unit’s assignment. In the following video, a transcript and closed captioning are available once you access the video. Gregg Learning. (2018, October 19). HR basics: Organizational culture [Video]. Cielo24.

https://c24.page/k2rcytcyd4zas3dj9vgmq593c Read the following articles. Caligiuri, P. M., & Stroh, L. K. (1995, September). Multinational corporation management strategies and

international human resource practices: Bringing IHRM to the bottom line. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(3), 494–507. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bsu&AN=5835623&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Hofstede, G. (1980, Summer). Motivation, leadership, and organization: Do American theories apply abroad?

Organizational Dynamics, 9(1), 42–63. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bsu&AN=5143098&site=ehost-live&scope=site

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2003, April 23). Employee rights when working for

multinational employers (Control No. EEOC-NVTA-2003-2). https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/employee-rights-when-working-multinational-employers

UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE

Going Global

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Unit Lesson

You are excited about the new opportunity because you realize it would be highly beneficial to gain international experience. As a result, you start to do more research. While this move can benefit you professionally and open more doors for you in the future, globalization can also be great for the organization. Kelly (2019) agrees, and she states that having staff with international experience will improve and speed up the process for an organization that would like to focus on global expansion. While you have vacationed internationally and experienced other cultures, you never really thought about the cultures of other countries from a business and leadership perspective. Regardless of how good a globalization strategy is, the culture of the new location will have an impact on an organization’s success or failure. You read the article, “Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture” (Society for Human Resource Management, 2018), and you discovered that there is not one single definition of culture. You realize that you have a good understanding of culture and globalization but decide that you need to do some additional research as you embark on this journey.

Globalization Globalization in the marketplace has been increasing rapidly for at least the last 20 years. Many organizations are expanding operations into a global market. There are many pros and cons about the impact of globalization, and it is critical that the process is conducted carefully and that due diligence is performed in identifying all potential factors, impacts, and requirements. Supporters of globalization indicate that this promotes economic growth, allows for more competition, and lowers prices of products for consumers. If your car came with a detailed list of where each individual part came from, you would see that they are made in several countries. There are those who do not support globalization because they believe it results in job losses in the home country. There is also concern regarding differences in international laws, taxes, labor wages, and minimum ages. By focusing on culture from a leadership perspective, you must take into account how all of these factors can impact your current organization, its employees, your stakeholders, and even your community.

Cultural Frameworks There are many different cultural frameworks. Ng et al. (2007) evaluated the cultural differences between Hofstede’s framework and Schwartz’s framework. The frameworks help one to understand national culture and its relationship to an organization’s culture. Both Hofstede and Schwartz discovered that there were greater cultural differences between countries than within the countries. Hofstede views culture as a system of values and norms shared by people. Hofstede’s focus is data driven where countries are given numerical scores based on how culture relates to values in the workplace. As such, either framework can be used for an analysis of the different countries. Review the differences in their frameworks below.

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Hofstede’s Framework and Schwartz’s Framework

Cultural Impact on Global HR Practices By using one of the cultural frameworks (or even a combination of both), you can make sense of cultural influences. Before expanding operations, Nagele-Piazza (2017) suggests that organizations should first identify a key individual who will direct and control employees for international projects. The leadership should decide on a strategy about hiring local nationals, which are employees hired for jobs in their own country. Third, it is important to understand the local employment laws. Additionally, privacy laws should be reviewed. You cannot assume that employment, labor, and privacy laws are the same or even similar to those in the United States or your state. Some of the differences might surprise you.

Hofstede's framework (Hofstede, n.d.)

Schwartz's framework (Ng et al., 2007)

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As the leader of this initiative, you now understand the impact that culture will have on decisions that are made regarding workplace planning, recruiting, staffing, training, compensation, performance evaluations, and employee morale. You also know that instead of using just a cultural framework, you can provide an analysis of the different countries by doing research about the country in order to determine the scope of the impacts its culture may have on your organization and its globalization efforts. To do so, the following are some of the questions that you need to ask.

• What are the working generations in the population?

• What is the overall size of the workforce?

• Will the organization be located in an urban or rural area?

• What is the national language?

• What is the political system?

• What is the economic system?

• What is the legal system?

• What type of educational system do they have?

• What type of healthcare system do they have?

• Are there unions?

• What is the average salary?

• What type of infrastructure is there?

• Are there any technological restrictions? Once the organization decides where to expand its global operations, organization culture should then be reviewed.

Organizational Culture Organizational culture includes the beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, artifacts, ceremonies, stories, rituals, values, and assumptions of the organizational members. You know that culture impacts the HR management function. Years ago, back in your first job, the focus was the bottom line; you did whatever needed to be done to reach financial goals. Employees were expected to work until late evening; they often worked on holidays, and employees were not appreciated. Teamwork was not encouraged, and as such, employees were not nice to each other. In your second job, you had the opportunity to work in Germany. You discovered that you were not permitted to work more than 8 hours a day (and definitely not on Sunday) as you were not in the service industry. There is a connectedness between a country’s culture and organizational culture. For example, let’s say that you want to show your appreciation for employees in the expansion location with a paid company lunch. Gartman et al. (2018) reminds us that culture is something that may impact something as simple as a company lunch. In Germany, you may serve hamburgers, but in India, you would not out of respect for the likely greater incidence of employees who may not eat meat or that particular kind of meat. You understand the complexity of globalization and have now started thinking about recruiting and selecting employees.

Recruiting and Selecting Employees One of the first things you are asked to do is recruit and hire employees. It would be unrealistic to assume that all employees will come from your organization located in the United States. You decide to evaluate different staffing strategies. Caligiuri and Stroh (1995) did a study evaluating international HR staffing approaches. In their study, they found that the ethnocentric staffing policy was less effective than the polycentric, regiocentric, and the geocentric staffing approaches. If your organization used an ethnocentric staffing approach, all of the key positions would be filled by home country or parent-country nationals. Parent-country nationals are individuals working in another country other than their country of origin. A polycentric approach is where the host-country employees manage the organization located in their country. If you employ a regiocentric strategy, both the host-country nationals and third-country nationals (those who are not from the home or host country) are selected for key positions. In other words, those selected are from the region. With a geocentric approach, you select the best person for the job regardless of where they are from. This approach can be tricky, especially if there are local laws or agreements in the legal language of the expansion that require a minimum number of locals to be hired.

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Additionally, hiring all or a majority of non-host-country employees could create tension in the local community and be seen as insulting their culture. Once you have decided on the staffing approach that you will employ, you need to focus on determining how you will compensate and train new employees. This, of course, will differ depending on whether they are from the home country, the host country or a third country. You, therefore, need to be aware of all laws that might affect this process.

Employee Rights and Laws According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC, 2003), employees working in the United States or its territories are protected by EEO laws. If employees are working for an organization that is incorporated with, based in, or has sufficient connections with the United States, they are protected by EEO laws. However, as a U.S. employer with operations in another country, it is important to know the local laws as they may supersede requirements of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many other laws also must be considered from an HR perspective. For example, Dowling (2019) discussed the differences in data collection laws. In European Union countries, internal emails cannot be used for an investigation that may get someone fired. If the term personal is in the subject line, an employer may not read the employee’s email. In France, internal emails cannot be accessed unless there is approval by the court where a court officer will oversee the review. In Alberta, Canada, an employee must agree that the employer can read their emails. Brin (2019) shared that in France, employers with a least 50 workers must negotiate with unions and allow workers to disconnect from work technology after work hours. This is considered important to worker safety and health. In Spain, there is a similar new law affording remote workers the right to disconnect. According to the new law, there should also be training to avoid computer fatigue. However, it should be noted that there are no penalties if the law is not followed in both countries.

Conclusion After doing an evaluation of employee rights and laws, you realize that the decision to globalize and the process it entails is incredibly complex. Evaluating the culture of the country, the organizational culture, and the impact on HR practices is critical. However, after doing your research, you are confident that you will be able to help leadership make the important decisions regarding globalization through proper evaluation and assessment of the options. You will demonstrate this in this unit’s assignment.

References Brin, D. W. (2019, May 20). France and Spain: Right to disconnect spreads. Society for Human Resource

Management. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment- law/pages/global-france-spain-right-to-disconnect.aspx

Caligiuri, P. M., & Stroh, L. K. (1995, September). Multinational corporation management strategies and

international human resource practices: Bringing IHRM to the bottom line. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(3), 494–507. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=5835623&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Dowling, D. C., Jr. (2019, August 7). How to gather documents overseas in a global investigation. Society for

Human Resource Management. https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/legal-and- compliance/employment-law/Pages/global-investigations-gathering-documents.aspx

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Gartman, C., Woods, W., & Morey, R. (2018, April). Culture eats strategy for breakfast: Franchise compliance programs can have many benefits. Reap the rewards of a culture of compliance. Franchising World, 50(4), 38–39. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=edsbig&AN=edsbig.A537410949&site=eds-live&scope=site

Hofstede, G. (n.d.). The 6-D model of national culture. Geert Hofstede. https://geerthofstede.com/culture-

geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/ Kelly, N. (2019, July 5). 5 ways to foster a global mindset in your company. Harvard Business Review.

https://hbr.org/2019/07/5-ways-to-foster-a-global-mindset-in-your-company Nagele-Piazza, L. (2017, June 20). 4 HR points to consider when going global. Society for Human Resource

Management. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/conference-today/pages/2017/4-hr- points-to-consider-when-going-global.aspx

Ng, S. I., Lee, J. A., & Soutar, G. N. (2007). Are Hofstede’s and Schwartz’s value framework congruent?

International Marketing Review, 24(2), 164–180. https://search-proquest- com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/224316744?accountid=33337

Society for Human Resource Management. (2018, August 13). Understanding and developing organizational

culture. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and- samples/toolkits/pages/understandinganddevelopingorganizationalculture.aspx

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2003, April 23). Employee rights when working for

multinational employers (Control No. EEOC-NVTA-2003-2). https://www.eeoc.gov/facts/multi- employees.html

Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. The following resources provide a framework for better understanding the concepts presented in this unit. Farndale, E., Paauwe, J., Morris, S. S., Stahl, G. K., Stiles, P., Trevor, J., & Wright, P. M. (2010). Context-

bound configurations of corporate HR functions in multinational corporations. Human Resource Management, 49(1), 45–66. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bsu&AN=47805875&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Ng, S. I., Lee, J. A., & Soutar, G. N. (2007). Are Hofstede’s and Schwartz’s value framework congruent?

International Marketing Review, 24(2), 164–180. https://search-proquest- com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/224316744?accountid=33337