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BUSI604: Forum 4 – Human Resources
Chazmine C. Mitchell
School of Business, Liberty University
Author Note
Chazmine C. Mitchell
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Chazmine C. Mitchell
Email: cmitchell144@liberty.edu
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Key Term and Why You Are Interested in It
Human Resource is a term that caught my interest in this section of the readings. This
topic was interesting because it plays a critical role in the operation and success of organizations.
In drafting this paper, the goal is to understand the impact human resources have on a global
business and how things may differ from a domestic scale. Human Resources has always been a
topic of interest for me and exploring more on the subject is somewhat exciting. I hope to find
more information organization successfully implement human resource strategies in a
multinational enterprise. Understanding the challenges they face and how they combat those
challenges would also be insightful.
Explanation of the Key Term
The global human resource manager (HRM) must support, manage, and engage
employees beyond their national borders. The text does not give much information on Human
Resources and how it relates to international business. Human resources are a global operations
management process that focuses on employee matters, benefits, retirement packages, safety
problems, training, and motivation (Satterlee, p.225, 2018). HRMS must become familiar with
and utilize standard policies and procedures, legislation, customs, and culture within the country
or countries where their business is located.
Major Article Summary
The primary article chosen for review is titled Chinese multinationals' approach to
international human resource management: a longitudinal study which discusses a hybrid HRM
system implemented by an Australian subsidiary of a Chinese multinational bank. The article
talks about a long-standing discussion throughout literature referencing international HRM in
MNEs. The author says this international HRM can be shaped by a country-of-origin, host
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country, or dominance effect (Zhu, 2019). The author explains ethnocentric, polycentric, and
global categories of management practices in multinational enterprises. He explains that
ethnocentric occurs when the MNE's overseas subsidiary resembles the MNE's home country.
Polycentric is when they conform to host country practices and customs. Global is when they
adopt global best practices (Zhu, 2019).
According to the author, firms in China are governed by market forces of supply and
demand. The Chinese government also controls them. Still, Zhu's research discovered that the
bank first used a detached approach to overseas HRM and gave the overseas subsidiary manager,
an Australian citizen, a tremendous amount of autonomy in making HRM decisions. Then over
five years, they changed their approach, and they implemented a global framework that detailed
procedures in many different areas, including but not limited to recruitment, job structures,
performance evaluation, pay structure, and attendance management.
The article found that the bank officially adopted a localization strategy and hired mostly
local natives with a Chinese ethnic background. Zhu's study supplied evidence and
understanding on how Chinese Multination Enterprises manage their international workforce.
This is an under-researched area in global human resource management. For research methods,
the author used a longitudinal research design to show how human resource management
problems are managed in the case firm over time. The author referenced previous studies from
different authors in the article that focused on other Chinese MNEs operating in the United
Kingdom and Australia. The author states that previous studies only focused on a specific point
in time paid little attention to the dynamic nature of MNEs' practices. Zhu says the problem with
that is that MNEs from emerging markets have a developing core of their management practices,
so things change over time, which was not addressed in previous studies.
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Interruption between a secular decline of competitiveness and a persistent saving
deficiency. This is a matter of definition. Whatever the causality, trade policy alone
cannot solve the problem of the U.S. trade de cit.
Discussion
A. Cited Work Relationship to Major Summary and Assigned Readings
The cited work is relative to the major summary and assigned readings because it gives a
real-world study of human resources within a multinational enterprise and the approaches
implemented in that organization. The global enterprise used in the article is a Chinese
multinational bank. The readings in the text do not discuss much detail about human resources.
The assigned reading discusses managing operations across borders and provides details on
typical processes within an organization, including a short description of human resources. This
article expands more on the topic. It gives a deeper understanding of the subject as it relates to
international business. The report provides detailed research of an actual organization and its
human resources approach with overseas subsidiaries. Zhu's research focused on investigating
critical issues associated with the human resource structure, headquarters control, key HR
activities (Zhu, 2018). The human resource activities researched in this study included staffing
and recruitment, training and development, and employee retention (Zhu, 2018).
B. Cited Work Relationship to the Other 4 Articles
The first article, Wood et al. (2018), focuses on international human resource
management (IHRM) practices in high uncertainty situations. The situations of high uncertainties
include fiscal crisis, economic sanctions, political and civil uncertainty, environmental collapse,
or deep recession (Wood et al., 2018). These quite different unexpected problems that
organizations may experience brings notable dilemmas and affect how businesses manage their
people and their investment in that area. The article explains that organizations will encounter
many challenges coping in these situations, including unpredictability in demand, supplier
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relations, more tremendous time pressures in the decision-making process, and work and
employment relations (Pearson and Clair, 1998; Wood et al., 2018). Multinational enterprises can
evade risk from a distance, but with this situation, they may find it very difficult to protect their
interests (Cantwell, Dunning, & Lundan, 2010; Wood et al., 2018).
The second article, International human resource management in the Arab Gulf States –
an institutional perspective explores International Human Resource Management policies and
practices of Multinational Enterprises functioning in emerging economies in the Arab Gulf States
focusing on the United Arab Emirates (Haak-Saheem et al.,2017). The article states previous
research on institutions suggests that MNEs are under influence and pressure to adopt
appropriate HR practices based on particular circumstances and situations. Previous research
overlooks organizations in the United Arab Emirates and their impact on people management
have (Haak-Saheem et al.,2017). The author uses comprehensive interviews with 26 Human
Resource (HR) managers to discover the impacts of home-country institutional factors on IHRM
in foreign subsidiaries and then proposes an institutional framework. This article relates to the
main article because it shows another example of an MNE in another part of the world and how
they deal with human resource management in overseas subsidiaries. This article also provides a
unique perspective on how regulative, cognitive and normative institutional elements affect the
IHRM choices of MNEs (Haak-Saheem et al.,2017).
The third article, Thomas et al. (2019), introduces a new perspective on international
human resource development. The report suggests using an ecosystem viewpoint as a vital
framework to comprehend IHRD. Ecosystems highlight interdependencies, actor centrality,
bargaining power, and relationships between those who collaborate to shape and develop IHRM
practices and systems (Thomas et al., 2019). This article is relevant to the central theme because
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it provides a different approach and framework to international human resource management.
In the fourth article, Conrad and Meyer-Ohle (2017) discuss that multinational enterprises
have struggled in human resource development areas when it comes to the demands of
globalizing production networks and markets. The authors provide details on Japanese
companies and their traditional approach and recent changes to their policy to their talent pool or
coordination of international activities (Conrad & Meyer-Ohle, 2017). This article relates to the
main article and proves another perspective on multinational enterprises and their human
resource development approach. The Japanese MNEs also used an ethnocentric HR model and
changed their course over time, like the Chinese bank references in the primary article summary.
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References
Conrad, H., & Meyer-Ohle, H. (2019). Overcoming the ethnocentric firm? - foreign fresh
university graduate employment in japan as a new international human resource
development method. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(17), 2525-
2543. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1330275
Haak-Saheem, W., Festing, M., & Darwish, T. K. (2017). International human resource
management in the arab gulf states - an institutional perspective. International Journal of
Human Resource Management, 28(18), 2684-
2712. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1234502
Satterlee, B. C. (2018). Cross Border Commerce (3rd ed.). Synergistics International
Garavan, T. N., McCarthy, A., & Carbery, R. (2019). An ecosystems perspective on international
human resource development: A meta-synthesis of the literature. Human Resource
Development Review, 18(2), 248-288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484319828865
Wood, G., Cooke, F. L., Demirbag, M., & Kwong, C. (2018). International journal of human
resource Management (ijhrm) special issue on: International human resource management in
contexts of high uncertainties. The International Journal of Human Resource Management,
29(7), 1365–1373. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1477547
Zhu, J. S. (2019). Chinese multinationals' approach to international human resource
management: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 30(14), 2166-2185. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1539860
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