Human resource Management in International Expansion

Human resource Management in International Expansion In todays global environment when expanding a business in to another country IHRM would play a handle new key role. There can be identified very clear 6 differences between domestic and international HRM. They are more HR activities, need for broader perspectives, the more involve with employees personal life, risk exposure, broader external influence, changes in emphasis as work force mix of expatriates and locals. IHRM is concern with staffing policies, recruitment and selection, remuneration, motivation, training and development, performance appraisals, promotion, retirement, redundancy and lay off, industrial relations and foreign assignments. Expatriates are the employees who is working and temporarily residing in a foreign country. They could be PCNs, TCNs or HCNs. Due to the development of technologies such as telecommunication, satellite and computer technology and lower cost in going business globally has made the IHRM much more important and easy to manage when compared to the last to few decades. For any organization that have global operations all around the world IHRM would play a Key factor for the company success. Session 2 When a organization do business internationally, understanding the cultural deferences among the countries is very essential to be successful in the long run. This is because operations starting in another country, if there are huge cultural difference among the parent and the subsidiary companies would face varies implications. According to the Hofsteds there are 5 cultural damnations. Power distance This is the extent to which power is distributed unequally among the employees in between the higher positions and the lower positions. Eg India is a high power distance culture (even have a cast system) and USA is a lower power distance culture. Individualism vs collectivisms In a individualistic country people would priorities them self ( USA) where as collectivism country people would priorities group needs. Uncertainty avoidance People would try to minimize risk they face in a situation ( avoiding paralysis through analysis ) usually countries with long history and traditions have a high uncertainty avoidance. Countries such as USA well come higher risks. Masculinity/femininity Masculine- tough value dominant Eg; success, money, satiates, competition Feminine- tender values dominant such as personal relationships, care for others, quality of life etc. When we take Sri Lanka for a example I think we have feminine culture even though have many masculinity futures. The best example for this is during the tsunami situation whole county get together to help the tsunami victims within ours. Cross-cultural communication Similarly, among various countries cross-cultural communication is very necessary so that they can understand each others through religion, culture, art, literature, foreign policies, fiscal polices, etc. such type of bridges of understanding will help to lessen and minimize the gap between two culture. Thirukkural, a noted tamil poet, who has been translated in more than twenty five languages and who had been famous for ethical themes and brevity, has very aptly remarked on power of speech: The goodness called goodness of speech IS goodness which nothing can reach Since gain or ruin speeches brings Guard against the slips of tongue Weight the words and, speak, because No wealth or virtue words surpass. They overspeak who do not seek A few and flawless words to speak (Gupta .reprint 2004) It is said that speech is grater than words, mind is greater than speech, will is grater than mind consciousness is greater than will, meditation is greater than will and power of understanding is greater than meditation.sanakumara, surmonzing narad atma vidya or brahmavidya (knowledge of the supreme) says : power of understanding beings sine quo non for proper meditation, thats is greater than meditation. If we cannot correctly understand and discriminate good and bad, truth and untruth and discriminate between good and bad, truth and untruth, and the like pairs of opposites, how can we meditate? Thus there is no doubt that the power of understanding is linked with speech, one of the tools of communication. Session 3 There are many activities effecting the IHRM in a organizational context. Industrial relations, health and safety, management style, authority structure, organizational structure, leader ship style and etc. And organization could implement a different structures such as global product division, global area division and global matrix structure depends on the situation, subsidiary age and size structure adopted. Controlling of subsidiary would have both formal and informal control systems. Formal methods would be structure, reporting systems, budget and targets where as informal methods would be cooperate culture and personal relationships. we know some of the transferable HRM policies such as physical layouts, use of technologies, holiday entitlements, quality circles depending on the culture, motivation and leadership style, performance appraisals and etc. company expatriates would have to perform the key activities when implementing the procedures in subsidiary an at the same time adopt the suitable local norms, standards and value in to the system to make it more localize the operations. Improving the performance, implementation of corporate culture, solve technical problems, handling of sensitive information, reduces risk, improve trust and team working skills are some of the important functions that expatriates should perform during a foreign assignment. Future more political stability, country infrastructure, technology and resources available in the country, organizational and national cultural differences should be looking to when implementing IHRM policies. Session 4 When starting a subsidiary in a foreign country, there are many reasons why expatriates are needed. Teaching a new process, setting up a new branch, facilitating the knowledge transfer between parent and the subsidiary, helping branch to implement a matrix integration is some of the purposes. This would also depend on the relationship between parent and subsidiary, amount of investment, other host country environment factors. Depending on the host culture, size and the maturity of firm, relative importance of the subsidiary, moral and ethics balancing of standardization and localization of HRM could be done. Localization would be the recruitments, holidays, leave procedures and etc. according to Huo the best IHRM practice ought to be the ones best adopted to culture and national environment. Developing staff members investing in human capital, career development, good working conditions and good management practice could help the organization to retain and attract skilled and qualified labour force in to the organizations. In Sri Lanka Mas holdings is a very good example for a organization which is practicing this method Session 5 There are many ways of staffing international operations. They are ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric. Each of this method has it own advantages and disadvantages. Most of the companies use ethnocentric approach at the initial stage and move to polycentric approach after some time. Eg;- after operating Sri Lanka for many years Coca Cola has appointed a Sri Lankan as a country head for the first time. Organizations use expatriate for international assignment as position filling, management and development and for organizational development. They could be assigned for varies time periods and would have many roles to play as expatriate such as agent of control/socialization, network builder, boundary spanner, language node, transfer of knowledge etc. Non-expatriates are people who travel internationally, yet no conceder as expatriate as they do not relocate to another county.. Examples for non-expatriates are auditors, inspection department, regional managers etc. even though its a glimmers life on first site non- expatriates would have high level of stress because of family working arrangements, health concern and host culture issues. Even expatriates would face lot of difficulties such as spouse and family problems, lack of cultural sensitivity, reluctant to change and adopt, them us mentality, home country mentality and etc. There for organizations must use most appropriate method when selecting a person for a expatriate job. Session 6 When recruiting a expatriate for a international assignment organizations has to be extremely concern. This is because expatriate failure is extremely costly for an organization. Career advancements financial incentives, interest in countries, interest to travel are the factors that motivate the expatriates. For expatriate to be successful in a foreign assignment they have to have the job knowledge and motivation, job related skills, be flexible and adoptable, helpful family situations and extra cultural openness. Expatriate failure could be defined as premature return or under performance during the a foreign assignment. There could be varies reasons for early return of a expatriate but direct cost of the failure is extremely high for the organization. Eg- salary and training cost, airfares, relocation expenses, exchange rates, replacing the failed manager etc. indirect costs would be the damagers to the relationship with stake holders, family relationships, and negative effects on the local staff members. There are four phases in cultural adjustments which expatriate has to go through in a foreign assignment. They are, Tourist every thing is new and enjoyable Crisis/ cultural shock see differences and negative side off the new culture Pulling up Adjustment There is a high possibility of expatriate to exit during the cultural shock period. There for in this each stage organizations would have to take many steps to easy the situation.. Eg- food, customs, cultural values(seniority), home sickness etc. Session 7 Training and development of expatriates is essential for the success of a intentional assignment. This is because expatriates are send to subsidiaries to show how systems and procedures work, ensure adoption and motivation of performance. There for cultural differences and business out comes attitudes and how it effects the behavior, facts about the target country, skill building and language is some of the areas that organization should look in to. Effective pre-departure training should include cultural awareness programmes, preliminary visits, language training, non traditional assignments and training etc. future more practical assistance for relocation, find accommodation and schooling, future language training, would also contribute to adaptation of expatriates and his family members to settle down. Many methods could be use ot train the expatriates and many examples Some off them was showing videos, giving case studies, role play and anointing a experience mentor. Session 8 Multinational organizations would face lots of performance management issues and expatriate re-entering career issues. Performance management is also a way of controlling the subsidiaries. It also contribute shape the organizational culture. HCNs and non-expatriate performance would have to be evaluated separately. Appraisal of host country nationals could be done with standardizes company evaluation form. But customization of the form according to the local staff should be done to get the maximum benefits to the all parties. Performance evaluation criteria would be done on hard goals, soft goals and contextual goals. When evaluating the performance of a non- expatriate stress associated with constent air travel, family relationship issues should also be considered. Expatriate performance would be evaluated on how well he/she achieve organizational targets, relationship and network build up with key parties, implementation of cooperate culture in the organization and etc. evaluation results would also have a impact from who is doing the appraisal, frequency, timeliness and use of standards and customization of the appraisal form. Re-entry of expatriate after completion of foreign assignment would also have to be given consideration. Preparation, physical relocation, transactional readjustments are the phases which have to go through again. To retain the staff in the organization and repatriation pre-departure career discussions, naming a contact person, succession planning and etc could be done. Eg- decrease of living standards, children schooling issues and etc. Session 9 For a multinational organization to be successful they should have a good compensation package in place for their employees. This is because different countries different currencies, labour laws and customs are in place. There for expatriate pay should be determine according to cost of living, hardship, currency fluctuations, health care, housing, taxation and education expense of children. To determine the compensation package awarded to the expectorates going rate approach and balance sheet approach can be used. Even though both approaches have its advantages and disadvantages the balance sheet approach is the most commonly used system in multinationals. Balance sheet approach would consider about the goods and services cost, housing cost, income tax and reserves when determining the benefit package. Session 10 When a organization do business with a another country to make this transactions successful knowing the business ethics and social customs are very essential. Different countries have different values, practices, and taboos which you have to understand and be respectful. From country to country the way they use first name, title, position and states, dining practices, tipping, gift giving, and that an traveling etiquettes, greetings, superstitions and taboos differ. Japanese people shows and have a grate respect to the business card and exchange and consider are in tipping as a insult. Different countries have different meal times, number of courses. Eating every thing in the plate or leaving some thing in the plate could be reason to be offended in some cultures. Some times its better not to know what is in your plate which you are serve to eat and be restrain form giving comments on the foods. ( it is better to eat without knowing whats in the plate (eg- dog meat, snake meat) without offending your counter party.) When going abroad for business deal proper dressing, footwear and packing and even and quality luggage could add some value to your transaction. Male and female relationships would also in a differ from culture to culture and it is wise not to use you are hummer during a business meetings . holidays and holy days also differ from country to country according to the religion they and practice and the traditions. And organization should looking to this because many cultures do not make any business decisions in holy days. Even though bribery is conceder illegal, unethical and immoral it almost take place all over the world. But if an organization is doing this kind of transactions they would have to be extremely careful because it could lead to fines and damage of organization reputation.

Communication Is Complex Essay

When two or more people are sharing information, they both are sending and receiving at the same time, sometimes without even saying a word but by simply sending and receiving certain signals. Listening makes one the receiver and at the point when you respond, you become the sender and this interchanging and complex role shifting happens very fast. Non verbal sending and receiving is just as complex. A child could be crying (sending a message) and the parent put her arm around her for reassurance (receiving), when the parent pats the child’s back (sending), the child calms down receiving). The attitude of the people involved will largely determine the quality of their sending and receiving and the strength of their signals may affect how the messages are received. Messages a. Everything that is communicated is categorized into symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something else. Symbols are everywhere around us. The eagle in the United States stands for that country, the Statue of Liberty stands for freedom. The complex issue is that; any one symbol may have hundreds of interpretations depending on what sense the receiver makes out of the symbol. Any one symbol may have many contrasting definitions largely depending on cultural backgrounds. The human communication is made up of two kinds of symbols. The words that are used in a language are verbal symbols. Where no words are used, then that becomes nonverbal symbols. When the word refers to a physical object like someone says, ‘pads’,, this is called a concrete symbol because it represents an object. A female listener may think the sender is referring to the sanitary pads and the motor mechanic may assume that the sender is referring to the brake pads. Symbols are subject to different interpretations largely depending on the attitude, culture and background of the listener. Even more complex are the abstract symbols, these are the intangible or non figurative symbols like the word ‘love’. Various and interesting assignations may be given to the word depending largely on culture and background. A child brought up in a strict religious order may think it refers to the love that the Deity has over mankind and yet on the other hand a child raised by a mother of loose morals, may construe it to mean lust or the desire that may shared by two consenting and sexual partners. In nonverbal symbols, the communication has no written or verbal words. These symbols include but not limited to; facial expressions, gestures, posture, vocal tones and appearance. A yawn may mean that you are tired or bored and yet in another culture it may mean that you are sleepy and need to rest. Over ninety percent of messages sent and received by Americans are nonverbal. Thus, we see complexities arising out of the symbols, care and due diligence is therefore critical in deciphering symbols to be as near as possible to the intentions and definitions of the sender. Channels This refers to the channel or route that we use when communicating. In verbal symbols, we use sound and sight. The receiver has to interpret the sound and what he/she is seeing to come to a conclusion of what the sender is trying to send out. In nonverbal communications, people use several channels, like a firm handshake may denote confidence, jittery and nervous expression at a presentation may mean poor preparation and shallow knowledge. Use of a wrong channel will give a wrong message altogether and defeat the purpose of the communication. Feedback Feedback refers to the responses that the sender gets from the receiver. In a conversation, both sender and receiver get feedbacks as they talk. Feedback helps to assure the sender that the receiver is attentive and is responsive. When no feedback is given, it may send a wrong signal to the sender. In a lecture, if students don’t ask questions after the presentation, then the deliverer may assume that they have understood when in fact they have not. Noise Any interference that prevents a message from the sender from being delivered to the receiver is called ‘noise’. Noise is found in three forms; external, internal and semantic. External noise comes from the outside, the environment. While having a good conversation with your Pastor, you may be disturbed by the Pastor’s mate asking for the car keys from their mate or a squashed sitting area in a taxi might make you unbearably uncomfortable to lose out on what the person sitting next to you just said. Internal noise refers to what the receiver may be going through internally that he/she may fail to hear what the teacher just said. These are internal thoughts, and distractions†¦ Setting This refers to the environment in which the communication process occurs. The setting affects and influences the kind of communication process that will take place. The setting itself communicates a message to the participants. A divorcing couple would chose to meet in the lawyer’s office as that is perceived as neutral. From the above discourse, it is clear that the communications elements can pose a great challenge to the whole process of communication. Parties to the process should make sure that all the elements are in the ideal size, to effectively communicate as desired. Complexities will always exist, the parties to communication can only minimise them to enhance the process. Self Perception A human being is a complex individual. The process of communication starts with the self perception and the value that humans put on themselves. Self concept is how a person thinks about themselves. Sometimes in a communication process, people are so worried about how other people think they are and this ideally makes them less effective in their communication process and fail to either deliver their message or fail to get the correct message as intended by the sender. Social comparisons occur when people compare themselves on how they measure up to other members of the communities. When we fail to measure up to a certain standard that we see ion others, most likely we lose all home and get de-motivated and in worst case scenarios, become emotional wracks. The way in which the individual sees himself/herself is called self perception. Self perception is largely grounded on the past experiences. Positive experiences will influence a better perception and the opposite also holds true. The state of mind about oneself eventually impacts on performance. Its becomes dangerous when self esteem is too high as a failure results in negative and bad attitudes. Acts of perception require a form of expectations. ‘Without expectations, or constructs through which you perceive your world, your surroundings would be booming, buzzing confusion’ The perception process involves; selecting the information, organizing it and interpreting it. Perfect perception is always because of deletions, distortions, and generalizations. There are also perceptions filters.

Global Market Place Activities Essay

Internet America is a wireless ISP (WISP) that operates within the southern United States. Currently we have been expanding the use of WiMAX hardware to provide our customer base a better user experience with fewer issues. Our older hardware has become unusable due to the vendor being restricted from sales in the United States so we made the recent decision to utilize WiMAX hardware developed by an Israeli company. This has brought on the added challenge of maintaining the hardware in the event of a Middle East conflict that potentially could choke off supplies of the equipment in the United States. This ongoing conflict has no foreseeable end in sight so the CEO made the decision to negotiate into the contract with the Israeli company to provide us onsite spares for all major hardware to mitigate the chances of service interruptions to our customers in the event of an escalation of events in that region of the world. Risk Sources The first identified risk for Internet America is the potential loss of our climate control systems that cool our corporate data center location. This location has a large number of temperature sensitive devices that are currently cooled by systems that are aging (8-12 years old) and are heavily utilized most of the year due to the location of our corporate offices in Houston Texas. This location necessitates that we run these systems continually for nine to eleven months of the year. This heavy utilization and the hardware’s age pose a very real risk to the serviceability of our corporate structure and support of our customers. Being a WISP, the company relies heavily on the ability to move data to and from the customers. Our corporate headquarters are fed by a point to point fiber connection to our datacenter at Cyrus 1 in Houston TX. As with any buried cabling there is the potential for a cabling cut due to construction or as is more likely for our current location road repairs. The access streets in our location are in disrepair and are being constantly serviced due to the heavy trucks that utilize them constantly. Attacks to our core devices and support structures are common and attempts to breach our systems occur on an almost daily basis. We have determined that most of these  attempts are mainly just beginner computer enthusiasts that are trying out something they read on the internet or inadvertently tried to access our systems. This is evident in the amateur attacks that are attempted, however several times a month we get attempts from more advanced hackers that really test our abilities to detect and stop the attack. A large number of these more advanced hacks are initiated from China. Being located in Houston TX our fourth identified risk would be damage to our Cyrus 1 datacenter location. This building was chosen due to its design and the lengths that the facilities owner has gone through to provide a stable and reliable infrastructure. Even with the most adept preparation there is no way to fully prepare a location in the event of a major natural disaster. Houston is well known for being impacted by hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. All of which could potentially destroy any structure in the city if the conditions are just right. The fifth identified risk is the potential for our WiMAX vender to be unable to provide hardware support in the event of an escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The conflicts in this region are well documented and have lasted for many decades with little to no end in sight. In the event of an escalation of terrorist activities against the Israeli nation we may see our hardware support be limited until the activity recedes or peace talks begin again. As with any service industry, Internet America in not immune to the possibility of personnel loss due to the turndown in the economy. Internet service for most people would be considered a necessity in today’s society so the effects of a bad economy do not affect us as hard as other industries; however our core customer base is in rural areas and those customers do not have as cemented a need for internet service. This leaves the company vulnerable to revenue loss and possible staff reductions in a bad economic environment. The availability of commercial power is fairly ubiquitous across the United States, and most companies take for granted that the service will stay on  when needed. This however is not always the case and eventually most businesses will be afflicted with the loss of power during business hours. For Internet America this could be catastrophic as the loss of commercial power would render the customer support teams unable to service our clients and detect/resolve any outages that occur throughout the network. The final and least likely risk Internet America faces is the possibility that we may fail a fire code inspection in the corporate offices. Due to the installed fire suppression systems in the datacenter, the company is required to undergo an annual fire safety inspection. In the event of a failure the facilities would not be usable until the needed repairs are completed. This could potentially disrupt our ability to service our clients properly.

The Impact Of Modern Political On Modern Politics - 971 Words

It is a common spectacle; every four years politicians scramble across the country in attempt to befriend the nation, while the televisions are beset by a myriad of political advertisements costing upwards of millions of dollars. But has anyone considered how the modern political race has developed from founding of our democracy? It may be weird to consider, but political races were very different then they are now. Then where does our modern democracy trace its origin? The birth of our modern democracy could be traced to the election of 1828, which would forever shape our modern election scheme while Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, would empower the office of the President of the United States. The election of 1824 will forever go down in American history as the Corrupt Bargain. The candidates were Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford, Speaker of the House Henry Claw, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, and General Andrew Jackson (Remini 146). None of the candidates received a majority of the electoral votes needed to become the President, therefore the House of Representatives would be able to vote on the candidates; since the top three candidates are chosen from, Clay was out of the running; however, the main competition would be between Jackson and Adams. The House, under Clay, elected Adams as the next President; Adams promptly appointed Clay as Secretary of State, which started speculations amongst the population. An old friend ofShow MoreRelatedHow does the Bible Influence Political Thought and Action in Our Culture?1166 Words   |  5 PagesHow does the Bible Influence Political Thought and Action in Our Culture? The Bible is a unique book that is different from others because it contains sacred text that has continued to influence societies from generation to generation. Generally, the impact of this sacred book is worldwide since it has affected every department of human activity. 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