HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

International and Comparative HRM



International and Comparative HRM

Introduction

Human Resource Management is a set of organizational activities that efficiently and effectively manage and direct human resources in order to accomplish organizational objectives. There are numerous functions performed by human resource management personnel that include recruitment, hiring, training, performance appraisal, promotion and so on. The most significant challenges face by the businesses globally is managing and developing human capital in the international context.

The term international human resource management can be described as the set of activities that aim at managing the human resources at the international level that may also contribute in achieving the organizational goals at national as well as international levels. IHRM also includes the same activities that typical HRM includes. The only difference is that under this IHRM concept, all the activities are done at international level with some additional activities that include global skills management and expatriate management.

IHRM manages resources at international levels and applies at Multinational Companies (MNC). It includes managing the three types of employees which are as following:

Employees at home countries: the employees working at the corporate head quarters of the home countries.

Employees at host country: the employees working at the subsidiary of the nation.

Employees at third country: such employees do not belong to home country neither host country but these employees work at subsidiary or corporate head quarters.

This study aims at highlighting the concept of international human resource management and its implication in the globalized world and also the study intends at describing the content through the theoretical context and critical analysis. The study also describes the role of international assignments with the increase in the globalization and internationalization as the international and multinational companies are significantly involved in the international assignments due the rapid increase in the globalization.

Discussion

The world has become organizationally dependant where the activities are affected by national borders. This dependency had been seen when America went through the credit crunch but affected the businesses across the world. However, the major challenges that businesses face are the globalization power of businesses and the localizing powers of local economical indicators such as politics and culture. This is why understanding the international and comparative human resource management is essential. The human resources are the key components of any organization in the dynamic world. They are considered as the key success factors for international organizations in the entire world. All of the leading organizations have a huge range of workforce from overseas. Thus, the efficient management of the diverse workforce holds the immense importance in the success of an international organization.

The composition of workforce in international organizations is becoming the more complex with the diverse workforce as the majority of the employees in the multinational companies are expatriates or from the other country than that of the organizations. The companies are dependent on managers from diverse cultures and different nationalities to operate in various countries.

The strategic alliances and international mergers have also made the different workers from diverse cultures and ...