HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS WITHIN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Human Resource Managers within a Global Environment

Table of Content

Human Resource Managers within a Global Environment1

Purpose of the Research1

Scope of the Research1

Introduction1

RBV Theory2

Discussion4

Internal Firm Resources5

Proposition 16

Firm Relational Resources7

Proposition 28

Dynamic Capabilities from the Integration of Firm's Internal and Relational Resources9

Proposition 310

Extent of the Firm's Globalization11

Proposition 411

Heterogeneity of the Firm's Modes of Entry11

Proposition 512

Subsidiary Interdependence Across Countries12

Proposition 613

Inpatriate Managers as Substitutes and Complements to Expatriates in Global Organizations13

Strategic Utilization of Inpatriate Managers in SGHRM Systems16

Designing Inpatriate Policy Within a Firm's SGHRM Systems19

Conclusions23

Annotated Bibliography27

Scholarly Journals35

Human Resource Managers within a Global Environment

Purpose of the Research

The need for highly qualified multicultural managers will increase as more organizations globalize their operations. (Aaker 2004)These global managers may be perceived as organizational resources and, therefore, a resource-based view of human resource management is utilized. At the same time, relational view of human capital provides insight into the value of managers who have unique local market knowledge (i.e., social knowledge).

Scope of the Research

By integrating the two aspects of the resource-based view, one can develop a dynamic capabilities approach to staffing global assignments. Within this integrative theoretical perspective, inpatriate managers (i.e., host or third country managers who are transferred into the home country organization on a semi-permanent to permanent basis) can be explored as a potential pool of uniquely qualified global managers to be utilized in global organizations. (Adler 2000) It is envisioned that through this unique building of managerial talents, organizations can develop/maintain a distinct competitive advantage in the markets they enter. This article explores inpatriation as an innovative means to develop managers as strategic resources to be used in formulating and implementing a global strategic plan. (Taylor 1996)

Introduction

As globalization becomes the normative strategy for organizations, one of the critical success factors centers on amassing an adequate number of competent global managers to implement global strategies(Barney 2001). The skill set required of global managers to achieve success in a hyper-competitive global marketplace necessitates recalibrating the selection and training processes used in the past. A successful global manager will have to possess a complex amalgamation of technical, functional, cultural, social, and political skills (Bartlett; Bartlett; Bartlett and Ghoshal). (Peter 1993)Finding and retaining these managers in adequate numbers for the firm's strategic intent represents one of the major challenges for global human resource managers.

RBV Theory

Most of the performance assessment models such as MBNQA and EQA are based on fundamentals of quality management. Yet other models are built around different management fields. Such diverse models include operation-related world class manufacturing models, finance-related blue chip characteristics model, and strategic marketing-related competitive fitness model. In general, these excellence models could be divided into two parts: the enabling factors and the performance criteria section. It seems that different models proposed different factors that deem to affect the performance of the firms. One commonality associated with those models is that they combine a set of enablers that come within the organisational internal resources and a set of performance indicators that bring together financial standing and the satisfaction of important ...