1. Introduction
Name the greatest accomplishment of the last century. Landing on the moon?
Computers? 2 And what awaits us in the new millennium? Working and
shopping without ever stepping out of our homes? Flying to any destination of
our choice in automatically piloted flying cars? The possibilities are immense.
All major achievements and technological advances have a common feature:
organizations (Hill, 2007, p.05).
Organization‟s resources are men, material, machine, money, method,
information, time.
I am Charminda Sampath, worked at Derana TV in Sri Lanka since 2005 to 2008.
England and Sri Lanka cricket match was live telecasted at 9am to 5pm and
highlights should be telecasted at 11pm on the same day. Telecasting highlights
really important because it is a weekday and Sri Lanka won the match.
Unfortunately at about 5pm the edited program of highlights was lost because of
computer hard disk crashed. CEO with management decided not to telecast and
company will lost big money from sponsors. But I went on to them and told I can
do this. Eight hours program should minimize in to one and half hour with
commercials. I think in a different way and I captured only important footages
within first two and half hours without capturing whole 8 hours in to computer in
order to time consume. Then I edited that into 20 minutes and kept 2 commercial
breaks every 10 minutes and send that to the station and requested from the
station to make lengthy commercial breaks with upcoming programs so we have
enough time to edit and transfer into cassettes (Usually we send whole one and
half hour program with commercial breaks in a one cassette). Again I captured
only important shots from 2nd
two hours and did the same. Ultimately we
achieved our goal because of human ability to think, react, organize and
decisions making power. So we need a process to manage this resource which is
human.
“Human resource management is the process of managing human talent to
achieve an organization‟s objectives”(Snell, Bohlander and Vohra, 2012, p.04).
2. “Somebody asked me a couple of years ago, „Why do we spend so much
timetalking about the business outside of the United State?‟ and I said, „That‟s
because that‟s where most of the people live. It‟s that simple. It‟s simply a fact of
income.-Donald R. Keough, past president and chief operating officer of Coca-
Cola”(Cullen, 2001, p. 03).
“International business systems are complex and dynamic and require competent
people to develop and direct them” (Czinkota, Moffett, Ronkainen,2005, p.627).
So “when applied to the international setting, the HRM functions become
international human resource management (IHRM)” (Cullen, 2001, p.428).
“International human resource management is the process of managing people
across international boundaries by multinational companies. It involves the
worldwide management of people, not just the management of expatriates”
(Armstrong, 2009, p.151).
“Process of employing and developing people in international organizations which
are operating globally” (Maund, 2001, p.01).
Art of Leveraging the way of thinking of people of complex and dynamic on
earthto content investors without harming the planet, this is the way I defined
IHRM.
Read whole assignment to find out, why Indian male was stabbed? What happen
to who was on death row? Why Canadian factories were shut down? What
Indonesian girls doing in Qatar?
Managing in the global environment
“Companies that remain „domestic only‟ -That is, companies that do business
only within their own country are already falling behind their multinational
competitors” (Cullen, 2001, p.03).
3. When the HRM functionsgo beyond national borders, HRM managers face a
complex and dynamic problems, which differ from country to country.
“One of the most effective tools in achieving this is cross-border teams consisting
of members of multiple nationalities”(Czinkota, Ronkainen and Moffett, 2005,
p.629).
Expatriate employees come from a different country than where they are
working. The expatriate employees who come from the parent firm‟s home
country are called home country nationals. The expatriate workers who come
from neither the host nor home countries are called third country nationals.
Local workers come from the host country, where the unit (plant, sales unit,
etc.) is located. We call these workers host country nationals (Cullen, 2001,
p.428-429).
I learned lot about other nations when I was working as an A/V Technician at
Falcon Club in Qatar in 2004. Cleaning staff is from Nepal because Arabic
believes that Nepal people are lack of education compare to other Asians. In
Qatar alcohols are prohibited, to get dopey they devour hair gels. Most of them
have more than one wife in back home, they don‟t worry about sending money to
their wife and lazy to learn. Waitresses are from Indonesia. All of were between
20 and 25 years old and have fake passports because females below 30 years
old cannot enter to work. Most of them are the prostitute for expatriates. All the
supervisor and managerial positions were held by Indians their subordinates
were Sri Lankans. Indians are eager to learn and have close relationship with top
layer (Qatari) to get promotions. Indians want to send whole salary to their wife
and save money for their brothers and sisters marriage. Most Sri Lankans don‟t
sendwhole salary to back home and keep some for drink cologne to get drunk,
sing and dance at their accommodation.
To manage these teams to achieve common goal need HR functions of planning,
recruitment, staffing, job design, training/development, performance
management, benefits and labor relations. The way applies these functions get
differ from country to country.
4. There are 3 national or country categories involve in IHRM activities. “The host
country where a subsidiary may be located, the home country where the head
office is located and „other‟ countries that may be suppliers of labor”
(Aswathappa, Dash, 2008,p.66).
There are four basic types of organizations which operate internationally.
“The international corporation is essentially a domestic firm that builds on its
existing capabilities to penetrate overseas markets. They essentially adapted
existing products for overseas markets without changing much else about their
normal operations” (Snell, Bohlander and Vohra, 2012,p.506).
The basic difference between a multinational and a transnational lies in the
fact that transnational company is borderless, as it does not consider any
particular country as its base, home or headquarters, Multinational companies,
though having a parent country and a centralized decision making process,
adopts a selling strategy that is unique to every other country where it has
investments (Olivia, 2011).
“When a company goes global, it means that they have branches and offices in
many countries, and their products are distributed worldwide” (Emelda, 2011).
“But, offers the same product or service with only minor changes in the local
market” (http://www.ehow.com/info_8219768_multidomestic-vs-global-strategic-
plans.html, no date).
“Foreign (individual nations‟) environmental factors can have a dramatic impact
on international business. The factors include the cultural environment, the
economic environment, the legal and political environment, as well as the
competition, trade barriers, fluctuating monetary exchange rates, and labor
relations” (Rodrigues, 2000, p.77).
Primark is the Major retail group operating stores in the UK and Ireland.
This is the place I bought my clothes, pillow and bed sheets when I was in U.K. in
2008 to 2009 because of cheap prize and latest fashion. Primark have the cutting
and sewing done in India because of low labor cost, cheap child labor and
5. materials. In London growing population is Sri Lanka born Tamils, who came as
refugees because of Sri Lanka had a civil war. Refugees deserve free education,
house and medical. They achieved highest from these benefits and studied well.
Most of them are doctors, lawyers, petrol shed owners and running off license
shops in around the U.K.
“The immediate expected result is that with tariffs eliminated, high-tech exports to
Europe from Asia and the United States should double. Prices should go down
on products such as phones, faxes, and computers that are produced in tariff-free
locations (WTO 2000a)”(Cullen, 2001, p.09).
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) meant considerable
initialpain to the Canadian economy causing as many as 8,000 Canadian
factories to shut down in the early 1990s. At the same time, multinational firms
are increasingly locating their new plants in countries such as Mexico, India,
and China because of cheap labor (Hill, 2007,p.07).
International Staffing
“Recruitment is the process of locating potential individuals who might join an
organization and encouraging them to apply for existing or anticipated job
openings” (Snell, Bohlander and Vohra, 2012, p.147).
“The methods of recruitment open to a business are often categorized into two.
Internal recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from within its
existing workforce. External recruitment is when the business looks to fill the
vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business” (Riley, 2012).
“Staffing strategy is likely to vary between the manufacturing and service
industries. Service industries such as banking, insurance, and law often hire
locals because these people know the practices required to operate the foreign
subsidiary effectively” (Rodrigues, 2000, p.250).
“Staffing strategy is not only varying between the manufacturing and service
“whether the investment is for a short or a long term. If it is for a short term, the
6. firm may utilize the expatriate approach because there is no time to develop
locals; if it is for a long term, it may use a development of-locals approach”
(Rodrigues, 2000, p.250).
“Staffing strategy should consider the level of “technological sophistication and
the amount of research needed to sustain it affect staffing strategy. If the level is
high, an expatriate may be required. Furthermore, if the enterprise is protective of
its technology, it is likely to use expatriates to avoid sharing private information”
(Rodrigues, 2001, p.250).
In year 2008 because of economic crisis in Europe, staffing strategies became
innovative. I worked for U.S.A. Ari base, Bagram, Afghanistan in 2011 as an
Administrative Assistant. My salary is US $ 1150 per month; can get one month
paid vacation after 2 years only. Similar job description doing by U.S.A. citizens
receives US $ 10,000 per month in Air Base with 21 days paid vacation every 3
months.
“Selection is the process of choosing individuals who have relevant qualifications
to fill existing or projected job openings” (Snell, Bohlander and Vohra, 2012,
p.202).
“That result in Ford, the goal is to have 100 percent of the top managers with
international work experience with the company” (Czinkota, Moffett, Ronkainen,
2005, p.628).
As you might imagine, selection practices vary around the world. In the United
States, managers tend to emphasize merit, with the best-qualified person
getting the job. In other countries, however, firms tend to hire on the basis of
family ties, social status, language, and common origin. The candidate who
satisfies these criteria may get the job even if otherwise unqualified (Snell,
Bohlander, Vohra, 2012, p.517).
7. Training and Development
“Sri Lankan youth is facing death for having worshipped a Buddha statue in Saudi
Arabia” (Sri Lanka Mirror, 2012). That is a good example of enter to a country
without learn their culture, God‟s law.
An example of, enter to a country without a training of the related job. “Sri Lankan
housemaid Rizana Nafeek who was on death row has been executed in Saudi
Arabia. The infant in her care had choked and died while being bottle fed on 25th
May, 2005” (Silva, 2013).
Before go to work in a foreign country, governmentmustteach past incidents to
protect human resource. “Sri Lankan housemaid has accused her Kuwaiti
employer of hammering 14 nails into her body, in the second such incident in the
past few months, a local doctor said” (http://www.lankabusinessonline.com,
2010).
Providing language and cultural training is another important activity.“A
multilingual salesperson can explain the advantages of a product in other
languages, but a multicultural salesperson can motivate foreigners to buy it.
That‟s a critical difference”(Rodrigo, 2000, P.31).
This example determine you the degree of complexity of training and
development for expatriates, when I was in U.S.A. Air Base in Afghanistan, an
Indian male was stabbed by an Indian male colleague. The reason for stabbing is
both Indians having sex with one Philippines male. All 3 males have been
working for one year without a vacation and U.S.A bases in Afghanistan there is
no female Asian expatriate.
Performance Management
I worked for Derana TV only for Rs.18, 000 per month, worked for Falcon Club in
Qatar for QR 800 (Rs.24, 000) with free food and accommodation, worked at
Bombay Medical Center in Oman for OR 200 (Rs.40, 000) without food and
8. accommodation, worked in Avenance Restaurant in U.K. for £ 5.5 (Rs.1, 500) per
hour with free one meal and when I was in U.S.A. Air base I earned US $1,150
per month with free 3 meals per day, uniforms and accommodation.
“Performance management is a process, typically performed annually by a
supervisor for a subordinate, designed to help employees understand their roles,
objectives, expectations, and performance success” (Snell, Bohlander and Vohra,
2012, p.308).
Some of performance appraisal methods are “Critical incident method, Weighted
checklist method, Paired comparison analysis, Essay Evaluation method,
Behaviorally anchored rating scales, Performance ranking method,Management
By Objectives (MBO) method, 360 degree performance appraisal, andBehavioral
Observation Scales” (YourHRWorld.Com, 2009) .
Performance evaluations allow managers to help employees with career
development. Performing an unbiased evaluation can point out where
employees are excelling and the areas needing improvement. Performance
evaluations give managers a chance to recognize employees who performed
well during the evaluated year. Recognizing employees for their achievements
builds their morale, and employees with high morale are more productive
(http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-performance-
evaluation-21143.html).
I hope this assignment will benefit for employees and employers to satisfy human
needs and wants without harming our planet.
Conclusion
To satisfy human needs and wants while protecting planet we need international
businesses.“Foreign environmental factors can have a dramatic impact on
international business. The factors include the cultural environment, the
economic environment, the legal and political environment, as well as the
competition, trade barriers, fluctuating monetary exchange rates, and labor
relations” (Rodrigues, 2000, p.77).Ultimately we achieved our goalsfrom men,
9. money, methods, materials, machines, information and time using HR functions
of planning, Recruitment, staffing, job design, training/development,
performancethrough human ability to think, react, organize and decisions making
power
.
References
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McGrawHillEducation[Online]. Available at: http://highered.mcgraw-
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April 2013).
2. Snell, S. Bohlander, G. and Vohra V (2012) Human Resource
Management A South-Asian Perspective. India: Seventh Indian.
3. Rodrigues, C. (2000) International Management A Cultural Approach. 2nd
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4. Czinkota, M.R. Ronkainen, I.A. and Moffett, M.H. (2005) International
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(Accessed: on 3 May 2013).
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2013).
13.Silva,D. (2013) „Rizana Nafeek executed, Daily Mirror, 09 January
[Online]. Available at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/24864-rizana-nafeek-
executed-.html, (Accessed: on 3 May 2013).
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