Research paper on International HRM

1. Cultural models in the context of international HRM  in the multinational enterprise

Briscoe & Schuler (2004, pp.114-115) point out that the culture has a large impact over HRM. The international human resource management encounters difficult challenges in various regions and cultures.  It has to be specified that cultural characteristics found in different countries, and in different MNEs, vary significantly from each other.  (Briscoe & Schuler, 2004, pp.114-115)

The understanding of the cultural context is crucial, because in order to achieve successful outcome, HR managers have to modify their own behaviors and their approach to organization to be more effective. (Briscoe & Schuler, 2004, p.116) Taking into account cultural differences between countries and their importance in the modern business world, awareness and understanding o the cultural context actually allows HR team to coordinate the international HR strategy and fulfill their international responsibilities more efficiently than before.

Issues related to the culture include the following: culture shock, failure to adjust to a different culture and/or living conditions, family isolation and alienation, uncertain or inadequate career pathing, failure to gain acceptance in the new location, lack of role clarity in the new work environment, special problems with dual career families, amplification and exaggeration of internal family problems. (Yusoff, Abdullah & Baharom, 2010, p.3)

2. Culture competence

Human resources assets are the current talent, policies, programs, organization structure, culture and capacity to manage diversity. This part of analysis requires a special sensitivity to culture and the realization that unit cultures may be different from the corporate culture. The wrong culture can be a barrier to organizational and technical change, but the right culture can be a huge advantage in terms of change, flexibility and having a competitive edge in the marketplace. This world contains a kaleidoscope of individuals and cultures: people have a wide range of ethnic identification, religion, material reality, beliefs and behaviors that lead to rich diversity and cultural complexity.

The world is dramatically changing and so is the workplace.  Immigrants including expats, women, and minorities become the largest part of the global workforce. That’s is why, according to a number of reliable studies, such closely connected issues as ”˜managing diversity’ and ”˜cultural sensitivity’ play huge roles in the overall success of the whole organization. In order to achieve a market success, to become a leading company of its segment, organization should focus on managing culturally diverse groups and also on the efficient recruiting, training, and promotion of culturally diverse employees.  Silverthorne (2005) indicates that cultural differences play crucial role in understanding of social and organizational behavior. It means that culture is an important determinant of behavior.   Several important aspects of cross-cultural management are influenced by cultural differences. For instance, in accordance to some studies of organizational behavior, culture is significant and often defining factor in the daily life of organization.