International Human Resource Management and HRD

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Abstract

A comparison and contrast of two countries, China and Canada, is made, and the cultural and institutional variables that affect the application of human resource management techniques in each country are thoroughly discussed in this research. Due to the fact that Unilever plc is a British consumer products multinational business with headquarters in London as well as operations in China and Canada, the company was chosen to explain the developments. Therefore, the various cross-cultural theoretical applications are also made in the assignment for solving issues relating to HR functions in cross-cultural management. Therefore, the study also provides recommendations to HR managers for effectively working in a global workplace.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Effective human resource management contributes to greater satisfaction. Additionally, it encourages teamwork among workers by maintaining a healthy work environment. It promotes to professional development. Human resources that are effectively managed are critical to the success of any culture. IHRM is critical in managing workers from many geographical regions and nations (Baporikar, 2021). International human resources managers, like any other human resources team, are responsible for hiring workers, training, professional development, benefits, and legal compliance, but on a global scale. The business environment is always evolving, as is the human resource environment.

The changing environment in which human resource management operates include diverse workforce, economic and technological development, internationalization, Organisational restructuring, and changing patterns of employment and work (Cooke, 2018). As a result, difficulties have included the extent to which human resources are standardized, global industrial relations, time zone differences, cross-cultural differences and communications, expatriates’ adaptations, inflexibility, and job balance. The following assignment compares and contrasts two nations, China and Canada, and fully discusses the cultural and institutional factors that influence the implementation of human resource management methods in each. Unilever plc was selected to describe the changes since it is a British consumer goods multinational corporation with headquarters in London and operations in China and Canada.

2. Critical Evaluation of Human Resources Strategies for Firms Operating Across International Borders

2.1 Review of The Challenges Faced by The HR Function as Well as Issues Across National Boundaries

The HRM challenges that organizations across the borders are likely to face includes:

Global Workforce Management

The primary challenge that organizations worldwide face is understanding the social strata and categories from which new global employees are recruited, and also the training and educational systems that would them to be culturally and politically appropriate to serve consumers. Educational institutions are essential in this context, not just because they provide the raw material again for virtual service-based economy, but also because they generate social networks (including such old boys networks) that serve as a critical foundation for social organization and upward mobility among the new professional classes (Žilinskaite and Hajro, 2020). For instance, despite many setbacks, Unilever has developed and maintained a profitable company in China over the years. China’s political climate is complicated, so it took some time for Unilever to get a thorough understanding of the nation’s position and how the government typically acts.

Managing Diversity in the Workplace

Any firm’s future success is contingent upon its capacity to manage a broad pool of people capable of bringing novel ideas, viewpoints, and viewpoints to their job. If a company is able to leverage on this mixing pot of different skills, the difficulty and difficulties associated with workplace diversity may be converted into a strategic Organisational advantage (Figueroa et al., 2019). With a broad range of talents from diverse cultural origins, genders, generations, and lifestyles, an organisation may respond more quickly and creatively to commercial possibilities, especially in the large arena, that may be one of the company’s primary objectives. More crucially, if the corporate environment does not foster a culture of diversity, talent may be lost to rivals (Davies et al., 2021). Several of the difficulties inherent in managing diversity in a global workplace have included the following: Communication – Barriers of perception, cultural, and language must be addressed in order for diversity initiatives to thrive. Ineffective communication of critical goals leads in uncertainty, a lack of collaboration, and a poor morale.

2.2 Critical Analysis of Contemporary Issues as Well as Changing Pattern of Work Practices

The contemporary corporate environment presents new difficulties that impact many areas of management, particularly one of the most critical – human resource management. One of most commonly quoted challenges in contemporary human resource management are globalization, the economic and legal environment, workplace diversity as a result of globalization and demographic change, technical innovation, and changes in employees’ education level and expectations employment conditions (Figueroa et al., 2019). These variables both significantly influence human resource management strategies and their operational feasibility. Workers and employers alike face new difficulties as stakeholders manage the emergence of new technology in a changing business landscape, while companies strive to stay viable and retain workers healthy and strong. And with all the positive aspects that technology provides, it also comes difficulties. Telecommuting is one of the current issues confronting businesses today.

Telecommuting is a work arrangement that enables workers to do work remotely, often from their homes. The workforce structure is also evolving. The strength of information technology is culminating in the irreversible loss of employment in the middle layer and at the entry level. Additionally, individuals with limited industry-specific talents that are becoming obsolete, such as automotive employees, may face greater future re-education costs (Contreras, Baykal and Abid, 2020). For international teams in MNEs that are already acquainted with one another, the COVID-19 pandemic provides an excellent opportunity to promote cross-cultural team cohesiveness and to verify dependability expectations, because health-related stress is prevalent across the globe (Martin, 2020). Training to facilitate connection development would be viewed positively at this time, when each team member, regardless of nation, is facing a comparable stressor. The shared stress, worry, and frustrations may forge bonds that connect already collegial multinational teams even closer. This common feeling has the help to strengthen future cohesiveness.

3. Critical Assessment of The People Resources to Meet International Human Resources Needs Including Preparation, Expatriate Selection, Repatriation and Adjustment

3.1 Critical Assessment of HRM’s Approach to Expatriation and Repatriation

HRM Approaches to Expatriation

Home-Based Approach: The residence or balance sheet method is perhaps the most common and is utilised by Unilever throughout its corporate activities. The balance sheet method offers an expatriate pay scheme for foreign workers that measures the relative variations in costs among the appraisal and the same appraisal by the individual or business in China (Chiang et al., 2018). The budget method is based on a number of important considerations and is intended to safeguard expatriations from variations in cost across Canada and China.

Global Market Approach: All employees, whatever their native nation, are on the equal pay scale. This is a far more comprehensive attitude. The primary perks are given, irrespective of whatever nation the employee is allocated. Each method has advantages and disadvantages (Chiang et al., 2018). The targets of each task must be assessed before selecting the correct compensation method, among other questions. Differences in legislation, living expenses, tax rules and other issues must all be addressed when setting up expatriate remuneration.

HRM Approaches to Repatriation

Establishment of Regular Contact: Workers working on the deployment will concentrate on living abroad and developing relationships in Canada, but it may help them keep in constant touch with the household so that they do not experience isolated (Breitenmoser and Bader, 2021).

Provision of Welcome Packs ahead of their Return: In anticipation for their repatriation, it is important to give workers with more precise data. Create a ‘welcome package’ with the staff line managers at home and encompass any information that they believe to be important, for example modifications to law making, an up-to-date structure and new personnel information and organisational advancements (O’Donohue, Hutchings and Hansen, 2018). That way, when they return, they reach out and reduce any possible disappointments.

Social Involvement: It is very beneficial to include returning workers in all areas of organisational life. Call back workers and their companions to social gatherings and activities whenever feasible (Bader et al., 2019). This will go a long distance to convince people that they still belong to Unilever and its team.

Management of Expectation: The abilities of the repatriating staff are often sufficient that additional long-term tasks may be anticipated in close vicinity to prior jobs (O’Donohue, Hutchings and Hansen, 2018). Workers may assist them and their dependents ready themselves for the future practically and psychologically by informing them of this expectation as soon as feasible.

Follow-Up: A follow-up appointment with HR, planned 3 months following the return to work, is helpful for all sides (Breitenmoser and Bader, 2021). It gives workers the chance to express concerns or problems with their repatriation, to enable HR to resolve these objections and to prevent the loss of highly competent personnel.

3.2 Critical Evaluation Linking the Cultural Theories to The Impact of Comparative HRM Towards Expatriation and Repatriation Of Managers

Trompenaars Cultural Dimensions

Universalism Vs Particularism: The universalist culture in Canada significantly impacts the human resource manager of Unilever in order to recruit the expatriate and repatriate from a diverse culture (Cooke et al., 2019). On the other hand, during the business operation in the market of China, the organisation needs to follow particularism during to recruit only the local staff within their organisation.

Individualism Vs Communitarianism: During the operation of the business of Unilever in the market of Canada, the organisational HRM team needs to consider and fulfil individual’s needs to satisfy the employees (Sanders and De Cieri, 2021). On the other hand, in China, the organisational HRM team of Unilever needs to communicate the specific outcomes and motivations among all the employees.

Specific Vs Diffuse: Moreover, due to the impact of specific culture in the market of Canada, Unilever’s HRM team provides the flexibility to the employee for maintaining the personal and professional life separately as their needs (Fan et al., 2021). On the other hand, in the market of China, during the business operation of Unilever, the organisation provides another facility to the employees. Due to this, the employees in China have been able to interconnect the personal and professional life.

Neutral Vs Affective: During the organisational business operation of Unilever in the market of Canada, the HRM team considers people effectively without getting the knowledge about their emotions (Tahir, 2018). However, in China, the people tend to share their emotions. Due to this, the organisation gets knowledge about maintaining the employees.

Achievement Vs Ascription: Due to the impact of achievement culture, the expatriate and repatriate have been able to earn their status by their knowledge and skills in Canada (Fan et al., 2021). On the other hand, in China, due to the impact of ascription culture, Unilever is obliged to provide promotions by analysing the background information.

Sequential Time Vs Synchronous Time: Through getting the impact of sequential time, the HRM team of Unilever in Canada sees the people to develop and perform and deliver their task on selected time (Sanders and De Cieri, 2021). On the other hand, in the case of China, people tend to analyse past, present and future. In this aspect, the HRM team always provide their performance history to them for better their skills.

Internal Direction Vs External Direction: Within the internal direction culture in Canada, people thinks that they control their environment to meet with their objectives (Cooke et al., 2019). On the other hand, in China, the HRM team of Unilever set effective objectives for the people through this, they work with their environment to get their goals.

Institutional Theory

Educational Drivers: While settlement patterns thus seem to be particularly dynamic in the field of education, the reformation of learning and training excellence are also the result of extremely situational and peculiar variables that influence the field of education in various nations. These include political inheritance, the regional democratic economics and the sociological of the relationship between people and states (Popkova, 2018). The primary motivations for reforming the education system are therefore a mix of factors and players in the political array and in the educational policy arena. In this chapter, the next parts combine analyses throughout these two areas like Canada and China in order to consolidate and further expand the important results from empirical examples.

Financial Drivers: In Canada, argument persists over user charges to increase quality by reintegrating the parents in the organisational performance of Unilever. The way to fund costs of learning and the impact this has on performance in education have become politicised in different ways in the case of individual countries. In China, funding was politized in order to guarantee that poorer students get scholarships to compensate for direct expenses and represent a significant portion of public education expenditure (Alvesson and Spicer, 2019). While the government pay officially for education in all these nations, parental participation is anticipated, informally or not; additional payments for additional school tuition may be levied at school level in order to increase exercise.

Legal Drivers: In addition, institutional and idolatry legacies in society mitigate the effect of political settlements on the education field. Political rivalry or political domination is partially affected by institutional arrangements, such as bureaucratic capabilities, pre-existing in any particular environment at both the national and sub-national levels, and how they are implemented in reality (Popkova, 2018). Likewise, the policy legacies derived from earlier political settlement iterations also affect the nature of the reform demands and how changes are executed.

Political Systems: Local policy-makers, who want to capitalise on ‘free education’ pledges and identify with the leading leader, frequently hinder other stakeholders from seeking innovative solutions to urgent Unilever finance challenges (Van Wijk et al., 2019). Better-performance organisation, by doing more like the schools of the more competitive and decentralised systems of China and Canada, tended to ignore the presidential commitment for “free” education and entered into agreements with parents, whereby they share costs for increased parental supervision.

4. Critical Evaluation of The Key HRD Theories and Concepts Impacting Global Leaders

4.1 Critical Evaluation of Contemporary HRD Issues in Relation to The Selected Organisation

Interpersonal conflict in the everyday socialisation of workers is another important role of the department of human resources. The element of diversification has provided numerous advantages for businesses particularly in the modern environment of Unilever, but again it has a lot of difficulties. The department of human resources has to develop in the way it manages workers from various backgrounds because of a different demography and a perceptible variation in views and viewpoints (Mcdonnell and Sikander, 2017). Disputes have developed during the socialisation procedures and the job of the management of human resources is to deal with conflicts in the friendliest manner, without violating the interests of any worker engaged.

It addresses some of the key business elements, including efficiency, and a firm would trouble with production efficiency without a functioning Human Resources Department. Likewise, it affects the temporal variations in personnel now taking place and the job of human-resource management is to control any problem resulting from the resulting conflicts (Figueroa et al., 2019). In addition, communication may be profoundly impacted by the inability of managers of human resources to regulate the interaction of workers, thereby affecting one of the most important drivers of success for any organisation or business.

4.2 Impact of The HRD Issues on The Expatriates as Well as Global Leaders

Obviously, the household is essential for expatriation and thus the function of support from family is essential. The author says that the household is also facing some difficulties to reflect on as both wives should leave their jobs and handle solitude concerns. Children may have problems and may not adjust well to their new environment at school (Maley, Moeller and Ting, 2020). The expatriate family plays an important role not just in adjustment, however in the entire purpose. These writers also noted that it may originally be helpful if the families are transferred to the host nation, but if misappropriated and not encouraged, the expatriate and therefore the business can have significant difficulties.

4.3 Critical Evaluation of Cross-Cultural Training and Development for Global Leaders and Expatriates

Cross-cultural learning, managing diversity and foreign accent training are didactic possibilities. This section also contains official academic initiatives like e-learning self-study programmes, distance-learning, corporate workshops given by specialists on the topic, leadership development programmes sponsored by companies, and programmes provided by academia. These studies include foreign finance, administration of projects, cultures and linguistics. Personalised training, mentorship, foreign travel and immersive programmes are experiential possibilities (Lai and Yang, 2017). Many international leading companies, such as Unilever, have developed global leadership training programmes with workers working in various nations and, therefore, international tasks are naturally part of the worldwide leadership development programmes. This further indicates that worldwide leadership tasks vary from expatriates’ tasks and are just one component of learning and experience for global leadership advancement initiatives in companies.

5. Critical Comparison of Cultural Models in Relation to Modern International Business Problems

5.1 Critical Evaluation of Different Dimension of Culture and The Global Study on Leadership

Cultural dimensions define the degree to which cultural groups vary substantially in terms of psychological characteristics such as beliefs, values, self-concepts, character, and actions. Canada obtains a score of 52 on this dimension, indicating that it is a fairly “Masculine” society. Canada’s corporate culture is a combination of tendencies from the Americas, the United Kingdom, and France; activities vary by nation and area (Ferraro, 2021). The majority of Canadians have such a deep attachment to their province. However, the business world is guided by the values of tolerance, diversity, and fairness.

The Chinese Culture’s welcomes are governed by certain regulations. A little bow as well as a gentle nod of the head. As such, China is a collectivist society, whereas the United States is more individualistic. At the age of 66, China is indeed a Masculine society — one that is goal-oriented and determined. The urge to succeed is demonstrated by the fact that many Chinese would forego family and leisure time in order to work. Before starting a company, the Chinese prefer to meet their partner. They pay several visits to their counterparts for meals, trips, or consultations before moving on to business discussions (Hampden-Turner, Trompenaars, and Hampden-Turner, 2020). They manage businesses based on cordial relationships with its coworkers. They adore bargaining. One must have faith and be patient. Although signing an agreement is required, it is also common for parties to renegotiate, even now in small disputes. McDonald’s, for instance, has been offering franchises across China. This strategy has been instrumental in the company’s global expansion. The franchise market allowed the organization to grow rapidly and outperform its competitors, since it is a well-known brand.

5.2 Implications of Hofstede’s Dimensions of National Cultures

Hofstede based his cultural model mainly on variations in values and attitudes about job objectives.

“POWER DISTANCE”

This aspect addresses the reality that not every people in cultures are equal; it reflects the culture’s stance toward these disparities. With a score of 39 on this category, Canadian country is influenced by interdependence and a strong emphasis on equality. China is ranked 80 on the PDI, indicating that it is a society that accepts disparities between individuals.

“INDIVIDUALISM”

This dimension is centrally concerned with the degree of interconnectedness that a society retains among its participants. Canada achieves a total rating of 80 on this category (its highest score) and may be described as an Individualist culture(Ferraro, 2021). China, with a score of 20, is a strongly collectivist society wherein individuals behave in the group’s interests, not necessarily their own.

“MASCULINITY”

A high score (Masculine) on this aspect suggests that the society will be motivated by rivalry, accomplishment, and success, with success defined as the “winner” or “best-in-class.” Canada receives a score of 52 on this dimension, indicating that it is a fairly “Masculine” society (Hampden-Turner, Trompenaars, and Hampden-Turner, 2020). Whereas China, at 66, is a Masculine society — goal-oriented and motivated on achievement.

“UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE”

The extent to which people of a culture perceive themselves to be endangered by ambiguous or uncertain circumstances and have developed ideas and organizations to avoid them is represented in the Uncertainty Avoidance score. Canada ranks 48 on this dimension, indicating that its culture is more open to “uncertainty.”

“LONG TERM ORIENTATION”

This dimension explains how each society must retain some connections to its history while resolving current and future problems, and how cultures priorities those two existential objectives differently (Nakphin, Po-In, and Kongrungchok, 2019). Canada has a score of 36 on this metric, suggesting that it is a normative society. On the other hand, China scores badly on Uncertainty Avoidance at the age of 30.

“INDULGENCE”

Canadian culture is characterized as Indulgent due to its high rating of 68 in this category. As a consequence, China receives an 87 on this dimension, indicating that it is a very pragmatic society.

6. Recommendations

The following recommendations are suggested for HR managers to effectively function and manage global workforce:

Aligning company strategy with external and internal environmental factors. For particular, it is critical for human resource managers to evaluate how their present strategy fits with economic developments (i.e., external variables) and the assumption of a good return on investment when it comes to training and development expenditures (i.e., internal factors).

Human resource managers are needed to review critical areas and the requirement for training. Furthermore, it assists in reducing the many training expenses associated with the workforce (Nakphin, Po-In, and Kongrungchok, 2019). Training and development must be carried out because of effect on change management’s participation in business processes.

When done regularly and appropriately, annual evaluations and reviews may be very useful instruments for analyzing the workforce’s capacity and capabilities. As a result, I propose that organizations embrace a pay-for-performance culture in order to increase employee productivity.

7. Conclusion

Thus, by efficiently analysing the entire study, it is concluded that in recent years, the shifting international business environment has prompted companies that operate in the global business community to expand their emphasis on skilled leaders in their international business activities for high roles. This chapter therefore addressed the necessity for worldwide human resources development efforts to identify workers recognised by companies as high potential for competent international leaders.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Cultural Dimension Score of Canada

Appendix 2: Cultural Dimension Score of China

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