Geocentric Approach to IHRM: Case Study

The assignment discusses the ineffectiveness of ethnocentrism in managing international human resources, particularly in cross-cultural management. It explores the geocentric approach as an effective alternative, where local managers are hired based on talent rather than nationality. A case study of a French multinational company is presented to illustrate the importance of adapting HR practices to local contexts and the benefits of adopting a geocentric approach.

Running head: CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Cross Cultural Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Brief description of the paper being evaluated..........................................................................2
3.0 Theory and Literature................................................................................................................3
4.0 Research Approach....................................................................................................................4
5.0 Researchers’ Findings and Conclusions....................................................................................5
6.0 Implications for individuals involved in cross-cultural management........................................6
Reference List..................................................................................................................................8

2CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
1.0 Introduction
Cross cultural management is the approach of managing the human resources across the
national boundaries having different cultural norms and practice (Kamoche 1996). This report
will evaluate an article based on the restructuring process of organizational culture from
ethnocentric to geocentric approach. This article has conducted a research on Lemma Group,
who has expanded to several Anglo-Saxon countries. The report will first provide a brief
description of the article being evaluated. It will describe the topic of the article, the research
undertaken in the article and some more. The report will critically evaluate the theory and
literature undertaken in this particular article. Moreover, this section will critically evaluate the
theories, models and concepts used in this article for comparing their relevance with the topic of
the article. Apart from that, the research approach used in this article will also be evaluated in
this report. It will highlight the advantages and limitation of the undertaken research methods in
this article. On the other hand, the report will effectively highlight the findings and conclusion of
the article. At last, the report will be highlighting on the implication of individuals involved in
cross cultural management.
2.0 Brief description of the paper being evaluated
The topic of the article is based on the restricting of multinational organization from an
ethnocentric approach to geocentric approach for better international human resource
management. The author has undertaken a research on a French multinational company for
exploring its restructuring process of organizational culture from ethnocentric approach to
geocentric approach on international boundaries. Moreover, the findings of the article have
suggested that the Lemma Group faced extreme difficulties by applying ethnocentric approach in

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managing the employees of Anglo-Saxon subsidiaries. The France organizational culture is
having high level of power distribution, where the organizational power is centralized among the
high level managers. However, the Anglo-Saxon organizations follow formalized organizational
culture, where the organizational power is equally distributed. In such situation, the France
managers will be able to manage the employees in Anglo-Saxon subsidiaries having different
organizational culture. The response collected from data collected process indicates timing and
size issue of organization in IHRM in relation to ethnocentric approach. Hence, it is suggested
for the organization to restructure into geocentric approach for better cross cultural management
in IHRM.
3.0 Theory and Literature
The comprehension of international human resource management (IHRM) is dependent
on the avoidance of its contextual isolation. According to Muratbekova-Touron (2008), the
policies and practices of IHRM are influenced through the strategy and structure and cultural and
institutional environment. The national culture and country of origin of the organizations highly
influence on the practices of IHRM. On the other hand, Schuler et al. (2002) opined that the
organizational culture of subsidiary organizations is formulated through greater link between
national and foreign culture. The topic of the research is to explore the inefficiency of apply
ethnocentric approach in managing IHRM of Lemma Group and highlighting the effectiveness of
Geocentric approach. However, the author has majorly highlighted the theory of Hofstede
cultural dimension. Moreover, instead of highlight the theories and concept of ethnocentrism and
geocentric approach, the author has overemphasized on Hofstede cultural dimension.

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Muratbekova-Touron (2008) has opined out the traditional and existing organizational
hierarchy of France, which explored centralization and respected distance between the
subordinates and superiors. Moreover, the organizational culture of France has existence of
several rule and regulations. On the other hand, McSweeney (2002) opined that the
organizational culture of Anglo-Saxon are formalized having less stringent rule and regulations.
In such situation, the employees from France will be facing mush difficulties in adjusting with
the formalized working culture of Anglo-Saxon countries (Brock 2005). The focus the research
paper is to highlight the inefficiencies of ethnocentrism in IHRM. Moreover, the author wanted
to explore the effectiveness of geocentric approach in managing the international human
resources of Lemma Company. In such situation, Hofstede cultural model is effective enough to
understand the cultural difference between two countries, but it does not provide any idea about
the ineffectiveness of ethnocentric approach in IHRM. The author should have to concentrate on
the theories and concept of ethnocentrism and geocentric approach for analyzing their influence
on international human resource management. Moreover, the author should also have to make a
comparison between the ethnocentric approach and geocentric approach in terms of managing
international human resources.
4.0 Research Approach
The main research proposition was to understand the Lemma organization culture where
the three characteristics that were focused were authority, particularistic culture and high-context
culture. As per the methodology that was designed for the research, it is confirm that direct
participation andobservation using one particular individual has been the main subject. On the
other hand, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers to find the highest
frequency of keywords. Considering organizational culture, it can be said that this factor is

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completely dependent on the people who are operating and communicating within the
organization either formally or informally (Ngo et al. 1998). The main respondent on this
research acted as one of the team members who observed how people responded and how one’s
perception about culture differed from other. However, since major findings of the research was
dependent on one individual who acted as a per time employee, it can be considered as a biased
response, which is a limitation.
The semi-structured interviews were conducted as per critical incidenttechnique. Here 24
respondents were interviewed with coding as the form of category. Since managers from
different divisions and group were interviewed, hence the biasness possibility was negligible
(Aycan 2005). On the other hand, in order to understand the prevailing culture, Hofstede cultural
dimensions along with other famous cultural aspects were considered, which are found to be the
most eminent in human resource literature. The results were analyzed for each dimension where
frequency percentage was considered as the main outcome. The percentages of each dimensions
were categorized in low, moderate, high and very high based on the number of times responded
by managers. Therefore, it can be said that this critical incident technique using coding method
was more advantageous than observation approach as the error possibility was very less. It would
have been better if questionnaires were developed according to quantitative approach as close
ended questions would deliver more accurate response for each dimension, which could have
been later statistically analyzed.
5.0 Researchers’ Findings and Conclusions
The findings of the research paper suggest that Lemma Group underwent major
restructuring process in forming their international human resource culture. Moreover, majority

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of respondents have highlighted that the ethnocentric approach increased the size of
organizations in terms of human resources, geographical spreads and costs. Moreover, this
approach is used to send France managers of this organization for managing the Anglo-Saxon
subsidiaries. 56% of interviewed managers of the organizations have highlighted the size issues
associated with the ethnocentric approach. Having pluralistic nature in ethnocentrism approach
ultimately increased the size of the organization due to centralized management of the company.
60% of interviewed managers have highlighted the necessity of formalization in for coping up
with the structural changes in organizational culture. Supervising huge managerial network with
centralized approach leads to time issue for the organization to manage international human
resources. Hence, restructuring of organizational culture is extremely important for the
organization through geocentric approach. In such approach, the organization will hire local
managers based on their talent irrespective of their nationality for controlling the operations of
international subsidiaries.
The conclusion of the study is constructed based on the observation, interviews and
documentation of the information regarding the IHRM of Lemma Group. Moreover, conclusion
based on such firsthand information has led to its validity with regards to the research topic. The
findings of this article have properly highlighted major cultural differences between France and
Anglo-Saxon organization. Such findings are directed linked with the Hofstede cultural
dimension discussed in the literature review of the article.
6.0 Implications for individuals involved in cross-cultural management
The article has properly highlighted the ineffectiveness of ethnocentrism approach in
managing the international human resources. However, the article has some flaws like lack of

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proper theories related to ethnocentrism and geocentric approach in literature review. However,
the findings and conclusion of the research paper can be extremely useful for the organizations
focusing on international expansion and cross cultural management on international basis. This
article has explored that ethnocentric approach is ineffective for international human resource
management. Moreover, the article has suggested geocentric approach for IHRM, where the
multinational organizations should hire local manager based on their talented and irrespective of
their nationality.
Such interesting findings can help a lot to the multinational organizations in their IHRM
practices for reducing the timing issues and size issues international business operations and
cross cultural management. Moreover, the multinational organizations will get effective
strategies for effectively managing the human resources of subsidiaries in the international
countries. The article perfectly resonates with the conclusion of my learning experience
regarding intercultural working. It has broadened the concepts of intercultural working through
adopting with local culture of subsidiary organizations.

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Reference List
Aycan, Z., 2005. ‘‘The interplay between cultural and institutional/structural contingencies in
human resource management practices’’, International Journal of Human Resource Management,
Vol. 16 No. 7, pp. 1083-119.
Brock, D., 2005. ‘‘Multinational acquisition integration: the role of National culture in creating
synergies’’, International Business Review, Vol. 14, pp. 269-88.
Kamoche, K., 1996. ‘‘The integration-differentiation puzzle: a resource-capability perspective in
international human resource management’’, International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 230-44.
McSweeney, B., 2002. ‘‘The essentials of scholarship: a reply to Geert Hofstede’’, Human
Relations, Vol. 55 No. 11, pp. 1363-73.
Muratbekova-Touron, M., 2008. From an ethnocentric to a geocentric approach to IHRM: The
case of a French multinational company. Cross Cultural Management: An International
Journal, 15(4), pp.335-352.
Ngo, H.-Y., Turban, D., Lau, C.-M. and Lui, S.-Y., 1998 ‘‘Human resource practices and firm
performance of multinational corporations: influences of country origin’’, International Journal
of Human Resource management, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 632-52.
Schuler, R.S., Budhwar, P.S. and Florkowski, G.W., 2002. ‘‘International human resource
management: review and critique’’, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 4, No.
1, pp. 41-70