IHRM Assessment: Complexity, Cultural Environment, and Market Reliance

This IHRM assessment discusses the complexity, cultural environment, and extent of reliance on the home country domestic market in international human resource management. It explores the challenges and differences between domestic and international HRM practices, using examples from companies like Apple Inc. and Google. The assessment also highlights the importance of managing cultural differences and the impact of market reliance on HRM operations.

IHRM Assessment

Table of Contents
IHRM Assessment...........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Complexity..................................................................................................................................3
Cultural Environment..................................................................................................................5
Extent of reliance of the multinational on its home country domestic market............................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
International Human Resource Management means hiring, organising, utilizing and
retaining human resources in international business. IHRM interplays three important activities
which are HR activities, country where business is operating and type of employees. This report
will discuss three dimension of IHRM which make it different from domestic HRM these are
complexity, cultural environment and extent of reliance of multinational on its home country
domestic market. Complexity which means difficulty of operation and in international HRM
operations are difficult to carry out than domestic HRM. This includes various elements like
compliance with HRM regulations and complex hiring process. Cultural environment is also
important variable in domestic and international HRM. Reliance of multinationals on its home
country domestic environment is also an variable as excessive reliance make it difficult to adopt
other country’s culture whereas adequate reliance ensures that management of thee organisation
is able to adapt to culture of another country where the company is operating.
MAIN BODY
Complexity
One of the main characteristic of IHRM is its increased complexity of the operations.
Complexity of the operations and activities which are carried out in global firms increases in
comparison to local market. Important contributors of increasing complexity of HRM in
international context are relationship with employees and their family, change in and
differentiated expectation of employees in different culture, management of cross-cultural teams.
All these things make IHRM complex than domestic HRM as there are no need of such activities
like management of cultures etc (Reiche, Harzing and Tenzer, 2018). Currently many
organisations are operating on international level because of globalisation and all companies
based on the type of their operations are getting affected from the IHRM complexity. Regardless
of the complexity associated with international human resource management it has become
important for organisations to manage their human resources effectively. This is important as
success of the organisational operations depends on how well they are able to mange global
human resources.

Apple Inc., American Multinational technology company and is considered one of the
biggest technology company in the world. The company is designer, manufacturer and marketer
of communication, electronic and media devices. The company operates in different parts of the
world and this is why its Human Resource Management on international level is elaborated. In
relation with Recruitment in the organisation, geocentric approach is adopted by the company as
Apple Inc. looks for the competent employees regardless of their country and culture and this is
why this approach of recruitment in Apple is most suitable. This approach might seem that
organisation is able to employ best human resources but this is one of the most critical approach
as Apple Inc. has to ensure that the employees which has been hired from other culture and
countries are able to adjust in the new culture of the country and culture. This is important as
only after adjusting in the new culture they will able to perform best and as expected in the
organisation.
This also requires that regional employees are able to get along with the new employee
and they do not face any type of discrimination in the organisation (van Harten and et.al., 2017).
Some of other complexities which are associated with IHRM in Apple are-
Pre-Departure Training which is given to those employees who are going for international
assignment in other countries. This training includes giving training to expatriates which will
equip them with the knowledge which they will need in other countries to survive immediately
after they are in another country. This is first complexity which is experienced in IHRM and
regarding expatriates. Some of things which expatriates are required to know is the culture and
customs of the host country, dress code which is appropriate in the new culture and the language
and basic etiquette of the host country.
This will help them to get along in the new culture of the host country and along with in context
of their business operations and their role includes giving training about the verbal and non-
verbal communication, decision making techniques in the host country, their rules and business
management structure in the host country. These are important aspects of their pre-departure
training ensuring that they are able to adapt to local culture of the country. For example,
employee at the Apple from US gets deployed at UK then this training will help the expatriate
employee to adapt the culture of the UK and this way they will be able to perform to the exacted

level as they will not face problem regarding cultural unawareness and difficulty in adapting the
culture of UK.
The knowledge of the rules and regulations of the host country is also important otherwise
expatriate because of unawareness might ruin the operations of the company (Dickmann,
Brewster and Sparrow, 2016). These are complexities because for management it is not easy to
train employee with new culture and rules in a first attempt along with ensuring success of such
activities.
Complexities are not only associated when employees are required to deployed to other nations.
The complexities also occur when employees from other nations are employed at the home
country of the Apple. In such case manager at Apple are required to ensure that the employee is
able to adapt to the new culture and at the same time they are required to actively support the
new employee. This is important so that employee can perform their level best and achieve the
objectives for which they have been hired in the company. Managers at Apple also have to
ensure that employee is aware of the culture and approaches which are used in their home
country for decision making and problem solving as they might differ from the country of the
employee to the home country of the Apple. For example, an employee from UK is employed at
US then managers at US will have to ensure that employee is able to adapt to the culture of US
and their approaches for working and problem solving. Later the complexities are associated
with performance assessment of the expatriate, in this process they are firstly required to
introduce with the assessment. Complexity of performance assessment also increases because in
relation with expatriates criteria for performance assessment gets increase and this is what makes
it complex (Sekiguchi, Froese and Iguchi, 2016). Performance assessment of expatriates includes
their adaptation to the host country culture, relationship with fellow employees at the host
country etc and such factors are really critical and complex to assess because of their nature
which is more qualitative and less quantitative. On the other hand there are no such complexities
in domestic environment.
Cultural Environment
Cultural environment which is one of the important factor that affects business and its
functions and in relation with IHRM this factor is more important. In relation with cultural
environment, the main element culture refers to environment which encompasses and consists of

values, behavioural norms and patterns of behaviour of a country. On this basis it can be said that
cultural environment of all the countries is different and this is why it differentiate domestic and
International HRM. Managers at the organisations have to ensure that they consider culture of
other countries properly in every aspect of their operations including their rules, their policies,
values and their management of human resources.
Cultural Environment regarding international human resource management includes difference
in culture that comes with expatriates in an organisation (Sharma and Matta, 2018). This is
important that organisations support their expatriate employees while adapting culture of the host
country. Google, American multinational technology company is the company which also adopts
the policy of geocentric recruitment. The company has managed to manage this variable quite
effectively and this is why this company can be discussed here.
In relation with IHRM companies has to ensure that their employees are able to adapt the culture
of the host country. This is a challenge and differentiate from domestic HRM as domestic HRM
does not have to deal with such cultural adaptation. Culture includes values, behavioural norms
and patterns of behaviour of a country and when expatriate move to other nation they have to
adapt these values, behavioural norms and pattern of behaviour and what management have to do
is that to support employees during this time.
Google have to ensure that cultural shock make least impact on the performance of the
employees. Cultural shock means that moving to a new country requires expatriate to make
many new adjustments in short period of time. This adjustment has chances of challenging the
frame of reference of the expatriate and their national identity. This situation can also lead to
psychological disorientation because they might miss or misunderstood cues in the host country.
This psychological disorientation leads to resentment in the expatriate and this directly impact
the performance of the expatriate and they face more failures than success in their work
(Farndale and et.al., 2019). This requires that Google Company ensures that their expatriate
employees do not face any type of psychological disorientation and they are able to align and
coordinate with their national culture and culture of the host country. This will help them to
adjust more properly and will also not affect their performance.

Cultural shock is another difference in local HRM and international HRM. Domestic HRM does
not include anything which is known as cultural Shock as there is no change in culture.
International HRM on the other will surely include cultural shock that it is not possible that
expatriate is able to adjust in a completely new environment from a completely different
environment. For example, Google employs an employee from Asian country to its home
country US, then this very natural that employee will have to go through the cultural shock
because of the cultural difference they face while adjusting in the new culture. Later it is
responsibility of the Google Company that they support the expatriate in best possible manner to
reduce the impact of their cultural shock.
Regarding cultural environment one more factor is part of the variable which includes
differentiation of domestic and international HRM (DICKMANN, BREWSTER and
SPARROW, 2016). The factor is emic and etic approach of the culture. The emic approach
investigates how local people think and intrinsic culture distinction that are meaningful for the
members of a given society, this also known as insider perspective. This about understands what
they perceive and how they perceive and categorize the world, their rules for behaviour and what
the rules mean to them and how local people imagine and explain things. The etic approach of
culture is perspective of an outsider looking in. This approach considers that people are too much
involved in their culture so that they can interpret their culture impartially and this is why etic
approach involves emphasize on what is important. The etic account is a description of a
behaviour that can be applied across culture and the etic approach is culturally neutral, which
limit ant ethnocentric and political bias.
In relation with IHRM etic approach is suitable as this involves adoption of culturally neutral
behaviour and limiting the political and cultural bias (Lee, 2017). This differentiate it from
domestic HRM as this involves emic approach and understanding what is important and how
local people perceive the beliefs and values.
This is easy for both domestic HRM and people employed at their parent country and in context
of the IHRM they have to adopt etic approach as they have to ensure that behaviour is not biased
on the basis of local people and international people.

All this factor requires that Google have to ensure that it is able to adopt etic approach which
does not differentiate in local and international behaviour and local behaviour which does not
make it difficult for expatriates to adjust in new culture and at the same they do not feel anything
which is discriminating them from other local employees at the company.
This cultural difference is one of the important element and variable that differentiate domestic
HRM and International HRM different from each other (Michael and Francis, 2018). Successful
management of cultural difference is essential so that Google can achieve its objectives for
which it hires international employees in their organisation.
Extent of reliance of the multinational on its home country domestic market
This is also an important variable in the international human resource practices which are
different from domestic market. This refers to extent to which multinational organisations are
dependent on and rely on their home country market for profit and for success of their
operations. Tesco is one such company that extensively rely on its home country market. Tesco,
is a British multinational retail company founded in England, UK and headquartered at
Hertfordshire, England. Tesco majorly rely on its home country market for its operations.
Countries that have large domestic markets that account for majority of the business operations
in the home country will have emphasis on domestic operations of the company (Feng, 2017).
International HRM practices of such companies are less focused and their operations in
international market are based on their international managers looking over the operations of the
company in host country.
Such companies are differentiated from those who are equally focused on their international
market and equally emphasis operations of all the countries in which they are operating.
Companies whose operations like production are limited to some of the countries and operate in
the world give more emphasis on the IHRM activities as they need to hire expatriate employees
and send their employees to other countries for the operational purpose. Tesco is a retail
organisation and this is why most of its employees in international market are hired from their
local market and this does not require to give much emphasis on international HRM practices.
This differentiate the IHRM from domestic HRM as countries which have large domestic market
are like companies operating in parent country as they also rely on their domestic market. On the

other hand companies whose reliance on home country market are limited and rely on other
countries as well such companies need to emphasis their IHRM operations (Torbiörn, 2017).
Companies relying less on domestic market and operating globally have significantly different
HRM operations than domestic HRM. The reason of this difference is the activities in which they
get involved such as movement of expatriates and their management and training. For example
companies having global operations will have more frequent movement of expatriates within the
company. this will require them to train people who are going for international assignments and
on the other hand support and manage employees who has come from other countries to the
home countries. This includes many things management of their payroll, performance and
regulations. Countries relying less on domestic markets will have to frame their policies in such
ways that they are in accordance with regulations of international standards. At the same time
their HRM policies needs to be such that international employees are able to cope with such
regulations. They have to consider global standards while framing their HRM practices and
policies. For Example, companies who are involved in movement of expatriates frequently than
others need to have policies that expatriates from various countries are able to adjust in their
organisational environment and at the same time they do not need to change their policies
frequently. In this companies adopting centralised approach needs to consider that policies are
adaptable and acceptable in the host countries otherwise this will have direct impact on the
performance of the employees resulting on the performance of the company in international
market.
On the other hand companies like Tesco which rely more on national and home country market
their policies and their HRM practices are less different from the domestic HRM but still as
multinational firms they both are not indifferent (Kovak, Oldenski and Sly, 2017). Multinational
companies have IHRM and their practices might be extensive or limited for example Tesco also
needs to develop firms policies which are acceptable in all the other countries where it is
operating. Centralised approach needs to consider employees at the other countries are able to
understand and work according to culture of the country.
Domestic HRM on the other does not need to undertake any such activity which involves
considering international culture and standards. Need of expatriate management and cultural
adjustments also does not exist in the domestic HRM. Some of the activities which are

undertaken in companies which are global are management of payroll and tax regulations for
their employees as they are not from the company they are required to made understand the
taxation and regulations of the country home country of the company (Kotabe and Kothari,
2016). Tax and payment regulations are important and this also requires considering valid
approach for payment to expatriate as this is one of the important function of HRM. They should
firstly made understand in what manner they are being paid, as they can be paid according to
global standard, as per the standards of the host country and as per the standard of the home
country. This is not only important for the expatriate but is equally important for the company to
understand as they cannot differentiate in payment of expatriates from two different nations and
this requires that company adopt a standard approach for paying all its expatriates (Horwitz,
2017). This will eliminate chances of discrimination and expatriates will be able to adapt to
culture of their host country with respect and trust which are important element.
CONCLUSION
From the above analysis it can be concluded that domestic HRM has many elements
which differentiate them from IHRM. The elements in context of domestic HRM are simple and
in the IHRM these are critical and complex and management of the company involved in IHRM
have to pay more attention to activities related to their work. They are required to be more
diligent and careful as they have to consider many cultures and above all have to develop a
culture which can be adapted by all the employees whether they are from home country or other
country. Effective management of such activities ensure that employees are able to perform as
expected and at the same time organisations collectively are able to achieve their objectives for
which they have hired employees from international platforms.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Dickmann, M., Brewster, C. and Sparrow, P. eds., 2016. International human resource
management: contemporary HR issues in Europe. Routledge.
DICKMANN, M., BREWSTER, C. and SPARROW, P., 2016. Introduction and Overview of
IHRM: Contemporary HR Issues in Europe. In International Human Resource
Management (pp. 35-48). Routledge.
Farndale, E and et.al., 2019. Facing complexity, crisis, and risk: Opportunities and challenges in
international human resource management. Thunderbird International Business
Review. 61(3). pp.465-470.
Feng, L., 2017. An Assessment of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) Practices
in Chinese Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in Africa: Standardisation Or
Adaptation (Doctoral dissertation, University of Manchester).
Horwitz, F., 2017. International HRM in South African multinational companies. Journal of
International Management. 23(2). pp.208-222.
Kang, H. and Shen, J., 2016. International human resource management policies and
practices. Management in South Korea Revisited. p.42.
Kotabe, M. and Kothari, T., 2016. Emerging market multinational companies’ evolutionary paths
to building a competitive advantage from emerging markets to developed
countries. Journal of World Business. 51(5). pp.729-743.
Kovak, B.K., Oldenski, L. and Sly, N., 2017. The Labor Market Effects of Offshoring by US
Multinational Firms. Review of Economics and Statistics, pp.1-37.
Lee, J.M., 2017. Managing complex multinational enterprises: internal network structure and
expatriation strategies. AIB Insights. 17(3). pp.14-17.
Michael, M. and Francis, R., 2018. A Study on International Human Resources Management
Practices (IHRM). International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and
Research. 5(1). pp.340-347.
Reiche, B.S., Harzing, A.W. and Tenzer, H. eds., 2018. International human resource
management. SAGE Publications Limited.
Sekiguchi, T., Froese, F.J. and Iguchi, C., 2016. International human resource management of
Japanese multinational corporations: Challenges and future directions. Asian Business &
Managemient. 15(2). pp.83-109.
Sharma, V. and Matta, M.G., 2018. Reinventing IHRM Factors for Expatriate Satisfaction in it
Sector in Asia and Outside Asia. Asian Journal of Management. 9(1). pp.227-238.

Torbiörn, I., 2017. Staffing policies and practices in European MNCs: strategic sophistication,
culture-bound policies or ad hoc. International Human Resource Management: A
Critical Text. 47.
van Harten, J and et.al., 2017. Special issue of international human resource management journal
HRM and employability: an international perspective.