International HRM: Complexity, Cultural Environment, Attitudes of Senior Management

This report explores the complexity, cultural environment, and attitudes of senior management in international HRM. It discusses the challenges faced by organizations like Marks and Spencer in managing human resources at an international level. The report also highlights the importance of cultural environment and the role of senior management in achieving business goals and objectives. It provides insights into the impact of these factors on employee performance and overall business performance.

International HRM
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
1. Complexity.........................................................................................................................3
2. The cultural environment...................................................................................................6
3. The attitudes of senior management/HR to international operations.................................9
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
International HRM can be defined as the process of obtaining, allocating and
utilising human resources within a business that has a global reach in order to achieve
goals and objectives. The major objective behind the concept of International HRM is to
achieve business goals and objectives effectively and gain a competitive advantage
over others (HRM – International, 2020.). International HRM is important because with
the increase in globalisation, organisations are ready to shift their operations to other
countries and therefore manage their employees as well as performance effectively
(Budhwar, 2016). It also helps the management of an organisation to understand how
employees across the organisation at international level feel about the way they are
treated in. When any employee is sent overseas, the primary motive of the same is to
enhance his/her overall learning and development of skills. This report is based on
several international organisations such as Marks and Spencer, Tesla, Tesco etc. The
report discusses complexity, cultural environment and the attitudes of senior
management to internal operations in detail with the help of relevant examples in order
to support the argument. If these variables are handled effectively.
MAIN BODY
1. Complexity
International human resource management can be describe as business
practices to manage its employees at international level (Story and et.al. 2014). Marks
and Spencer company is operating business activities at international market area so it
is important for this business to conduct human resource activities in effective manner .
Employees are considered as one of the crucial part of organisation as this helps in
performing business activities in effective manner. There are various issues and
problems faced by company while international human resource activities. The
complexity in human resource practices of Marks and Spencer company will lead to
affect performance as well as productivity of organisation. All of these practices are very
important as it helps in timely achievement of set goals and objectives. Complexity in
these practices affect the overall performance of organisation as well as impact on
efficiency of employees. Problems and complexity in international human resource
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management will lead to influence the overall performance of business and affect
contribution of employees in business task. There are many complexity that is faced by
International human resource staffing which includes staffing planning, recruiting and
selecting, cross cultural issues, training of employees across broader etc. Complexity
that is faced by Marks and Spencer company while conducting international human
resource management activities are mention below.
International staffing – This is essential human resource practice for Marks
and Spencer organisation as it is performing business activities in international
marketing. The major international complexity that occur while conducting human
resource activities at international level includes value consideration of individual as well
as analysing different institutions. Respective company is conducting business
operation into different market areas so it is crucial to meet with the needs of staffing.
Marks and Spencer company is a multinational market so it is very challenging for this
company to effectively perform staffing process (McNulty and De Cieri, 2014).
Respective organisation will face major issues in identifying the actual requirement of
staff as well as meeting business needs by considering values of individuals as this will
lead influence the staffing process. This company needs to follow employment rules
and regulation in order to accurately perform international staffing process. There are
set of rules and regulation developed by government for effectively performance of
international staffing process. Respective organisation deal with the issues in
developing plan for workforce planning for staffing employees at international level.
Recruitment – This refer as the process of attracting and influencing employees
towards organisation. It is very important for Marks and Spencer company to recruit
and hire highly talented employees with in organisation in order to conduct business
task in effective manner. There are different methods that could be used by company to
recruit and select employees. It will be very difficult for international organisation to
analyse and determine the needs of recruitment. Cross broader recruitment process in
very complecated and complex for organisation. This is very complex process as it is
very difficult for respective company to identify and analyse accurate method for
recruitment employees. Marks and Spencer company faced various challenging in
identifying need and requirement of employees that is working at international level.
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Identification of requirement of employees in order to fill the vacant position as per the
various department that is working at international level is a very complex process.
Cultural issues – Culture crucial factor that will influences behaviour and
attitude of employees. It is very important for organisation to provide positive and
friendly environment to employees that is working at international level. This type of
organisational culture will lead to increase the effectiveness and performance of
employees. These are different issues faced by company in order to enhance the
culture of Marks and Spencer organisation while operating business at international
market area (Wood, 2015). There are various factors of international human resource
management such as process, practices as well as procedures. All of these elements
will have direct impact on business and its activities. It has been analysed that
complexity in culture of organisation will lead to have direct impact on performance of
individual employees. These complexity in culture of international company will affect
the performance of organisation.
Training and development – Training is one of the important practice of human
resource management. It is essential for respective company to manage skills and
capabilities of employees in order to enhance their performance. Training and
development play significant role in growth and development of organisational activities.
It is very challenging for organisation to train and develop employees performance.
Training and development is a complex process as it is very difficult for manager to
analyse skills and potential for each and every employee in order to train them. This is
a complex process of organisation as in this manager needs to develop strategies for
training employees that work cross boarders. There are different methods and
techniques for training employees. Implementation of different training methods is very
complex and difficult for organisation. Each and every method will lead to influence the
culture of organisation, level of education as well as competency of technology will
providing training to staff member across boarders.
Performance management – It is crucial for managers of Marks and Spencer
company to manage performance of each and every employees. Performance
management is a very long and time consuming method and it is required to analyse or
evaluate every aspect of employees performance (Gomes and et.al., 2015).
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Respective company faces various complexity in performance management of
employees as it required high skills and potential for manager to evaluate performance
of employees. This is one of the major complexity that occur while conducting
performance management system of organisation. It is challenging for company to
chose most appropriate and accurate method for performance management. This
process will lead to have impact on relationship with employees as well as their
performance.
Reward management system – There are different ways through which
company is providing rewards and recognisable to employees. This is significant
practice of human resource management as this will influence the performance and
productivity of employees. It is important for respective company to effectively manage
reward system as this will influence their capabilities (Wilson, 2014). Marks and
Spencer company is using different method for rewarding employees such as monetary
and incentive as well as pay benefits to employees. Where as Tesco company is non
monetary rewards, recognition and appreciation for rewarding employees. It is very
challenges for this company to analyse which reward method is more suitable for
employees in order to motivate them. Wrong reward will lead to complex the
relationship between employees and organisation. The major complexity in reward
management system includes issues in identifying and analysing work performance of
employees as well as determining which reward will be more appropriate for employee.
2. The cultural environment
Cultural environment is an important aspect for an organisation and comprises of
different factors like language, religion, education etc. The organisational cultural
environment includes a company's experiences, employees' behaviour etc. And is
based on various beliefs and customs (What Is Organizational Culture?, 2020). Marks
and Spencer is among the top retailers of the United Kingdom that offers products of
high quality to its customers. Cultural environment helps an organisation in gaining a
competitive advantage against competitors in the industry and thus support the
development of communities by creating business opportunities. For example – Marks
and Spencer as well as Tesco have a cultural environment that helps them gain a
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competitive advantage against competitors in the market. They have a culture in which
all employees are given a chance to share their inputs and participate in the process of
decision making. The cultural environment within a company plays an important role in
helping it attain goals and objectives (Horak and et. al., 2019). Like, the employees
working in a company can share their viewpoints and also, in order to attain business
goals and objectives, an organisation should have a cultural environment so that the
employees do not face any difficulty in performing their tasks in the most efficient way.
Also, an effective cultural environment will provide more number of opportunities to
employees. The company values its customers the most and in order to offer them a
delightful experience, provides extensive training and development opportunities to the
employees so that they can develop new skills and improve the ones that already exist.
Different organisations have their own culture that is dependent on their
organisational structure and comprise of values as well as beliefs that are shared by its
employees. If the culture of an organisation is rigid and not flexible, its employees will
resist any new change that is brought in by the management and therefore not adopt it.
For example – although Marks and Spencer is a successful organisation, it stills keeps
changing its culture from time to time to ensure that the employees of the company do
not become rigid and resistant to change. This has helped the company in maintaining
its position of a successful brand in the market. Therefore, if an organisation feels that
its existing culture is not being able to cope up with the changes taking place in the
market, it should change the same to ensure that all business operations are carried out
smoothly and in an effective manner (Kirk, 2016). This will help it in enhancing the
productivity of the employees and also, they will not find it difficult to adapt to changes
that the organisation decided to bring in.
International organisations like Marks and Spencer have a diverse culture which
means that they have a lot of employees that belong to different parts of the world
working for them. Cultural Diversity within an organisation is important as it promotes
learning as well as level of understanding. This helps in improving the overall
performance within the market as well as promoting creativity within the company. For
example – the employees of Marks and Spencer are highly engaged and committed to
their jobs which is a good thing as they seek different ways of completing the various
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tasks effectively. The reputation of the company is also enhanced in the market as they
employees learn new skills from each other.
The cultural environment of an organisation comprises of its vision, mission,
language, systems etc. and is not permanent (Poór and et. al., 2019). When an
organisation decides to change its cultural environment, the employees may initially
resist and not adapt the same. Therefore, during such situations, it is important for the
managers as well as team members to convince, motivate and encourage them to
adapt the change. The managers in Marks and Spencer make sure that all their team
members are comfortable whenever a new change is brought in. If someone finds it
difficult to cope up, he/she is provided extensive training so that the person develops
skills that are need to adopt the change.
For organisations that operate internationally, communication plays an important
role in ensuring that all the business operations are carried out effectively. HR
managers in a company coordinate among various policies as well as procedures to
manage the performance of their subordinates across international borders. Also,
culture is important as there can be situations where a sudden conflict may arise among
team members, thus a healthy culture will make sure that healthy relations are shared
between employers as well as employees. Cultural environment can impact the
organisational culture as it controls the way in which employees behave with each other
and across departments. Marks and Spencer is an international organisation that has
employees from different cultural backgrounds working for it. Thus, the management
makes sure that any kind of barriers that hinder communication within the organisation
are eliminated by the use of different channels (Rees and Smith, 2017).
Therefore, cultural environment is essential for not only organisations but their
employees as well because if there is a cultural gap between the employees, they will
not be able to communicate effectively with each other which will lead to problems not
being resolved effectively. This can also impact the overall performance of the
organisation in the market. Culture helps an organisation to build a sustainable
business wherein employees are happy working for the company and the company also
makes efforts to provide them enough opportunities which further helps in promoting a
healthy environment.
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3. The attitudes of senior management/HR to international operations
The attitude of the senior management of an organisation plays an important role
in carrying out operations internationally. Being a global company, Marks and Spencer
has a strong team of senior management that ensures that all international operations
of the company are carried out effectively. The team is responsible for selecting and
recruiting the most qualified and skilled people in the world to work for it. This is done by
conducting interviews, both online as well as walk-in in order to attract a large number
of applicants (Sekiguchi, Froese and Iguchi, 2016). The senior managers' attitude can
change when it comes to acknowledging cultural differences because organisations
today have employees who belong to different cultures. The managers should maintain
a healthy and strong organisational culture in order to bridge the gap. Also, they should
provide different opportunities to the employees to develop new skills as well as
enhance the ones they already possess. Appropriate rules ad regulations should be
implemented to ensure sustainability as well as practise of high business ethics.
There are various issues that can arise in an organisation. Domestic HRM deals
with issues that take place nationally whereas international HRM is concerned with
issues that belong to employees overseas. There are many issues of International
human resource management practices that is affecting the overall performance of
organisation. It includes conflicts with in organisation, less understanding about culture
and values, difference in attitude of employees as well as discrimination. HR manager
plays an important role in minimising the differences between domestic as well as
international environment. The senior management makes sure that all differences
relating to language as well as culture among the employees are eliminated so that
there is a smooth functioning of all functions.
Senior management within an organisation is also responsible for maintaining
the overall performance as well as profitability in the global market. One of their main
goals is to maximise the overall productivity as well as efficiency of the company by
ensuring that all operations of the company are carried out smoothly. The management
also tracks the performance of different teams as well as the employees, individually by
formulating various objectives as well as guidelines. The senior management of Marks
and Spencer is specialised in Marketing, Finance, Operations, Human Resources etc.
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and therefore develop strategies as well as action plans as to how can the output of
various activities be maximised in order to fulfil the needs of the customers and satisfy
them.
The senior management also builds and maintains healthy relationships with the
employees by motivating as well as inspiring them to put in their best efforts in order to
generate desired output (Wood, Dibben and Meira, 2016). For example - them
employees in Marks and Spencer are provided various opportunities to share their
ideas as well as suggestions about a particular subject which are then taken into
consideration by the management during the process of decision-making. This provides
employees a sense of belongingness to the organisation and also increases their
overall motivation to perform tasks efficiently.
Senior management play crucial role in performance of employees at
international level. It is important that senior manage has positive attitude towards
organisation and its employees. This will support in enhance business practices as well
as accomplishment of desired goals (Massingham, 2013). Importance of positive
attitude of senior manager is mention below in detail. Increase productive - Positive attitude of senior manager support in increasing
the productivity of employees. It is very important for senior management staff to
have positive attitude towards decision making. This will lead to encourage
employees as well as helps them to perform organisational task in effective
manner. Boost moral of employees – Attitude of senior management will lead to have
direct impact on moral of staff member. It is essential for Senior manager of
Marks and Spencer company to conduct different activities in order to boost the
moral of employees. Positive attitude will lead to change the mindset of
employees and helps in performing activities in effective manner. Gain opportunities – Positive attitude will support in gaining better
opportunities for employees in order to achieve set goals and objectives. Marks
and Spencer senior management will be able to analyse and evaluate various
opportunities in external market due to positive attitude.
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 Management of performance - Positive attitude of senior management will lead
to motive and encourage employees of Marks and Spencer company. This is an
effective way for increasing performance of employees in order to attain set
goals. It is very important for Marks and Spencer company to increase
performance of employees in order to attain set goals and objective. Culture difference – In an organisation there are various employees that is
working for different culture. Senior management have significant impact on
organisation relations. It is crucial for senior manager and staff have positive
attitude towards employees working in organisation as well as accept each other
culture. This is will support in creating effective and strong relationship between
employees and management. Strong and positive relationship in organisation will
lead to reduce organisational conflicts.
 High business ethics – Senior manager of organisation needs to have positive
attitude towards business ethics. It is a role of senior manager to successfully
implement, develop as well as sustainably perform business activities with high
ethical standards.
CONCLUSION
As per the above report it has been concluded that human resource
management includes various practices that needs to be manage accurately and
correctly. It is very important organisation to conduct human resource practices in
effective manner as this will help in enchaining productive and profitability. It has been
analysed that international human resource activities is different from human resource
practices that is conducting at national level. This will lead to increase the complexity in
human resource practices at international level. Culture and environment of
organisation will lead to influence the performance of employees. Cultural environment
of organisation will lead to have major impact on growth and development of business.
It is essential for organisation to enhance culture of environment in order to effective
perform business practices. Apart from this it has been analysed that senior manager
play crucial role in performance of organisational activities at international level. It is
important that senior manage have positive attitude towards international business
practices. This will helps in enhance performance of employees and their capabilities.
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REFERENCES
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Gomes, E. and et.al., 2015. A comparison of international HRM practices by Indian and
European MNEs: evidence from Africa. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 26(21), pp.2676-2700.
Horak, S. and et. al., 2019. International human resource management in an era of
political nationalism. Thunderbird International Business Review. 61(3). pp.471-
480.
Kirk, S., 2016. Career capital in global Kaleidoscope Careers: the role of HRM. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management. 27(6). pp.681-697.
Massingham, P., 2013. Cognitive complexity in global mindsets. International Journal of
Management, 30(1), p.232.
McNulty, Y. and De Cieri, H., 2014. Guest Editors' Introduction: Advancing the Field of
Global Mobility: Complexity and Challenges. International Studies of
Management & Organization, 44(2), pp.3-8.
Poór, J. and et. al., 2019. Internationalisation of human resource management: focus on
Central and Eastern Europe. Nova Science Publishers.
Rees, G. and Smith, P. eds., 2017. Strategic human resource management: An
international perspective. Sage.
Sekiguchi, T., Froese, F. J. and Iguchi, C., 2016. International human resource
management of Japanese multinational corporations: Challenges and future
directions. Asian Business & Management. 15(2). pp.83-109.
Story, J.S. and et.al., 2014. Meeting the challenges of effective international HRM:
Analysis of the antecedents of global mindset. Human Resource
Management, 53(1), pp.131-155.
Wilson, J.P., 2014. International human resource development: Learning, education and
training for individuals and organisations. Development and Learning in
Organizations.
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Wood, G., Dibben, P. and Meira, J., 2016. Knowledge transfer within strategic
partnerships: the case of HRM in the Brazilian motor industry supply chain. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management. 27(20). pp.2398-2414.
Wood, J.F., 2015. International human resource management.
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