International HRM: Managing Operations, Training, Assignees, and Virtual Teams

This document provides an overview of international human resource management (HRM) and its various functions, including managing international operations, training and development of staff, managing international assignees, and managing virtual teams. It also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on these areas and includes case studies of Vodafone and Apple Inc. The document highlights the importance of effectively managing HR activities at the national and international level to achieve organizational goals and gain a competitive advantage.

International HRM

Table of Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................................................1
Main task ...........................................................................................................................1
Managing international operations............................................................................1
Training and development of staff.............................................................................3
Managing international assignees.............................................................................4
Managing virtual teams.............................................................................................5
Health and safety considerations..............................................................................6
Restart and realigning business operations..............................................................7
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................8
Recommendation...............................................................................................................9
References...................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
International human resource management is defined as the process of
managing and carrying out various human resource activities at the national and
international level in order to achieve organisational goals and objectives and gain
competitive advantage at national and international level. Human resource management
plays an important role in effectively managing and motivating human resource in the
organisation. With increase demand of globalisation there is growing demand for
international human resource management which allows business to improve their
performance and able to achieve competitive advantage operating at international level.
This report explains how COVID 19 pandemic has made us to find new through which
international work can be carried out also how multinational companies use international
teams and virtual team collaboration. Furthermore various concepts of international
human resource management like how international operations can be managed,
training and development of staff, also managing international assignees are
highlighted. In addition to this how virtual teams can be managed also consideration of
various health and safety measures and further more restarting and realigning business
operations with appropriate organisation based examples.
Main task
International human resource management plays an important role in managing
human resource activities at international and national level (Definition of International
Human Resource Management, 2019). There are number of topic included in
international human resource management like managing international operations,
training and development of staff, managing international assignees, effective managing
virtual teams, various health and safety consideration needs to be taken and restart and
realigning business operations which are in detailed explained below:
Managing international operations
One of the important functions of international human resource management is
managing international operations, it is defined as the process of effectively managing
all the international operations, managing international operations is defined as the
special area of knowledge for any business enterprises (Budhwar, 2016). Increasing
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global competition brings both opportunities and risk for the businesses, but the recent
global economic downturn has made all the companies to reduce their operational cost
in the international market (Cristiani and Peiró, 2019). International operations system
allows company to develop their international distribution system, a network of global
supplier. More and more company are internationalised their operations and
incorporated their value chain beyond the national boundaries. Internationalising their
operations is one of the major task that company needs to carry, it involves proper study
of international markets with various purchasing strategies, various supplier market
opportunities available for the company. The cultural diversity has huge impact on
international operations, accepting cultural diversity allows you to carry out your
international business more confidently and also in providing customer services more
effectively and smoothly. Due to the current COVID 19 pandemic the managing
international operations is equally effected, the pandemic has created new challenges
for the international growth, majority of operations is carrying out using technologies,
also majority of people working remotely in order to maintain the physical distance. The
use of technologies in carrying out various operation is increasing due to the current
scenario of COVID 19 (Dalton and Bingham, 2017).
In context to Vodafone, which is one of the top multinational telecommunication
company. Founded on 16 September 1991, by Ernest Harrison. Company has
developed their human resource effectively and efficiently, company is effectively
managing their human resource nationally and internationally, even all the international
operations of the company are effectively carried out (Dubey and Gupta, 2018). In order
to manage their international operations company has understood that with the right
technology, teams from anywhere can be connected and operations can be carried out
smoothly, Vodafone has made sure in supporting society during current situation. Even
during the COVID 19 pandemic Vodafone's supply chain was very much proactive
internationally and nationally rather than being reactive . The company has mainly
focused on the four principle of supply chain management during pandemic which were
employees, customers, suppliers and the most important emergency planning which
enables company to manage their international operations more smoothly and enhance
their productivity and profitability (Fee and McGrath-Champ, 2017).
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Training and development of staff
Training and development helps employees to be more productivity and
improving their performance, human resource department evaluate the performance of
its employees and accordingly provides training to improve their performance.
International training and development enables organisation to motivate their
employees and improving their performance at international level. International training
and development is mainly at three level, the first one is given when an employee is
assigned for an international project, this includes ensuring skills and knowledge
required for an employee to work at international level. Second one is once the
employee has gone to aboard which is basically on site training in order to make him
familiar with the environment. And the last one is the kind of training provided in order to
make him familiar with corporate strategy, culture and socialisation (Ganapathy and
Ashokkumar, 2017). But the current situation of COVID 19 has forced us rethink how
training and development needs to be carried out and how can organisational capability
needs to be strengthen at a time like when people can get together in person. Human
resource and training department needs to get more creative content, organisations
needs to invest more in their teams in order to enhance their skills to deal with changes
occurred due to COVID pandemic. Post COVID era the use of technology has
expanded like anything. Use of virtual training has increased to make employer
engaged and enhance their productivity (Greenwood and Van Buren, 2017).
In context to Tesco, which is an leading international groceries and general
commodity retailer headquarters in united kingdom, founded by Jack Cohen in 1919.
Company has their own training program which enables in providing required training to
its employees as per the requirement in order to enhance their performance. Company's
main focus is to ensure that there each and every employee working internationally and
nationally have all the required training and skills in order ton achieve required goals,
also focusing on improving existing skills, company is always trying to create new
opportunities for its employees. With current COVID 19 pandemic company have
developed an impressive e-learning program in order to provide international training
and development to its employees (Holland, 2019). Company has made sure that
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proper training and development is carried out in order to enhance the productivity and
profitability of the business (Hu and Jiang, 2018).
Managing international assignees
Managing international assignees is one of the important task of human resource
department also expensive task to be carried out, international assignment is the
process of transferring of knowledge across the national boundaries and managing a
corporate management effectively, the employees who works overseas are called
assignees. The international assignment plays an important role in transfer of
information and knowledge, launching new product and services in the international
market. The COVID 19 has changed the entire scenario for the activities at workplace to
be carried out, with increasing number of COVID 19 cases, the idea of international
assignments becomes difficult (Jain and D'lima, 2018). If employees are sent abroad to
live and work on international assignments they will required excessive training and
development. There are number of factors which can effects the assignees living
abroad it can be from host country in comparison to the home country, the change
from home country to host country can be good or bad, companies needs to ensure that
international assignees are able to adjust to different aspect of this new work
environment with proper proper training given at time like this. Companies are mostly
allowing employees to work from home during this pandemic, working from home has
provided new opportunities for international human resource management to analyse
flexible work position for the assignees (Latukha and Malko, 2019).
In context to Apple Inc, which is an one of the top multinational company,
founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The
company has formulated a large and progressive human resource management
system. Which allows company to effectively manage their international assignees. The
current global pandemic has effected the profitability of the many companies. In context
to Apple Inc., employees at all positions has mentors at national and international level,
these mentors support and provide guidance to the assignee in order to enhance their
productivity and performance, extensive pre departure training is provided to the
assignees so that they can settle down in the host country, or in case of COVID 19
pandemic, smooth flow of work from can be carried out (Nasir, 2017).
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Managing virtual teams
The another important function of human resource manager is to manage the
virtual team effectively in order to smooth functioning of work between the team
members. The main focus of the human resource department is to manage their teams
working virtually. A virtual team is a group of people involved in same projects making
cooperative efforts in order to achieve same goals and objectives of the organisation,
virtual teams are formed with the help of technologies (Paauwe and Farndale, 2017).
Due to current COVID 19 pandemic has forced companies to move from collaborative
work into the virtual area, companies are moving towards technologies or virtual
communication medium in order to complete their task involving virtual team to carry out
those task. International human resource management allows or enables managers to
facilitate virtual collaboration to carry out task and achievement of goals and objectives
during current pandemic. The virtual team work has its own benefits as it is understood
that the geographical distance cannot be always considered as a psychological
distance, as communicating daily using virtual methods allows team members can
make them closer by sharing professional and personal individuality with each other.
During current pandemic its the responsibility of the human resource manager to
manage their virtual team effectively and makes their team members to understand the
importance of virtual working at a time like this (Rastogi and Srivastava, 2017). Human
resource manager can also support the the effectiveness of virtual team working with
the help of human resource management process, like recruitment process of human
resource can be done through job advertisement and also through various job
assessment centres, after this the skills of virtual collaboration can be improved using
formal training. In order to effectively manage the virtual collaboration the human
resource needs to ensure that proper rewards are given to the employees in order to
improve their performance and enhance their productivity (Rees and Smith, 2017).
In context to Vodafone company, which is an multinational telecommunication
company. Founded on 16 September 1991, by Ernest Harrison. Company has
developed a strong human resource department, effectively managing their team
nationally and internationally enhancing productivity and profitability (Richards and
Sang, 2019). Due to current COVID 19 company has allowed their teams to work
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virtually in order to remain safe and main social distance, they have allowed remote
working solutions managing their team virtually, remote working has been a part of their
working culture now during current situation as mentioned by the company (Richards,
2020). The company is effectively managing their virtual teams by providing required
resources in order to carry out necessary work smoothly and required goals and
objectives can be achieved effectively and efficiently. Vodafone's conferencing and
collaboration solutions allows team located in different locations or countries to link with
each other giving benefits of audio and web technologies facilities. This technology
helped companies to carry out their meetings and activities using this virtual method
effectively and enhancing their productivity and profitability even during the pandemic
(Rompho, 2017).
Health and safety considerations
One of the important function of human resource management is to ensure the
safety and security of its employees in the organisation, safety measures involves
providing good working environment. The current COVID 19 pandemic made each
companies to realise that managing employees health and safety is one of the major
task for international human resource management to be carried out, one of the major
issue for each company during the COVID 19 pandemic was to ensure the mental and
physical health of its employees as during pandemic the life of international business
travellers has changed a lot, their regular travelling, hotel settlement has been
converted into virtual meetings at home, in order to adjust with different time zones and
maintaining performance while working remotely is one of the biggest challenge faced
by the employees (Rupidara and Darby, 2017). The mental and physical stress caused
by the increasing virtual international work is actual for the business travellers as it does
not guarantee any kind of job securities and economic certainty. The current dynamic
working methods due to the current COVID 19 pandemic presents new situations for
workers health and safety which needs to be taken into careful consideration by human
resource manager.
In context to Walmart store Inc., which is an in multinational retail company,
operating a number of departmental and grocery stores. It was founded by Sam Walton,
on 2 July 1962. Walmart store Inc. (Singh and Pandey, 2020). has ensures to improve
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the safety and health condition of all the employees in all 2,850 stores across the globe
by signing the corporate wide settlement statement along with United state division of
labour (Singh, 2019). They have policies and rules also various training programs to
ensure the safety of their workers, during the COVID 19 pandemic, company stated that
their top most priority is the safety and health of its employees, they have taken various
steps like avoiding pickup and delivering of goods to the customers, maintaining the
chemist's access to guarantee that each employees is getting the medicine as per the
requirement, also ensuring that each and every employees is wearing mask,
maintaining social distance at the work. The company has made sure that heath and
safety of employees are properly monitored and required measures were taken
(Sparrow and Cooper, 2017).
Restart and realigning business operations
The last topic of international human resource management is restart and
realigning business operations, it is the process of changing or modifying the ways a
business is carry out, it can be changing the strategies, or modifying it so that business
can adapt to the dynamic environment. Whereas the restarting is the process of starting
a business from the fresh with new strategies (Strohmeier, 2020). Realigning of
business occurs when company is performing poorly and losing its competitive
advantage in the marketplace, at that time manager needs to analyse the situations and
take the corrective actions. The COVID 19 pandemic and economic uncertainty has
made every business entities to rethink their strategies and change their methods of
working. Business entities has completely gone virtual, it difficult to imagine how
business have to be carried out during this economic uncertainty and current pandemic.
Due to the pandemic each business has understood that flexible work is the new
method of growth for the business. The new strategies that can be adapted in order to
realigning of the business during current pandemic can be effective management of
teams working remotely, also after the post COVID 19 manager needs to ensure
smooth working environment to the workers. Realigning companies goals and
objectives, formulating effective strategies, restoring teams confidence towards goals
and objectives (Syed and Kramar, 2017). Increasing involvement of employees in the
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functioning of the company. Having proper return strategies can help business to
enhance their productivity and profitability.
In context to Unilever, which is one of the top multinational company founded on
2 September 1929, by Lever brothers branch (Syed and Ozbilgin, 2019). The company
has strong and wide international human resource department managing its human
resource nationally and internationally effectively enhancing their productivity and
performance. The COVID 19 pandemic has impacted company, but in order to
realigning their operations company has taken corrective measures like they have used
the strategy of creative purpose leading campaigns making their brand reach around
one billion people, also during the pandemic company has announced their partnership
with the Uber and hospitality company oyo in order to provide hygiene kits to the guest
and the staff ensuring their safety and security. Company has taken necessary steps
and strategies in order to maintain their growth and performance during and after the
COVID 19 pandemic and economic uncertainty. The company has taken necessary
strategies related to realigning their business operation to enhance their productivity
and performance (Warner, 2020).
Conclusion
From the above discussion is is concluded that the international human resource
management is an important part of the management to manage and control the human
resource at national and international level. It helps to enhance the productivity and
profitability of the business. International human resource management helps business
to gain competitive advantage at the international level and enhance their international
performance. The above report includes the proper study of how the current COVID 19
pandemic has forced to find new ways that the international businesses can be carried
out, also how big multinational company can use international teams also virtual team
collaboration and international project assignees. Further more various topics of
international human resource management like managing global business operations,
training and development of employees, managing global assignees, managing virtual
teams, taking health and safety consideration for the employees working nationally and
internationally and restart and realignment of business operations to enhance their
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productivity and profitability and also they can continue to grow in they current situations
are highlighted above with relevant organisational based examples.
Recommendation
The current pandemic and economic uncertainty has brought challenges for the
multinational companies to manage their global workforce and how to use international
team and virtual team collaboration. In order to continue to grow in the dynamic
environment multinational companies are recommended to follow the all the necessary
measures like considering health and safety of the workers to be their top most priority,
also proper training to expatriates for their host and home country in order to smooth
functioning of the work. In addition to this the international assignees need to be
carefully assigned with proper training of host and home country, at a time like this they
need to be allow their team members to work remotely, ensuring their safety and
maintaining social distancing also. Also another recommendation can to effectively
manage international human resource management to enhance the performance of
human resource working globally. Following proper strategies according to situation can
help company to maintain their growth and continue to gain competitive advantage in
the marketplace.
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References
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Budhwar, P.S., 2016. International human resource management. Edward Elgar
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Cristiani, A. and Peiró, J.M., 2019. Calculative and collaborative HRM practices,
turnover and performance. International Journal of Manpower.
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expatriates: Insights from the international aid and development sector. The
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