International Human Resource Management Challenges

This assignment delves into the complexities of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) by examining the experiences of Uber. It highlights the difficulties faced by IHRM teams in global operations, particularly in areas like hiring and selection that can impact other HR functions. The case study also explores Uber's efforts to improve cross-cultural performance and achieve organizational objectives while confronting resistance to change. The assignment emphasizes the need for strategic IHRM practices to address these challenges effectively.

Running Head: International Human Resource Management
International Human Resource Management

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International Human Resource Management
IHRM (International Human Resource Management) is defined as the procuring, allocation and
effectively utilizing of the human resource in an international business. The typical functions of
the IHRM include recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, training and development and
many others. The topic selected for the assignment is resistance (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
Resistance is denying or opposing any action, most of the organization faces resistance from
their employees. Resistance is a natural response to change and recognizing and managing the
resistance is a key skill for the effective change manager (Kuipers, Higgs, Kickert, Tummers,
Grandia, & Van der Voet, 2014). There are many organizations that face the resistance to change
while implementing the international human resource management functions in the organisation.
Resistance to change is a key topic in change management and should be seriously considered to
help the organizations to accomplish the benefit of the transformation.
According to Lewin’s, a theory is change is a specific type of methodology for planning,
participation, and evaluation. The change in the organization is essential considering the situation
and for the growth and success of the company. These changes might affect the working of the
employees in the organization and this becomes one of the reason due to which they resist the
change in the organization (Burke, 2017). The international HRM face numerous issues when
they implement the functions and practices across their global HR networks. These practices
include human resource planning, recruiting and selecting the employees, training, and
development of employees, performance management in the context of the cross culture
(Bartunek, & Woodman, 2015).
There are many companies who faced the resistance with the employees at the time of the
recruitment. An example of the real world company who face the issue of resistance while

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recruiting and selecting the employees. Uber Technologies Inc. is a global taxi technology
company who is having the headquarters in San Franciso, California, the U.S. the company is
offering its services across the world. The company performs all the functions of the
international human resource management. The company also find some of the issues while
performing the function of recruitment and selection of employees. The international recruiter’s
team of Uber found a resistance from the women.
The company released its first employee diversity report in March and the report revealed that
the percentage of women tech workforce is just 15.4% and in total the company has only 36.1%
of all Uber employees. The HR managers of the company believe that there are many workers
who want to the join Uber which is considered as one of the most exciting and innovative tech
companies. Though, from the past year, Uber is dealing with unsolicited recruitment attempts.
There was an online campaign known as “Dear Uber Recruitment” in which people expressed
many complaints (Dwoskin and Frankel, 2017). It has been analyzed from the campaign that
there are many women’s who are not willing to work in Uber and this is the reason they denied
for the recruitment and selection in the company. Some of the women have communicated this
through e-mail in which they said that they don’t want to work with Uber.
This incidence proves that resistance can be in any function of the HRM. This particular issue
leads to the many issues for the company; the company's reputation and image were in danger.
The people made the different perception of the organizational culture and working environment
of the country. This indirectly affects the International human resource management team of
Uber and the team finds the difficulty in attracting the talent so that they can select the suitable
candidate according to their requirement. The HRM team have to take the corrective steps to
overcome the problem faced by the Uber. The HR team of the company can welcome the

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candidates for the interview by offering them a good package. The company should try to
provide the extra benefits to the employees of the company so that the employees of the
company can provide the positive feedback about the workplace culture (Machado, 2015). The
HR team of the company should try to select more of the women for their company as this is the
best way with the help of which the company can represent that there is no issue at workplace
and women’s can work for Uber.
The HR practices include the performance management in a context of cross-culture. The
international HRM team perform the function of the performance management which includes
the activities that ensure the achievement of the goals and objective in an effective and efficient
manner (Nguyen, Kass, Mujtaba, & Tran, 2015). To achieve the organizational goal the company
brings the new and innovative technologies with the help of which they can enhance the
performance of the company. The company has to follow this performance enhancement step at
all the places where the company is operating its business activities. The resistance mostly
occurs when the change takes place in the organization. The reason being, the employees of the
company don’t want to come out of the comfort zone.
Uber HRM team not only faced the resistance to change with the candidates but also with the
employees who are working with the company. This is the reason when Uber Company decided
to bring electronic payment solution then the employees of the company was not comfortable
and was not ready to accept the changes. To make this change successful the IHRM team took
the step to provide the training to the employees of the company so that they can accept the
changes that are taking place in the organization. This electronic payment system is going to help
the company to improve the services and to attract as many of customers. The motive of the

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company is to provide the satisfaction to the customers and this is the best way through which
the company can provide the satisfaction to the customers (Bouquet and Renault, 2014).
The international human resource management includes many functions and practices which
show the concept is wide. There are many companies who operate their business globally and
this is the reason the HRM team of the company have to make sure that the policies and the
practices are going to be conducted at each and every place where the company is having its
operations (Story, Barbuto, Luthans, & Bovaird, 2014). Many times, the HRM team face the
problems or issues while conducting the practices of IHRM, this is clear with the example of the
Uber as HRM team faces the issue of the hiring and selecting the employees which might affect
the other practices of the company (Meyer, 2016). The company is also trying to improve the
performance of the company considering the cross culture with the motive of achieving the
objective. But the company have to face the resistance to change which affect the working of the
HRM team. To achieve the objective of the company, the company have to bring the changes it
can be related to the technology, change in the working culture, and the change in the activities
of the HRM. The IHRM have to make the strategies so that they can face the issues and can
easily be able to conduct the practices and functions of the organization.

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References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bartunek, J. M., & Woodman, R. W. (2015). Beyond Lewin: Toward a temporal approximation
of organization development and change.
Bouquet, C., & Renault, C. (2014). Uber: Example of resistance to change, Viewed on 2nd
January 2017, https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/companies/uber-example-of-
resistance-to-change-1747187
Burke, W. W. (2017). Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
Dwoskin, E., & Frankel. T.C. (2017 June 18th). Uber recruiters find a wall of resistance from
women they try to hire. San Antonio Express News. Viewed on 2nd January 2017,
http://www.expressnews.com/business/national/article/Uber-recruiters-find-a-wall-of-
resistance-from-11228795.php
Kuipers, B. S., Higgs, M., Kickert, W., Tummers, L., Grandia, J., & Van der Voet, J. (2014). The
management of change in public organizations: A literature review. Public
Administration, 92(1), 1-20.
Machado, C. (Ed.). (2015). International Human Resources Management: Challenges and
Changes. Springer.
Meyer, H. (2016). Five filters moderate the technological revolution. LSE Business Review.

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Nguyen, L. D., Kass, D., Mujtaba, B. G., & Tran, Q. H. (2015). Cross culture management: An
examination on task, relationship and work overload stress orientations of German and
Japanese working adults. American International Journal of Social Science, 4(1), 51-63.
Story, J. S., Barbuto, J. E., Luthans, F., & Bovaird, J. A. (2014). Meeting the challenges of
effective international HRM: Analysis of the antecedents of global mindset. Human
Resource Management, 53(1), 131-155.