Strategies and Challenges in Strategic Human Resource Management

Strategic Human Resource
Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body .....................................................................................................................................3
Part A Strategies and approaches to train employees to work at overseas locations.............3
Part B Challenges faced by employees working abroad and HR practises assisting them....6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Human resource management (HRM) is a part of management process that deals with
effective management of people employed. It is the process of recruiting employees, imparting
them training and development and deciding compensation and benefits for them. Strategic
HRM emphasises importance of employee welfare in the success of an organisation (What is
Strategic HRM?).
Graze is a UK based snack company, founded in 2008. It is an online snack retailer
delivering natural foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, flapjacks, cakes and popcorn to
residential homes or workplaces daily via post. It extended it operations in United States in 2013,
launching snacks into US retailers in 2016. It is presently a part of Unilever Group.
Main Body
Part A Strategies and approaches to train employees to work at overseas locations
Whenever a company goes international, it faces numerous challenges from
understanding their business environment to customer perceptions both in terms of business and
finances (Bailey and et.al., 2018). It requires capable workforce to deal with such pressures. It
can hire locally or send its trained staff to successfully complete company's projects in a new
market. Companies usually send managers from home country for mainly two reasons. One, that
the parent company can exert direct control over the foreign country projects and second, that
their managers can gain experience in the global operations of the company. Experienced
managers can prove big assets for the growth of the company.
The biggest obstacle an employee faces after going abroad are cross culture differences.
Cross-cultural differences many-a-times lead to misunderstanding in business negotiations which
can hamper company's prospects in foreign country. Therefore, training is required to be
imparted to managers before they leave for international assignments. There are different
approaches which a management can choose to provide training as no size fits all. Below
mentioned are few different approaches followed by management:
On-the-job training – This training is provided at employee's regular work place. It is
aimed at developing specific skill set required to perform that job (Wolfe and Slocum, 2015).
Reading manuals, continuous observations of real life practical situations, asking questions to co
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workers and managers, etc. form part of on-the-job training. It is is one of the most effective
method of training as employees learns hands-on while performing duties.
Technology based learning – These trainings are imparted using interactive multimedia
and videos. Many training programs are designed and delivered online also (Calvo, 2015). It is
useful for large corporations where trainings are regular and on-site training is not viable.
Simulators – In it, real work experiences are imitated in order to train employees for
dangerous or unexpected situations. Many times employees are formed in groups. They prepare
and perform skits on the issues they face at workplace and how they handled it.
Coaching – It involves receiving training from an expert of the topic. They might receive
lectures, tutorials,etc. in group/classroom setting (Huang and et.al., 2020).
Using above approaches company forms strategies to decide appropriate training methods. Few
important trainings that managers of Graze, UK can be provided before they go to handle US
operations are:
Documentary Training - It is a kind of classroom learning which focuses on training
employees about the difference in cultures they will face after going to United States.
Differences are examined because many times cultural differences may create friction and
misunderstandings which is neither in employee's benefit nor company's. Common cultural
differences are often seen in greetings, presentations, team management, negotiation handling,
socializing, etc. (Sukanya, 2015) For example, perception of sickness and diseases differs greatly
in UK and US culture. That's why companies tend to conduct this training on information on
specific cultural traditions and norms, before hand. Company often arranges cross culture experts
as trainers to provide on site lectures, videos, or workshops on cultural differences.
Language training - Company can encourage its employees to learn a little of the
language used in foreign country as in United States in case of Graze. English is common to both
the countries but pronunciations, dictions and vocabulary varies. Also, majority of the United
States people use Spanish as their second most commonly spoken language. The US business
associates will feel good when they'll see their British counterparts attempting to speak their
language. It is taken as a sign of respect and recognition to the US culture.
Cultural Simulation Training – After classroom learning about business and social
culture of the host country, a cultural simulation training is suggested (Kochan, Katz and
McKersie, 2018). In it, various situations are arranged and then, employees are asked to respond
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