International HRM Case Study: Solving Management Problems in No Name

This case study analyzes the human resource management challenges faced by "No Name," an international company grappling with issues such as change resistance, lack of proper organizational culture, inadequate quality control, poor team integration, and resentment among teams. The company also struggles with diversity management, including intolerance towards different generations and discriminatory hiring practices in China. Furthermore, the case highlights deficiencies in international management, performance appraisals, cost management, and training and development programs. To address these issues, the study suggests strategies for implementing change effectively, fostering a strong organizational culture, adhering to labor laws, improving communication channels, and investing in comprehensive training programs to enhance employee skills and integration.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY
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Introduction
Globalization has had a significant impact on human resource management. Some of
these effects lie in various aspects such as outsourcing, coping with legal and cultural differences
and managing from foreign countries.1 Human resource management in the global economy has
become an integral part for companies especially those that seek to internationalize. With the
increased demand for the workforce, human resources have been playing a pivotal role in
ensuring an organization has not only sufficient manpower but also one which can meet the
increasing demand of global competition and exploit opportunities. This is attained through
talent management, recruiting qualified and skilled employees. Training and so forth. When a
company intertionalize, it is supposed to have proper ways of manging human resources in order
to avoid being facing issues which may put its success at risk.
The issues
From the case study, the No name company is experiencing various issues that are likely
to prevent it from attaining some of its goals. One of the major issues, include lack of proper
culture which can influence employees to work better. Culture is the beliefs, attitudes, and
opinions held by employees in a particular farm.2 These aspects have key impact on the
1 Pandey Satyendra. C. Applied Human Resource Management: Strategic Issues and Experiential
Exercises. South Asian Journal of Management, Vol. 20, No. 3, 2013, pp. 78-95.
2 Klikauer Thomas. The Ethics of Employment Relations and Human Resource Management:
Kohlberg's Seven Levels of Morality. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations (Online),
Vol. 37, No. 2, 2012, pp. 54-68.

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accomplishment of tasks because they are the ones that determine how employees perceive work
and their organization.
Employees in this company have adopted the idea of change resistance and lack of proper
communication between the teams and the management. Change resistance harms organizational
performance because it makes it hard for the managers to implement strategies which can make
the businesses to perform better. No name being an international company, this aspect is likely to
make its human resource managers to be affected by various issues such as difficulties in making
and implementing decisions which can make the organization to have a workforce which can
make it to attain its goals,
The company is also lacking consideration of quality in its production, and this has made
some of the stakeholders to give warnings that they would withhold partial payment if the issue
is not rectified as soon as possible.3 When a company chooses to internationalize, it should focus
on quality and use better strategies to portray possibilities of succeeding in order to attract as
many stakeholders as possible. If some of the stakeholders in this case have given warning that
they would withhold partial payments, it means they are not impressed by some of the things that
the company does in its operation, and they are also not confident concerning its success.
Team integration is also a problem in this company. Although there is a division of labor,
the teams are not coordinating with each other while producing the projects. Affirms that
integration of teams when completing tasks is fundamental because it helps employees to
understand what the other team has done and what is required to be done at the other levels.
3 Wood Jennifer. F. Meeting the Challenges of Human Resource Management: A
Communication Perspective. Management Revue, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2015, pp. 232-245.

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Team integration also makes an organization to enhance employee motivation towards work, and
also enables those with little knowledge to learn from their colleagues. From this company, lack
of integration is making it difficult for other teams to complete tasks.
Resentment among the teams is also a challenge affecting proper completion of tasks.
The moods which employees have when accomplishing responsibilities determine the quality of
jobs being done. From this company, the chances of having a poor quality job are high. Working
relationships in this organization are not good because of various issues such as lack of proper
communication and individual concentration of tasks, lack of receiving adequate instructions and
so forth. Communication in organizations and especially for those that encourage teamwork is
fundamental because it helps employees to understand various issues that affect their workplace,
and also assists in motivation, passing of instructions and so forth.4
Diversity management
At no name, various issues are surrounding the management of diversity. For instance,
there is a problem in embracing the rich value of working with diverse people. Affirms that
diversity in organizations if fundamental because it makes the workplace to have employees who
portray varying opinions, ideas, and perceptions. These variations are important because they
assist employees to learn from one another.5 At the headquarters, there is intolerance of working
with employees of different generations. This can be harmful to organizations because people of
4 Sahakiants Ihar. DeSimone, R. L., Werner, J. M., Human Resource Development (6Th
International Edition), South-Western, Cengage Learning, 2012. Management International
Review, Vol. 55, No. 3, 2015. 121-143.
5 Manafi Mahmoud & Subramaniam Devi. Balancing Performance by Human Resource
Management Practices. Asian Social Science, Vol. 11, No. 10, 2015, pp. 90-112.

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different generations have different capabilities and also have diverse opinions which are
essential for the accomplishment of tasks.
The other issue associated with diversity in this company is that in china, the Human
resource department does not recruit people with disability. This is wrong because irrespective of
their disability, these people can play a significant role in the completion of tasks. Ignoring job
applications of people with disabilities even if their skills are above those of other candidates
may make this company to face legal actions especially those related to labor laws because the
Chinese government requires companies to employ people according to their skills and
capabilities.6 It also requires them to have high consideration for the women and people with
disabilities.
Human resource department leads organizations in all matters related to workforce issues
and should, therefore, implement a clear set of practices to assist the employees to understand
each other. At no Name, this aspect is not considered, and this may make the employees to have
personal conflicts with one another. Interaction of employees is influenced by the manner in
which they understand each other, and for them to interact well, human resources should play an
active role.7 The employees in this company need to understand each other so that they can
6 Ahmed Fiza, & Akram Saba. International Human Resource Management: Policies and
Practices for Multinational Enterprises. South Asian Journal of Management, Vol. 23, No. 2,
2016, pp. 98-103.
7 W Denice & Ingmar B. (2015). The Place of International Human Resource Management in
International Business. Management International Review, Vol 55, No. 3, 2015, 78-96.

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benefit from working in team because for teams to work well, employees must have good
relationships, and this relationship can only be attained if they understand and appreciate the
variations which exist between themselves.
Interaction of employees also helps a company to succeed in knowledge management
because through there interaction, they share knowhow, hence enabling employees with little
understanding concerning some aspects to develop their knowledge. Being an international
company, knowledge management is fundamental because it can assist the company to succeed
in accomplishing projects and also some of the challenging tasks. Proper management of
knowledge can also assist this organization to have high quality workforce which can help the
company to challenge its local and international competitors.
International management
From the case provided, it seems that the company has several management issues that
are likely to affect its performance significantly. Although there are various benefits of linking
international performance with international performance appraisals, no name company does not
consider this factor in its operations. One of the problems associated with its management and
performance reviews is that although HR conducts them in Australia, the same is not undertaken
in its subsidiaries. Recent research indicates performance appraisal is essential in business
operations because it gives a clear picture of how the company performs. Therefore, conducting
it in all branches or subsidiaries is highly recommended.
The company also has problems in managing costs and in identifying factors that
influence the success of its business. For example, it has issues in considering economic factors
as one of the critical aspects that affect its business targets. Economic factors affect not only

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profits but also human resources because they determine the amount of salaries and
compensations which an organization should offer to employees.8
Training and development
Training is an integral part of better performance for employees. From this organization,
there is a problem in considering this aspect because training is only limited to half a day in some
countries like china, Singapore, and Vietnam.9 The human resource does not also consider
offering comprehensive training because it only refers the staff to the company’s online
resources and assumes that every person has similar needs.
Some of the employees especially in Singapore have also complained that there is lack of
training to help new employees integrate with the new surroundings. This aspect makes the new
staff members to take long before adapting to the area because people do things differently.
The company also lacks systematic workforce planning and management development
programs. Companies should have programs that focus on proper workforce planning and
development because the nature of workforce keep changing, requiring HR managers to continue
advancing their strategies in managing some of the workforce-related issues in their companies.10
8 Edward Lawler and John Boudreau. Effective Human Resource Management: A Global
Analysis. Stanford, CA: Stanford Business Books, 2012
9 Worska William. Legal Issues for HR Professionals: Workplace Investigations. Public
Personnel Management, Vol. 42, No.1, 2013, 145-168.
10 Jacob Cherian and jolly Jacob. Impact of Nationality on Employees' Perception towards
Human Resource Management Policies. Asian Social Science, Vol. 8, No. 15, 2012, pp. 121-134.

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Solutions
One of the ways which this company can use to solve the problem of change resistance is
following the right process of implementing changes.11 At the international level, new things
continue to emerge and therefore implementing change is quite fundamental. When introducing
new things, the company should use various strategies such as informing employees concerning
the change and including them in the change process.
To address the issue of lack of proper culture, the human resource personnel in this
company should understand that success can only be realized through involving strong culture in
the workforce. The managers should come up with strategies that will make the employees to
have shared vision, ideas and positive perception towards work12
Because No Name operates in different countries, it is essential to understand the labor
rules and regulations which companies should observe in the countries which they conduct their
businesses. The reason why this is fundamental is that the human resource seems to have been
discriminating the minority groups when hiring, and this may have various legal implications for
the company.
11 Wood, Jenifer. F. Dowling, P. J., Festing, M., Engle Sr., A. D., International Human Resource
Management (6Th Edition), Cengage Learning EMEA, 2013. Management International
Review, Vol. 55, No. 4, 2015. PP. 25-45.
12 Boudabbous Sami. Corporate Governance and Human Resource Management: The Case of
Employee Share Ownership. IUP Journal of Corporate Governance, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2012, pp.
221-235.

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To facilitate communication in the workforce, the human resource should ensure there
are proper channels which allow sharing of information both horizontally and vertically.13 The
management should also encourage open communication to enable the employees share the
critical issues that affect them. Open communication plays a vital role for not only the employees
but also for the company because it helps the management to understand things that affect its
staff members and the company in general.
Organizations that operate at global level should value training in their operations.
Therefore, this company should introduce a training program which not only provides skills to
existing employees but also one which helps new ones to understand the manner in which things
are done in the organization.14 The reason why this aspect is fundamental is that this company
operates at global level and the manner in which things are done varies from one subsidiary to
the other.
No Name should also come up with strategies for conducting performance appraisal in its
subsidiaries. Companies that operate at global level should always conduct performance
appraisal in all branches to be able to understand those that do not perform well. To succeed in
this aspect, the management should come up with departments and hire professionals who know
how to conduct these activities in the right manner.15 It should also establish the best appraisal
13 Najeeb Ali. Institutional Perspectives in HRM and MNC Research: A Review of Key
Concepts. International Journal of Employment Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2013, pp. 212-225
14 Nice Elvira. Driving Forces for the Professionalization of Human Resource Management in
Europe. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2012, 57-68.
15 Nimalathasan Balasundaram. Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. South
Asian Journal of Management, Vol. 19, No. 4, 2012, pp. 201-112.

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techniques in order to attain reliable results. The reason why using best techniques to conduct
this activity is that some of the methods used may give wrong results, hence making the
organization to make decisions which may negatively impact its performance.
Being an international company, it means that this company has employees with diverse
views, cultures, and personalities. This means the HR should play a key role in helping the staff
members to understand each other. When employees understand and appreciate their colleagues
the way they are, the company benefits from teamwork, because the staff members find no
barrier to working with each other.16 To make the employees have a sense of togetherness
irrespective of their variations, the HR department should implement various strategies with can
make the employees to socialize from time to time. This could be through using things such as
sporting activities, retreats, team buildings, and so forth.
Managing diversity in this company is also imperative because when a company expands
its operations in the global markets, it exposes itself to varying cultures and other aspects which
need to be well managed for better performance. Diversity is essential in organizations because it
makes people with varying opinions to come together. Therefore, No Name should encourage
this aspect by employing people from different communities so that they can bring different
ideas in the workplace.17
Recommendations
16 Sondhi Vasudha and Nirmal Singh. Strategic Human Resource Management: A Reality Check.
Review of Management, Vol. 3, No. 1/2, 2013, pp. 58-78
17 Choubisa Rajneesh. Human Resource Development. South Asian Journal of Management, Vol.
20, No. 3, 2013, pp. 23-45.

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To succeed in its operations, No name should start by having a human resource
department made up of people who understand their roles and their importance to the company.
The reason why this aspect is important is that these companies do not lack resources which can
prevent it from attaining its goals.18 It only lacks human resource professionals who know that
they play a crucial role in making the company to have a workforce which can assist it to attain
its goals. Having a human resource that is made up of people who knows some of the things to
consider when managing workforce for companies which operate in international markets is
important because it makes them to have employees who can assist them to attain their goals.
The other plan for change is making the management to understand that at international
level, a lot needs to be done to ensure the company does not face barriers which can prevent it
from attaining its goals. For example, it needs to be taught that when an organization decides to
operate at global markets, it should understand how to manage some key things that determine
the quality of workforces such as culture, diversity, and training.19 The management also need to
be taught that labor laws vary from one country to the other and to overcome facing legal actions
it is essential to learn the rules that govern the countries where they run their businesses.
The other fundamental thing which No Name should understand is that without training,
it becomes challenging for employees to comprehend the nature of work and also to have the
18 Senichev Valery. Human Resource Diversity and Performance within the Frame of
Organizations, Teams and Individuals. Business: Theory and Practice, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2013, pp.
223-243.
19 Louw-potgieter Joha. Evaluating Human Resource Interventions. SA Journal of Human
Resource Management, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2012, pp. 223-243.

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right skills for completing tasks.20 This means that it should value providing orientation to its
new employees and also train both new and existing ones so that they can understand the job
concepts and other things done by the company. Because this company operates in international
markets, it competes with both local and international companies, and therefore, to attain a
competitive advantage, it should have a workforce made up of highly skilled employees. This
means that it should train them from time to time to enable them develop proper skills.
From the case study, it is clear that no name company has problems in its hiring.
Therefore, one of the primary strategies which the company should consider for change is
understanding that people should be hired based on their skills, qualifications and experiences,
and not based on whether they have disabilities or not. It is also important for the human
resource department to understand that giving people with disabilities job opportunities plays a
role in not only making the company to comply with labor laws but also in making the to attain
reputation.
To implement these strategies, it is advisable to start by informing the human resource
department concerning some of the things that it seems to ignore. It is also essential to evaluate
the qualifications, experiences, and skills of the people who form this department. The next thing
that should be done in the implementation process is teaching the human resource department
concerning some of the critical things concerned with operating businesses at global markets.21
20 Liu Wen-chih. An Investigation on Well Performing Chinese Enterprise's Features of Human
Resources Management. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, Vol.
21, No. 2, 2017, pp. 324-354.
21 Cherian, Jacob and Jacob jolly. (2012). Impact of Nationality on Employees' Perception
towards Human Resource Management Policies. Asian Social Science, Vol. 8, No. 15, pp. 121-