International HR Director Competencies: A Critical Discussion Essay

This essay critically discusses the four key competencies essential for an international HR director to succeed in the current and future global business landscape. The analysis begins with an introduction emphasizing the importance of cultural awareness and the challenges of managing diverse teams. The core of the essay focuses on four critical competencies: communication, analytical and critical thinking, relationship building, and leadership. Effective communication is highlighted as crucial for interacting across different cultures and fostering a fair employment environment. Analytical and critical thinking are presented as vital for sound judgment and effective decision-making within diverse teams. Relationship building is emphasized as fundamental for establishing credibility and trust, which are essential for project success. Finally, leadership skills are discussed as necessary for guiding diverse teams, creating strategic HR plans, and directing various team activities. The essay concludes by reiterating the importance of these competencies for effective cross-cultural team management and the overall success of the HR director in a global context.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
International Human Resource Management
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Four Key Competencies that an International HR should possess......................................2
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................5
References............................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
An international HR director needs to operate in an environment of culturally different
people. The role of an HR director is to work effectively with a team of culturally different
people with an aim of managing and reaching out to a multinational goal. One of the key
competencies that a HR director needs to possess include operating effectively with the team
members of different cultures to look into the current and future business environment (Lo,
Macky & Pio, 2015). Certain complexities can be faced while working in cross cultural
differences, in respect to integration of different business activities. The aim of the report is to
understand the key competencies that should be possessed by the HR director employed so that a
particular organization can function in an effective manner. The competencies that an HR
director should possess in management of the global teams are indicated in the following
paragraphs.
Four Key Competencies that an International HR should possess
In management of a cross cultural team, The HR director needs to possess certain key
competencies that will help the HR director to operate effectively in different culture
corresponding to the current and future business environment across the globe. It is necessary to
identify the correct skill and competencies that can help an HR in operating in a business
environment of a cross cultural team. HR director are mainly responsible for creation of a
sustainable and productive workforce. The main competencies that an international HR director
should possess are indicated as follows-
Communication: Communication is one of key competencies that an international HR
director should possess in management of a cross cultural team (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart &

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Wright, 2017). Strong communication skills is necessary for the HR director to effectively
interact and operate across the different culture in current as well as in future business
environment. In a team environment of different culture, an HR director need to know when to
adapt their communication skills so as to ascertain that each team members are listened. This is
a part of cultural awareness that the HR director needs to possess while working in a cross
cultural team (Binder, 2016). It is necessary for the HR director to convey the importance of fair
employment practice to the executive team of the company and for that it is necessary for the HR
director to adapt an effective communication style so that all the team members of different
cultural background can effectively communicate with each other.
Effective communication is further necessary to reach the global team members.
Effective communication further help a HR director in engaging in an articulated argument in a
seamless manner.
Analytical and Critical Thinking: Analytical and critical Thinking is a competency or a skill
that should be possessed by an HR director to exercise a form of sound judgment and to engage
in effective decision making (Bailey, Mankin Kelliher & Garavan, 2018). The ability of an HR
director to analyze a particular situation and view the implications of certain needed decisions
within the team is mainly useful for HR leaders. While working in a cross cultural team, it is
necessary for an HR director to exercise sound judgment that can analyze a situation in an
effective manner (Banfield, Kay & Royles, 2018). The HR director are mainly involved
representation of an entire cross cultural team. It is necessary for the HR director working in a
cross cultural team to possess effective analytical and critical thinking to solve the problems that
can be faced by the people coming together from different cultural background can significantly
help in easier management of the culturally diverse team.

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Relationship Building: This is another key competency or skill that an HR director needs to
possess in order to manage a culturally different team. An international HR director should
possess the credibility of building an interpersonal relationship skill for managing the success of
a project (Collings, Wood & Szamosi, 2018). One of the most critical challenges that can be
faced by the HR director include establishing the credibility with the members of the team. The
competency of relationship building therefore can effectively help an international HR director to
work effectively in a cross cultural teams. It is necessary for the international HR director to
establish credibility among the team.
The ability of building a team in an effective manner can help the international HR
director in managing a cross cultural team. Relationship building and relationship skill is
fundamental to HR director’s success and also contribute to effective working in a team
environment (Bratton & Gold, 2017). It is needed for an HR director to have an ability of
establishing credibility and trust among the employees or the members of a cross cultural team.
Leadership: Another competency that is needed to by an international HR director to manage the
team in an effective manner include effective leadership skills (Daft, 2014). It is necessary for an
international HR director to be able to lead the team of culturally different members, for creating
strategic plans for management of the HR departments as well as the overall workforce
(Chemers, 2014). Leadership skill is considered to be critical for justifying the functional
elements linked with the strategic plan of the management team of the company (Ulrich &
Dulebohn, 2015). The HR directors need to direct the various activities related to working in a
team of culturally different working environment and for doing so effective leadership skill is
required.

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Leadership can be described as an act of leading a group of people in an organization.
Leadership encompasses the ability of an individual to lead or guide the individual teams.
Effective leadership skill therefore helps a HR director to become a good leader to lead the team
of culturally different team members in working effectively as a team.
Conclusion
Management of a cross-culture team is a critical task as the team involves members from
different cultural background. The report discusses four key competencies that an international
HR director needs to possess so that it is easier to operate effectively across different culture in
both current and future business environment. The four key competencies that are identified
include the ability of the HR director to communicate effectively with the team member, the
analytical and the critical thinking ability for effective problem solving, Effective relationship
building and leadership skill. It becomes easier for a HR director to manage a culturally diverse
team if the director possess all the discussed four key competencies. For an HR director, it is
necessary to possess all the discussed competencies so that the team can be managed efficiently
and the problems persisting in the team can be managed in an effective manner.

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References
Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C., & Garavan, T. (2018). Strategic human resource
management. Oxford University Press.
Banfield, P., Kay, R., & Royles, D. (2018). Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management
across borders. Routledge.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Chemers, M. (2014). An integrative theory of leadership. Psychology Press.
Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A critical
approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.
Daft, R. L. (2014). The leadership experience. Cengage Learning.
Lo, K., Macky, K., & Pio, E. (2015). The HR competency requirements for strategic and
functional HR practitioners. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 26(18), 2308-2328.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
Ulrich, D., & Dulebohn, J. H. (2015). Are we there yet? What's next for HR?. Human Resource
Management Review, 25(2), 188-204.