International HRM Strategies and Challenges: Holden Expansion Report

This report analyzes the international human resource management (IHRM) practices of Holden, an Australian automotive company, as it plans to expand globally. It explores the traditional role of HRM and how it evolves in an international context, addressing recruitment, training, professional development, rewards, legal compliance, and international collaboration. The report highlights challenges faced by Holden, such as employee dissatisfaction and communication issues, and examines how IHRM strategies must adapt to different cultural and legal environments. It emphasizes the importance of attracting and retaining skilled employees, providing training, and ensuring legal compliance in various countries. Furthermore, the report discusses the role of international human resource managers in managing global operations, including the need for both explicit and tacit knowledge to navigate international markets. The case study provides insights into the complexities of managing a global workforce, emphasizing the need for strategic HRM practices to ensure business success. The report concludes by examining the shift from traditional HRM to a more team-oriented approach, emphasizing health, safety, and cost control in the international context.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
International Human Resource Management
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INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The traditional role of the human resource management is to recruit the
employees, manage their training and decide their remuneration. Through the human
resource management the managers set certain formal regulations that the employees
of the organization follow. There are various factors related to the employee
management that vary in certain situations and handled by the human resource
managers. Most issues that are affecting the performance of international organizations
are related to human resource management. The human resource manager, primarily
responsible for expanding the business internationally designs and implements more
effective human resource strategies following the organizational policies (Deresky
2017).
The HRM of the Company
Holden is an Australian company that manufactures and distributes engines,
vehicle components and motor vehicles (Holden.com.au 2017). Holden is planning to
expand its business globally and sees the developing Asian market as great potential
segment for their expansion (Pomfret and Sourdin 2017). The company is considering
the European market as well. The organization has been implementing effective human
resource strategies in their national business in order to manage their employees. The
strategies of the human resource management include recruitment of the skilled new
employees, providing them with proper training and opportunities and giving rewards
and recognition to the deserving employees. The company hires new employees by
evaluating their skills and technical knowledge for required areas. The HRM sees that
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employees could easily fit in the organizational culture. By promoting the organizational
diversity the HR management provides equal opportunity to the employees. A
significant amount of benefits are offered to the employees and recognitions are given
to the hardworking and efficient employees (Snell, Morris and Bohlander 2015).
However the company is facing some significant challenges due to some poor human
resource practices. This year the management is facing issues in keeping the efficient
employees who can keep the workforce strong enough to meet the productivity
expectations (Willmer 2014). The HRM has to develop effective strategies for the
employee reduction. The company is already suffering from employee dissatisfaction as
they have stopped manufacturing in Australia that caused 3000 existing employees to
lose jobs (Taylor 2013). The HRM is struggling to maintain the workforce productive
enough for the future. The “Here to stay” campaign has worsened the condition due to
bad timing (Abcnews.net.au 2014). The promotion was to ensure the employees and
consumers that the company would continue making the products but though they
would be manufacturing products only in foreign countries. The employee cutting was
immediate after the announcement and that had bad impact over the human resource
management system of the company. The company also suffers from the inability to
communicate with the employees effectively. The human resource management might
face several challenges during their expansion in the developing countries. The
infrastructure is not that developed as their home country so more employees will need
to be recruited to cover up the infrastructural weaknesses. Different countries have
different right to information acts so the HRM has to make their work direct and
transparent enough, so that it does not have to face any legal challenges in future.
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However in developing countries like India the language is not a barrier for the
employees to work for international organizations. The human resource management
can utilize the language skills of the employees in favor of the company.
Role of International human resource manager
As in the international array of services, products, cultures and ideas the
responsibilities of the international human resource manager is ever evolving. Prior to
the international exposure of the business the HR managers only used to handle the
basic data related to employee recruitment but with the diverse nature of work culture,
legal complexities or strategic management but now their jobs are getting complicated
too (Bamberger, Biron and Meshoulam 2014). In the national operations the required
skills or knowledge is limited for the human resource managers but when they are
dealing with international operations, the position international human resource
manager requires few extra skills. An international human resource manager manages
the international operations of the company’s human resource activities. If the company
aims for international expansion in multiple regions the management is required to
develop multiple global managers in HRM. The manager should have the ability to
understand the employees in the host countries and ability to manage operational
challenges. The manager needs to possess both the explicit and tacit knowledge. The
tacit knowledge is gained through his experience that will help him to deal with external
issues related to threats and opportunities in the competitive international market
(Chuang, Jackson and Jiang 2016). On the other hand the explicit knowledge will assist
the mangers to structure the international policies of human resource that are aligned
with organizational policies. The explicit knowledge guides the manager to identify the
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internal issue related to employee work force (Donate and de Pablo 2015). The theories
suggest several key factors that the manager has to follow in the international human
resource operations of the company. The company has to oversee the development of
the international policies, accomplishment of the international human resource policies,
allocating the best human resource practices, utilizing the distributed human resource
expertise, exchanging information with the employees and socializing with the employee
communities (Christiansen et al. 2017).
Managing International Human Resource
The international human resource management of the company would be
working on certain key elements in order to manage the employees. The digital
revolution and globalization have made the human resource management’s job easy for
the global market (Marchington 2016). As the company is planning to expand its
business in international market the HRM requires responding fast in the changing
environment and adequate cultural awareness is needed as well. In the international
business area the human resource management needs to fulfill the basic
responsibilities of interviewing, recruiting and developing the employees of the chosen
areas (Wilton 2016). The management also needs to implement certain new procedures
and policies for ensuring the employee work force in the foreign market.
Recruitment
The management has to promote the organizational activities such a way that
should attract the local aspiring candidates in the host countries. Not just recruiting
skilled employees the HRM has to fulfill every step of attracting, recruiting and retaining
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the employees in their international market. The recruitment process should be
evaluated and perfected for the employees of the host countries. They have to develop
proper job descriptions, interviewing the future employees, offering them the suitable
jobs and fixing the benefits and salaries (Ton 2014). The HRM focuses on the human
resource process that values the locals. The employment of skilled employees with the
combination of management’s reciprocation towards their employees will result in long
term profitability.
Training programs
During the recruitment process the human resource managers make sure that
the aspiring candidates possess the required knowledge and skills to fulfill the tasks.
The human resource managers plan and develop such training courses that the help
the employees to gain suitable credentials to perform in their expert areas (Reiche et al.
2016). While performing in an international market the HRM has to consider the host
countries’ governmental rules and regulations. The HRM has to ensure that the
employees are following the healthy and safety work place practices. In European
countries the management members and the employees both form the work councils
and such training processes that are not included in the agreements by trade union are
mandate there (Brewster et al. 2016). The HRM has to make sure that such trainings
are taking place within the organizational human resource practice.
Professionally developing the employees
The HRM’s another important function is to provide the employees with
professional development along with the training. The human resource managers are
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more than just the organizational policies and procedures, the human resource
professionals provides the employees with certain opportunities that can ensure their
growth in knowledge and career (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014). As the company is
already successfully performing in a market, the management can offer the deserving
employees from the international operation great opportunities for learning and career
growth. The company can offer the employees to visit helpful conferences, external
training from outside experts and other opportunities. This can help the company in
both ways, the employee feels that the company is giving him or her much importance
and the company can utilize his or her skills and knowledge in the future and enhance
his efficiency.
Rewards and benefits
In the traditional practice prior to the international business of the company the
human resource management professionals only used to compensate or reward the
employees in materialistic or monitory medium. Because of the internationalization the
HRM has to adopt few new strategies for offering the rewards and benefits to its
employees (Shields et al. 2015). The international human resource management now
offers rewards and compensations in the forms of work from home opportunity, flexible
work shifts, vacation or leaves. These innovative strategies help the management to
retain the employees and attract new ones. In the international market the human
resource management has to balance the rewards and compensation in order to satisfy
the employee groups consisting diverse range of people.
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Protecting legal aspects
When dealing with legal system in the home country the HRM does not have to
face many challenges but during the international expansion many kinds of legal
complications come in the way. The human resource management is also responsible
for ensuring the corporate legal compliance that the company needs to adopt monitoring
business problems and implementing necessary solutions (Sparrow, Brewster and
Chung 2016). In order to makes its presence successful in the international market the
management needs to maintain the tax, trade and labor laws of the business locations
(Bonoli 2017). In certain geographical locations the state, local or federal governments
impose certain laws for international companies; business operations in their countries.
The laws vary in various parts like in working hours, discrimination, break times and
wages. The employees must not suffer from the challenges in those areas as that will
eventually create challenges for the company’s productivity. The human resource
managers make sure that in the international competitive market their company is legal
to the government and employees.
Promoting International Collaboration
For the national market the human resource management of the company
follows certain specific approaches as the company grows to become more international
the HRM practice also gets transformed. The international progression of the company
influences the human resource management to become more generalist. In the national
market the HRM focuses more on the internal operations and day to day activities but in
the international practice the HRM gives more importance to the workforce as a team
together (Cavusgil et al. 2014). In the new business venture the human resource
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management has to take care of the competitive advantage of the international market,
sustainability of profit and survival strategies through difficult financial period. In the
traditional practice of human resource management the managers were only engaged
in recruiting, managing the employees and implementing disciplinary actions whenever
necessary. However the role of the managers in the international expansion of the
business goes beyond just the traditional practices. The managers in the international
human resource management of the company have to implement strategies that take
care of the health and safety of the employees and they have to control the costs
related to the employee health and safety (Glendon, Clarke and McKenna 2016). There
should not be any gap between the decided amount for the spending in such causes
and the actual spending of the money. The managers have to reduce the employee
retention and now their participation in the employee communities is required as well.
Working with the managers
The company has been engaged in the human resource practice before in a
more traditional approach, where the team members used to be engaged with the
administrative tasks hiring and recruitment without any involvement of the department
managers. As the company is aspiring to become successful in the international
competitive market the managers from the human resource management team take up
the roles of business partners in involving the employees in the workforce through the
orientation and interview processes (Marchington 2015). The international expansion is
bound to make the business practices more complex, therefore the managers in the
human resource management teams must collaborate with the subordinates for
maintaining the production lines.
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Maintaining working culture
The responsibility of the human resource manager is to eliminate any
problematic or stressful environment within the organizational culture that can
potentially harm the employee productivity. As in the international market it is likely to be
a work culture consisting diverse people the international HR manager’s duty is to
maintain a healthy and safe work culture for the employees. The international market is
a perfect place for the human resource management to implement the “Open door
strategy” so that the employees can freely communicate with the human resource
management professionals (Sadriev and Pratchenko 2014). The employees feel that
their opinion are valued by the management and are being considered. The HRM must
encourage a friendly and free environment for the employees in the international market
so that the comfort of the local companies cannot create challenges for them. This can
be achieved by the managers through their equal treatment towards every employee
and building rapport.
Team building
In the international organizational practice the human resource managers makes
sure that the HRM professionals are resisting the team diversity to create any kind of
conflicts that may hamper the international organizational operations. The managers
have to develop effective workshops for team building, promote the cultural diversity
and successfully motivating the employees to the common goal of the company (Hajro,
Gibson and Pudelko 2017). In the international setting the employees perform better if
the management encourages individual recognition than group recognition. However
the managers should successfully convey to the employees that organizations gains
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more productivity through the team performance. The managers from the international
human resource management should consider the five cultural damnations by Hofsted
while dealing with the employees in the international business (Chechelashvili and
Shavishvili 2016). The management team has to consider the power distance that exists
between the higher level of management authority and the lower level. In most Asian
countries the power distance is high where the power is unequally distributed among
various levels of employees. In most western countries thee power distance is so the
HRM has develop the employee tasks by keeping the power distance issues in mind. In
certain international market like in USA or European countries the society is
individualistic that builds up the employee characters. As in the Asian countries the
employees belong to a society that gives collectivism more importance (Karin et al.
2014). The teamwork is also desired by the managers in the international business so
the managers can utilized this opportunity for the company’s favor.
Conclusion
Success in the national market made the company realize that they need to
compete in the international market and for that they require higher standard of human
resource management. The human resource management team of the company needs
to develop different business strategies to achieve the desire result in the international
market by managing the employees effectively. For managing the employees
internationally the managers need to motivate and inspire the employees for working
collaboratively. The human resource manager through transferring knowledge and well
planned organizational strategies can contribute significantly in the company’s
successful international expansion.
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