International Human Resource Management Essay - Melbourne Uni

This essay delves into the realm of International Human Resource Management (IHRM), focusing on the University of Melbourne as a case study. The report commences with a description of the university, highlighting its significance and contributions to the higher education landscape in Australia. The core of the essay examines the external environmental factors that influence IHRM practices. These factors encompass legal, social, and political environments, unionization, labor market conditions, industry characteristics, and national culture. The analysis then explores how these external factors specifically impact the various HR functions within the university, including planning, resourcing, retention, recruitment, selection, training, and development. The essay underscores the importance of strategic HRM in achieving organizational effectiveness within a global context, providing a comprehensive overview of the external forces shaping the HRM landscape at the University of Melbourne. The essay concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications of the analysis.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name of student
Name of university
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Discussion......................................................................................................................2
Description of HE provider in Australia....................................................................2
External environmental factors..................................................................................4
Analysis of factors of external operating environment..............................................6
Various functions of HR............................................................................................7
Impact of external factors on HR functions...............................................................9
Conclusion....................................................................................................................10
References....................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
This report aims to discuss the International human resource management in the
University of Melbourne. A brief discussion of the description of HE provided is provided in
this report. The discussion of the external environmental factors is detailed in this report. The
factors of the external operating environment on the University of Melbourne is briefly
discussed in this report. The various function of HR is briefly stated in this report along with
the impact of the external factors on the HR function is stated in this report. Lastly, an
appropriate conclusion is provided for the report.
The considered University is the public research university that is located in the city
Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in the year 1853 and it is the second oldest university of
Australia (The University of Melbourne, 2019). The HR management of this University is
significantly extensive as it provides the best of facilities to the employees and the students
(The University of Melbourne, 2019). It is renowned majorly for the research department.
The university spends significant capital for the research department along with developing
the branches of several other branches.
Discussion
Description of HE provider in Australia
The chosen Higher Education provider is the University of Melbourne. This
university is the leading university in Australia. The university provides the unique
Melbourne experience for helping the graduates become well rounded, skilled and thoughtful
professionals and making the positive impact all across the globe. With the implementation of
the strong research performance, along with the excellence in the teaching and learning, as
well as the social and intellectual capital, this university is constantly placed along with the
leading universities of the world and the presently ranked as number one within Australia and

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it is placed at number 32 in world. The research sector of the University provides the methods
of solving the economic, social and the environment challenges that are being faced all
around the world and the challenges that might be faced in the future. The University is
strictly connected with the communities that includes the home and all around the globe
which provides the connected which enriches the learning, research and the training. The
degrees of the University of Melbourne functions a little differently from the other various
Universities of Australia. It is mostly similar to various top institutions that are situated
overseas where the students starts with any undergraduate degree and later they are provided
with the option of choosing the subject that they want to get a specialisation in. The mission
of the university is to provide the students with the opportunity of creating their own path of
studies along with power of choosing their respective direction and then explore the new
options as the development of the student occurs. The university believes that this is
particularly important in the present world as the careers are altering extensively and the
employers value the independent thinking significantly. The Melbourne model of the
University is the globally competitive curriculum combining the broad studies for the
undergraduate level with the specialisation in the post graduate. With the growing inclination
for the graduates of exploring the multiple paths of career, the unique experience of study of
the university offers the students with the vast understanding of world beyond the degree of
the students. With the effectively equipped about the breadth and the depth of the knowledge,
the alumni of Melbourne is significantly flexible, adaptable and it is ready for the challenges
of the future. The vision of the University of Melbourne is immensely committed to be
among the finest universities in world, and contributing to the society in a manner that could
enrich and also transform the lives of people. the university strives to be significantly known
for the services to nation, that includes the recognising of the responsibilities that are inherent
in the role of the university as the leader in the higher education, constantly be ranked among

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top 40 universities globally, be known for the impact and research, and be underpinned by the
comprehensive and the world leading base of discipline. The university also aims to be
completely engaged in the culture, life and the aspiration of Melbourne and some of the
regions that are served by them.
External environmental factors
As the environment of the businesses grows to be the important base for any kind of
organisation, the functions of human resource has their own respective external and internal
environment that makes the connected issues increasingly complex. There are several studies
regarding the relation among the business activities and the environmental factors since the
early 1950’s. Similarly there are several other researchers and several articles on the link of
the human resource management and the environmental factors. A model has been presented
by the authors Jackson and Schuler’s (1995) HRM model these subsequent environmental
elements are commonly linked with the activities of HRM in the terms of source of
significant pressure or any kind of the influence from the outside or inside (Jackson and
Schuler, 1995). Internal environment of the environment of the function of HRM might
involve the mission or the purpose of the organisation, the strategies or the objectives of the
organisation, the activities of the corporate headquarters, the size of organisation, the
structure of the organisation, past practices, the priorities of the top management, the
priorities of the line managers, the issues of politics and power, the impact of the theory of
HRM, writings and research, the impact of the training and education in the HRM, the
significant impact of complete strategy of HRM and the political and cultural characteristics
of the employees. Similarly, external environment of the function of HRM includes the
alterations in the international economy, the alterations in the technology, the alteration of
national economy, traditions and national culture, the characteristics of the industry,
regulations and legislations, the actions of the unions, the actions of the competitors, the

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impact of the professional organisations, the experiences of the staff of HRM in any other
organisation and the common policies of education and the implementation of the policies.
The external environment factors presented by the Jackson and Schuler’s (1995)
HRM model are the:
Legal, social, and political environments: In this process of the attending to legal
environment, this field also responds to the social and the political environments that
produces the rise and then shape the interpretation, promulgation and the enforcement of the
acts of the governments along with the funding of the innovations of the HRM.
Unionization: The unions play a significant role in the development and the growth of
the employees of any organisation. The unions provide the required voice to the members by
establishing the procedures and policies for the enhanced handling of wages, the grievances
of working conditions, provide the required help for job security as well as secure the
retirement and health benefits (Jackson and Schuler 1995). Along with providing the help to
local members of union, the unions provide the required motivation to the non-union
employees by providing them with several benefits.
Labour market conditions: The conditions of the labour market could be characterised
with the several dimensions that includes the levels of unemployment, the diversity of the
labour and the market structure of the labour. The unemployment levels and the market
structures of the labour was recognised as the important macroeconomic variables but the
recognition of the importance of the labour diversity was recognised recently. The levels of
unemployment reflects the demand for the labour relative to supply. The macroeconomic
research that was conducted at national level provides the evidence that in several countries,
the excess demand commonly results in the low unemployment although the excess supply
commonly leads to the high unemployment.

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Industry characteristics: As per the authors, the term industry denotes to the distinct
group of the productive or any profit making enterprises. The major discussion regarding how
the HRM is significantly affected by the factors at the industry level would reflect HRM in
public and the private sectors.
National culture: The globalisation of the national economies and evolution of the
multinational enterprises have led to the increase in the awareness and the documentation of
differences in the manner how the human resources are being managed among the countries.
Due to the fact that the countries comprise of the distinct cultures, it has been vastly assumed
that the multinational enterprises should have the understanding of the culture of the region
where they are operating and this is necessary for the effective management of the human
resources (Jackson and Schuler 1995). The understanding of the role of the national culture in
the HRM might benefit from the investigations, which focuses on question of the manner
how the globally expanding countries could develop the HRM systems, which are
simultaneously constant with the multiple and the unique local cultures and still internally
persistent in context of any single organisation.
Analysis of factors of external operating environment
The legal, social and the political environment of Australia would impact significantly
on the University of Melbourne. The University of Melbourne are required to be in
compliance with the legal sections of the government. Within Australia, almost all of the
aspects of the HRM are significantly affected by the regulatory and the legal environment. It
could impact significantly on the staffing decisions and the management of University staff.
The unionisation in helps in increasing the efficiency of the University of Melbourne. It has
been observed that the Unions helps in creating the increasingly efficient academic sector and
it helps in increasing the output of the academic organisation. In the University of Melbourne,
the unionisation helps in providing the required facilities to the students and the employees

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for gaining the efficient growth. The labour market conditions could impact immensely on
the working of the University of Melbourne because if the level of unemployment increases
then the University might be forced to hire more people and increase the employee numbers.
The industry where the University belongs is the education industry. This industry is
significantly impacted by the HRM as it requires the effective human resource management
in this sector. The national culture could impact the University of Melbourne immensely as
there might be cultural difference among the students and the management team which could
create some misunderstanding regarding the working of the university.
Various functions of HR
 Planning, resourcing and retention: With respect to department of the human
resource, the planning includes the determining of the personnel programs, which
could be used for achieving the goals of the organisation (Thite, Budhwar and
Wilkinson 2014). The HR department of any organisation performs the task of
resourcing the human resource and then they provide the required benefits and the
facilities for retaining the employees (Kim and Sung-Choon 2013).
 Recruitment and selection: The recruitment is process of the captivation,
screening and then selecting the potential as well as the qualified candidates on
the basis of the objective criteria for any specific job (Hunter, Saunders and
Constance 2016). The goal of the process is the attracting of the qualified
applicants and for encouraging all the unqualified applicants for opting themselves
out. Prior initialising the process of the recruitment, the companies should execute
the proper staffing plans and it should grade number of employees that would be
required by them (Susomrith and Brown 2013). The forecasting of employees
must depend on the long term goals of that organisation.

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 Training and development: The recruitment and the training of the new employees
are the primary responsibilities of team of the human resource (Vernon and
Brewster 2013). This area of the job frequently entails the advertising of the open
positions, interviewing as well as the hiring of the candidates as well as setting
aside the hours that are devoted for training the new recruits (Ee, Halim and
Ramayah 2013). The department of human resource frequently publishes the
training materials that includes the handbooks detailing each aspect of job. This
particular function permits the employees to gain the new knowledge and skills
for performing the job efficiently (Ulrich et al. 2013). The training as well as the
development prepares the employees for the greater level responsibilities.
 Remuneration and rewards: The checking and the analysis of the performance of
the employee is one more important function that is commonly performed by the
human resource management (Mishra, Sarkar and Singh 2013). The dispensation
of the payroll is included inside the responsibilities of human resource (Herington,
McPhail and Guilding 2013). Even though the payroll frequently exists as the
separate division in the large countries, in the small businesses, this is commonly
handled by the small staff of the human resource (Ulrich and Dulebohn 2015).
The benefits of health care are included by the department of the human resource.
 Employee relations: One more crucial function of HR department is management
of the employee relations (Solnet, Kralj and Baum 2015). In the situations of any
kind of dispute or any misunderstanding among the employees or among the
managers, the officers of human resource department have to help in deescalating
the situation. The employees are commonly encouraged to provide the relational
problems to attention of human resources staff for the resolution (Reilly and
Williams 2016).

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Impact of external factors on HR functions
The law of employment is most significant sector of the legal system, which affects
significantly on the human resource planning and it alters constantly (Angrave et al. 2016). In
majority of the cases, there could be immense time for implementing the changes to the new
policy as the law could take significant time for taking affect (Naznin and Hussain 2016). It is
required to stay update and possess the specialist of employment law who could be available
for consulting whenever it is required (Lo, Macky and Pio 2015). The employment law
alteration should be reflected in the University policy and it must be implemented on ground
by the managers and the supervisors for allowing implementation of any new training
requirement in the human resource plan (Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede 2014). Many social
factors might influence the HR planning but it has to be taken into the account about the
diversity and the equalities specifically (Abdul‐Halim et al. 2016). The recruitment function
of the HR department could be significantly impacted due to the labour market conditions
(Quartey 2013). The labour supply majorly drives majority of the amount of the benefits that
could be provided by the University for attracting the employees (Berber and Slavić 2016). In
the oversaturated markets, if the unemployment is significantly high and several more
qualified candidates prevails than the job opportunities, amount of the benefits that is
provided should be less than when the shortage of the candidates prevails and there is a
competition with other universities for recruiting the skilled employees (Spitzer 2014). The
National culture could impact significantly on the HR functions are the culture of the Nations
develops the various kinds of people who grow to become the members of the university. The
culture trains the people along the specific lines for putting the personality identity on them
(Azeem and Yasmin 2016). The HR managers needs to deal with the people by keeping in
mind about the cultural values (Koplyay, Lloyd and Mako 2014). The attitudes of workers
towards work are result of the cultural background. In several cultures, the people are majorly

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dedicated towards their work but in some of the cultures the people do not possess the apathy
towards their work (Boroughs and Palmer 2016). This could create significant difficulty for
the organisation as it would make difficult situation for recruiting the workers in the
university. In the education where the University is placed, there is significant impact of
industry characteristics as the recruitment of the employees in the university is significantly
difficult due to the competition among the various Universities for recruiting the most abled
employees with the most benefits (Tracey 2016). The political and the legal environment
comprises of the impact of the political institutions on the HRM department (Katyal and
Xaviour 2015). All the activities of the HRM are in some manner or any other manner
affected significantly due to the political factors. Specifically, the HR planning, selection and
the recruitment, training, employee relations, remuneration and the terminations are mostly
governed by constitutional provisions (Ahmed, Majid and Zin 2016).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded from the above discussion that the HR and working of
the University could impact significantly due to the various external factors The HR
management of this University is significantly extensive as it provides the best of facilities to
the employees and the students. The research sector of the University provides the methods
of solving the economic, social and the environment challenges that are being faced all
around the world and the challenges that might be faced in the future. The University is
strictly connected with the communities that includes the home and all around the globe
which provides the connected which enriches the learning, research and the training. The
Melbourne model of the University is the globally competitive curriculum combining the
broad studies for the undergraduate level with the specialisation in the post graduate. As the
environment of the businesses grows to be the important base for any kind of organisation,
the functions of human resource has their own respective external and internal environment

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that makes the connected issues increasingly complex. There are several studies regarding the
relation among the business activities and the environmental factors since the early 1950’s.
Similarly there are several other researchers and several articles on the link of the human
resource management and the environmental factors. A model has been presented by the
authors Jackson and Schuler’s (1995) HRM model these subsequent environmental elements
are commonly linked with the activities of HRM in the terms of source of significant pressure
or any kind of the influence from the outside or inside. The legal, social and the political
environment of Australia would impact significantly on the University of Melbourne. In
majority of the cases, there could be immense time for implementing the changes to the new
policy as the law could take significant time for taking affect. It is required to stay update and
possess the specialist of employment law who could be available for consulting whenever it
is required.

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