Cross-Cultural Recruitment and Selection in the IT Industry Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of international recruitment and selection practices within the IT industry. It begins with an introduction to Human Resource Management (HRM) and its critical role in global operations, followed by an overview of the IT industry's growth and the impor...Read More

CROSS CULTURAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION TO HRM (HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT)....................................1
IT (INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY) INDUSTRY ANALYSIS................................................2
IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT FOR IT INDUSTRY........................3
STAFFING APPROACHES...........................................................................................................4
ISSUES FACED BY MANAGER WHILE RECRUITING INTERNATIONAL EMPLOYEES. 6
RECRUITMENT PRACTICES USED BY INTERNATIONAL IT MANAGERS.......................6
CROSS CULTURAL MODEL.......................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Hofstede's cross cultural theory................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Recruitment and selection is the systematic process which enables the firm to fulfil its
needs and demands relating to the employees in an effectual manner (Recruitment and selection,
2016). In addition to this, it can also be said that recruitment and selection is the type of activity
which helps enterprises in the task of placing the right employees at right position. The given
process has its significant importance within the firm. This is because; it helps the corporation to
carry out the recruitment of highly talented and skilled employees in an effective way.
Nowadays, the operation of firm is not restricted to one country or the nation where it operates
its business. In order to work in the today's competitive scenario, managers of the company are
directing their efforts to expand their operation in the global environment. Hence, it is due to the
presence of given aspect that there is a need to adopt international recruitment and selection
practices which arises in front of company's manager (Berrell, Gloet and Wright, 2002). Here,
with the help of given approach only the organization can select right employees on the right
position. Therefore, they can gain benefits in the form of increased profits and sales. The present
report will analyse recruitment and selection practices used by IT industry while working in the
international environment. Furthermore, the study will also illustrate recruitment practices which
are used by the managers of IT firms in the global environment.
INTRODUCTION TO HRM (HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT)
HR (Human resource) is regarded as one of the most important department which
perform number of functions. The operations which HR performs include training and
development, performance appraisal, recruitment and selection along with motivating and
maintaining employees within the organization etc. Among all these functions, recruitment and
selection of workers is considered as one of the most critical function which has its importance in
the global environment (Forster, 2000). With the help of given function only, manager of
enterprise are able to direct their efforts to carry out the recruitment of right employees at the
right position. Hence, corporation can meet their international tactical goals and objectives in an
effectual manner. In accordance with the given context, a systematic recruitment and selection
process is identified which is used by the different global firms. The assessed steps are depicted
in below:
 Sending application form.
 Short-listing the candidate.
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 Calling candidate for different tests
 Taking the final interview
 Giving appointment letter to the selected candidate.
 Finally, placing the employees at their appropriate position.
IT (INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY) INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
IT is regarded as one of the most fast growing and popular industry which is gaining huge
success in today's technical and competitive environment. In addition to this, the results of many
studies indicate that United Kingdom’s IT industry has the great future ahead. Furthermore, from
the mid 1960's to 2000 the respective industry has achieved significant growth. Here, business
process outsourcing and IT services is regarded as two major components of the given industry
(Perlmutter, 1969). This does not mean that the work of IT firms is restricted to given type of
services only. There are many services which are identified and are performed by IT industry. It
consists of application development, web development, software development, content
management, games development and network management etc. In this regard, there are many
IT companies which ahs their operation present in number of countries. The names of companies
are Accenture, Intel, IBM and Google etc. These all firms provide varied type of IT services as
well as they also operate their operation in the international platform.
In accordance with the given context, the success of these companies totally depends
upon skills and competencies of their employees. This is because, with the help of highly
talented and skilled workers only, high quality of services is rendered by these firms to their
respective customers (McGunnigle and Jameson, 2000). Hence, for IT companies the recruitment
and selection process has significant importance. It is due to the fact that, by using the given
process only these firms will direct their efforts in placing right employees at the right position.
In addition to this, the work carried out by the IT companies’ demands highly skilled and
qualified employees. Hence, the international recruitment and selection plans enable the given
industry to carry out the recruitment of talented individual from the global environment. Thus, it
is correct to say that the HR function of recruitment and selection has significance for IT industry
(Okpara and Wynn, 2008).
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IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT FOR IT
INDUSTRY
International recruitment is the practice of recruiting workers from other nation or
country. Hence, while complying with the given type of practices, number of benefits will be
gained by the manager of different IT firms. The detailed explanation about the same is depicted
in below: Benefit of availing the skilled labor at low cost: It is regarded as one of the most
significant advantage which the manager of IT companies can gain by adopting
international recruitment practices. The developing country such as India and China
possess large number of skilled and talented people. Furthermore, the labors which these
countries provides are effective than other nations. Hence, by recruiting the labour from
the given countries, benefit of cost effectiveness can be gained by the manager of IT
firms (Timming, 2011). In addition to this, the cost which the international firms have
saved by employing the workers from the given countries can be used for some other
useful purpose. Due to this, the overall benefits can be gained by the enterprise in the
form of increased profits and sales in an effectual way. Benefit in terms of meeting the demands relating to employees within specified time
frame: The labour market in terms of availability of sufficient number of workers
influence the manager of companies irrespective of their industry. The given problem is
faced by the corporation which does not employ its workers from any other country.
However, the given problem can be resolved by organizing recruitment and selection
activity at the global platform. This is because, with the help of such program firm can
not only meet their demand relating to the specific number of employees, but it also plays
very important role in carrying out the recruitment of highly talented and skilled workers.
Hence, it is right to say that for IT industry the given approach of recruitment and
selection is very effective as its operation or functioning totally depends upon talented
workers only (Vallaster, 2005). Furthermore, the international recruitment approach will
also enable the corporation to meet the needs and demands relating to workers within a
particular time frame in an effectual way. For example, IT firm which is running its
operation in UK market has demand of around 400 employees. The demand of such
employees cannot be fulfilled by the corporation if they will run their recruitment
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operation within the domestic territory. However, the demand of given number of
workers can be fulfilled if global recruitment and selection approach will be adopted by
the IT corporation. Talent pooling: The recruitment and selection activities of companies help in attracting
employees from other country. For example, IT companies which are operating in US
(United States) require employees for the top level position. Then in the given situation,
with the help of an effective recruitment plans, corporation can meet its demands (Hafeez
and Aburawi, 2013).
 Helps in improving the internal process of company: It is considered as another most
significant benefit which is associated with international recruitment plans. Here, by
adopting the international recruitment practices, manager of corporation can carry out
improvement in its internal employee selection activities. This is because; here the
organization can perform changes in its existing employee’s selection activities by
analyzing selection procedure which is used by the global firms.
STAFFING APPROACHES
There are number of approaches which can be used by the manager of IT companies to
select effective employee. The approaches consist of ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and
regiocentric. The first staffing approach is of ethnocentric. It is the type of policy whichmanager
of multinational firm uses. Here, in the given approach manager fills key positions within
enterprise from the parent or main headquarters of the company. For example, if firm has their
headquarter in UK and it is operating its operation in India. Then, when using the given approach
at that time manager of firm will not recruit manager from India in order to carry out its
operation in Indian market. This means that the firm which adopts given policy will not recruit
the workers from the nation where it is operating its operation. The given staffing method has the
benefits for the parent company (Hurwitz and Hurwitz, 2009). By using given approach,
manager of IT firms can give recruitment opportunity to citizens of its parent nations. Hence,
through this way corporations can build positive image of its enterprise in eyes of people.
However, it has been evaluated by using ethnocentric staffing approach, it will create problem
for the enterprise. In this context, it can be said that the parent company manager (PCM) may
experience adjustment related problem in the host nation. This is because, it is not necessary that
the type of leadership or working style which parent firm manager uses in their country is
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appropriate for the employees of host nation. Hence, it is essential for IT companies like IBM
and Accenture etc to consider the given factor while recruiting and selecting the workers.
In addition to this, polycentric is regarded as another recruitment and staffing approach.
This approach states that the firm should recruit its employees from the host nation or from the
country in which it is operating its operation. The given thing is followed by many IT firms.
Hence, they have gained significant benefits from the same in an effectual way (Dennis, 2013).
By adopting the given method, firm can take action towards problems such as language barrier.
In addition to this, if firms wants to smoothly run its operation in the host nation, at that time also
the respective staffing approach has the critical importance. But, with the use of polycentric
approach, the problem of building an effective coordination between host nation operation and
parent nation operation will arise in front of manager of IT firms. It is due to the fact that, the
type of work which is performed by the firm totally depends upon culture of the nation.
Besides this, geocentric is another most appropriate staffing approach which can also be
used by IT firms to perform its recruitment and selection activities appropriately. The given
staffing principle states that firm should give equal opportunity to all individual for holding key
positions within the firm regardless of their nationality (Kotey and Sheridan, 2004). It is an
effective staffing method. This is because, the given method will provide opportunity to IT firms
to fill the position of top level on the basis of skills of employees rather than the nationality
status. But, in actual practice it is very difficult for the enterprise to carry out the implementation
of geocentric staffing approach. The given approach tends to raise relocation and new employee
training cost of the enterprise. Furthermore, regiocentric is the last staffing approach. In the
given approach, people are transferred to the position in subsidiaries which are operating in other
countries but still they stay in the same region. The given approach will provide career
development opportunity for the host country citizens (Dhar, 2008). Overall, it can be said that
for the IT companies it is very essential that it should consider all the above four mentioned
staffing approach if it wants to carry out recruitment of an effective employee. However, if not
considered then in the given circumstance it will become difficult for corporation to place right
employee at the right position.
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ISSUES FACED BY MANAGER WHILE RECRUITING
INTERNATIONAL EMPLOYEES
There are number of issues which are faced by the manager of IT companies while
selecting employees those who belongs to some other nation. The detailed explanations
regarding the assessed issues are depicted below: Language issues: It is regarded as one of the most prominent problem which is faced by
each company when recruiting global workers. This barrier tends to create
communication problem between the recruiter and candidate who have applied for
respective post. Hence, in the given circumstance it becomes very difficult for the
manager of IT Company to meet the demands of its employees in an effectual manner
(Hendry, 2012).
 Cultural issue: Besides language, culture is also one of the most significant issue which
manager of firm faces when recruiting international employees for its operation. The
working practices of the human resource totally depend upon the culture. For example,
in American culture calling the people by their first name is act of friendship. Hence, this
is considered good in American culture. However, in Japanese culture calling the people
by their first name is bad thing. This is because, in Japanese culture it is considered as the
act of disrespect. Hence, for the mangers of IT Company it is very necessary that it
should consider the given aspect when recruiting employees who belongs to the varied
culture.
Overall, it can be stated that it is very essential for managers to consider the given issues
when developing team of global employees for their function. It is due to the fact that, lack of
consideration of the same will cause direct impact on firm's operation (Price, 2011).
RECRUITMENT PRACTICES USED BY INTERNATIONAL IT
MANAGERS
In order to carry out the recruitment of workers, manager of firm will have to employ
number of methods or recruitment practices. Here, with the selection of an appropriate
recruitment practices only, enterprise can meet their needs and demands relating to the workers
in an effectual way. Furthermore, appropriate recruitment practices assist firms to attract large
number of employees towards the nation in an efficient way. There are number of recruitment
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methods which IT firm’s managers uses to fulfill their need of employees (Saunders and et.al.,
2007). Here, with an aim to recruit or attract employees, manager of IT corporations can take
help from different social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter and Link din etc. In this
context, it is said that in today's scenario the given means of tracking employees for the purpose
to fulfil the vacant position have gained significant importance. In addition to this, with the use
of given approaches manager of the company can recruit efficient employees. This is because;
the given sites possess full information about the candidate which is required by the
organization. Hence, by selecting the suitable candidate job profile, manager ofIT firms can fill
the vacant position within enterprises in an effectual way
However, it has been critically evaluated that for the firm it is very difficult to assess
authenticity of the information which is being posted by the candidates in the above mentioned
networking sites (McGunnigle and Jameson, 2000). Hence, the social networking recruitment
practices increases the cost of the firm if later on it is identified by the recruitment manager of
the firm that the candidates whom they have called for an interview have posted wrong
information on these sites. In addition to this, with an aim to attract employees towards the
company, many IT enterprises taken help from the different employment agencies. These are the
agencies which give recommendations to the corporation regarding employees. These companies
plays very important role. With the help of these agencies, corporations can recruit the team of
talented and skilled employees in an effectual way.
CROSS CULTURAL MODEL
It is very important for the manager that before making any kind of decision, they should
consider the culture of the country where they are operating their operation. Here, with an aim to
get information about the culture followed by the citizens of specific country, manager of IT
corporations can take help from hofstede cross cultural dimensions theory (Hafeez and Aburawi,
2013). The given theory has its application in the recruitment and selection process of the
enterprises which are belongs to the IT feild. The detailed description about the same is depicted
below:
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The given theory will help in planning an effective recruitment and selection activities of
the company. Here, masculinity and femininity is regarded as one of the dimensions of given
theory (Hofstede's cross cultural theory, 2016). These dimensions showcase views and opinions
of the citizens of particular country. Here, on the basis of masculinity and femininity score only
manager of IT firms should plan their recruitment activity. For example, the country with high
masculinity score gives more importance to men (Timming, 2011). The citizens of given country
have opinion that men should be placed at high level position rather than women. However, the
nation with high femininity score follows equality aspect. This means that they do not perform
any kind of discrimination between male and female employees. Thus, for IT firm’s manager it
is very necessary that they should consider given cross culture dimensions when selecting
employees for the specific job position.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that it is very essential for the company to
give importance to the cultural aspect when making any kind of decision. This is because, by
complying with the given type of activity only, manager can direct firm towards the right
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Illustration 1: Hofstede's cross cultural theory
(Source:)

direction and hence can increase its chance of attaining high profits and sales in an effectual way.
In addition to this, international recruitment and selection approaches opens wide range of
opportunity for selecting the skilled and talented employees within organization. Furthermore,
with the help of given approach only manager of firm will be able to direct their efforts with
regard to attain the tactical goals and objectives of enterprise in an effectual way. In this context,
it has been seen that for the firm it becomes difficult to attain the tactical goals of own tactical
goals if they do not possess the team of competent individual.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Berrell, M., Gloet, M. and Wright, P., 2002. Organisational Learning in International Joint
Ventures: Implications for Management Development. Journal of Management
Development. 21( 2). pp. 83-100.
Dennis , N., 2013 . Human Resource Management for Hospitality, Tourism and Events.
Routledge.
Dhar, R. L., 2008. Strategic Human Resource Management. Excel Books India.
Forster, N., 2000. The myth of the international Manager’. International Journal of HRM. 11(1).
pp. 126-42.
Hafeez, K. and Aburawi, I., 2013. Planning human resource requirements to meet target
customer service levels. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. 5(2).
pp.230-252.
Hendry, C., 2012. Human Resource Management. Routledge.
Hurwitz, M. and Hurwitz, S., 2009. The romance of the followe: part 3. Industrial and
Commercial Training. 41(6). pp. 326–333.
Kotey, B. and Sheridan, A., 2004. Changing HRM practices with firm growth. Journal of Small
Business and Enterprise Development. 11(4). pp. 474–485.
McGunnigle, J. P. and Jameson, M. S., 2000. HRM in UK hotels: a focus on commitment.
Employee Relations. 22(4). pp. 403–422.
Okpara, O. J. and Wynn, P., 2008. Human resource management practices in a transition
economy: Challenges and prospects. Management Research News. 31(1). pp. 57–76.
Perlmutter, H. V., 1969. The tortuous evolution of the muti-national company. Columbia Journal
of World Business. 4. pp. 9-18.
Price, A., 2011. Human resource management. Cengage Learning.
Saunders, M. and et. al., 2007. Strategic Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues.
Prentice Hall.
Timming, R. A., 2011. What do tattoo artists know about HRM? Recruitment and selection in
the body art sector. Employee Relations. 33(5). pp. 570–584.
Vallaster, C., 2005. Strategy and Human Resource Management. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal. 26(7). pp.591-593.
Online
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Hofstede's cross cultural theory. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://geert-hofstede.com/national-culture.html>. [Accessed on 18th March 2016].
Recruitment and selection. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/recruitment/recruitment-meaning-definition-process-
and-factors-influencing-recruitment/25950/>. [Accessed on 18th March 2016].
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