The Impact of Global HRM on Sustainability: A Study in Kenya

This essay examines the relationship between global Human Resource Management (HRM) and sustainability in Kenya, focusing on key aspects such as performance management, spousal support, repatriation, and COLA implications for expatriates. It addresses challenges like sudden illness, language readiness, industrial relations, and personal risks faced by expatriates in the Kenyan work environment. The essay also highlights the importance of preparation, induction training, mentoring, and development programs to enhance expatriate performance and contribute to Kenya's global competitiveness and international relations. Ultimately, it suggests that Kenya should focus on improving its relationship with expatriates to increase productivity and strengthen its international ties, with a particular emphasis on mitigating challenges and fostering a supportive work environment.

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GLOBAL HRM AND SUSTAINABILITY
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Global HRM And Sustainability 2
Global HRM and sustainability
Executive summary
The paper provides an overview of some of the essential considerations of particular
human resource aspects such as sudden illness and personal risk. Many people do not know the
connection between human resources and sustainability. Human resource managers mostly focus
on getting an employer of their choice,and this is similar to the tenets of sustainability.
Sustainability aims at maximizing business benefits to all those who are involved including the
expatriates. Human resource managers play a vital role in the organization because they address
issues concerning employees. In this paper, I will continue to look at global sustainability and
human resources aspects in Kenya.
Introduction
Human resource aspects in a country help in determining the level of foreign investment
in a country. For instance, a state which pays its expatriates well will always receive a high
number of expatriates. In this article, I choose to use Kenya which is one of the East African
countries. The country has numerous tourist attraction sites such as the extinct volcanoes and the
wildlife which are major tourist attraction sites. Kenya also has a wide variety of developed
structures including lodges, hotels and many people visit the country annually. Kenya is one of
the developing countries,and it has worked tirelessly to enhance sustainability and increase its
global competitiveness (Wambua 2013, p. 15). In this article, I will look at the different human
resource aspects in Kenya and determine their implications for future expatriates and businesses.

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Performance management
Performance management is the process whereby the supervision of a company works in
a close relationship with its employees to achieve it set objective and goals. The administration,
with the collaboration of its employees, produces performance expectation and standards through
performance planning. In Kenya, most organizations have attempted to change their businesses
by shifting from HRM practices to adapt to the changing market trends. Performance
management is an aspect that aims at controlling the quality of work done by assessing the
performance of employees (Jackson, Amaeshi, and Yavuz 2008, p. 400). Organizations in Kenya
have tried to manage expatriates to improve the level of foreign investments in the country. With
such commitments, the state can attract more expatriates because there will be a natural
understanding between the locals and expatriates.
Spousal support
Expatriates have difficulty when it comes to dealing with abroad assignments given by
their bosses. The issue concerning their spouses and children arise whenever an overseas
assignment is presented to an employee. Different companies have different ways of handling
this aspect of human resource management. The increase in globalization needs managers to
measure the performance to test if the business will survive in the foreign market. Some HR
managers may find it difficult to adapt to the Kenyan culture due to the cultural gaps.
Muriukistates that (2012, p. 4) most of the expatriates who work in Kenya work as either
volunteers, NGO employees or multinational company managers. Kenya allows expatriates to
stay with their family members and this will enable them to adapt quickly to the local cultures.

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The move helps in retaining expatriates hence promoting the links between the country and the
expatriates.
Repatriation
Repatriation refers to the course of returning a person, an asset, and an item which has a
symbolic value forcibly or voluntarily to its citizenship, original location or its owner. Human
resource specialists have the responsibility to ensure that other repatriation cohorts deliver
quality support. Countries with inadequate backing have unclear data which leads to insufficient
support from the human resource managers and home. Kenya repatriates expatriates who work in
the country illegally to create a healthy working environment (Waris and Latif 2014, p. 2). For
other expatriates, the state pays them adequately and educates them so that they can adapt to the
local cultures and this improves their retention.
COLA implications
COLA implication is an aspect which helps managers to identify how they can manage a
healthy working environment between local employees and expatriates by providing an analysis
of cross-cultural HRM. Researchers have discovered that expatriates mostly conflict with
domestic workers and there is a need to come up with a way of solving such issues. Kenya
encourages the existence of expatriates to increase its globalization and skills. The country
encourages people to work in other countries so that they can improve their cultural knowledge
(Sayo2015, p.13). In other regions such as AUS, the government focuses a lot on training
expatriates how to adapt to different cultures to reduce the levels of failure. It is therefore evident
that countries are focusing on training expatriates so that they can take foreign assignments
easily.

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Sudden illness
A sudden illness can affect expatriates and primarily due to the different health systems
provided in each country and the changes in the environment. Kenya is a region which has
numerous diseases which can affect employees. Some parts such as Kilifi have poor sanitation
and inadequate health services (Taegtmeyer et al. 2008, p. 305). Some employees also get
injuries during their jobs and even infections in the health facilities. The country works hard to
make laws on how to deal with sudden illness while working and this can encourage expatriates
to come into the country in the future.
Language readiness
There is an increase in the number of multinational companies, but there are also some
challenges that accompany this globalization. For instance, employees have to create new
communication skills and adapt to the new environments. In Kenya, language readiness is an
essential determinant for the success of expatriates(Mendenhall et al. 2017, p. 50). Being ready
to adapt to the Kenyanlanguage which is Swahili and English can assist an expatriate to work
well with the locals because of easier communication. Any expatriate should, therefore, make an
effort to learn Kenyan language before he or she thinks of working in Kenya.
Industrial relations
Industrial relations refer to how the managercommunicates with his or her employees.
Most of the industries are growing, and HR managers are given new responsibilities as
international managers. In Kenya, a lot of research has been conducted to determine what affects
the performance of expatriates (Fowler 2013, p. 23). It is because some expatriates return to their

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homes without even meeting their goals leading to both financial and emotional losses. The
country would like to come with ways of retaining employees and other expatriates to increase
international relations and increase investment in the country. In such a way, expatriates will be
motivated to work in Kenya due to improved morale and job satisfaction.
Personal risk
Risks in the working environment such as sudden illness can lead to employee turnover,
and this has a negative impact on HR managers. However, there are numerous personal risks
which may emerge for the expatriates leading to increased failures (Saratuki et al. 2016, p. 22).
Kenya trains its expatriates and also pay them good salaries, but sometimes the expatriate may
underperform despite all the training offered. Expatriates may fail due to various reasons such as
lack of expertise, poor adaptability, illness or even family problems. In some major cities in
Kenya, the crime rates are high due to the wealth gaps which can lead to repatriation.
Preparation and induction training required
Induction is the process employed introduced to the new working environment and
enhance the productivity of the respective organization (Holtbrügge and Ambrosius2015, p.
278). The greatest challenge for many businesses is to induce and train employees so that they
can take international business responsibilities. Companies in Kenya carries out tests to see if the
expatriates can be able to do the given jobs. The company believes that training expatriates will
increase the level of experience and expertise in the country.
Mentoring and development

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Mentorship is a process where seniors develop positive relationships with the juniors
while development involves a continuous improvement in the performance of an employee.
Expatriates have contributed to the constantevolution of Kenya, and the countries believe in
motivating and developing its expatriates (Holtbrüggeand Ambrosius 2015, p. 282). Kenya
identifies people who have the necessary skills to perform different jobs and then monitor and
train them so that they can take new responsibilities without difficulties. It is an essential move
because it will help in increasing the growth of the country and other countries will accept
expatriates from Kenya without problems.
Conclusion
The paper provides a summary of some of the Human resource aspects and their
implications for future expatriates in Kenya. It is evident that expatriates are very important to a
country because they help in increasing experience and expertise. But there are some challenges
which face expatriates such as sudden illnesses, language barriers,and differences in cultural
beliefs. But there are some factors which can help in improving the knowledge and performance
of expatriates such as development and mentoring of expatriates. To conclude, Kenyacan focus
on how to improve its relation with expatriates so that it can increase its productivity and its
international relations.
References

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Fowler, A., 2013. Striking a balance: A guide to enhancing the effectiveness of non-
governmental organisations in international development. Routledge.
Holtbrügge, D. and Ambrosius, J., 2015. Mentoring, skill development, and career success of
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WAMBUA, M.M., 2013. EFFECTS OF HUMAN RESOURCE FACTORS ON PROJECT
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