Leadership in Multinational Corporation: HRM Strategies Analysis

This report examines the crucial role of leadership in Human Resource Management (HRM) within a multinational corporation (MNC). It explores the adoption of a participative leadership style to effectively manage a diverse workforce, fostering communication and transparency while ensuring equitable treatment. The report delves into the challenges of cultural differences, utilizing Hofstede's cultural dimensions to understand and overcome potential conflicts. Communication barriers, particularly language differences, are addressed through strategies like simplified language use, visual aids, and translation services. The report also highlights the importance of ethical and environmentally friendly practices, including the use of organic materials and sustainable packaging. The overall aim is to create a positive organizational climate that values all employees and improves overall organizational performance.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human resource management refers to the process of managing the people of an
organization effectively in order to gain a competitive advantage with the help of the human
resources of the organization. Efficient and Effective Human resource managements helps the
employees in improving their performances such that the organization can achieve their overall
objectives and goals (Li, Liu and Luo 2018). Moreover human resource management is related to
recruitment, motivation, and maintenance of the organizational workforce and therefore it also
looks after the issues related to the employees compensation, communication, motivation and
development. Leaders paly a very important role in managing the organizational workforce
efficiency and therefore they are considered as important implementers of the HRM strategies.
Leaders can help in influencing the employees behaviour and attitude within an organization and
also help in providing appropriate direction and guidance to them such that they know what is
expected from them (Chang et al., 2019). The main aim of the paper is to discuss about the role
of leader’s in managing the human resources within an organization effectively and efficiently.
The paper will discuss about the role of leadership in managing the workforce appropriately, the
role of leader’s in overcoming cultural differences within an organization, the role of leader’s in
improving the overall communication within the organization. Moreover the role of leader’s in
ensuring suitable practices within and outside organization will also be discussed in the paper.
The role of a leader in influencing the attitude and behaviour of employees through motivation
and inspiration will be discussed and the importance of emotional intelligence for the leader’s
will also be discussed.

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As the head of the Multinational corporation or MNC, which is engaged in competing
with other global brands and has about 40% of its workforce from different countries, I will
adopt a participative leadership style (Sagnak 2016). A participative leadership style is one that
includes employees participation on all or most of the decision of the company. The employees
in such as organization are given all necessary information related to the issues of the company
and decision are taken based on majority vote basis. Therefore this leadership style encourages
employees involvement into organization operation and decision making process. Moreover in
such an approach, the leaders are open for suggestions by the employees and a participative
environment is there in the organization. Such a leader empowers others. Therefore by adoption
of this leadership style I will ensure that all the employees of the organization both who belong
to this country and those from other countries motivated to work in the company. Through
adoption of participative style, I will try to improve the communication within the organization
and also the transparency and this will ensure that no type of discrimination is carried out against
any employees of the employees (Chan 2019). Participative leadership style will help me in
properly managing the diversified workforce by creating such an organizational environment
where all employees irrespective of their caste, nationality or any difference will feel free to give
suggestions. Therefore such a culture will be created within the organization that respects people
with their differences and values people with their differences. Moreover such a leadership style
will help in improving 98t culture and climate wherein employees can freely communicate.
Moreover by adopting a participative decision making approach, the management will be able to
get the acceptance of all the employees to a particular decision because they have been a part of
the decision making process (Chang et al. 2019). This will also help the company in carrying out
a number of changes within the organization because all the employees will readily accept

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change within the organization. Therefore the flexibility and adaptability of the organization to
its external environment will improve as a result of the participative leadership style. Moreover
the leader will be able to create a sense of motivation and improved employees morale because
when each and every employee is asked to take part in the decision making process of the
company, they feel that the company considers them as important part of the company and then
their performance will automatically improve. And as a result, the overall organizational
performance will improve as a whole due to synergy. Moreover by adopting a participative
leadership style, there can be long term benefits. Some of these includes- better organizational
decision making, reduced organizational conflicts, engagement of the employees within the
organization and also more creative solutions can be innovated by the company. The
organization will be able to take better decision through agreement of all the employees to the
same, this leadership style will be able to reduce the employees turnover by improving the sense
of engagement in them because everyone tries to improve the overall performance and
productivity which will ultimately be beneficial for them. Since a diversified workforce is there
in the organization, therefore different people can contribute different ideas that can help in
solving the organizational problems in a much better way and help in creating a creative culture
and climate within the organization.
Since our organizational workforce comprises of 60% of people from within the country
and 40% of it from various other countries therefore it is quite common for cultural difference
and conflicts to occur. Cultural differences include- different caste, race, religion, language,
behaviours and practices. Cultural conflicts occurs due to different values and beliefs of people
from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore in order to be able to manage the cultural
differences and conflicts in a better way, I need to be more accommodating towards different

4HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
types of cultures and I should be able to appreciate people with their cultural differences
(Minkov 2018). The Hofestede cultural dimension can be understood for improving the
knowledge of people about the cultural differences and that will ultimately help in overcoming
cultural problems. The theory of Hofestede cultural dimension as developed by Geert Hofstede,
is used for understanding the cultural differences across different countries. The six main cultural
dimensions as has been discussed by the Hofestede includes- power distance dimension,
collectivism vs. individualism, uncertainty avoidance, femininity vbs. masculinity, short term
orientation vs. long term orientation and restraint vs. indulgence. The power distance dimension
discusses about the extent to which power and inequality is accepted in the society. Therefore
there may be a high power distance index and low power distance index (Huang and Crotts
2019). Countries which have a high power distance index are the ones which accept inequality in
the society and also accepts power differences and therefore show more respect to the people
who belong to higher ranks or have more authority. On the other hand, countries with a low
power distance index encourage flatter organizational structures where everyone deserves to be
treated equally. The individualism and collectivism dimension discusses about the extent to
which a country is integrated into group. Therefore in countries where individualism index is
greater they tend to provide more importance to their achievement of their personal gaols rather
than thinking about the gaols of the group. The uncertainty avoidance dimension discusses about
the extent to which a society avoids changes or accepts the same. The masculinity vs. femininity
dimension discusses about whether a society is characterised by achievements, power or by more
feminine characteristics. The long term vs. short term orientation discusses about the way time
horizon is viewed by a society and indulgence vs. restraint includes- the extent to which a society
is restrained or supported in fullf9llment of its desires. Therefore by understanding the different

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dimension, the reasons why people behave differently can be understood and therefore such an
organizational climate can be created that is adaptable to all the people from different cultures.
Moreover by understanding the dimensions, it become easier to solve issues because there may
be some people who focus only on achievement of their personal gaols and not only
achievements of the team gaols due to which certain conflicts may arise (Williamson 2002).
There may be issues in the organization because some employees may feel that the others are
trying to play good in front of the top management by respecting them but actually they may
belong to countries with higher power distance index. Therefore all organizational issues can be
solved by improving the cultural awareness of the leaders and the employees.
Figure 1: Hofstede Cultural Dimension
Source: (McSweeney 2002)

6HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
There can be a number of communication barriers in our organization because 40% of the
staff is from other countries and since our operations are established in Italy and France.
Therefore language can act as a major communication barrier in the organization (Blume and
Board 2013). Verbal communication between people is based on language and therefore it can
become very difficult if two people do not understand each other’s language. People may
become agitated because of their failure to express themselves or understand others. Moreover
language barrier soften lead to organizational conflicts because of misinterpretations and
misunderstandings. For instance, two people may understand two different meanings of a same
word. Moreover language causes a barrier in the communication process because the message
does not get delivered from the sender to the receiver property. Therefore it is important for
managing language barriers within the organization. Hence, I will try to overcome these barriers
through a number of organizational activities such as avoiding the use of jargons and keeping the
language as simple as possible, I will try to explain my employees the importance of visual
communication methods, I will ensure that communication is done properly through repetition,
by ensuring that people are respectful towards each other’s. At the time of some important
meetings, I can take the help of translators and I will also take regular sessions for discussing
about cultural differences (Tenzer and Schuster 2017). Therefore I will make sure that people use
as simple language within the organization as possible and avoid making use of jargons and
therefore such a culture can be created where people will be encouraged to communicate in a
simple informal language with each other such that everyone can understand what is being said.
Next I will ensure that people also make use of non-verbal communication methods such as
signs, gestures and others activities. Sometimes non-verbal communication can be more effective
than verbal communication. Then I will ensure that people talk to each other with utmost respect

7HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
an politeness such that everyone can understand what is being said to them and do not have a
hard time working in a different country. This technique will also help in improving the overall
experience of the employees from other countries. Therefore I will try to create a culture wherein
people talk to each other in a more polite and respectful manner. For this I will also try role
modelling techniques (Turaga 2016). Employees will also have to repeat themselves for
explaining themselves and for improving the understanding of the other person. In case of
important meetings, I will take the help of translator who can either be a trustable employee or
even an external translator for communicating effectively in the meeting. I will also undertake a
number of session for discussing about cultural differences such that people start accepting
cultural differences and to broaden their accommodation with others and I will also be using both
formal and informal communication channels within organization to improve the organizational
communication (Tenzer, Terjesen and Harzing 2017).
Due to the increasing customers awareness about environment and ethics, we have
decided to change some of our approach towards a more ethical, moral and ecologically friend
approach. We are currently engaged in offering premium quality shoes, bags, clothing and also
insurance policy for protection of the valued goods such as diamond and gold ornaments. We
have decided to make clothes from organic material and adopt greener packages practices. From
now on our clothes will be made from reusable material, fabrics that is made of organic dyes
such as to reduce the impact of the company in the environment. Moreover we will also make
use of organic cotton fabric for our clothes such that our buyers feel proud to be associated with
us. Moreover this technique will help in targeting all those customers who are ethically active
and who also think a lot about the environment (Shin et al.2017). Moreover we will also offer
our customers to exchange their old clothes with our company for new ones at reduced price

8HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
such that the wastage of clothes can be reduced and then it can be recycle by us,. We have also
decided to avoid making use of packages that are made of plastics due to increasing customers
awareness. Moreover plastics take a lot of time to be decomposed and may have some severe
environmental impacts and cause a number of hazards if not disposed of properly. Therefore we
have also decided to change the material of our packages. We will now be using packages made
from organic material and that can be used for more than one time. Therefore reusable packages
will be provided by us to our customers for reducing the use of plastics. Therefore this activity is
also aimed at meeting the needs of all those customers who care for the environment and support
ethical practices. I feel that this decision of ours for changing our packaging and the quality of
our clothes will help us in improving our public image. Moreover I also feel a responsibility
towards the society I am presently working in. These activities will help me in meeting my social
responsibilities as has been outlined in Carroll’s pyramid of CSR.
Figure 2: Carrols CSR Pyramid
Source: (Carroll 2016)

9HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Therefore from the above diagram, it is understood that according to Carroll, the CSR
activities of any organization encompasses four major responsibilities- economic, legal, ethical
and philanthropic responsibility (Wagner-Tsukamoto 2019).
Since the performance level of the organization is on a decline therefore I need to
improve the overall organizational performance through employees motivation (Hur 2018).
Employees motivation includes those factors that helps the employees in achieving their goals or
tasks. In order to motivate the employees within the organisation I can make use of the Herzberg
two factors theory. According to the theory, there are two main factors that affects the motivation
of the employees within the organization. These two factors includes- the motivators and the
hygiene factors (Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl and Maude 2017). The motivators encourages the
employees so that they can work hard and the hygiene factors are required to be fulfilled such
that the employees are not dissatisfied I the organization. The motivators include factors within
the job that motivates the employees and on the other hand, hygiene factors include all those
factors that are not related to the actual job. The motivators includes factor such as- achievement,
reward and recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth. On the other hand,
the hygiene factors includes- companies policies, relationship, supervisor, work conditions,
salary, remuneration and security factors. Therefore I will try to ensure that the employees are
rewarded and recognised for their hard work, I will try to make sure that the work itself
motivates the employees by ensuring that the work is challenging, I will empower the employees
such that they can own their work (Güss, Burger and Dörner 2017). I will try to discuss the
career path of the employees with them such that they can become motivated to improve their
performances and employees will be given opportunities for undertaking training and
development on a regular basis. On the other hand, I will also ensure that the employees are not

10HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
dissatisfied by having proper company policies, providing necessary supervision, better
relationships, better working conditions, fair salary and also provide job security to the
employees. By carrying out these activities, employees can be motivated to outperform
themselves and be satisfied with their job. Moreover for engaging the employees within the
organization, I will ensure that they get such an environment wherein they can freely
communicate with the top management. I will carry out a number of sessions, wherein the
employees can openly discuss about nay issues being faced by them and I will also ask them for
their necessary suggestions. I will make them a part of the decision making process such that
they feel that their opinions are valued by the company. I will provide for flexible working hours
such that they can feel free to work according to their convenience. Moreover both informal and
formal communication channels will be used by me for improving their performance (Jaquays
and Thompson 2018). One of the other major employee motivation theory that can be used by
me includes McClelland theory of needs. According to this theory employees of an organization
have certain needs and f that can be fulfilled the employees can be motivated and as a result
their performances will improve. These needs includes- the need for achievement, affiliation and
power within the organization.
Although influence, motivation and control are some of the major characteristic that
defines the role of leaders, however, the role of a leader does not end with these (Serrat 2017).
This is so because leaders need to be emotionally intelligent in order to be able to understand and
manage their own emotions and also the emotions of the people around them. Moreover leader’s
effectiveness can be improved through emotional intelligence (Sathya and Velmurugan 2018).
With the help of emotional intelligence, leaders can carry out self-assessment, self-regulation,
compassion and empathy, relationship management and also help in effective communication

11HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
within the organization (George et al. 2017). Through self-assessment, leaders can identify their
own emotions, values, strengths and weaknesses and also understand the impact of the same on
others. Therefore this technique can be used by them for improving themselves and developing
their relationship with the employees. Through self-regulation and control, leaders can help in
taking charge over their negative thoughts and therefore help the team to move in appositive
direction. By developing emotional intelligence, leaders can become empathetic and
compassionate towards others and most of all by developing emotional intelligence, employees
can improve their communication. Moreover in order to keep the employees engaged within the
organization, it is necessary for the leaders to adopt a collaborative and participative leadership
of leadership such that the employees feel that they are an important part of the organization
(Fitzpatrick, Shete and Richards 2018). Therefore I will adopt a team management style of
leadership and for this I will share the organizational vision with them, show them the bigger
picture such that everyone understands what is expected from them and the way their work is
contributing to the overall organizational productivity and performance. At the same time, I will
empower the employees such that they can take the accountability and ownership of their work
(Lee 2019). I will try to help the team in improving their performances by developing better
relationship them. I will give them the required freedom within the organization and at the same
time I will ensure that they are doing their work properly. Moreover I will appreciate the
employees wherever possible such that they can feel motivated.
Therefore from the above discussion, it is understood that leaders play a very important
role in improving the organizational communication, employees engagement, overcoming
cultural differences, improving the organizational image by engaging in sustainable activities and
improving the overall performance of the organization by influencing the pe4ople of the

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organization through motivation and inspiration. Moreover from the paper, the benefits of a
participative leadership style in the organization have also be understood. Therefore from the
paper, the role played by the leaders in managing the cultural differences and conflicts within an
organization have been understood. From the paper, the role played by the leaders in improving
the overall communication within the organization and their role in also improving the overall
organisational performance has been understood. I have also understood from the paper that
leaders not only help in influencing the employees through motivation but they can also help in
developing a sense of belongingness within the employees through their emotional intelligence
and role modelling within the organisation. I have also learnt from the paper that a good leader
can help in retaining their talented employees such that they can gain a competitive advantage in
the market. Leader’s help in retaining the most talented employees or key employees of the
organization by making the employees feel engaged within the organization through adoption of
a participative leadership approach within the organization. Moreover I have also learn about the
way a leaders can help in improving their overall image of the company through adoption of a
number of sustainable practices and therefore become successful in the .long run.

13HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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