Evaluating Cultural & HRM Challenges: UK Call Centre in Japan Setup

This report critically evaluates the cultural and human resource management (HRM) issues faced by a UK business when locating a call center in Japan. It discusses the significance of understanding Japanese culture, including language and work ethics, and addresses potential challenges related to client expectations, employee attrition, health issues, and engagement. The report also highlights benefits offered by Japanese companies, such as commuting allowance and health insurance. It emphasizes the importance of reputation, trust, and wholehearted customer care in the Japanese market. The analysis provides insights for UK businesses to navigate cultural differences and HRM practices effectively in the Japanese business environment to ensure successful operations.

International HRM

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Critical evaluation of cultural issues for a UK business locating a call centre in Japan.............3
Critical evaluation of HRM issues for a UK business locating a call centre in Japan................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
International human resource management is defined as a process in which a set of
business activities is targeting the management of human resources at the global level. Such type
of process strives for achieving the organisational goals as well as objectives and also gains
competitive advantages over the rivalries both in the national and international market place. It is
very significant to consider every business activities at the international level in order to manage
the human resources at international level. There are three dimensions like kinds of employees,
countries of operations and activities of HR (Aust, Muller-Camen and Poutsma, 2018). Within
this report, there will be a critical discussion on the cultural issues as well as HRM issues for the
business of UK locating a call centre in Japan. Being an IHRM consultant, it is very essential for
the organisations of UK to consider these issues as each region has its own culture in a different
way.
MAIN BODY
Critical evaluation of cultural issues for a UK business locating a call centre in Japan
The culture of each region varies from the culture of another region and because of which
the business faces problems as well as issues in order to conduct organisational operations and
activities within that place. Prior to start a business, it is very significant for an organisation to
analyse the conditions of market in an effective way in order to get positive outcomes in future.
In context to a call centre, the local language has to get applied in an appropriate manner so that
pre-determined goals of the organisation can be attained. In present scenario, the UK business
wants to locate its call centre within Japan and for which the organisation can face cultural
issues. As per the thoughts of OAMPI Admin (2020), the business of UK plans to outsource its
operations of Customer Support to the Japanese call centre where the organisation has to
consider the culture of that particular place in relation to lingual, economic as well as cultural
features of the people of Japan (Boxall, 2018). As per the World Bank, the Japan's economy is
ranked at second developed as well as third largest at the international level. Among the 500
fortune international organisation, 62 of them are headquartered in Japan. The respective country
is also considered as a private financial asset that results in $14.6 trillion which is 13.7% of
world's total assets as well as the greatest creditor. There are some cultural issues that are faced

by the organisation in UK in order to conduct the operations of call centres in Japan. These
cultural issues are discussed as follows:
 The Japanese Culture: The manpower who are working in Japan get stick to the
organisation who have joined the company after their graduation or post graduation until
the time of retirement. The people of Japan are having workholic attitude that shows
these people work at early as well as leave very late and is considered as
unprofessionalism. In present scenario, the investors in Japan are required to see identical
work ethics for those employees who are outsourced (Brewster and Cerdin, 2018). When
the employees of the nations show intense turnover rate then the partners who get
outsourced make use of various kinds of leadership that facilitates in provide motivation
to them in order to achieve greater level of performance. There is a unique trend within
Japan wherein the organisations within the respective country get outsourced their
business in another nations for hiring the citizens of Japan. It results in gaining the
advantages of wages as well as less cost in the process of outsourcing.
 The Japanese Language: This becomes very crucial for the company for speaking
Nihongo which is the official language of Japan for being a part of the Japanese call
centre. This language is very popular as well as the lessons of such language are given by
the multiple institutes of the education. There are some of the multilingual call centres
that are given by own training of Nihongo. For locating the call centres in the Japan, the
representatives of these centres should be effective in the process of their writing as well
as speaking the language of Japan in order to offer the services to the market share. It is
an issue that is faced by the organisations of UK because the language that has got
spoken within that place is English that becomes typical for people in order to speak the
language of Japan. The culture of the people of Japan represents the process of
conducting conversation or communication with one another (Brewster, Boselie and
Purpura, 2018). A single person should know regarding the Nihongo intonation, Japanese
greetings and the primary formalities. This respective official language was developed
for expressing the politeness as well as the formality so that they can communicate with
other people or the target audience of Japan in an effective manner.
Hence, this becomes very crucial for the country Japan in order to take into consideration
the culture, language as well as economy at the time before it goes to outsource the call centres

for the people of Japan. The representation should be able to access the customs and language of
Japan. Therefore, these are considered as the key issues that are faced by the organisation of UK
at the time of locating their services of call centre within the markets of Japan.
Beyond all these, there are various approaches through which the market share of Japan
can get served and these approaches are given as under:
 Reputation is everything: The people of Japan do not holds risk appetite and are more
trsutworthy. People love to operate the business when they feel trustworthy in respect to
the organisation or brand along with having the faith in the process of solving the
problems (Furusawa and Brewster, 2018). This is a significant aspect for the call centre in
order to give the services of high level quality to their market share as well as get solved
their problems in an effective way in order to get the favourable results within the
business.
 Wholehearted care for everyone: The service of call centre is concentrated on the word
Omotenashi that is a part of service of the Japan. It's not all about offering the services at
great level but it is also important to operate in passionate and in a manner in which the
business can earn and maximise its profitability. This becomes crucial for the customer
service of Japan in order to attend the call along with equal heart and provide assistance
to people in a very enthusiastic as well as sincere manner. When the organisations of UK
will locate their business of call centres in Japan then they have to greet or welcome their
market share in an appropriate manner for getting the positive results.
Critical evaluation of HRM issues for a UK business locating a call centre in Japan
The concept of human resource management refers to the effective management of
human resources in a business for chasing the competitive advantages within the market place.
Such type of process is mainly designed in order to enhance the performance of manpower and
the organisation as a whole (Hermans, 2018). This concept involves various aspects such as
planning, organising, staffing and controlling. In context to business of UK, various kinds of
issues are faced by the human resources at the time of locating the business at other places. It is
very important for the employees of the organisation to hire the right candidate at right time and
for the right job. Those organisations of UK that are locating their business of call centre in the
markets of Japan are facing some of the HRM issues.

The field of call centre is considered as the most powerful industry that facilitates in
contributing the majority of Asian countries' economies like China, India and Malaysia. As per
the report that is published through the leading group, it is analysed that the total amount spend
of call centre us US $350 billions. There are some issues that are concerned with the process of
HRM and are faced by the businesses of UK in order to locate their call centres within the
markets of Japan. These HRM issues are described as below:
 Increasing expectations of clients: This becomes typical for satisfying the manpower
because their expectations are relatively high that is not able for the organisation in order
to meet these expectations (Jiang and Yahiaoui, 2019). There is an increase in the
channels of social media that results in enhancing the competition among the businesses
and hence, made the circumstance worse. The market share of Japan expects the services
of high quality that is typical for the organisations of UK in order to carry those high
quality services within the business. For instance, targeted audience of Impact Call
Centre prefer the services of the premium quality for their people in order to make them
fully satisfied as well as happy.
 Great Attrition rate: Call Centre industry is suffering from high rate of attrition where
experienced as well as trained and skilled human resources leave the business. There are
some workers who are required to make sure that there should be effective initiation of
the business activities. It results in hiring more and more people that increases the cost of
overall business. The companies within the UK are expected to locate the business of call
centre in the markets of Japan wherein they need local employees who have better
experience as well as knowledge in order to perform better.
 Health issues: The work of call centre is usually conducted at night shift that results in
causing various health issues such as insomnia, RLS, hypertension and stress that create
the timetable of work debatable (Kirk and Howe-Walsh, 2021). This is also the problem
of HRM that influence the human resources a swell as their health in an adverse manner.
The employees who are working at the call centres are facing different issues and because
of which their health gets impacted.
 Lower employee engagement: In case if the call centres are unable to make their
manpower excited and engage them in work then it becomes stressful as well as repetitive
nature work that results call centre in order to fail in involving their human resources in

an appropriate manner. It becomes a major issue of the HRM that will influence the
business as well as its operations.
As per the opinion of Chiara terzuolo (2020), there are some advantages of the call centre
industry at the market place of Japan and these are discussed as below:
 Commuting Allowance: This benefit is given by a Japanese organisation to their people
who spent their most of the working life in Japan while another countries not covering
expenses of employees related to computing (Lambey, Usoh and Burgess, 2021). Passes
of commute is valid for each kind of train lines that are used by manpower for their work.
In context to call centre business, they give subordinates with appropriate advantages in
order to motivate them.
 Health Insurance: The company that is located in Japan offers services of health
insurance to their employees. They don't bother regarding from where the human
resources arose but concentrate on providing appropriate medical treatment to them. The
amount relies on kind of policy that is followed by the business which is for less fee or at
free of cost. Organisations that are operating in Japan concentrate on their manpower in
order to take part in annual health check. The call centres also give these advantages of
HRM to their subordinates for working in a diligent manner.
 Job Security: It is applicable for all the employees who are working full time because it
is typical for the business in Japan in order to fire the employees without any reasonable
cause. It becomes significant for the society of Japan for giving job security to their
human resources. In context to Call Centre, the company also gives security to its
manpower to achieve favourable outcomes. It is also very significant to consider the
security of job for their workforce.
 Taxes: This becomes typical for a single person for paying the taxes by themselves and
within this respective case, human resources are working in Japan and getting advantages
in terms of taxes because an organisation is responsible to pay these taxes at the time of
their functioning (Mendy, 2022). Workforce who operate work as a call centre
representative should be polite to their Human resources for paying tax on behalf of them
without any default.
Hence, these are the key advantages of the HRM that are chased by the manpower of
organisation who are working in call centre of Japan that gets operated by the UK companies.

This is very significant to take into consideration such aspects in an effective way in order to get
the favourable outcomes. Therefore, the above discussion states that issues of distinct culture as
well as HRM are faced by the companies of UK which are required to be taken into
consideration when locating the call centre operations within Japan.
For an organisation, human resources are considered as an essential resource because
they are responsible for operating different business activities. It is also the accountability of a
company in order to manage its human resources as well as fully satisfying and encouraging
them through motivation (Ozbilgin, 2020). Within a business, people can get managed through
providing training and development sessions and additionally, they get managed by seeking the
feedbacks in an effective manner.
The strategies of organisations that are operated at global level are defined as the
accumulation of the activities that are considered by the company tends to achieve the business
goals and objectives. This becomes very significant for a business to frame strategies of the
international organisation for operating business activities globally without facing any kind of
difficulty. Management of human resources within an organisation is considered as an integral
part that facilitates them in attaining the pre-determined objectives. In order to run the business
in an effective manner, it is very crucial to take into consideration various kinds of strategies at
international level like global, transactional and multi-domestic. Relying on nature as well as
type of business, the strategies should be followed in a proper way.
Global strategy are formed at international level and are just contrary to multi-national
organisations as well as offering superior quality services to maximise goals for reducing the
cost. Multi-domestic are the strategies in which business enhance its activities in various
locations to get positive results (Patel, Prikshat and Sinha, 2021). Transactional strategies
possess features of multinational and global company and its objective is to maximise the local
responsiveness but achieving advantages from international integration.
After analysing various strategies, it has been concluded that the call centre can adopt all
kinds of strategies for business relying on nature, size and type. This is also significant for call
centre to analyse the requirements of its customers and offering services accordingly.
CONCLUSION
From above explanation of the report, it has been concluded that operating business at
various places results in difficulty for an organisation because it has to face different cultures as

well as HRM issues. The companies within UK are enhancing their call centres in Japan so they
should take into consideration every aspects for conducting its business operations in Japan in an
effective way. It is also very important for the organisation that is operating internationally to
make an analysis of the market and its conditions in order to run the business in a smooth way.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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