Who carries the assignment of building or reproducing in a foreign subsidiary a structure similar to that which he or she knows from another part of the company?

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International Human Resource management

Chapter 1: Introduction

The field of international HRM has been characterized by three broad approaches. The first

emphasizes cross-cultural management: examining human behaviour within organizations

from an international perspective. The second approach developed from the comparative

industrial relations and HRM literature and seeks to describe, compare and analyse HRM

systems in various countries. A third approach seeks to focus on aspects of HRM in

multinational firms. We focus on the third approach.

When someone would try to provide an accurate view of the global realities of operating in

the international business environment, he would find that there is an overlap of the three

approaches. The cross-cultural issues are important when dealing with the cultural aspects

of foreign operations.

What is International HRM?

HRM refers to the activities undertaken by an organization to effectively utilize its human

resources. These include the following:

•Human resources planning

•Staffing (recruitment, selection, placement)

•Performance management

•Training and development

•Compensation and benefits

•Industrial relations

IHRM exists on three levels

1.The broad human resource activities of procurement, allocation and utilization.

(These three broad activities can be easily expanded into the six HR activities listed

above).

2.The national or country categories involved in international HRM activities:

a.The host-country where a subsidiary may be located

b.The parent-country where the firm is headquartered

c.Other countries that may be the source of labour, finance and other inputs.

3.The three categories of employees of an international firm:

a.Host country nationals

b.Parent country nationals

c.Third-country nationals

US company employee’s British citizens in its British operations (HCN), often sends US

citizens (PCN’s) to Asia countries on assignment and may send some of its Japanese

employees on an assignment to its Chinese operations (TCN).

Which stage of international operations tends to create a separate international division in a company?

Which approach all key management positions are held by parent country nationals?

Which are the two main motivators for accepting an international assignment?

Which of the following is one of the ways in which international HRM differs from domestic HRM?