ihrm staffing

INTERNATIONAL STAFFINGRECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

By

Amaresh C Nayak

HRP - Concept

• Stainer – Human Resource Planning is the strategy for the acquisition, utilization, improvement and preservation of organizations human resources. It aimed at coordinating the requirements for and the availability of different types of employees.

HRP - PROCESS

International HRP

• The HRP is closely linked to the business plans– HRP – The process of forecasting an

international organization's future demand for and supply of the right type of people in the right number.

– Corporate planning – managerial activities that set the company's objectives for the future and determine the appropriate means for achieving these objectives

International HRP – Key Issues

• Identifying top management potential early.

• Identifying critical success factors for future international managers.

• Providing developmental opportunities• Tracking and maintaining commitment

to individuals in their international career paths.

• Tying strategic business planning to HRP and vice-versa.

• Dealing with multiple business units while attempting to achieve globally and regionally focusedstrategies.

International Recruitment - Recent Trends

• Some distinct trends observed in international staffing– Work Force Diversity– Off shoring– Increasing use of background checks– Identifying recruiting sources– Challenges of dual career couples.


• Diversity Policy - a global guideline– Need for diversity - why should a company

seek diversity? What will be the benefits to die company and its customers?

– Vision of diversity - what should diversity look like? What is the ideal form of diversity for this company?

– Commitment to diversity - who all need to be supportive and involved in making the initiative real?

– Systems and structures for diversity - How to institutionalize diversity throughout the management practices?

– Sustain it - how to devise action plans for creating and sustaining diversity?


• Out sourcing– HR activities divested from operational to

strategic role– Helps in reducing bureaucracy– Encourage a more responsive culture by

introducing external market forces• Disadvantage

– The relevance of HR department is at stake


• Background Checks– Educational qualification– Employment record– Address– Professional qualification– Credit and bankruptcy– Database– Probable criminal record


• Sources of Recruiting– Job Posting Websites 92 %– Your Company's Website 85

%– Employee Referral Programme 81 %– Recruiters (External) 59 %– Recruiters (internal) 50 %– Ads in Local Media 48 %– Your Company’s Intranet 47

%– College / University Recruiting 45 %– Temporary to Permanent Hiring 42 %– Ads in Professional Association Media 28 %– E-mail lists / Discussion Groups 21 %– Ads in National Media 15 %– Blogs 3 %


• Dual Career Groups– Turn down the international assignment– Find a job for the traveling spouse– Commuter assignment– Sabbatical– Intra company employment– On assignment career support

International Selection

• The following four issues are relevant in the context of staffing global businesses– Linking staffing plans with the evolution of

the MNC– Staffing orientation– Managing expatriates– Female expatriates

Staffing Orientations

• Company’s response to global market opportunities depend greatly on management’s assumptions or beliefs– both conscious and unconscious

• The world view of a company’s personnel can be described as– Ethnocentric– Polycentric– Regiocentric– Geocentric

Ethnocentric Orientation

• Firms at the early stages of internationalization• Assumptions

– Home country is superior– Similarities in markets– Assume the products and practices that succeed in

the home country will be successful every where

• domestic companies - the ethnocentric orientation means that opportunities outside the home country are ignored

• International company - they adhere to the notion that the products that succeed in the home country are superior and therefore, can be sold everywhere without adaptation

Ethnocentric Orientation

• Managing international operations - people from the home country i.e. Parent Country Nationals (PCNs) fill top management and other key positions

• Perceived lack of qualified Host Country Nationals (HCNs)

• need to maintain good communication, coordination, and control links with corporate headquarters

• The firm uses a large group of expatriate mangers

• Foreign operations are viewed as being secondary or subordinate to domestic ones

• Operates under the assumption that “tried and true” headquarters’ knowledge and organisational capabilities can be applied in other parts of the world.

Polycentric Orientation

• Opposite of ethnocentric orientation– Assumption that each country in which a

company does business is unique– Each subsidiary to develop its own unique

business and strategies in order to succeed– the term multinational company is often

used to describe such a structure

• This eliminates the language barriers, avoids adjustment problems for expatriates and allows an MNC to take a lower profile in sensitive political situations

Polycentric Orientation

• Subsidiaries are managed and staffed by personnel from the host country– The HCNs are recruited to manage subsidiaries– PCNs occupy the corporate headquarters

• Employment of HCNs is less expensive• It has its limitations in terms of

– Bridging the gap between the HCN subsidiary managers and PCN managers at corporate head quarter

– language barriers– conflicting national loyalties– a range of cultural differences may isolate the

corporate HQ staff

Regiocentric Orientations

• Management views regions as unique and seeks to develop an integrated regional strategy

• It is a regional approach in which the MNC divides its operations into geographical regions and transfers staff within these regions

• This approach reflects some sensitivity to local conditions, since local subsidiaries are staffed by HCNs

• This approach to staffing policy will reflect organisational needs, but there are difficulties in maintaining a uniform approach to international staffing

Regiocentric Orientations

• Strategies in different countries may require different staffing approaches

• Have a worldview on a regional scale• Selection for staffing is on the basis of a

set of characteristics– SMILE

• Specialty (required skill, knowledge)• Management ability (particularly motivational

ability)• International flexibility (adaptability)• Language facility• Endeavor (perseverance in the face of difficulty).

Geocentric Orientations

• Views the entire world as a potential market• Strives to develop integrated world business

strategies• Represents a synthesis of ethnocentrism and

polycentrism• a ‘world view’ that sees similarities and

differences in markets and countries and seeks to create a global strategy that is fully responsive to local needs and wants.

• Nationality is deliberately downplayed• Firm actively searches on a worldwide or

regional basis for the best people to fill key positions

• Transactional firms tend to follow this approach.

Geocentric Orientations

• Regiocentric or Geocentric orientations are practiced in global or transnational company

• However, some research suggests that many companies are seeking to strengthen their regional competitiveness rather than moving directly to develop global responses to changes in the competitive environment.

• This approach is feasible when highly competent and mobile managers have an open disposition and high adaptability to different conditions in their various assignments and such employees are available at HQ as also in subsidiaries.

PCNsAdvantages Disadvantages

•Familiarity with the home office goals. Objectives, policies and practices•Promising managers are given international exposure. •PCNs are the best people for international assignments because of special skills and experiences

•Difficulty in adapting to the foreign language and the socio-economic, political, cultural and legal environment•Excessive cost of selecting, training, and maintaining expatriate managers and their families abroad •Promotional opportunities for HCNs arc limited•PCNs may impose an inappropriate HQ style Compensation for PCNs and HCNs may differ •Family adjustment problems, especially concerning unemployed spouses

HCNs

•Familiarity with the socioeconomic. political and legal environment and with business practices in the host country •Lower cost incurred in hiring them compared to PCNs and TCNs•Promotional opportunities for locals and consequently, their motivation and commitment •Languages and other barriers are eliminated •Continuity of management improves since HCNs stay longer in positions •Salary and benefit requirements may be lower than of PCNs

•Difficulty in exercising effective control over the subsidiary's operations •Communication difficulties in dealing with home-office personnel •Lack of opportunities for the home country's nationals to gain international and cross* cultural experience •HCNs have limited career opportunity outside the subsidiary •Hiring HCNs may encourage a federation of nationals rather than global units

TCNs

•TCNs may be better informed than PCNs about the countries of assignment •TCNs arc truly international managers

•Host country government may resent hiring TCNs •TCNs may not want to return to their own countries after assignment Host country's sensitivity' with respect to nationals of specific countries is missing •HCNs arc impeded in their efforts to upgrade their own ranks and assume responsible positions in the multinational subsidiaries HCNs or PCNs

Managing Expatriates

• A few guidelines would help identify potential expatriates.– The willingness and enthusiasm of a person

to work on overseas assignments– Looking at their background - are they

multiculturists themselves?– He should possess appropriate skills for the

positions overseas– The family background of the individual also

needs to be considered – Local laws of host countries often come in

the way of expat postings


• The element of 'cost' that drives the decision to staff with HCN's rather than PCNs.

• If expatriation is inevitable, the need lo calculate– Cost-effectiveness differentials– Negotiating competitive compensation packages– Relocation costs– Providing support with relocation with reference to

packing and shipping of belongings– Locating suitable residence are required to be done


• Selection Criteria for International Staffing– Technical Competence – Relational Skill – Ability to Cope with Environmental Variables– Family Situation


• Mark Mendenhall and Gary Oddou in 1985 identified four major dimensions that could influence an expat's selection and adjustment.– Self orientation - self-confidence, self-esteem and

mental hygiene*– Others orientation - develop lasting friendships and

close relationships with them and acculturate more easily in overseas assignments-

– Perceptual dimension - ability to make correct attributions about the reasons or causes of host-nationals' behaviour

– Cultural toughness dimension - the situation rather than to people.


• Specific Individual Criteria– Willingness and motivation– Performance (previous)– Technical abilities– Relational skills– Cross-cultural adaptability– Open-mindedness– Stress adaptation skills– Administrative skill– Communication skill– Leadership traits– Marital status


• Specific Family Support– Willingness and motivation lo become a

trailing spouse– Spouse’s adjustability– Give up jobs and career prospects– Marriage stability– Children s education


• Job Factors– Technical skills– Familiarity with working in HQ– Basic managerial skills– General administrative capability

• Relational Dimensions– Tolerance for ambiguity– Behavioral flexibility– Non-judgementalism– Cultural empathy


• Motivational State– Believe in the mission– Congruence with career path– Interest in overseas, specific host country culture– Acquire new patterns of behaviour and attitudes

• Family Situation– The spouse's willingness to relocate– Openness, supportiveness– Ability to adapt to a culture different– Stability of the marriage

• Language Skills– Host country language – Non-verbal communication


• Common Hardship Factors– Housing—availability and quality of expatriate

housing, limitations due to crime or security considerations, reliability of utilities;

– Climate and physical conditions—conditions of excessive temperature or weather risk of major climatic problems or natural disasters;

– Pollution—severity of atmospheric, water, radiation and noise pollution:

– Diseases and sanitation—health risks, public sanitation, need for food or water treatment:

– Medical facilities—availability and quality of health care facilities and medical staff; Educational facilities—availability of quality schools for expatriate children


• Common Hardship Factors– Infrastructure—quality and reliability of

telecommunication, mail, utilities, road conditions;– Physical remoteness—geographic isolation, travel

systems;– Political violence and repression—risk of violence,

terrorist activities, government repression;– Political and social environment—freedom of

expression, human rights, intolerance, corruption and poverty levels;

– Crime—risk to person and property, police force;– Communication—use of major world languages,

media availability and censorship; – Availability of goods and services—availability and

quality of food supplies, clothing and grocery.


• Course of Action for MNCs —– Provide culture and language orientation to

make the unfamiliar become a little less strange.

– Authorize pre-assignment visits for the expatriate and spouse so that they can find appropriate accommodation

– Encourage the family to involve the children in the discussion on educational options.

– Provide local contact information so that the family will be welcomed on arrival.


• Course of Action for MNCs —– Assign home-country mentors who are

familiar with the challenges of expatriation. – Provide EAP(Employee Assistance

Programme) – Provide an explicit job description so that

the employee knows precisely what is expected, thus minimizing insecurity

– Inform the family, prior to their acceptance of the move, of expected hardship conditions so that they can prepare themselves beforehand.


• Expat Failure– US Organisations

• Inability of spouse to adjust• Manager's inability to adjust• Other family reasons• Manager's personal or emotional maturity• Inability to cope with larger international

responsibilities

– Japanese Organisations• Inability to cope with larger international

responsibilities• Difficulties with new environment• Personal or emotional problems• Lack of technical competence• Inability of spouse to adjust

Female Expats

• Issues– Motivation– Stereotyping– Capabilities – Relational skills, coping with

stress– Organisational Process– Host country attitude

• Problems– Role expectations– Patron Male boss– Sexual harassment– Threatened male colleagues– Blocked promotion


• Minimize expat failures:– Design a job that maximizes role clarity,

minimizes role conflict and compensates for role novelty

– Use discerning measures for selection of international employees and their companions.

– Educate native and foreign employees in intercultural communication competence.

– Provide opportunity for language lessons.– Provide a technical assistant to help with the

details of starting life in a different culture.– Provide all information and equipment

pertinent to the role/work of the employee.


• Minimize expat failures:– Create open, frequent communication with the home

organisation to dispel feelings of abandonment.– Create opportunities for positive social interactions in

order to communicate and become better acquainted with host country members.

– Mostly, listen to them.– Provide proper organisational support systems, both

through logistical support and support from supervisors and co-workers in the host counu).

– Include spouse in any training and support programmes.

THANK YOU

ihrm staffing

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