IHRM 303

Module 12:
IHRM Challenges, Trends & Emerging
Issues
Module 12 Objectives

 Discuss emerging challenges & issues for

International businesses and HRM
 Explore key ethical issues for international
HRM Practice
 Discuss emerging trends in Mode of
operation for International business and
IHRM
 Consider emerging concerns about safety
and security
Strategic HRM

 Need to integrate HRM functions and

practices with strategic business objectives
across national borders
 Relationship to business structure
 Alignment with, or differentiated from,
industry and sector
 Balance between local and global needs &
norms (glocalisation).
Trends and issues

 Without looking at notes or the textbook, what

would do you think are important trends and
issues in IHRM?

 What do you foresee as emerging trends and

issues in the coming decade?
International Business ethics & IHRM (1)

Ethical relativism or global values?

 Ethical relativism

 Ethical absolutism

 Ethical universalism
International Business ethics & HRM (2)

 Self regulation:
 International corporate codes of conduct
 Global Compact - (8000 signatories – UN compact that
addresses human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption)

 Government regulation:
 Attack on bribery
 UN Declaration Against Corruption & Bribery in
International Commercial Transactions
 OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Public
Officials in International Business Transactions
 Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
UN Global Compact's ten principles
1. Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally
proclaimed human rights; and
2. make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
3. Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective
recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
4. the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
5. the effective abolition of child labour; and
6. the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
7. Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental
challenges;
8. undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
9. encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly
technologies.
10. Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and
bribery.
Corruption
 6 out of 10 believe corruption has increased over past 3 years
 I in 4 people report paying bribes in the last year.
 Views on corruption most negative in Western Europe and North
America,
 Most negative is 73% in Western Europe and 67% in North
America think corruption has increased
 New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark & Sweden rate over 9 on the
corruption index, and have least corruption
 Australia ranks at 8.7 on the index, although 54% perceive an
increase.
 Politicians, then Police, perceived as most corrupt worldwide

 Source: 2010 Global Corruption Barometer;

http://www.transparency.org (Survey of 91,500 people in 86
countries)
Challenges for HRM

 Role of HRM in corporate ethics?

 Recruitment and selection

 Training programs

 Performance management
The future of expatriation

 Business as usual?

 Virtual expatriation?
 Management from parent country office
 The role of technology in managing subsidiaries
 Fly-in Fly-out management

 Short-term and contract assignments

Women & Expatriate Assignments

 Under-representation of women expatriates

 Systemic causes?
 A case for affirmative action?
HRM in developing countries

 Suitability of Western HRM models

 Approaches to managing people in different
cultural contexts
Figure
Returning to topics of strategic HRM in MNEs
12-1

IHRM Chapter 12 13
Some corporate risk assessment categories

1. In-facility emergency and disaster

preparedness
2. In-facility security
3. Industrial espionage, theft, and sabotage
4. Cyberterroism
5. Out-of-facility fire and travel risks
6. What others??

IHRM Chapter 12 14
In 2009 MacAfee estimated

 that Spam costs $US 182.50 lost productivity

annually per person
 Estimate worldwide 62 trillion spam annually
 Equivalent to
 the electricity used in 2.4 million homes in the US
 Green house gas emissions of 3.1 million
passenger cars...
Discussion Questions
1. What do you think about international initiatives to criminalize
foreign bribery?
2. What HRM problems typically arise with expatriate assignments
that can be guided by core ethical values and guidelines identified
in this chapter?
3. Why is management succession frequently an issue for family-
owned firms?
4. Beyond checklists and systemic analysis, what actions can MNEs
take to reduce risks related to terrorism? What roles can HRM take
in these processes?
5. What IHRM activities would be pertinent to the sending, by
Médecins Sans Frontieres, of a medical team into a country such
as Bangladesh?

IHRM Chapter 12 16
Unit Summary

Some key points from each seminar

You design a revision Q

 Working with two other people, write one or

two revision/assessment question(s) relating
to one of the IHRM topics covered this
semester (topics will be allocated).

 Eg: A Q about staffing int’l org’ns might be:

 Using examples, explain the differences between
ethno-, poly-, regio-, and geo- centric approaches
to staffing international organisations.
Seminar 1: Intro to IHRM

 Differences between domestic and IHRM

 International corporate strategic

 Ethno-, poly-,regio, geocentric

 Classifying employees
 HCN, PCN, TCN
Seminars 2&3: Globalisation & Intl
Management
 Debates for and against globalisation
 Why firms internationalise
 Stages of internationalisation
 Reasons for international assignments
 Role of expatriates
Seminar 4 & 6: Staffing International
Operations
 Expatriate failure
 Selection criteria
 Informal nature of selection
 Issues in selection
 Gender and ethnicity
Seminar 7: Training & Development

 Cross-cultural awareness training

 Types of training and components of training

Seminar 9: Managing Performance

 Performance management process

 Issues in performance management

 Evaluating subsidiary performance
 Evaluation individual performance

 Issues in performance appraisal

Seminar 10: Remuneration

 Role of expatriate remuneration

 Components of international compensation

 Designing international compensation

 Variables influencing compensation

Seminar 11: International IR

 Union concerns with MNCs

 Employee rights and representation in

developing countries

 Issues in International IR

 IR in Western Europe
Seminar 12: Repatriation & Re-entry

 Re-entry shock

 Benefits of international assignments

 Repatriation process and individual/MNC

reaction

 Recommendations for successful repatriation

Seminar 13: HRM in host country
contexts

 Suitability of Western HRM models

 Approaches to managing people
 Instrumental vs humanistic
Revision questions -Industrial
Relations
 In what ways can trade unions constrain the
strategic choices of multinationals
 Forming International Trade Secretariats (ITSs) to
provide worldwide links for the national unions in a
particular trade or industry
 Lobbying for restrictive national legislation to prevent
export of jobs
 Regulation of multinationals by international
organizations such as ETUC and ILO
Revision questions -Industrial
Relations
 Identify four characteristics of MNEs that give
trade unions a cause for concern
 Formidable financial resources to absorb losses from a
disputing foreign subsidiary and still show overall profit
 Alternative sources of supply to reduce vulnerability to
strikes
 Remote locus of authority
 Capacity to stage an investment strike by refusing to
invest any additional funds in a plant rendering it
obsolete and economically non competitive
Revision question-HRM in host
country contexts
 How does the perceptions of HRM in “Developing”
countries differ from “Developed” countries?
 Developing countries:
 Centralised
 Bureaucratic
 Authoritarian
 Paternalistic
 Inefficient
 Discriminatory
 Employee alienation
 Lack of management skills
Revision question-HRM in host
country contexts
 Developed countries:
 Teamwork
 Empowerment
 Participation
 Customer focused
 Accountable
 Results driven
Exam structure

 Section A (20 marks)

 Two compulsory questions (10 marks each)
 Based on a short case study
 Test your application of key concepts and theories
addressed in the lecture
 Expected length: roughly ¾ of an A4 page
Exam structure

 Section B (20 marks)

 Four long answer questions
 Choice of any 2 questions ( 10 marks each)
 Expected length: roughly ¾ of an A4 page
 Answer in coherent, structured paragraphs instead of
bullet points
 Define the relevant theoretical concepts
 Explain and elaborate the key issues related to the
concept
 Provide relevant examples to support your answer(can
be generic or fictional)
Focus modules

 Module 3 : Globalisation and international

business part 2
 Module 4: International staffing, recruitment
and selection
 Module 6: Training and development for
expatriate assignments
 Module 8: Remunerating expatriate
employees
 Module 11: HRM in host country contexts
Sample answer outline

 Introduction
 Which IHRM topic does the question relate to?

 What are the main issues and concerns in this area?

 Main body
 What key IHRM theories and definitions address this issue/topic

?
 How do they relate to the external context?

 What could be possible solutions?

 Relevant examples

 Conclusion
 What was the concern and how does your answer highlight and
address it