How culture-sensitive is HRM? A comparative analysis of practice in Chinese and UK companies

There has been some concern about the extent to which models and practices of HRM are capable of being transferred from one country to another. This emerged in the late 1970s as concern that Japanese ideas might be adopted uncritically by US companies, and during the 1980s as concern that these ideas, after recycling within the US, might not be totally appropriate for consumption in other parts of the world. Further urgency is added to the question by the pressures on many organizations to develop their businesses internationally, or globally – since this increasingly means they have to consider and establish HRM policies which can span different national systems and cultures.

This paper considers the problem through a direct comparison of practices in matched Chinese and UK companies in order to establish where variations occur both within and between countries. It is evident that there are considerable variations in the form of HRM in different settings, but also some surprising similarities. Thus, for example, there are more similarities in manpower planning systems between Chinese companies and some of the UK companies than there are between all the UK companies. In this case it can be concluded that these elements are not greatly affected by national (and assumed cultural) differences. On the other hand, there is a sharp difference between the UK and Chinese companies with regard to pay and reward systems, but much consistency within each country. This suggests that there may be deep-seated differences between the two countries with regard to attitudes towards rewards which will limit the transfer-ability of HRM ideas in this area.     

Human resource and industrial relations practices of UK and US multinationals in Germany

Most of the research about HRM and IR practices of MNCs in their host country has been conducted in deregulated countries such as the UK and the US. Host countries with relatively weak institutional arrangements facilitate the transfer of home-country practices. In contrast, those with institutionally strong systems, such as Germany, impose stronger pressures for adaptation. This paper reports research about nine US and four UK subsidiaries operating in Germany. It examines how their HRM and IR practices are shaped by German labour and IR institutions, how they differ from a control group of indigenous firms and what room for manoeuvre is left for the introduction of home-country practices. The main conclusions are that small and medium-sized subsidiaries in particular can to some extent avoid the pressures exerted by German labour and IR institutions. This facilitates the transfer of home-country practices. However, even larger affiliates that comply with the German institutions can transfer practices from their parent company. The highly regulated German system leaves some room for flexibility. Nevertheless, the institutional environment prevents large companies from following a unitarist HRM and IR approach.     

Transferring human resource practices from the United Kingdom to China: the limits and potential for convergence

Substantial effort has been devoted to exploring the transfer of human resource management practices within multinational companies. Particular attention has been paid to countries with ‘strong’ HRM traditions, to transfers between economically developed countries and to firms in the manufacturing sector. This paper addresses the transfer of a British-owned retail firm's HRM practices from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. From a variety of perspectives the expectation might be that the transfer of parent-country practices in this instance would be limited: HRM has not been considered a particular strength of UK firms; retail firms operate in a multi-domestic context directly serving local customers rather than as part of an integrated international production network; and there is a high cultural distance between the UK and China. When this multinational retailer entered the China market the express intention was to replicate as nearly as possible the management style of its UK stores. This paper examines the extent to which the firm's parent-country HRM practices, which the company increasingly considers as a key source of competitive advantage, have in fact been transferred to the Chinese stores. The paper seeks to provide fresh insights on the phenomenon of transfer by adopting a qualitative case study approach. This study also focuses on shopfloor employees' perspectives rather than purely the view of managerial staff, as has tended to be the case. Several aspects of HRM transfer are explored briefly: communication with the workforce, work pattern, age composition of the workforce, reward system, training, and employee representation. Attention then focuses on the transfer of the firm's relatively flat organizational structure to a country which is perceived to place a high value on hierarchy, and where hierarchies tend to be quite rigid and clearly demarcated. This provides useful insights into the nature of the transfer process. It is suggested that structural dimensions such as the country of origin, the degree of international production integration and the nature of product markets appear to have less utility in explaining the transfer of HRM practices than institutional and cultural features of the host-country environment and, above all, specific firm-level practices and the presence of expatriates in key management roles.     

Hybridization: striking a balance between adoption and adaptation of human resource management practices in French multinational corporations and their Tunisian subsidiaries

International management research has tended to approach the transfer of human resource management (HRM) practices by examining the one-way transfer from parent companies to their subsidiaries, their adaptation to the subsidiaries’ local context and, more recently, the reverse transfer of HRM practices from subsidiaries to their headquarters. This article aims to analyse the transfer of HRM practices from headquarters to their foreign subsidiaries through the process of hybridization. Although numerous studies focus on the transfer of HRM practices between economically developed countries or from these countries to transitional economies, few have considered French multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in ex-colonized countries. This paper addresses the ways in which the HRM hybridization process is implemented in two French subsidiaries operating in Tunisia. It focuses on the dual perspectives of managerial staff at headquarters and subsidiaries as well as shop floor employees in the subsidiaries. A range of HRM practices (recruitment and selection, compensation, performance appraisal and career management) is analysed from their transfer to their reinterpretation. The results show the importance of the concept of hybridization on HRM practice transfer through a multi-level analysis of the strategies used by various stakeholders during the hybridization process. The paper also provides useful insights into the factors of hybridization that may foster or inhibit the transfer and adoption of HRM practices by foreign subsidiaries. These include the relational context, the type of practices transferred, the interests of different professional categories and their social interactions. Based on these factors, several hybridizations are identified. The study points out the specificity of the Tunisian context and shows that institutional factors have less influence on the transfer of HRM practices in ex-colonized countries than cultural factors that have a transversal influence on different HRM practices. Key cultural factors constraining the transfer include emotional relationships and interpersonal trust. Moreover, the international transfer of HRM practices from MNCs to ex-colonized transitional countries requires taking into account the post-colonialism and fascination effects.     

Vive les différences? Voice in French MNCs' overseas workplaces: a comparative study of voice in French,German and US subsidiaries in the UK

Foreign-owned firms help to disseminate management practices across UK companies; this includes the ability of indigenous firms to learn improved human resource management (HRM) practices from leading foreign companies. Analysing the transfer of HRM policies forms an important strand of the international HRM and comparative capitalisms literatures; however, large-scale, comparative studies of voice patterns in German, US and, in particular, French subsidiaries in the UK are limited. This paper draws on a major survey that includes the, to date, largest sample of French MNC subsidiaries. It does not simply identify the existence of different kinds of voice mechanisms, but examines how these different practices come together in the implementation of subsidiaries' voice policies. This enables the detection of subtle, but important, differences in the subsidiaries' voice practices. French subsidiaries are significantly less likely to pursue a partnership approach to voice than their German and US counterparts. French and US establishments are significantly more likely to adopt a ‘bleak house’ approach than German ones. Importantly, these key differences only emerge at a fine-grained level of analysis that examines how subsidiaries implement voice practices.     

Human factors in the transfer of the ‘Japanese best practice’ manufacturing system to Singapore

A detailed examination of the practices reported by managers in thirty-one affiliates of Japanese companies engaged in manufacturing in Singapore revealed a high degree of conformity with the Japanese best practice (also known as ‘lean production’) model in the way work is organized and in the shop-floor level manufacturing practices, but greater conformity to host country norms in the HRM practices applied to the local work-force. This is consistent with the patterns reported in the existing literature regarding Japanese transplants in other countries, including the US and the UK. Strong statistical relationships were found in the Singapore study among the work organization cluster, the manufacturing practices cluster, and the performance outcomes. No significant relationships were found between the HRM cluster and any of the ‘downstream’ variables (work organization, manufacturing practices or performance outcomes), but relatively heavy reliance on expatriates was found to be highly related to work organization, manufacturing practices and performance outcomes. These findings suggest that heavy reliance on expatriates may function as an alternative to Japanese-style HRM practices in situations where it would be unduly difficult or costly to extend the whole package of Japanese-style HRM practices to the local work-force.     

Antecedents and consequences of dimensions of human resource management practices in Vietnam

The purpose of this study is to extend the empirical research concerning the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices on organizational effectiveness into the context of developing and transitional economy countries. From a survey of 137 cross-sector companies, it was discovered that there are five dimensions of HRM practices currently in use in Vietnam. Variation in the application of these dimensions can be partly traced to several organizational characteristics, but most salient is the perception of management on the value of human resources. In some dimensions, this variation constitutes a source of the difference in the perceptual company performance. These findings break new ground to propose a process for implementing HRM practices in Vietnam.     

The evolving Portuguese model of HRM

In Europe, despite the process of European integration and the globalization of world markets, considerable differences can still be detected in the way organizations manage people and the role played by the HR function. But, while there has been considerable debate over the introduction of HRM in countries like the UK, less attention has been paid to countries like Portugal where the role of HRM remains under-researched. This paper reports the findings of a project aiming to make sense of the concept of HRM in Portugal. Results from a survey of companies found an extensive use of the HRM label among Portuguese organizations. The function seems to have gained some influence at the top and reached some degree of strategic integration, but there is an apparent reluctance to devolve HR responsibilities to line managers. The HR function appears to be playing the specialist role as a means of overcoming the credibility gap. Based on the findings of the current and previous research, an attempt is made to outline a Portuguese HRM model.     

Managing human resources across cultures: a comparative analysis of practices in industrial enterprises in China and The Netherlands

Abstract Although researchers and practitioners have come up with many good ideas for improving the employment relationship, there is no evidence for universally applicable practices. Prior theoretical work and research in the area of (international) human resource management indicate that cultural and contextual constraints are responsible for the problematic nature of transference of practices. This study illustrates and explains the contextual as well as cultural boundaries through a direct comparison of practices as used in a matched sample of industrial companies in China (n=97) and The Netherlands (n=47). It is argued that differences in organizational structure, cultural values and labour regulations account for the variation between countries. The results show considerable differences between China and The Netherlands in the HRM practices of industrial enterprises. Also, the organizational culture of the companies studied varies between the two countries and the differences found are clearly in line with differences on the national cultural level.     

Absence management of migrant agency workers in the food manufacturing sector

Temporary workers in low-skilled roles often experience ‘hard’ HRM practices, for example the use of the Bradford Factor to monitor absence, rather than using incentives to reward attendance. However, this peripheral workforce has become increasingly diverse in the UK since the A8 European Union expansion, which has seen over a million migrants from central and eastern Europe register to work in the UK. Importantly, there is also heterogeneity within this group of workers, for example between those who intend to migrate for a short period of time then return, and those who are more settled and wish to develop a career. By considering the particular case of absence management, this paper examines how these different groups of migrants respond to HRM practices. The key contribution of the paper is to examine how different groups of migrants experience these practices, rather than simply comparing migrant and native workers as two homogeneous groups. The paper presents data from the food manufacturing sector in the UK. In total, 88 semi-structured interviews were conducted with operations managers, HR managers, union convenors and workers on permanent, temporary and agency contracts. In addition, data from informal interviews and observation at five companies are presented.     

Farewell to HRM? Personnel practices in Japanese manufacturing plants in the UK

While Japanese manufacturing investment burgeoned in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, its relative size remained small. Nevertheless, its impact was greater than its size. At its extreme it was championed by the 'new right' as the way forward for industrial practices, while manufacturing organizations in the UK were quick to attempt to emulate Japanese management practices. Core to these practices was the management of human resources. Coincidentally in the 1980s a new model of personnel management was being championed, namely human resource management (HRM). This was eagerly embraced by UK academics and was translated into two distinct forms, 'hard and soft'. Despite appearing mutually incompatible, the hard and soft forms were forged into a unified model. This paper, drawing on an empirical analysis of personnel practices in Japanese manufacturing plants in the UK, searches for a conjuncture between the HRM model and 'Japanese' models. It concludes that, while there are similarities between the two, there are also distinct differences. Moreover, where similarities exist they are with the hard variety of HRM.     

Human resources roles: ideal versus practiced: a cross-country comparison among organizations in Asia

Human capital and its associated principles of talent management are sound platforms on which to leverage a company's fundamental resources to attain corporate goals. Unfortunately, the importance of human resource management (HRM) within organizations is often overlooked. The fundamental problem observed by many researchers in the HRM field is the discrepancy between what are considered ideal HRM roles and what is actually practiced by HRM managers. To understand the current human resource (HR) philosophy and the specific roles practiced by HR professionals among Asian companies, a survey was conducted with 377 HR managers in four Asian countries – India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Our research has shown and, hence, reiterated the sense that there are considerable differences between the current HR functions as practiced and the ideal HR functions, as indicated by the survey respondents. In addition, the survey results have identified significant differences among countries, especially in areas such as strategic practices and the roles of HR managers. Differences between practice and ideal in HR administration are also observed at different levels of management. It was also observed that differences among countries exist depending on the type of organization, the size of the organization, and whether the HR managers work for HR departments or for other functional departments.     

Internationalization as a determining factor of HRM outsourcing

This paper examines the effect of company internationalization on the practice of outsourcing HRM functions in Greece. It holds the assumption that HRM outsourcing is perceived as an innovative practice and that foreign multinationals (MNCs) will use this practice more than native ones do. In doing that, the study aims at examining whether ‘diffusion’ of loosely- regulated management practices such as HRM outsourcing, is sustained by foreign multinationals. The findings of the 2000 CRANET survey are presented to show that HRM outsourcing is used to a lesser extent in Greece than other Western economies. Then the hypothesis that MNCs outsource more HRM services than Greek companies do is tested. The analysis draws upon the findings of a survey addressed to HR directors of both foreign multinationals and Greek companies. A significant difference is found in the extent of HRM outsourcing between Greek companies and foreign multinational subsidiaries. This is adequately explained through the comparison of the way HRM is conducted in Greek each type of company, as well as the segregation of the Greek market for HRM services. The paper adds to the discussion on the role of multinationals in the diffusion of innovative managerial practices, as well as to the HRM convergence–divergence debate.     

Career success across 11 countries: implications for international human resource management

This qualitative study examines perceived meanings of career success across 11 countries. The results show that people define career success in ways that enrich and illuminate the basic dichotomy of objective and subjective career success and establish their relative strengths across countries. Juxtaposing our data with human resource management (HRM) practices, we contribute to the universalist versus contextualist debate in HRM by adding the career management angle. We shed light on the relative importance of cultural and institutional factors for HRM in the area of careers and add a global perspective to the discussion about agentic careers. In our discussion we offer practical suggestions for multinational companies including how to individualize HRM to address diverse views of career success.     

'Best practice' human resource management: perfect opportunity or dangerous illusion?

In recent years there has been a considerable degree of interest in the notion of 'best practice' HRM, inspired at least in part by the work of Jeffrey Pfeffer. Along with other contributions from the UK and the USA, this has resulted in assertions that a particular bundle of HR practices can increase profits irrespective of organizational, industrial, or national context. In this paper, we focus on the way in which HRM is characterized in these writings, querying whether the practices which are typically assumed and put forward as 'good' may not appear quite so beneficial to workers when analysed more systematically. It is suggested that there are a number of problems with the notion of 'best practice', both in relation to the meaning of specific practices, and their consistency with each other, and the claims that this version of HRM is universally applicable. The unitarist underpinnings of this literature are also exposed. This is not to argue that HR policies and practices do not influence organizational performance but, rather, that we cannot determine this from the current literature. The 'best practice' conclusions may be attractive but the jury is still out.     

HRM structures and subsidiary discretion in foreign multinationals in the UK

This article uses a large-scale representative survey to examine a key aspect of control in multinational companies (MNCs): the extent of central influence over human resource (HR) policy formation in subsidiaries. This is a crucial aspect of behaviour, relevant for example for the cross-border diffusion of policies and practices and for the institutional distinctiveness of practice within a given host environment. The article assesses how far policy is determined by corporate headquarters or some other higher-level organizational structure. Its novelty lies primarily in its exploration of the influence of the structure of the HR management (HRM) function on subsidiary discretion. It finds, first, that the degree of central control is influenced for different HR issues by nationality of ownership and by international product/service standardization. Second, there is some variability in the antecedents associated with discretion on different HR issues. Finally, aspects of the structure of the HRM function significantly affect discretion, notably the networking of HR managers across borders and the direct reporting relationships within the function between the UK and higher organizational levels.     

HRM practices used to promote pro-environmental behavior: a UK survey

To date, the extent to which UK organizations use human resource management (HRM) practices to promote pro-environmental behavior through workplace HRM policies and initiatives is under-researched within the literature. Therefore, this paper presents results of a survey investigating current HRM practices used to promote pro-environmental behavior in a sample of 214 UK organizations representing different sizes and industry sectors. Overall, findings indicated that HRM practices are not used to a great extent to encourage employees to become more pro-environmental. The most prevalent practices used within organizations incorporated elements of management involvement supporting the idea that managers are the gatekeepers to environmental performance. Although organizations indicated that some HRM practices were more effective than others at encouraging pro-environmental behavior in their staff, only a very small percentage of organizations actually conducted any form of evaluation; organizations consequently lack clear evidence as to whether their HRM practices actually result in employee behavior change. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Managerial perceptions of the role of the human resource function in Sri Lanka: a comparative study of local,foreign-owned and joint-venture companies

As debates on HRM continue, we contend that a number of important issues have not been given the adequate attention they deserve. One of the neglected issues, which we seek to explore in this paper, is the question of whether HRM models are being practised in developing countries. The specific context for the research is Sri Lanka. Therefore, the central objective of this paper is to explore one main research question, which is: To what extent does HRM play a significant role in organizational strategy processes in Sri Lankan organizations? The research is guided by four hypotheses. The hypotheses are based on the assumption that local Sri Lankan organizations will differ from MNCs in the way they deal with and practice HRM. The findings from the investigation reveal no significant differences between MNCs and local companies in relation to the research questions. The implications of the findings are discussed within the context of diffusion and convergence of management practices and the role of drivers of globalization.     

A study of HRM and recruitment and selection policies and practices in Taiwan

In this paper, the authors present and discuss the findings of a survey of human resource management (HRM) and recruitment and selection policies and practices in a sample of manufacturing industry in Taiwan. The results indicate that there is a general desire among HR professionals in participant companies that HRM policies are integrated with corporate strategy and that HRM should be involved in decision making at board level. Evidence was also obtained that some HRM decisions are shared between line management and HR specialists and that line managers had a particularly influential role in decisions regarding recruitment and selection, training and development, and workforce expansion/reduction. There was also some evidence supporting an assertion that certain recruitment and selection practices were culturally sensitive and this was supported by evidence of association between recruitment and selection practices and country of ownership.     

Constructing an index for comparing human resources management sustainability in Europe

Assuming that a company's institutional context influences its sustainability approach and its human resources management (HRM), this article compares firms' sustainable HRM systems across countries. Despite the presence of a supranational government, different social models exist in Europe according to the level of social protection in each country. The article compares the engagement of companies with sustainable HRM across Europe and develops an index with which to compare HRM sustainability in countries that present significant institutional differences: Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The index is constructed based on a formative measurement model, which reflects the implementation levels of sustainable HRM in 106 western European firms. The index reveals significant differences between companies from the four countries and between liberal and coordinated market economies, indicating the need to address the impact of the national institutional context on firms' HRM sustainability.