International human resource management policies and practices of South Korean MNEs: a review of the literature

This paper systematically reviews the literature on international human resource management (IHRM) policies and practices of South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs). It reveals that South Korean MNEs adopt an ethnocentric staffing approach, but are increasingly using more host-country nationals (HCNs). Korean MNEs pay great attention to language training for expatriates, and there is an emphasis on international experience when selecting expatriates. South Korean MNEs tend to adopt home-oriented selection procedures and criteria, performance appraisal and reward-and-compensation schemes for HCNs. A range of training and development programmes are provided to HCNs in order to develop more local managers. However, studies concerning IHRM of South Korean MNEs are scarce and only a few expatriate-related IHRM issues have been empirically examined. As a result, how South Korean MNEs manage IHRM and what is the rationale of their IHRM policies and practices remain largely unknown. This review paper calls for more empirical research and discusses the implications for future research.     

New perspectives on human resource management in a global context

In the past three decades or so, globalization/regionalization, migration and reverse migration (also referred to as “brain circulation”), the ascendancy of emerging markets, the demand for people with a global mindset, and the worldwide war for talent have brought about fundamental changes to the nature, magnitude, and raison d’etre for human resource management (HRM) in a global context. These changes require us to adopt new lenses to fully understand the dynamics that impact international human resource management (IHRM) policies and practices. This paper presents new perspectives on IHRM as they relate to research on multicultural teams under the three dimensions of diversity (separation, variety, and disparity) posited by Harrison and Klein (2007), and brain circulation in the context of movement of peoples across countries. These perspectives go toward the traditional approach of studying expatriates, whether company-sponsored or self-initiated assignments. The paper discusses how these new perspectives can set the agenda for future research on IHRM.     

Comparing international human resource management practices between Yaohan and Jusco in Hong Kong

The performance of Jusco and Yaohan in Hong Kong was examined and compared by exploring their international human resource management (IHRM) practices in terms of recruitment and selection, compensation, and training and development. Yaohan and Jusco employed different IHRM systems as a response to their contextual factors – history and background of the company, and competitive environment and business strategy, especially the use of retail technology. The results show that the IHRM systems employed by Yaohan and Jusco affect the performance of the company, and explain the factors contributing to Yaohan's bankruptcy and Jusco's increasing profitabiliry.     

The management of expatriates: messages from Europe?

Much of our knowledge of expatriation and the processes of managing expatriates comes from North American researchers analysing the policies and practices of North American multinational corporations. This article uses that base of understanding, but argues that there has been an increasing stream of research into IHRM in Europe, which remains largely “invisible” to the North American specialists. Given the paucity of research in the area in general and the need for a more international understanding which can arise from examining different contexts, the article suggests that commentators outside Europe may find useful insights in the European analyses.     

Going abroad to play: Motivations,challenges, and support of sports expatriates

Professional athletes moving abroad for their career is a novel phenomenon in international human resource management (IHRM). This exploratory article charts the motivations of sports expatriates to move abroad to play, as well as adjustment challenges and sources of support. A survey was conducted with 77 professional athletes in 10 different sports. The main motivations to move abroad were interest to experience life abroad, followed by the search for new challenges. In terms of challenges, different coaching style and communication issues were most often mentioned. Support was mainly informal, through team mates rather than professional providers. Our article contributes to the literature because it is one of the first studies focusing on sports expatriates from an international HR perspective. Our study provides information on a vulnerable group of expatriates; they are young in age and under extreme performance pressure. Sports expatriates need all the support they can get, and yet, little professional support is offered.     

The Informal Organization of Korean Companies: Implications for Korean MNCs

Many Korean multinational corporations (MNCs) try to adapt locally by introducing hybrid international human resource management (IHRM); however, in‐depth case studies indicate a gap between espoused and actual IHRM. To resolve this challenge, and taking into account country‐of‐origin effects and institutional practices, we argue that Korean MNCs must become aware of the embeddedness of informal processes in Korean organizations. These informal organization processes complement paternalistic leadership and hierarchical communication, and without them the formal management systems of Korean MNCs are left with authoritarian centralized decision‐making processes where local employees may not feel able to participate. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Developing a culturally synergistic approach to international human resource management

This paper offers international human resource (IHR) professionals guidelines how to decide which IHRM approach to choose. In choosing among an adaptive, exportive, or integrated IHR approach, IHR managers may want to consider three decision criteria, e.g. forces for global integration and local adaptation, the cultural component of HRM, and the power dynamics within the MNC. To develop an organization that values cultural differences, IHR professionals may choose a culturally synergistic approach to IHRM. This approach has the potential of designing new combinations of HRM practices and simultaneously attends to the three decision criteria.     

EXPLORING THE SUCCESS OF EXPATRIATES OF U.S. MULTINATIONAL FIRMS IN MEXICO

To examine U.S. multinational corporations, this research utilizes a multivariate model to differentiate among IHRM practices and their impact on U.S. expatriate performance. Questionnaires sent to 481 corporations combined with an analysis of the six independent variables, including selection criteria, cross-cultural training, and inability of spouses to adjust help us to understand U.S. expatriate rates of success and failure in Mexico. While, to a considerable degree, an IHRM model based on mainstream literature can predict U.S. expatriate success and failure rates, this research demonstrates the significant discrepancies that exist when comparing the results of the relationship of each variable individually.     

A resource perspective on internationalization responses to market liberalization

This paper explores the impact of market liberalization on the value of firm resources, using the case of Argentina. It is argued that these policies change the environment such that firms are forced to adapt their organizational domain, in specific by broadening it to include international customers. A model is then developed and tested to explain which resources should gain vs. lose value as one moves from selling just domestically to selling internationally.     

Organizational Learning in China: The Role of Returners

ABSTRACT

The Chinese authorities have launched a range of policies and incentives at the national and regional level to attract citizens who have studied and worked abroad to return in order to contribute to upgrading the competitiveness of the Chinese economy, particularly in light of China's entrance to the World Trade Organization. In other words, the returners are expected to stimulate organizational learning in existing organizations and in new companies. This article provides an overview of what has been done to date and points out that simply increasing the number of returners is not enough to achieve organizational learning. Drawing on research findings about the barriers to organizational learning from returned expatriate managers in international companies, the article develops recommendations for government policies, corporate strategies, and Chinese returners.     

Organizational and environmental impact on the use of Japanese-style HRM policies in Japanese firms in the U.S.

This survey investigates the extent of Japanese-style HRM that is being adopted in Japanese-owned firms in the U.S. It focuses on organizational and environmental factors that influence the design and use of Japanese-style HRM policies in Japanese firms in the U.S. Preliminary results show that there is no single model of Japanese HRM in the U.S. Contextual factors in terms of firm size, firm age, firm type, union status firm location, corporate culture, and the degree of parent control all influence the use of Japanese-style HRM policies and practices in the U.S.© 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Organizational learning as a situated routine-based activity in international settings

A large body of research has extensively studied the mechanisms behind organizational learning processes. However, there have been few studies of the learning process that explore the influences of history, context, and social meaning in international settings. Rather, the focus within the international management field has been on knowledge transfer. This study adopts a situated routine-based view of organizational learning to highlight the influence of national institutional characteristics on the acquisition and enactment of new knowledge. It is based on in-depth case studies that systematically compare the ways in which Japanese parent company knowledge diffuses to subsidiaries in the UK automotive industry. It concludes that organizational learning within the context of multinational corporations is shaped by actors’ enactment of new practices that are embedded in broader institutional contexts, where the links between knowledge transfer and the reinforcement of or change in routines are important in determining the level at which a subsidiary learns.     

“Teaching the Sushi Chef”: Hybridization Work and CSR Integration in a Japanese Multinational Company

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is recognized as taking on various national meanings and practices, research has not sufficiently investigated how multinational companies (MNC) simultaneously achieve global CSR integration and local CSR adaptation. Building on a qualitative case study carried out at ASICS, an MNC headquartered in Japan, we show how this organizational dilemma may be solved through hybridization work, a form of institutional work performed by CSR managers in subsidiaries to combine and adapt different institutional approaches to CSR. By developing the notion of hybridization work, we contribute by (1) revealing a set of practices that contribute to institutional change within organizations and (2) enriching the study of CSR organizational change and international business by showing how hybridization Work leads to a greater organizational integration between core and periphery, and by identifying the triggering factors for subsidiary initiative in CSR.     

Change management practices: Impact on perceived change results

Management literature frequently proposes the use of a set of managerial practices in order to facilitate the management of organizational change processes. This paper analyses differences in perception in the use of such practices, between change strategists and change receptors, and the impact these practices have on the outcomes of organizational change programs and on organizational results, in a sample of 90 organizations in Chile. Results show that, for the same change processes, change strategists report a higher use of change management practices than change receptors. Results also show that, during organizational change processes, firms use more frequently practices related to the change preparation stage in comparison to practices related to the change implementation stage. Finally, results show that, after controlling for organizational size, change program intensity, and service versus manufacturing industries, the use of change management practices has a significant impact on the accomplishment of the change program objectives and deadlines, but results do not show an impact on perceived organizational outcomes (changes in sales, financial results of the firm, operational productivity, and employee performance).     

International advertising: Developmental and implementational issues

This paper reports on a study which investigated the international advertising practices of a sample of major advertising spending multinationals, and the rationales behind their policies. The objective was to obtain insights into the efficacy of international advertising standardization options. When the rationales behind the international advertising practices of the sampled companies were examined, it was found that the executives concerned brought a wide‐ranging agenda to the decision‐making process and that factors beyond the specific benefits of standardization influenced their policies. As regards their actual policies, the practice of some form of standardization was found to be widespread, but the practice of total standardization was rare. As such, the data indicate that standardization is a flexible option, with many possible variants, i.e. it can be adapted to circumstances and is not an either/or policy. The paper concludes that the focus on whether or not multinationals should practice international advertising is misplaced, if only because, just as at the local or national level, there will be good and bad international advertising. Accordingly, more emphasis should be placed on reviewing issues relating to how to improve the quality of international advertising campaigns.     

International transfer pricing and subsidiary performance: The role of organizational justice

International intrafirm trade is increasingly important in the global economy. Intrafirm transactions are governed by transfer‐pricing policies mandated by parent companies. Economic and accounting theories have long prescribed policies that maximize the parent company's short‐term profits but may have other, unintended outcomes. These outcomes are explored in a single‐case study. Based on this case study and organizational justice theory, a theoretical framework is developed to show how frequently used transfer‐pricing policies, through their impact on subsidiary managers' perceptions of justice, can significantly affect the subsidiary's strategic performance. First, the conditions under which transfer‐pricing policies can be perceived as procedurally, interactionally, or distributively unfair are presented. Second, it is proposed that those justice perceptions have an impact on subsidiary managers' commitment, trust in the parent company, neglect, ethical behavior, productivity, work quality, and compliance, and that the magnitude of this impact is moderated by the quality of relations between the parent company and subsidiary managers. Finally, it is predicted that such attitudes and behaviors may generate important agency and transaction costs that jeopardize the expected outcomes of international strategies of vertical integration. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

THE EFFECTS OF CULTURE AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICIES ON SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Afirm's corporate culture and human resource management (HRM) policies have an important impact upon the success of that organization's supply chain management strategy. A model that examines the relationship between organizational culture, HRM policies, and the firm's transaction/relationship orientation toward its employees and the impact of these factors on its choice of supply chain partners is presented. The paper then discusses four different HRM/logistics strategies a firm can implement and examines the degree of cultural fit that is likely to develop in each of these four strategies. Finally, managers are provided with a list of questions that allow an assessment of the fit between the firm's human resource and logistics management strategies.     

Exposure to Ethics Education and the Perception of Linkage between Organizational Ethical Behavior and Business Outcomes

This study focused on the effects of individual characteristics and exposure to ethics education on perceptions of the linkage between organizational ethical practices and business outcomes. Using a stratified sampling approach, 817 students were randomly selected from a population of approximately 1310 business students in an AACSB accredited college of business. Three hundred and twenty eight of the subjects were freshmen, 380 were seniors, and 109 were working managers and professionals enrolled in a night-time MBA program. Overall, the respondents included 438 male students and 379 female students. Exposure to ethics in the curriculum had a significant impact on student perceptions of what should be the ideal linkages between organizational ethical practices and business outcomes. Gender based differences were found with female students having a higher expectation regarding what should be the “ethics practices and business outcomes” link. Exposure to ethics in the curriculum had a positive moderating influence on the gender-based effects on perceptions of ideal ethical climate. The interaction effect showed that exposure to ethical education may have a positive impact on males and allow them to catch up with females in their ethical sensitivities concerning the ideal linkage between organizational ethical behavior and business outcomes. Further, consistent with the literature, the study found that gender differences in ethical attitudes regarding the ideal ethical climate, while significant for undergraduates, appeared to narrow considerably for the working professionals who were part-time MBA students. Harsh Luthar is an Associate Professor of Management at Bryant University. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic University, Pamplin College of Business, in the Department of Management. His research interests include international differences and cross-cultural issues impacting global human resource practices, ethical attitudes of students, and the nature of spiritual leadership. Ranjan Karri is an Assistant Professor of Management at Bryant University. He received his Ph.D. in strategic management from Washington State University. His research interests include corporate and business strategies, enterpreneurship, ethical leadership and corporate governance.     

Cultural intelligence as a predictor of expatriate adjustment and performance in Malaysia

This research tests the linkage between cultural intelligence, expatriate adjustment to the host country's environment and expatriate performance while on international assignments. The investigation is carried out with data from 134 expatriates based in multinational corporations in Malaysia. The results highlight a direct influence of expatriates’ cultural intelligence on general, interaction and work adjustments. The improved adjustments consequently have positive effects on both the expatriates’ task and contextual performance. The research findings have implications for both international human resource management (IHRM) researchers and managers.     

Managing diversity: Impact of religion in the Indian workplace

Religious diversity in India stems from centuries of foreign traders and invaders ranging from the Mongols to the Mughals, French and British who came with their faiths. Religious diversity has created much political conflict and bloodshed in society at large (e.g. the recent blasts in Mumbai), but many differences have been reconciled in the workplace over time. MNCs seeking to engage in the Indian economy are attracted by the intellectual capital of this diverse nation. I examine the presence of religion in the Indian workplace through cultural values, beliefs and management practices and their impact on IHRM practices in managing diversity.