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.     

Managing the HR dimension of international project operations

While much is known about the role of HRM in achieving positive outcomes in foreign subsidiary and international joint venture contexts, there has been a paucity of research into HRM issues in international project operations. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to demonstrate the HR activities of each stage of the international project lifecycle, drawing upon supporting data from a study of Australian firms in international development projects. The discontinuous, complex and unique characteristics of international projects produce distinct IHRM challenges: for the supplying firm, particularly staff deployment and HR planning; and for project workers, in terms of career trajectory and job security.     

A contingency matrix approach to IHRM

The global economy is a reality. The challenge facing international human resource management (IHRM) is not whether to use widely recognized HR concepts and techniques but rather how to effectively adapt and fit them across cultures. The purpose of this article is to suggest and demonstrate a contingency matrix approach to IHRM. After first explaining what is meant by the contingency matrix approach, the remainder of the article uses a sampling of the HR research literature from Japan, Germany, Mexico, and China to show how a contingency matrix could be used for effective IHRM. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

How far has international HRM travelled? A systematic review of literature on multinational corporations (2000–2014)

This article reviews the present state of research on multinational corporations (MNCs) in the international human resource management (IHRM) literature. Drawing on 342 articles from 39 English journals in the business and management field published over the period of 2000–2014, we identify three key strands within this section of the IHRM scholarly field (MNC country of origin/domicile effects; expatriate management; and, intra-organizational knowledge and strategy flows). Building up on our detailed assessment of trends in the literature based on a systematic review, we propose areas where the field could be developed and extended through drawing on insights from, and building synthesis with, cognate fields. We conclude that major developments on the ground – the increasing numbers of unskilled expatriate workers, the rise of MNCs from emerging markets, and the growth of transnational alternative investors – have the potential to transform the field of enquiry, yet are only starting to appear in the IHRM literature. In developing new major areas of enquiry – and in extending existing ones – insights may be drawn from the literature on comparative institutional analysis to take fuller account of trans-national actors.     

The shifting boundaries of global staffing: integrating global talent management,alternative forms of international assignments and non-employees into the discussion

Abstract

Global staffing has been a key theme in research in IHRM for a number of decades. Our review confirms that it continues to be an important contemporary area of research in IHRM. In the current paper, we review three key contemporary issues in global staffing research, namely, the emergence of global talent management and potentially a more strategic approach to global mobility, specifically changing patterns of global mobility, and the emergence of the non-employees as key alternatives in the global staffing literature. The paper also charts a future research agenda in each of these areas.     

Issue Information

The international human resource management (IHRM) field naturally lends itself to spotlighting the importance of internal and external organizational contexts to help understand how to manage employees in organizations effectively. However, we argue that the range of opportunities that the field creates to understand this context has not yet been fully embraced by IHRM scholars. To address this gap, this special issue explores: (a) the variety of approaches to theorizing how contexts promote or constrain organizational practice; and (b) relevant methodologies that might allow us to unearth novel context-dependent theory in international HRM. We propose a distinction between variable-oriented theorizing (that explains the effects of internal and external contexts on the phenomena under study) and context-dependent theorizing (that requires researchers become intimately familiar with the setting under study to understand context as a shaper of meaning). This editorial also highlights how the articles in the special issue contribute to stimulating further context-dependent IHRM research.     

Staffing effectiveness across countries: An institutional perspective

This study draws on institutional theory to investigate why and how staffing effectiveness varies across countries. Utilising data from multiple sources (Cranfield Network on Comparative Human Resource Management [CRANET], Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness [GLOBE], World Economic Forum [WEF], Transparency International, Tightness-Looseness Index), it covers 2,918 organisations in 11 countries. Extending earlier research on comparative staffing that focuses on cultural or regulatory differences separately, our findings show that companies in different countries implement staffing practices in line with their normative (i.e., cultural), regulatory, and cognitive institutions. A second key finding shows that institutionally embedded staffing practices are associated with organisational turnover, thus challenging dominant universalist perspectives on staffing effectiveness. Finally, we shed light on a central yet understudied boundary condition of contextual perspectives on staffing by identifying the strength of institutional pressures (i.e., societal tightness-looseness) as a moderator of the relationships between national institutions, staffing, and turnover.     

The challenge of international human resource management: balancing the duality of strategy and practice

Over the last two decades there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of organizations that have internationalized their operations. The international movement of labour that has been concomitant with such expansion of international business has meant that issues associated with the management of human resources across international borders are increasingly important to international human resource managers and academics. The research presented in this paper examines international human resource management (IHRM) pedagogy and practice in Australia. It reports IHRM academicians' and practitioners' understanding of the major issues for teaching and practice in IHRM and elucidates current developments and directions for this field.     

A typology of international human resource management strategies and processes

This paper develops a framework of international human resource management (IHRM) that moves beyond strategy and structure to focus on processes. The results of six case studies of large German multinational corporations in three countries show different configurations of IHRM strategies and policies. International knowledge flows and coordination varied in intensity, content, direction and mechanisms used. With ‘cognofederate’ IHRM one type was identified that has been hitherto neglected.     

Singing the same song: translating HRM messages across management hierarchies in Australian hospitals

The management of expatriation has grown in importance as the numbers of multinational companies has grown significantly since the 1970s. However, public and non-government sector organizations have long traditions of managing expatriates. This paper presents the results of research that compared the manner in which Australian private, public and non-government sector organizations selected their expatriates. The results confirm the numerous reports in the international human resource management (IHRM) literature that, in private sector organizations, selection is carried out largely on the basis of technical competence, with minimal attention being paid to the interpersonal skills and domestic situations of potential expatriates. The limited role of HR managers in this process is also identified. The selection practices of public sector organizations reflect the merit selection policies of this sector. The non-government sector organizations' selection practices differ markedly from those of the organizations in the other two sectors, in that psychological testing is widely used and the family is treated as a unit and included in the selection process.     

In the line of fire: managing expatriates in hostile environments

Abstract

This study explores best practice in the preparation and protection of strategic HRs deployed by Multinational corporations (MNCs) in hostile environments. By building on the literature from the areas of strategic and IHRM, expatriation, as well as risk and crisis management, the limitations and gaps of the extant research are highlighted. This provides a foundation for our investigation through a series of in-depth interviews with corporate executives, and insurers and relocation specialists with professional expertise in protecting and supporting HRs. This represents the first time such a detailed picture of the partnerships between MNCs and the specialists, required to deliver preparation and protection in hostile environments, has been depicted in the IHRM literature. The findings identify the challenges MNCs face when protecting their HRs and highlights the importance of specialist expertise, knowledge, and management. A framework for managing HRs within international hostile environments is subsequently developed offering an opportunity to systematically consider some of the ethical and strategic issues associated with the contemporary challenges of international mobility.     

A social institutionalist perspective on HR diffusion: historical and cultural receptivity to HRM in a post-communist context

This research considers cross-national diffusion of international human resource management (IHRM) ideas and practices by applying an emergent frame of sociological conceptualisation – ‘social institutionalism’ (SI). We look at cultural filters to patterns of diffusion, assimilation and adoption of IHRM, using Romania as a case study. The paper considers the former Communist system of employment relations, suggesting that through institutionalisation former ways of thinking have a residual influence on definitions and practice of people management in post-Communist Eastern Europe. The paper provides a new perspective on HRM by discussing the value of SI as a general model for understanding cross-cultural receptivity to HR ideas, sensitising the HR practitioner and academic to institutionalised culture as a historical legacy influencing absorption of international management ideas.     

Auditing Human Resource Management in the Global Environment

The globalization of business is making it increasingly important to understand how multinational enterprises (MNEs) can operate more effectively. Human resource management can be a critical determinant of corporate effectiveness, particularly as it plays out in the global arena. This article discusses how MNEs enhance their ability to utilize human resources and internal labour markets for competitive advantage through audits of the international human resource management (IHRM) function. A multidimensional auditing framework is developed and applied to the strategic aspects of IHRM in MNEs and international joint ventures.     

Recruitment and selection in Chinese MNEs

This article explores HRM issues in Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs), in particular, the recruitment, selection and repatriation of expatriate management in ten Chinese MNEs. Owing to the rapid growth of internationalization of Chinese firms, IHRM in the Chinese context has been attracting both academic and practitioners' interest. The approach of Chinese MNEs to IHRM has become an urgent area of management study. This article represents one part of the results of a recent study of Chinese IHRM. It concludes that, even though recruitment and selection policies and practices in Chinese MNEs are more progressive in adopting modern HRM concepts than is the case in domestic Chinese firms, current practices are still divergent from those of major Western MNEs.     

The influence of workgroup identification on turnover intention and knowledge sharing: the perspective of employees in subsidiaries

Abstract

Turnover intention and knowledge sharing of local employees in multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiary workgroups have received relatively little attention in IHRM research, yet are central to everyday operation of the organisation. Drawing on optimal distinctiveness theory, we consider the influence of workgroup identification on two important employee attitudes and behaviours, turnover intention and knowledge sharing, by examining the influence of the supervisor on workgroup identification. Participants included 306 employees in an Australian and New Zealand subsidiary of an MNE headquartered in Europe. The results indicate that employees’ tendency to identify with their workgroup is enhanced by the distinctiveness of a supervisor from a different national or cultural group, which in turn leads to decreased turnover intention and increased knowledge sharing among workgroup members. Higher supervisor prototypicality however, that counterbalances distinctiveness through higher inclusion, weakens the mediation effect. An important practical implication of this research is that the HR function could play a valuable role in training or group development to raise supervisors’ and employees’ understanding and management of needs for both inclusion and distinctiveness.     

Globalization of HR at function level: four UK-based case studies of the international recruitment and selection process

A series of the changes are being wrought on a range of IHRM functions – recruitment, global staffing, management development and careers, and rewards – by the process of globalization highlighting the difference between globally standardized, optimized or localized HR processes. However, our theoretical understanding of the issues involved is still driven by concepts rooted in global staffing strategies based on the management of small cadres of international managers, such as expatriates. The fragmentation of international employee populations and the changing structure and role of international HR functions has raised three important questions. The first concerns the study of globalization processes at functional level (staffing) and whether this can provide useful insights for the IHRM literature. The second concerns the indicators that best evidence globalization of staffing at the functional level, and whether these might form the basis of useful future research. The third concerns the patterns or strategies within the global HR recruitment activity of organizations across domestic and overseas labour markets and whether these patterns can be explained by existing theory. This paper reports on a study of firm-level developments in international recruitment and selection, drawing upon an analysis of four case studies each conducted in four theoretically derived contexts of centralized or decentralized control and co-ordination, and focus on domestic or overseas markets. It examines the disparities between policy and practice through interview of HR actors at corporate level and in country operations.     

Desperate housewives – social and professional isolation of German expatriated spouses

The spouses of expatriates have repeatedly been identified as a major component in the equation for success of international assignments. Their commitment, cooperation and contribution to the emotional, physical and mental well-being of the expats facilitate the successful completion of corporate missions across cultural and national borders. Yet, for spouses to be this positive influence on the expat, several requirements need to be met, such as a chance to maintain a sense of identity and self-worth through the possible continuation of their own careers as well as either the maintenance of old or creation of new social support networks for the duration of the corporate mission. This requires a strategic international human resource management (IHRM) effort of assigning companies that goes beyond the immediate needs of ordinary relocations. This research report answers questions about how traditional global players in Germany deal with these issues. The results draw a rather dark picture as the IHRM strategies of these German corporations display a severe lack of support to find employment either on or after the assignment and show little effort to facilitate the (re-)creation of a social support network. Consequences and future research questions are delineated.     

Looking East: diffusing high performance work practices in the southern Afro-Asian context

Most cross-cultural international human resource management (IHRM) literature contains instructive comparative analyses of East Asian and Western countries and lessons from Japanese best operating practice. There is a paucity of literature extending this debate to the African context and of comparative IHRM work between East Asia and African countries. This article fills a contextual gap in offering a comparative analysis of diffusion and adoption of high performance work practices from East Asia in southern African firms. The continued relevance of 'context' is critically evaluated, given powerful forces for convergence in the global economy. However, much of the debate on the convergence/divergence framework appears to neglect process dynamics and cross-vergence in the development and implementation of hybrid practices as well as reverse diffusion. This article highlights the importance of considering certain variables of local distinctiveness and diversity as features of the notion of cross-vergence which shape particular human resource practices.     

The benefits of global teams for international organizations: HR implications

Abstract

In this special issue we aim to advance the theoretical, conceptual and empirical knowledge about the relationship between global teams and human resource management in international organizations. We argue that although the prevalence of global teams in international organizations is rapidly rising, simultaneously affecting the management of firms on global, regional and local levels, the response of firms and scholars alike to such changes has been slower, especially in the area of IHRM. The HR function in organizations could play a vital role in understanding, managing and leveraging the benefits of global teams to ensure that they contribute positively to the performance of firms, organizational units, and people. We demonstrate that there is still a disconnect in this respect and we highlight several areas in which the increasing use of global teams may challenge our conventional understanding of IHRM issues, and at the same time offer solutions for improvement in international organizations. The selected articles in this special issue provide both theoretical and practitioner implications by highlighting the need to explore the relationship between global teams and IHRM more generally and fully, as well as the need for HR practitioners and IHRM scholars to focus more on the ‘human’ and less on the ‘resources’ aspect. We trust that readers of this issue will agree that the articles all offer novel insights into key issues that open new avenues for further research in this nascent yet promising area.