HRM Dessler CH# 17

1. Human Resource
Management
ELEVENTH EDITION
1
GARY DESSLER
Part 5 | Employee Relations
Chapter
17
Managing Global Human Resources
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc.
All rights reserved.
PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook
The University of West Alabama

2. After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. List the HR challenges of international business.
2. Illustrate how intercountry differences affect HRM.
3. Discuss the global differences and similarities in HR
practices.
4. Explain five ways to improve international assignments
through selection.
5. Discuss how to train and maintain international
employees.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–2

3. HR and the Internationalization of Business
• The Global Challenges
 Coordinating market, product, and production plans
on a worldwide basis.
 Creating organization structures capable of
balancing centralized home-office control with
adequate local autonomy.
 Extending HR policies and systems to service
staffing needs abroad.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–3

4. Intercountry Differences Affecting HRM
Cultural
Factors
Economic
Systems
International
Human Resource
Management
Legal and Industrial
Relations Factors
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rights reserved.
17–4

5. Global Differences and Similarities
in HR Practices
Personnel
Selection
Procedure
Use of Pay
Incentives
International
Human Resource
Management
Purpose of
Performance
Appraisal
Training and
Development
Practices
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–5

6. How to Implement a Global HR System
• Best practices for making a global HR system
more acceptable to local managers:
1. Remembering that global systems are more
accepted in truly global organizations.
2. Investigating pressures to differentiate and
determine their legitimacy.
3. Working within the context of a strong corporate
culture is best.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–6

7. A Global HR System (cont’d)
• Best practices for developing a more effective
global HR system:
 Form global HR networks that make local HR
managers a part of global teams.
 Remember that it’s more important to standardize
ends and competencies than specific methods.
• Best practices for implementing the global HR
system:
 Remember, “You can’t communicate enough.”
 Dedicate adequate resources for the global HR
effort.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–7

8. Staffing the Global Organization (cont’d)
Top Management Values
Ethnocentric
International
Staffing
Policy
Polycentric
Geocentric
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17–8

9. Staffing the Global Organization (cont’d)
Inability of Spouse
to Adjust
Personality
Personal
Intentions
Why Expatriate
Assignments
Fail
Family
Pressures
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Inability to Cope
with Overseas
Responsibilities
Lack of
Cultural Skills
17–9

10. Staffing the Global Organization (cont’d)
Realistic Previews
Careful Screening
Helping Expatriate
Assignments Succeed
Improved Orientation
Cultural and Language Training
Improved Benefits Packages
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–10

11. Selecting Expatriate Managers
• Adaptability Screening
 Assessing the assignee’s (and spouse’s) probable
success in handling the foreign transfer.
 Overseas Assignment Inventory

A test that identifies the characteristics and attitudes
international assignment candidates should have.
• Realistic Previews
 The problems to expect in the new job, as well as the
cultural benefits, problems, and idiosyncrasies of the
country.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–11

12. Compensating Expatriates
• The “Balance Sheet Approach”
 Home-country groups of expenses—income taxes,
housing, goods and services, and discretionary
expenses—are the focus of attention.
 The employer estimates what each of these four
expenses is in the expatriate’s home country, and
what each will be in the host country.
 The employer then pays any differences such as
additional income taxes or housing expenses.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–12

13. International Labor Relations
Characteristics of
European Labor
Relations
Industry-Wide
Centralization
Employer
Organization
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rights reserved.
Multiple Union
Recognition
Content and
Scope of
Bargaining
17–13

14. KEY TERMS
codetermination
expatriates (expats)
home-country nationals
third-country nationals
offshoring
ethnocentric
polycentric
geocentric
adaptability screening
foreign service premiums
hardship allowances
mobility premiums
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All
rights reserved.
17–14