1. DOES HRM DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY BETWEEN
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTS?
By Munya Zvimba & Craig Halliday

2. WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT?(HRM)
 “ Typically, HRM refers to those activities
undertaken by an organization to effectively utilise
its human resources.” (Dowling, 2008)
 “The process of hiring and developing employees
so that they become more valuable to the
organization”. (business dictionary, 2014)
 Some of the activities could include:
 Human Resource planning
 Staffing ( recruitment, education, selection & placement)
 Training & development

3. WHAT IS DOMESTIC HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT (DHRM)?
 DHRM occurs when employees reside within one
national boundary.
 DHRM tends to deal with one currency and one tax
rate and one set of regulations.

4. WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT (IHRM)?
 “All issues related to the management of people in
an international context including; human resource
issues facing MNCs in different parts of their
organisations and comparative analyses of HRM in
different countries’ (Stahl and Björkman, 2006)
 “The complexity of working in different countries
and employing different national categories of
workers is a key variable that differentiates
domestic and international management.” (Dowling,
2008)

5. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DOMESTIC HRM &
IHRM?
 DHRM focuses on one domestic market which
usually has one nationality, where as IHRM deals
with different markets and different nationalities.
(whatishr.com, 2014)
 Other areas of focus for IHRM include:
 Culture.
 Work ethic.
 Political and legal.
 Health & Safety.
 Economic.
 Staffing.
 Placement.
 Education.
 Training and development.

6. CULTURE
 DHRM tends to focus on one culture.
 IHRM has to deal with different cultures.
 IHRM has to be aware of issues such as the local
codes of conduct, religious beliefs and hierarchy’s
in local communities.

7. CULTURE
 10 most corrupt countries.
Source: Transparency International, 2014

8. CULTURE
 10 least corrupt countries.
Source: Transparency International, 2014 .

9. WORK ETHIC
Source: BBC
2012

10. POLITICAL & LEGAL
 Most mnc’s home nations have stable
Governments and proper rule of law.
 A stable government equals economic stability.
 IHRM has to consider the political climate when
expanding abroad.
 Here are some examples of unstable governments:
 Egypt –Arab springs.
 Ukraine –Divide between Russian speaking
Ukrainians and the indigenous Ukrainians.

11. POLITICAL & LEGAL
 Terrorism and Kidnapping(Scullion et al, 2007)
 Here are some examples of kidnappings:
 2005 – BBC reported that 6 Shell oil workers were
kidnapped in the Nigerian oil delta. (BBC, 2005)
 2010 – CBC reported that 7 local oil workers were
kidnapped from Exxon Mobil Corp to disrupt
operations of western companies
 2014 - Daily mail reported an employee of Sigma
Ltd (sub-contractor for Chevron Texaco) was
kidnapped and held to ransom for
£72000.(Dailymail, 2014)

12. HEALTH & SAFETY

13. EDUCATION
 Education levels determine what type of workforce
is available.