Chapter 5
Discussion Questions
Question 1. Culture has many definitions. However, the most acceptable definition of culture is the quality that gives a certain group of people, a characteristic: a way of behaving and also believing. The behaviors and beliefs are developed over a long time and share different qualities. Each and every region has its culture. The primary reason for studying culture is to help in the management of international businesses. The understanding of a place refers to the culture of different regions where the business is operating. This is a significant factor towards the outcome of an enterprise.
Question 2. The researchers of Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner are similar to those of Hofstede. Both studies were conducted by multinational companies with thousands of employees. They both show that the grouping of different countries showed similar characteristics and values. However, these groups had clear differences from each other. They were both able to categorize countries into different dimensions. The studies of these groups are relevant to the management of International Human Resource Management (IHRM). Understanding the cultures of every region within the company’s ventures will enable them to accept the cultures of those regions, therefore, managing effectively .
Question 3. There are different factors of culture that have an impact on the development and growth of a business. Culture is always important to a business because an international venture may try to assume cultures of different regions whereas they are very different. In this case, there is the likelihood of facing resistance. The important factor that should be considered in culture is the impact of a particular culture on a given region where the business is located. Understanding of the culture will make the business to perform activities that are acceptable in the said culture.
Question 4. The national culture is convergent due to the different ways of living. One of the main controversies that surround the international business is the issue of globalization. The cultural values and differences of many regions continue to pose many challenges for different systems. In the case of national culture, there is convergence because most different nations have almost similar cultures. It is not similar to the case of international culture which is divergent because different regions have different cultures.
Question 5. Conducting research on IHRM is different because it can stem differences in national cultures and languages. The study is limited due to different challenges despite the need for the information in the field. The main challenge in the field is the cost. The research should be carried out in various regions thus, incurring a lot of costs. Also, expenses are incurred during traveling and making arrangements. Also, many skills are required because the research is carried out by multiple people who will possibly have different cultures and languages.
Question 1. It is not in every case where the immigrants are a good source of labor to fill the vacant positions. First, it depends on the availability of work in the said the country. If the country has a high rate of unemployment, then immigrants are not the option. The main barriers to employing immigrants are language and cultural disparities. Adapting the culture and language of a new place is difficult. Not all countries welcome the immigrants to fill positions in workplaces.
Question 2. The current global demographics allows hiring foreign immigrants to fill vacant jobs. There are many unemployed people in the foreign countries whereas in the developed countries; there are numerous employment opportunities. The workforce strategy of any company should consider the foreign immigrants for jobs when the labor force in the country is low. This enables companies to reach their target workforce. The third-world countries view this as a brain drain because it loses skills while the host country may sometimes put restrictions because it can lead to unemployment for the citizens of the country.
Question 3. The primary cultural barrier that was crossed in hiring the immigrants in Barden was language barrier. They were not conversant with the Barden vocabulary. Other than understanding the vocabulary, they could not write nor speak English. Although they had impressive results, some challenges were faced by the company. It spent a lot of resources by hiring an independent firm to conduct special English lessons. There were some challenges experienced with affiliations of Burden with FAG and Stafford in Germany. They also had to teach the new employees the new culture of the respective affiliations.
Chapter 4. Lack of employees in a company may be stressful especially in the case where a particular location of the country is facing labor shortage. To attract the new workforce, the management is forced to reward the existing employees well. Alternatively, one can hire immigrants like the case with Barden. As a Human Resource Manager of Barden Company, I would consider hiring the immigrants. I would choose those who understand our home language. In so doing, I would save the extra company expenses of training.
Chapter 5: Multi-national companies apparently appear to be larger than countries. Countries are now subject to competition by emerging markets that now seem to build a very high profile of their reputation. Countries appear to rug behind because most politicians cannot give answers to many questions such as debts, labor inequality etc. A good number of multinational companies now stand at a world part and not a regional level. Executives and managers in charge of these companies are prospering and booming because of their worthwhile styles of leadership. On the contrary, countries seem to be on the downstream as a result of poor governance and leadership. Most governments perceive to be anemic. They seem not to care about the state of their local markets and home concerns. As discussed, most multi-companies may take over the functionality of the governments. Most governments appear to struggle to keep that high profile of their home concerns due to petty issues that exists in their forms of legislation. This makes multi-national companies edge most governments.
Chapter six
Discussion questions
Question 1. Every country has its local laws that govern the employment which can also be called local employment laws. In the context of international business, many countries operate outside their country of origin. Thus, there is a need to understand that country’s employment law. For smooth operations, companies employ management from those home countries. Some laws, like those expressing how international companies should operate in foreign countries, are set accordingly in regards to the home country’s compliance. International businesses should be keen on these laws.
Chapter 2. International employment laws are relevant to the home companies and foreign companies because they control everything concerning employment. There are different organizations and institutions which are mandated to formulate some laws that enable their application in many countries. For this reason, multinational organizations can conduct businesses in the various countries. These international employment laws are necessary because they explain the fundamental principles and rights at work. For example, the elimination of forced labor. International employment laws which protect the safety of workers are necessary because it makes them feel safe at their workplaces.
Question 4. The national employment laws are the most important type of employment law to MNEs. Each country has laws which protect the rights of the workers. Moreover, the laws are different in every country. Despite the differences in the laws, countries try to match them to the international laws although they cannot be similar. The country should try by all means to abide by the legislation of the countries where they have premises. To achieve this, they should hire professionals from the home countries of their respective branches who understand the national labor laws. Failure to abide by the national legislation will make development in the home country inevitable.
Chapter 5. Sustainability is an important trend in the MNEs. Sustainability has many definitions, though, in the context of the multinational enterprise, it means the ability to meet the present needs of the company without compromising its capacity to respond to future needs. Sustainable HR is the one that can satisfy the needs of the employer without comprising the needs of the company. It should be able to meet all the requirements of the national employment requirements and the international employment requirements. It is important to the employees since working in a good condition will motivate the workers.
Chapter 6. It is necessary for a human resource of a company to identify sustainability spots of an organization mainly relating to the employment relations. The sustainability sweet spot can be identified by the evaluation of the business interests and the stakeholders’ interests. The assessment of the sustainability sweet spot can lead to new things when it comes to employment relations. For instance, it can help the company develop new human resource management methods and new ways of reporting.
Question 1. Non-compete Laws are different in many countries. In the South, employees are required to sign that they will not work for a competing company in case of resigning. This is different in the United Kingdom where the law requires that the employee should not work or start any operation similar to that of the former employee in a duration of six months. The other country with non-compete laws is Holland, which is almost similar to that of South Africa. It requires the employee to sign a document prohibiting him from working for or with a competitor or start a competing company in the case of contract termination. Almost each company has non-compete laws, but they are notoriously broken in most instances.
Chapter 2. Employees should not be free to move from one employer to another. This will be against the non-compete laws which protect the employers from employees and the competitors. Free movement can enable a company to steal the ideas of other firms through the employees. There should be restrictions barring the freedom of movement of workers such that that they cannot work with a competing company or start a competing firm to the previous employer. Therefore, employers should not be allowed to “pirate” employees from their competitors.
Chapter 3. Controlling the employee mobility is tough. It has become tough to control their movement considering the issue of globalization. Human Resource Managers are finding it hard to monitor the mobility of the workers and hence they should come up with a method that can help retain them. Therefore, they should give their employees a safe working environment and working conditions, while at the same time, rewarding them well to maintain them thus reducing the mobility issue.
Chapter 4. Intellectual property is consistently affected. The importance of intellectual property has emerged as a very itching issue especially in the corporate world today. Social media has been on the leading role of marketing and finding the opportunity for the people with knowledge. Social media has led to conflicts, with some being settled in law courts mainly those relating to intellectual property law. The social media is also making the employee view legal systems and culture different and in most case contributing to the breaking of these laws.
Works Cited
Hall, L. Protecting your vital assets. Global HR, 2001. URL. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_Partners.>.
Schuler, R. S and J. W. Walker. Human resource strategy: Focusing on issues and actions. Organizational Dynamics, Summer, 4–20. 1990. <www.bardenbearings.com>.
