Should every country in the world have a reasonable minimum wage?
Ideally, I think there should be a minimum wage set for every country. This would mean the assurance that each and every individual can provide for his daily needs. This would include rent, food, water, utilities. However, the minimum wage should cover enough of the spending to go beyond the poverty line and should cover inflation as well. There should also be the right balance between what a worker receives and what he pays in taxes. It would not be beneficial for one to receive high minimum wage while having a high tax burden to bear at the same time. A high minimum wage would be useless at this point. On the other hand, raising the minimum wage is actually good for the economy since sufficiently paid workers tend to be more motivated, thus being more productive. As Petroff (2015) narrated, there are, however, several developed countries that do not impose a minimum wage. The workers are protected via strong labor unions and collective bargaining agreements set.
National Cultural Differences
Q1.a. How would you define or describe the concept of culture?
Based on Professor Geert Hofstede’s work, culture is a characteristic of a country, not of an individual, which differentiates that country from another country. Culture breeds meaning only when used in comparison with another. Culture sets apart groups of people through their standard norms and behaviors. Hofstede’s work also identified 6 dimensions of the concept of culture. These dimensions describe how a culture defines individuals depending on the factors taken into consideration. These dimensions attempt to explain how individuals act and respond to certain stimuli in their surroundings. These dimensions also give us an understanding of why one culture is this way, and why another has a totally different perspective on the same issue.
Q1.b. What are Geert Hofstede’s 6 Cultural Dimensions?
The concept of culture, according to Geert Hofstede can be explained further using its 6 dimensions: Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV), Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Long Term Orientation versus Short Term Normative Orientation (LTO), and Indulgence versus Restraint (IND). PDI explains how the less fortunate accepts the fact that there is an imbalance when it comes to power. IDV attempts to compare the individual to a group. MDV is a comparison of culture based on how it perceives success. UAI expresses how a certain culture feels about ambiguity and uncertainty. LTO explains how societies perceive the past versus the future. And lastly, IND, describes how a culture accepts gratification.
Q1.c. What do you consider to be the most important dimension in terms of National Culture’s impact on HRM practices?
The Human Resources department serves as the driving force for a company’s success. It all starts with the hiring process. The success of a company is heavily reliant on the individuals that make up the company. Attitude comes first and skill set follows. In this light, I would think that the most important dimension that creates the most impact would be MDV or Masculinity vs. Femininity. Having the attributes descriptive of the two aspects is the ideal scenario, where competitiveness is coupled with cooperation. Employees who are naturally competitive and who works well with their peers will definitely drive a company to achieve its goals.
Q2. How are the findings from the Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s research similar to or different from that of Hofstede’s research?
The research in comparison both aimed to explain the different cultures of different nations and how it affects the employees in their work environment. Both researches were able to establish dimensions to explain cross-cultural behaviors. However, Trompenaars used anthropology to attempt to explain how cultures of different nations differ and focused on how culture can be measured. Their research also further delved into examining several nations and their corporate cultures. Whereas, Hofstede focused on how cultural differences can be quantified. At the same time, Hofstede conducted his research at a globally-recognized company, bringing his research closer to the business side of things, making it the favored research by trainers and researchers. Comparing the two researches, one can note several differences in their findings of the same countries evaluated. These differences can be attributed to the time difference when both researches were conducted. Hofstede concluded his research in 1973 and Trompenaars in 1997. The difference in time frames indicated that there might have been cultural changes already, Hofstede being outdated already.
Q3. How are the findings from the Global Research Project similar to or different from that of Hofstede’s research?
One cannot argue that both researches offer insights into the better understanding of how culture influence values in the workplace and how the employees react to certain cultural stimuli as a response to these situations. However, Hofstede and the Global Research Project utilized different resource persons in coming up with the findings of their researches. Hofstede’s date came from only IBM and analyzed data from the responses of lower rank employees as compared to the Global Research Project that used responses from managers of more than nine hundred non-multinational organizations. Hofstede’s research also focused on understanding the differences in IBM’s employees’ cultural backgrounds. Whereas, the Global Research Project based their whole research process on theory and academic sources. Despite these differences in approach, one can note that the Global Research Project heavily relied on the finding of Hofstede particularly on his dimensions but introduced several other dimensions on both the societal and organizational level, which Hofstede did not touch on.
Q4. List the mid-2015 population estimates for net Migration Rates per 1000 for the following regions: Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa, Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Middle Africa, Southern Africa, Asia, Asia excluding China, Western Asia, South Central Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, and East Asia.
Global World Population Trends
Q5.a.Which region is the fastest growing in terms of population?
Q5.b. Nine countries are expected to account for more than half of the world’s projected population increase over the period 2015-2050. List these countries.
Q6. In terms of managing global human resources in Asia, which major finding do you think is most important and why?
Amongst all the projections listed down, the most important factor which is expected to have a huge impact on how global human resources in Asia is managed, is pressure on workers. With the world’s increasingly aging population (expected to be three times higher by 2050), fewer workers, in their prime working age, are expected to support more and more dependents, their children plus their senior kin. It is also projected that by 2050, Japan and South Korea will be amongst the countries with the oldest population, with Japan having the most dependents for every 100 people who are at their prime, working age. Managing only a handful of people at their prime, working age, will definitely be the most challenging in terms of fill-rate and quality of talent. With the continuously aging population, jobs will be more than demanding as ever, in terms of manpower versus the work load that each is expected to bear.
Global Labor Trends
Q7. In terms of managing global human resources in Asia, which major challenge do you think is most important and why?
Reading the report and viewing both videos, I think that in terms of managing global human resources in Asia, particularly in emerging and developing countries, the most challenging would be how to maintain the supply of decent jobs. With the continued weakening of the global economy, highly contributed to by the slow increase in the economy of emerging nations, less and less decent jobs are out there. Industries weaken, creating fewer demands for workers, increasing unemployment rates. This would then trigger migration of talent, leaving their home countries to utilize those workers who do not have the capacity to look for a job elsewhere, who are most likely those that are not educated, thus only can produce low-quality outputs. Also, with the lack of decent jobs, fewer people will be motivated to join and participate in the labor force, fueling again, unemployment contributing to the continued decline in the economy.
Works Cited
Petroff, Alanna. “This Country has the Best Minimum Wage in the World.” CNN Money. Web. 14 May 2015.
Gin, Zelda. “Compare and Contrast cultural frameworks developed by Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars.” Academia. Web. n.d.
Shi, Xiumei and Wang, Jinying. “Interpreting Hofstede Model and Globe Model: Which Way to Go for Cross-Cultural Research?” International Journal of Business and Management 6.5: 93-99. May 2011.
