BUSN3025 Seminar 4 Comparative HRM

Comparative HRM: Theory & Practice: 

Comparative HRM: Theory & Practice

Universalism vs Contextual: 

Universalism vs Contextual Universalism-Contextual debate Is there a best practice approach? Convergence as a 3rd alternative

Labor laws: 

Labor laws Ever changing HR needs to keep up Recognize differences Gained importance during the Industrial Revolution by Socialists Losing importance or relevance?

Major issues covered: 

Major issues covered Minimum wage - Introduced in the US (1938), France (1950) and the UK (1999); 18 out of 25 member states in the EU Minimum age Maternity protection Occupational Health & Safety Termination of employment Very general guidelines and exceptions allowed Up to various member states’ ministries to interpret and refine these guidelines E.g. New Employment Contract (Contrat nouvelle embauche) overturned but around 400000 have signed Convention No. 158, ILO

Hours: 

Hours Pre-industrial: 11-14 hrs p.w. Industrial: 14-16 hrs p.w. 1833 – England passed the 8-hr p.w. law, 12 hrs for miners and 8 hrs for children

Labor laws and reforms in Asia: 

Labor laws and reforms in Asia Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Bayer (China) Ltd. - extensive travel guidelines and office evacuation procedures in response to SARS. Bayer SARS Team – responsible for monitoring the disease and making policy changes Increasing sophistication of HR Revising labor laws to protect employees Bringing regulations to international standards www.shrmglobal.org

Labor laws and reforms in Asia: 

Labor laws and reforms in Asia E.g. China - Bill to provide on-the-job injury insurance to workers, encouraging greater education and training of employees E.g. Thailand government - tax deduction for employee training and education costs, encourage companies to invest in the intellectual and skills development of employees Use of videoconferencing to interview job applicants in China www.shrmglobal.org

Labor laws and reforms in Asia: 

Labor laws and reforms in Asia Issuing of Chinese Green Cards (tax breaks, concessions, attracting overseas Chinese) Setting up child care facilities in organizations e.g. Nippon Yusen KK, a shipping company, Toyota (accommodate up to 25 children), Reduce karoshi in Japan and emphasis on quality of work life in general www.shrmglobal.org

Labor laws and reforms in Asia: 

Labor laws and reforms in Asia South Korea – employees contributing to corporate pension fund – fund aging population Companies with 300 or more employees must have a 2% quota to hire disabled people – may extend to org with 50+ people by 2007 Penalty – US$326 per position per month Banks – changing from 6-day week to 5-day week Knowledge workforce in South East Asia www.shrmglobal.org

Inefficient use of labor: 

Inefficient use of labor Keeping people for the sake of minimizing unemployment Discrimination of women – Japanese women moving to MNCs Employment practices based on where you graduated from vs performance based employment practices Slow in adopting e-HR (e.g. payroll, leave, information) www.shrmglobal.org

Equal Employment Opportunity: 

Equal Employment Opportunity Caste system in India – Harijans (lowest caste) (15-20% of India’s population)  lower level jobs; dalits The state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, place and birth or any form – from the Constitution Positive change in urban vs rural Quotas for lower caste people in organizations (positive discrimination)

HR terminologies in Française : 

HR terminologies in Française Job description - synonymous with limitation of freedom and exploitation Intrinsic rewards – seldom emphasized and may be considered as flattery and mockery Leader – used to denote politicians and have a negative meaning. Alternative – boss or chief http://www.sococo.com/frhrm.html

Convergence-Divergence of Performance Appraisals in Taiwan, S’pore and HK: 

Convergence-Divergence of Performance Appraisals in Taiwan, S’pore and HK HK>T, S (extrinsic motivation & rewards) S>T (group norms and individual values than standard PA) S,T> HK (subordinate involvement in ideas & decisions) HK>S,T (uncertainty avoidance  supervision) English in IB, cooperation (collectivism), entrepreneurial orientation Paik, Y., Vance, C.M. and Stage, H.D. (1996). The extentof divergence in human resource practice across three Chinese national cultures: Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Human Resource Management Journal, 6(2), 20-31.

HRM emphases in 7 European countries: 

HRM emphases in 7 European countries Clark, T. and Pugh, D. (2000). Similarities and differences in European conceptions of human resource management. International Studies of Management & Organizations, 29(4), 84-100.

Work goals/values in Brunei, M’sia and S’pore: 

Work goals/values in Brunei, M’sia and S’pore M>S (Learning) M>S (Interesting work) M>B (Social skills) S>B and B>M (Convenient work hours) B>S and M>S (Job security) B>S and M>S (Autonomy) S>B & M (Good physical working conditions)

Work goals/values in Brunei, M’sia and S’pore: 

Work goals/values in Brunei, M’sia and S’pore No sig. diff (Good salary) No sig. diff (Matching abilities and experience) No sig. diff (Job variety) Chan, C.C.A. and Pearson, C.A.L. (2001). Comparison of managerial work goals among Bruneian, Malaysian and Singaporean managers. Journal of Management Development, 21(7), 545-556.

Selection criteria: 

Selection criteria Technical (3/7 Japanese, 2/10 US, 1/7 German) Interpersonal (2/7 J, 2/10 US) Cross-cultural (1/10 US) Cost considerations (1/10 US) International capability (1/7 G) Being viewed as a potential (3/7 G) Employee motivation (1/7 G) Negotiation (1/7 J) Language (1 J) Peterson, R.B., Napier, N.K. and Shul-Shim, W. (2000). Expatriate management: Comparison of MNCs across four parent countries. Thunderbird International Business Review, 42(2), 145-166.

Women in senior management : 

Women in senior management Upward trend in UK, Aust and the US Rate of growth slower in certain countries Traditional views and expectations of girls and women Government and ILO interventions Profiles (marital status, no. of dependents, educational background compared to partner) Is Confucian ethics promoting male chauvinism? Omar, A. and Davidson, M.J. (2001). Women in management: A comparative cross-cultural overview. Cross-Cultural Management, 8(3), 35-67.

Western organizational leadership: 

Western organizational leadership Achievement orientation Specificity orientation Universalistic orientation Secular authority Ogbor, J.O. and Williams, J. (2003). The cross-cultural transfer of management practices: The case for creative synthesis. Cross Cultural Management, 10(2), 3-23.

IHRM practices: 

IHRM practices Compensation: Seniority-based, team-based vs Merit-based, individual-based Selection: De-emphasize experience? Appraisal: Low (collectivist) to High (individualistic) Training & development vs Outsourcing (e.g. US) SHRM: low cost and differentiation strategies (Asia) to no linkage (Mexico) Von Glinow, M.A., Drost, E.A. and Teagarden, M.B. (2002). Converging on IHRM best practices: Lessons learned from a globally distributed consortium on theory and practice. Human Resource Management, 41(1), 123-140.

Discuss: 

Discuss Can pay-for-performance policy be transplanted to seniority-based societies? Should and can EEO/AA policies be applied elsewhere? Degree of autonomy & how much empowerment is too much? Trust – willingness to share information, cooperate and not take advantage of another person e.g. China (low trust), Australia (high trust) Individualistic cultures – reward individual performance vs collectivist cultures – reward collective performance