Globalization Flashcards
What are the three streams of globalized HR (Parry, 2011)?
➔ Comparative HR: looks at the country/regional level
➔ Firm level: looks at MNCs who have to deal with different national contexts
➔ Cross-cultural HRM: looks at the individual worker and cultural differences of people working in the same firm
According to Budhwar & Sparrow (2002), what influences the types of HR practices in an organization?
➔ Institutional: laws & reg
➔ National culture: values and norms, social elite
➔ Industrial culture: normative isomorphism, benchmarking competitors
➔ Dynamic business environment: competition, IT, best practice, stakeholder theory etc.
Comparative HRM: what are the differences between the US and the NL?
The Netherlands has: ➔ Less individualism ➔ Stronger role of state ➔ Stronger role of trade unions ➔ Has public ownership (companies owned by the state)
What is the difference between convergence and divergence?
➔ Convergence approach assumes that best practices can be defined that are universally valid and applicable, irrespective of national culture or institutional context
➔ Divergence emphasizes the embeddedness of national management methods in their cultural and institutional context and therefore are more skeptical about cross-national learning from best practices
What is standardization?
Standardization is the extent to which the practices of MNCs’ subsidiaries resemble those of the parent company. There are two types:
➔ Country-of-origin effect: resembles HQ
➔ Dominant effect: a country gets dominant status due to superior economic performance
What is localization?
The extent to which their subsidiaries act and behave as local firms.
Why do MNCs transfer parent practices?
➔ See home qualities as superior
➔ Host government wants equal treatment of citizens
➔ Global business strategy
➔ Ethical merit of standardization i.e. security practices
What are the definitions of PCNs, HCNs and TCNs?
PCNs: parent country national working in a country other than their own country of origin (expat)
HCNs: host country national is an emplouee of an organization who is the citizen of the country the subsidiary is located in
TCNs: third country nationals represent neither the parent country or host country
What are the four types of international orientations to HRM
➔ Ethnocentric: strategic decisions for subsidiaries are managed at HQ, limited autonomy and key positions are filled by PCNs/expats.
➔ Polycentric: MNC treats each subsidiary as a distinct national entity with some decision-making autonomy. Different practices for different national entities. Employees are HCN and HQ is PCN.
➔ Regiocentric: MNCs uses managers from various countries (TCNs) within the geographic region of the subsidiary. HQ is still PCN.
➔ Geocentric: MNC takes a worldwide stance in respect of its operations. Try not to look at countries, HR managers should have an equal amount of decision making.
What are the specific control roles for expats?
1) Direct means of surveillance: control over subsidiary ➔ ethnocentric
2) Socialization: in order to transfer HQ philosophy ➔ polycentric
3) Informal communication networks: within MNCs
Which challenges are involved during the expatriation process?
➔ Supply side issues ➔ Costs ➔ Demand side ➔ Expatriate failure ➔ Repatriation ➔ Expatriate performance: part of home or host country? ➔ Career issues
What is culture and how does it influence cross-cultural HRM?
Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting. It is something shared by most members of a given group, older members of a group pass on to younger members and shapes behaviour’s or structures one’s perception of the world. Cross cultural HRM looks at how cultural differences can influence certain HRM practices.
What are the three overarching societal values according to Aycan (2005)?
➔ Orientation towards performance: interpersonal relations vs. improve performance
➔ Degree of status hierarchy maintained: maintain hierarchy vs. promote egalitarianism and participation
➔ Level of desired flexibility and change: inflexible vs. flexibility (belief in change and development)
What are the characteristics of virtual teams?
➔ Share the same goal together
➔ Individuals are interdependent in their tasks
➔ Work separated by geographical distance
➔ Work is done virtually
Recruitment practices in virtual teams
➔ Selecting based on the same general attributes as face-to-face teams (abilities and socio-emotional capabilities)
➔ Value in avoiding too much homogeneity
➔ Similarity can aid the development of shared identity
