International Human Resource Management Flashcards
To meet the challenges of global competition, companies can become an international corporation with leveraged capabilities in foreign markets, or a _____________ organization with independent units in other countries to deal with local issues, or a global corporation with international offices controlled from the local headquarters, or a fully transnational organization with a network managing both local and global operations.
multinational
A transnational organization successfully manages both local and global concerns in an integrated plan that offers them the most flexibility.
The areas of focus for HRM on the _____________ platform are relocation, orientation and translation.
international
There will normally be language differences and barriers that need to be sensitively handled, and getting this right is critical in ensuring a successful operation in a foreign country where English is not the main language for business.
When it comes to international ________, HRM can select expatriates, host-country nationals, and third country nationals.
staffing
Expatriates, or home-country nationals, are employees from the home country posted on international job assignments.
1) For example, if Coca-Cola starts an office in South Africa, then American employees working at that office would be expatriates, South Africans would be host-country nationals, and employees from any other country would be considered third-country nationals.
At the early phases of internationalization, companies tend to rely on ___________ but later on there is usually a constant trend towards hiring host-country nationals.
expatriates
The reasons for this are cost. Locals are cheaper to hire because there is no need to pay for moving costs, transportation etc. No cultural adjustments are required of locals. Local governments usually prefer that companies hire locals and some may require it.
When hiring expatriates, companies should tread carefully as there is normally a high rate of _______ mainly due to family and lifestyle issues.
failure
It can be difficult to adjust to a completely new lifestyle. For example, living in less hospitable or remote conditions than one was used to.
Training programs for _____________ managers need to focus on language training, cultural training, career development assessment and tracking, as well as personal and family life management.
international
Cultural training is very important to ensure that business relations with business people from foreign countries are smooth. For example, in Japan, greetings are traditionally carried out with a short bow rather than a handshake.
One of the biggest problems an organization faces with managing their expatriate managers is with ___________ appraisals.
performance
It is difficult because the US management style (focus on individual) may be different to that which is applied in the host country and hence this can cause problems. Also, the expectations of the superiors at the host country may be different to that of the home country.
Many experts believe that performance evaluations of ___________ should be based on appraisal information from at least two sources.
expatriates
This information must come from at least 2 sources to be fair the local perspective and the home-country perspective.
The compensation package awarded to host-country managers has generally been _____ than that of expatriate managers.
lower
The pay of host-country managers has traditionally been determined by local salary levels.
In recent years, the salary levels of host-country managers have become more closely aligned to that of the expatriate managers due to increased _________.
competition
There has been increased competition for these host-country managers by the various international companies operating in the same country.
The compensation package for an expatriate manager must act as an incentive to _____ the U.S., permit the same standard of living as in the U.S., allow for repatriation, make provision for the education of children, and facilitate the maintenance of relationships between friends and family.
leave
Employees need an incentive to encourage them to uproot and leave the U.S.. For example, this may take the form of a pay raise.
When working in Europe, expatriates must realize that __________ is more developed than in the US.
unionization
In many European countries, unionization is well established even for managers. Hence, expatriate managers must adapt to the labor relations conditions in whatever country they are assigned to.
