International HRM places greater emphasis on a number of responsibilities and functions such as relocation, orientation and translation services to help employees adapt to a new and different environment outside their own country.
Selection of employees requires careful evaluation of the personal characteristics of the candidate and his/her spouse.
Training and development extends beyond information and orientation training to include sensitivity training and field experiences that will enable the manager to understand cultural differences better. Managers need to be protected from career development risks, re-entry problems and culture shock.
To balance the pros and cons of home country and host country evaluations, performance evaluations should combine the two sources of appraisal information.
Compensation systems should support the overall strategic intent of the organization but should be customized for local conditions.
In many European countries - Germany for one, law establishes representation. Organizations typically negotiate the agreement with the unions at a national level. In Europe it is more likely for salaried employees and managers to be unionized.
HR Managers should do the following things to ensure success-
Use workforce skills and abilities in order to exploit environmental opportunities and neutralize threats.
Employ innovative reward plans that recognize employee contributions and grant enhancements.
Indulge in continuous quality improvement through TQM and HR contributions like training, development, counseling, etc
Utilize people with distinctive capabilities to create unsurpassed competence in an area, e.g. Xerox in photocopiers, 3M in adhesives, Telco in trucks etc.
Decentralize operations and rely on self-managed teams to deliver goods in difficult times e.g. Motorola is famous for short product development cycles. It has quickly commercialized ideas from its research labs.
Lay off workers in a smooth way explaining facts to unions, workers and other affected groups e.g. IBM , Kodak, Xerox, etc.
HR Managers today are focusing attention on the following-
a) Policies- HR policies based on trust, openness, equity and consensus.
b) Motivation- Create conditions in which people are willing to work with zeal, initiative and enthusiasm; make people feel like winners.
c) Relations- Fair treatment of people and prompt redress of grievances would pave the way for healthy work-place relations.
d) Change agent- Prepare workers to accept technological changes by clarifying doubts.
e) Quality Consciousness- Commitment to quality in all aspects of personnel administration will ensure success.
Due to the new trends in HR, in a nutshell the HR manager should treat people as resources, reward them equitably, and integrate their aspirations with corporate goals through suitable HR policies.
