HR assignment report help: International Human Resource Management with respect to China
Executive Summary
This report provides a study of “International Human Resource Management. The report draws attention to the fact that before entering for business in any country it is important to study the HR policies of particular country to avoid the failure of business in that country. In this report objectives and importance of understanding the international HR policies has been highlighted. This report presents the complete study of HR Policies in terms of recruitment, selection, training and development by linking it with the culture, career management plans of the employees in china. Apple the renowned global brand has to resolve the issues of its vendor company known as Foxconn before entering into china market and maintaining its brand image. It was a challenging task for Apple but it succeeded well in its strategy by learning from Foxconn.
The report shows Apple recognized that employees hired locally from china would have been cost effective and beneficial for them. Brand image of Apple was maintained in china by integrating their HR policies with the China’s Hr Policies.
Recommendations discussed includes:
The only way how Apple could enter into china market was by improving the situations at Foxconn and by sharing the profits with employees, and understanding the employee’s requirement.
- The employee’s career can be developed and linked with the Apple’s business by proper planning of the business .
- The career management programs of the employee’s were linked with the Apple’s business goals in a SMART manner with the attraction and the retention strategies of the Apple.
- The better working culture for the employee’s can be reflected and inculcated by them using the Hofstede’s cultural theory for enhancing the business.
- It was ensured that proper cadre of quality management talent within Apple was developed by mapping the available skill sets in china with the business of Apple.
Table of Contents Page No
1.Introduction……………………………………………………………….4
2.Objectives of IHRM………………………………………………………4
3.Study of China’s HR Policies…………………………………………….5
4.Recruitment Process of China…………………………………………..5
5.Attraction , Retention and Career Management Strategies in china…7
6.Compensation & Benefits of China…………………………………….8
7.Apple dealing with the issues of Foxconn………………………………9
8.Apple HRM Strategy to enter in China……………………………….10
9.Conclusion………………………………………………………………13
10.References……………………………………………………………..14
1.Introduction
International Human Resource Management (IHRM) has been defined as collection of activities used for guiding and managing humans towards achievement of an Organizational Goals from national and international aspects. The importance of IHRM was realized when companies wanted to have competitive edge on their competitors globally. After the Globalization countries across the globe have been exploring their business to mark their global presence. Multinational companies have been strategically planning the Human Resource Management Initiatives to have proper HR functioning in the host companies. It required by the companies for studying recruitment, selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, performance management system and etc to set up their business in host countries. Management of Parent companies has to identify the locations and the labor market for enhancing and starting their business in host countries. The different factors such as culture, diversity, nationality and labor laws of the particular company should be considered before doing business in host country. (Managementstudyguide.com, 2012). The Objectives of International Human Resource Management are to have a global identity of the companies, and have cross cultural hiring. It will be integrating with ethnocentric, polycentric and the geocentric aspects to have a proper International Talent pool.
2.Objectives of IHRM
There certain features of IHRM are it consists of more HR related activities, more involvement of the employees is required, risk is involved more, it is affected with the external influence and a broader view is required to deal with the different HR related problems at national and international aspects (National Foreign Trade Council 2012). HR managers must have a global mindset to recruit employees from diverse backgrounds. It has been observed that many projects of MNC’s have failed because they lacked proper International Human Resource Initiatives. It has been failing because of inability to adjust with the local environment, inappropriate knowledge about the HR Policies, lack of clarity about the working values of the host country and the ineffective career planning. The reasons why they failed were due to political, economic, government and the labor market conditions. More than 20-25% of the projects have been failed because the companies failed to link it with international strategies. The HR team fails to adapt the culture, and language of the host countries while implementing the HR plan successfully. The overseas posting is difficult because the companies fail to understand the legal and the government polices. The posting of Jobs incurs lot of time and cost as per particular countries market conditions.
3.Study of China’s HR Policies
China is the country which has been selected for explaining the aspects of IHRM. China is densely populated country. It has been a challenging task for organizations in china to find the right talented employees because china is known for the cheaper labor market in the world. Many companies have been outsourcing the different technological parts from china because of their lower labor cost to produce the different products. The salary of the employees is being decided on the basis of the cost of living of the metro and the non metro cities over there. The HR policies vary from company to company in china.
4.Recruitment Process of China
The recruitment process is carried out strategically. It is an initial stage where the company’s focus on the skills of the employees. The companies have been focusing to hire such candidates having multiple skills than those who are local citizen, or a foreigner who lacks the multiple skills. There is no discrimination on the basis of nationality. Whenever any senior employee is to be hired the companies verify the history of employment to check the past record of the candidates by the external consultants who work with standards. The companies will identify the reasons for leaving the job and also check how many times job is being changed by the particular candidate. The tenure of experience does not matter but the deep knowledge about the work will show his potential and the total learning’s from the past job. The goals of the candidates are asked while hiring because to check whether it is aligning with the organization goals. The proper local and English language should be known by the employees. The companies have tie up with universities to offer their candidates the early chance of the employability as an entry level employees. The advertisement is done by the companies in china using the trade publication with the locals and governmental agencies (US-China Business Council, 2012). The recruitment is being done by hiring in fourth and the third tier cities. The companies with global brand image in sectors like technology, and financial firms have been able to attract the young manpower in china because they have been providing a better brand image. The companies with strong brand image have been helping to attract maximum candidates for the recruitment. Full expatriates are those employees hired in abroad but are shifted in china for the role of trainer. Employee’s selection is done on the basis of the qualification, required skill sets and the locality of the employees. They are offered very good amount of salary with multiple benefits. The local senior and the middle level experienced employees are offered better salary by the MNC’s in china. It has been observed that the talented employees change their jobs for two reasons in china and they are for higher salary and getting more career opportunities to grow in life. Recently it was surveyed in china that better working environment is preferred more than the higher salary and the career opportunities are given higher preferences.
5.Attraction , Retention and Career Management Strategies in china
Companies are trying in china to focus on the attraction and retention program of the employees by linking their career with the organization’s career. The in-house and the out -house training programs have been conducted to provide a better growing opportunity in career for their employees. Some of the retention strategies for the employees in china are companies have been using their resources for the advancement opportunities globally. Seminars are being conducted in different countries and cities to provide stability of the employees. Also to develop the career of the employees the certificates are being provided for acknowledgement of employees and are being used as a recognition tool. To make the employees work more interesting the job rotation is being used in china. It is one of the ways for the retention strategy and the recruitment strategy. The career of the employee is being linked with the promotion of the employees on the merit basis. Also the programs are framed and designed to avoid the reluctance of the employees while moving from one city to the other city in china for longer duration. Allowances are offered in greater amount when the employees move from cities like Beijing & Shanghai to the remote cities (Jie Chen, Derek Eldridge, 2010). The companies have been selecting the location of their offices in a spacious area. The more traffic in major cities has been creating a problem during commutation for the employees. The prestigious locations have been attracting more employees in china. The employees are provided satisfaction by providing the safe working environmental conditions for the employees over there. Also the companies have a culture to maintain its brand image by serving the Chinese community by the way of corporate social responsibility and strengthening the employee’s loyalty. The channels of communication should be kept open for the employees to resolve their queries which were not done in olden days. The companies have been using confidentiality agreements with the employees to protect the secret information. Employees can work with the continuation of the higher education. The training programs are being paid by the employee’s side for adding value to their career. The local employees of china are being retained by planning trips for them because it is being used as a retention policy by the employers. China has been lacking in implementation of performance and the management system because it is a western concept.
6.Compensation & Benefits of China
The HR managers feel nervous while implementing the performance management system in china. Compensation and the benefits of the employees are being planned on the basis of the locations. The performance based bonus is being provided for the retention of the employees. The packages are also being designed on the basis of skill and the performance level of the employees. The pay scale is not being differentiated on the basis of foreigners, locals, overseas and the Chinese employees who have returned from abroad are doing the same job. Salary is being decided on the basis of their experience, skills, performance and etc. The employees have to adopt social insurance system because it is mandatory in china to contribute some amount from their salary for their health related factors. The salary package for the employees in urban cities of china includes cost for health care of the old parents of their employees, child education allowance, and housing allowances. The employers in china have been providing the voluntary help by collaborating with the health insurance firms. This type of plan has helped to attract and retain the local hire in china. The increasing income, changes in the demographic structure, and spending upon consumers have been attracting the business houses of western countries in china (B2B International Market Research, 2012). The cities have been classified on the basis of different types of industries being located over there.
7.Apple dealing with the issues of Foxconn
Apple is a well know global brand of U.S. It had entered into china market which has been producing maximum mobile phones in the world. It has also got its supplier located in china known as Foxconn. Apple is known for its quality products such as iPhone, iPads and Laptops. Apple had to enter the China market by improving the HR policies of Foxconn Company who has been its supplier since many years. Foxconn has been exploiting the labor in china by paying them less wages, and asking them to work in hazardous conditions (IDG, 2012). The payment of lower wages helped Foxconn to avoid the taxes in china. The public opinion had changed towards the Apple in china because they were straight away blaming to apple for such problems in china. Apple had an image of unhealthy and a rotten product which will harm every one. Apple took an initiative before entering into china to remove all the allegations before entering into china market. The mission of Apple was to provide the quality products to their consumer world -wide. Certain change management strategy was taken by Apple to improve the conditions at Foxconn. The Unions at Foxconn was being managed by the managers, Labor was not paid as per the industry standards, they were not paid for overtime, employees were hired below the minimum working age in dangerous areas and also some of them had committed suicides. Employees could not resign easily and their career was not being planned by the company’s management. Therefore Apple came to know about all the issues with the help of Fair Labor Association at china (Apple Inc, 2012). Apple took certain initiatives to improve the working conditions at Foxconn China. Apple shared its profits for the welfare of the employees at china and created a better image before entering there. The employee’s problems were being identified and a method of phone counseling was used to discuss it with the management. It was known by apple that this method would help the employees to provide them mental health and improve the working conditions at Foxconn. Wages of the employees were raise to a level of 25%. Apple devoted time in understanding the governmental and the labor practice of china for its better entry. These factors helped Foxconn to attract and retain the employees in their organization. Apple has been always avoiding the factors that hampers or harm their employees. Actions were taken for the under aged recruitment system and for not developing the career of the employees with training and development programs.
8.Apple HRM Strategy to enter in China
A proper recruitment strategy should be framed by labor where the employees should be hired above the age of 18 in china because it does not want to use the underage workers. The underage employees should be give time to develop his career in schools and colleges and they should not be hired. Apple can hire the Chinese employees by identifying the vendors, consultants and the contractors who can supply the local manpower to them while operating in china. The screening or selection should be done by the proper documentation and ask the accountable agencies to do the background screening of the employees before hiring them. The employees should be hired on the basis of the required skill set and must not be discriminated on the basis of gender, race and nationality by apple while operating in China (Apple Inc 2008). Career of the employees will start from the day when they would be placed in their required positions in different department. Apple has been always valuing its culture more than its profits. Employees are being provided opportunity to grow in their career with better health and the safety measures. Certain HR policies can be framed by Apple which will be beneficial for itself and its employees. A proper performance planning can be done by Apple to improve the career of the employees by providing benefits to the business and the management. Whenever the employees are being hired at Apple in China HR manager should ask the career goals of the employees and try to match it with the goals of its organization. It will also highlight the stability of the employees in Apple. Apple management in China should explain to their employees what they want from their employees. When the Apple goals for china are being identified it should be distributed by the managers or the head of the department. It should be done in a SMART manner where the employees will link their personal goals with their career and ultimately with the organizational growth. S will help to explain the employees to develop their employee’s career in a specific manner. M will help to explain the different stages with respect to various records of past achievement in the employee’s career. A will explain how the employees are ambitious for their career and will help to identify lots of talent. R will explain that things which are done in reality also highlight their career goals. T will explain that in career of the employees there are certain aspects that will track their best and worst performance period. It will be also linked with the performance management system in an Organization. In this way the employee’s career can be designed with an effective process to support the management and its employee’s. It will also benefit the business and its employees. Since Apple is a well known Brand it should have certain standards to follows during the recruitment and the selection process. The employees can be attracted and retained by apple in China by locating their office at prime location in China, advertising the vacancy in a proper manner in the Chinese newspaper and local websites, providing better salary packages with incentives, providing them the required facilities at the working place, offering free training and career development programs, awarding certificates to the best employees, providing promotion on the basis of experience and required skill sets, planning employee engagement programs like trips, holiday offers and etc for the employees, offering Opportunities to grow in the career and flexibility at workplace. It will benefit the company by reducing the attrition and saving the human cost which is being incurred during recruitment, and training & developmental programs (Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc, 2012). The business of apple can be enhanced by developing a proper culture. It has been contributing by helping in corporate sustainability. It can also be done by designing and launching the products with newer technologies. The customers can be served by training the employees and increasing the Apple Company’s business in China. The negative comments from the stakeholders are always positively accepted to enhance the business of Apple in China. Hofstede’s cultural theory can be linked with the culture of Apple in china to start the better Business operations. There are five factors such as Power distance, Individualism Vs collectism, Masculinity Vs Feminity, short term Vs Long term goals and uncertainty avoidance. Power distance will help to remove the difference in-terms of opportunity and the equality between two country cultures. Individualism Vs collectism will help in maintain the relationships between two countries culture. The gender difference regarding Masculinity Vs Feminity should not be their while creating a proper working culture which can enhance a proper apple’s culture in china. The rules should be framed by Apple in china to remove or avoid the uncertainties. The commitment of the employees towards the culture of an organization can be determined with their short term and the long-term goals (Mind Tools Ltd, 2012). The cadre of quality management talent with respect to apple business in china can be done by identifying the key sources of talent and mapping it with required skills set available in a particular environment. The employee’s competencies should be mapped with the business standards of Apple and also with the employee’s performance at their job. A proper engagement plan should be framed for developing the talent pool for Apple. The life cycle of career development programs for the employees will also provide the quality and the talented employees to Apple in china. It can be managed by the leaders of different department by tracking the quality work of the employees at the workplace. The performance review of the employees will highlight the right talent of the employees and even Apple should take initiative to nurture them and plan for their talented employees promotions in terms of salary and higher designation (PwC, 2012).
9.Conclusion
Thus to have a proper understanding of International Human Resource Management companies have to plan their hr strategies by understanding the social, political, geographical and the legal aspects of particular country. It has been well explained how the recruitment, selection, retention, training and development, performance Management & compensation, culture, and the benefits of the employees have been planned by the companies in china. We have also tried to explain how Apple wanted to interlink its organizational goals with the goals of the employees in china. The attraction and the retention policies were identified to reduce the turnover of employees while operating. Since Apple was not operating in china previously because of the Labor and the HR issues at the vendor company known as Foxconn. It took an initiative and identified the reasons why employees were facing problem in china. The slogans like rotten apple in china by Foxconn employee’s had created a negative image in china and other countries of the world. The only way how Apple could enter into china market was by improving the situations at Foxconn and by sharing the profits with employees, understanding the employee’s requirement. The management should also have proper understanding how to inculcate the Chinese employees with the Apple’s Organizational culture while operating there. The talented employee’s pool can be created by linking the performance of the employees with the rewards and the recognition process to develop their career. The employee’s career can be developed and linked with the Apple’s business by proper planning of the business (Managementstudyguide.com, 2012). A properly planned career of the employees shows that the organization would be developing competencies for meeting the challenges while entering into new country like china and sustaining business for a longer period of time. The career management programs of the employee’s were linked with the Apple’s business goals in a SMART manner. Also the attraction and the retention strategies of the Apple will help to grow the business of Apple in china as compared to their other competitors. The better working culture for the employee’s can be reflected and inculcated by them using the Hofstede’s cultural theory for enhancing the business. It was ensured that proper cadre of quality management talent within Apple was developed by mapping the available skill sets in china with the business of Apple. Therefore the understanding of International Human Resource Management is required by companies before starting their business in other countries.
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