HRM textbook

CHAPTER 17 MANAGING GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES 597
and to identify, recruit, and place the employees they hire globally. As one Shell
manager put it, If you re truly global, then you are hiring here [the United States]
people who are going to immediately go and work in the Hague, and vice versa. 126
This global mind-set makes it easier for managers everywhere to accept the wisdom
of having a standardized human resource management system.
Investigate pressures to differentiate and determine their legitimacy. Local
managers will insist, You can t do that here, because we are different culturally.
These researchers found that these differences are usually not persuasive.
For example, when Dow wanted to implement an online recruitment and
selection tool abroad, the hiring managers there said that their managers would
not use it. After investigating the supposed cultural roadblocks, Dow successfully
implemented the new system. 127
The operative word here is investigate. Carefully assess whether the
local culture or other differences might in fact undermine the new system.
Be knowledgeable about local legal issues, and be willing to differentiate where
necessary.
Try to work within the context of a strong corporate culture. Companies that
create a strong corporate culture find it easier to obtain agreement among
far-flung employees. For example, because of how P&G recruits, selects, trains,
and rewards them, its managers have a strong sense of shared values. For
instance, new recruits quickly learn to think in terms of we instead of I.
They learn to value thoroughness, consistency, self-discipline, and a methodical
approach. Because all P&G managers worldwide tend to share these values, they
are in a sense more similar to each other than they are geographically different.
Having such global unanimity in values makes it easier to implement
standardized human resource practices worldwide.
Implementing the Global HR System
Finally, two best practices helped ensure success in actually implementing the globally
consistent human resource policies and practices.
You can t communicate enough. There s a need for constant contact with the
decision makers in each country, as well as the people who will be implementing
and using the system. 128
Dedicate adequate resources. For example, don t require the local human
resource management offices to implement new job analysis procedures unless
the head office provides adequate resources for these additional activities.
R E V I E W
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CHAPTER SECTION SUMMARIES
1. The internationalization of business influences
employers HR processes. The big issue is coping with
the cultural, political, legal, and economic differences
among countries. For example, citizens of different
countries adhere to different values, and countries have
differing economic systems as well as different legal,
political, and labor relations systems.
2. Staffing the global organization is a major challenge.
Companies may use expatriates, home-country nationals,
or third-country nationals. Offshoring means having local
employees abroad do jobs that domestic employees
previously did in-house. Employers seeking to gain cost
advantages by offshoring rely on their HR managers
to help identify high-quality, low-cost talent abroad.