人力资源问题分析HRM Essay

国际化和全球化竞争的快速增长增加了重要的跨国企业近年来的数量,公司全球管理人员缺乏。因此，建议，，“全球战略的成功实施在很大程度上取决于国际经验丰富的经理人是否有足够的供应”。
现在，我将检查休姆公司面临的人力资源管理问题，因为他们经历了国际化的过程。
休姆公司人力资源问题分析：
2007年初，休姆公司的管理团队和主要投资者决定公司的长期生存需要扩张。
在我看来，休姆&公司应该考虑改善目标，它的目的是达到之前，确定优先改善。为了知道如何以及何时每一种方法是适当的休姆公司必须了解其基本理念如何解决其目标。此外，成功的改进过程在很大程度上取决于公司的性质，因此重要的是要知道什么是主要的人力资源问题休姆和公司面临。
休姆和公司需要在人力资源运营方面带来一些创新性的改变。关键的人力资源问题，必须考虑到范围从恶劣的管理风格在公司，培训，招聘和选拔，评价体系，奖金制度在所有子公司，非转移知识，文化的问题。我将认真研究上述两个问题。

The rapid growth of internationalization and global competition has increased the number of significant Multi National Companies in recent years (D'Aveni, 1995; Segal-horn and Faulkner, 1999). Scullion (1994:86) analyses the lack of global Managers in companies. Therefore, he suggested, 'Successful implementation of global strategies depends to a large extent on the existence of an adequate supply of Internationally experienced Manager'.

I shall now, examine the HRM issues facing Hume & Company, as they undergo the internationalization process.

Analysis of Human Resource issues of Hume & co.:
In early 2007 the management team and main investor of Hume & Company decided that expansion is necessary for company's long-term viability (Hume & Company: 5-6).

In my view, Hume & Company should consider the improvement goals it aims to attain, before determining the priority of improvement. In order to know how and when each approach is appropriate Hume & Company must understand how its underlying philosophies settle with its goals. In addition, the success of the improvement process depends heavily on the nature of the company, and hence it is important to be aware of what are the main HR issues Hume and Company is facing.

Hume and Company needs to bring some innovative change in its Human Resource operations. The key HR issues it has to take into account range from poor management style in the firm , training, recruitment and selection, appraisal system, bonus system in all subsidiaries, non transfer of knowledge, and issues of culture (Hume & Company:5-6). I shall critically examine two of the issues addressed above.

Training:
'Training is defined as a plan and systematic effort to modify or develop knowledge, skill and attitudes through learning experience' (Garavan,1997:46). Savard and Loustarinen(1982) says that, 'proper international human resource polices should precede rather than follow international operations to accomplish effective performance in an activity or a range of activities'. Chen (1983:478) carried out a study of investment on training by different industries in Hong Kong and identified that Multinational Companies are spending a huge amount of money in training than local firms. On contrary it is found that in Hume and Company there is no formal training for the employee once they are recruited (Hume & Company:5). Van Wart et al. (1993:50) demonstrated that, training is a function that drives and aims to communicate abilities that is useful directly in particular circumstances. He also added that training equips employees with more skills and knowledge to facilitate them to take on new roles. This is not so in the case of the Hume and Company's subsidiary in Germany, as the level of Company's training indicates the Local Manager facing difficulties in explaining about the companies policies to his local staff (Hume & Company:6). It can be seen that the Manager has been poached from a local firm and not worked with Hume and Company (Hume & Company:5). This calls for attention as Hume and Company should have given more training and imparted good knowledge to the Manager, so he is capable of doing his job.

Garavan (1997) demonstrates the importance of training and recommended, 'training is necessary for the employees at all levels within organisation .He also considered training, a vital component to maintain competitiveness in international market'. As Hume and Company is planning to internationalise, it is vital that the company's employees are well trained.

Many authors have also given an explanation by saying, in reality it is hard to achieve or get a positive outcome without training. Furthermore, it can be seen that the employees in India and Paris office has worked for the company earlier and therefore in those branches they have added extra value for the organization (Hume & Company:5-6). Nevertheless, lack of proper trained person can have a negative effect on organisation growth and profitability (Zheng, 2007:494).

Incentive/Bonus System:
Incentive system gives an insight to employees that their output and performance is valued by the organisation (Hoffman, 1998:23). Incentive system also motivates the employees of the organization (Hoffman, 1998:25). On the support of bonus/incentive system, Bunning (2004:649) demonstrated 'Incentive-base pay systems are those in which a tangible, measurable goal is established. Achievement of the goal then triggers a previously identified reward, the reward sometimes being incremental'.

Hume & Company's subsidiary in Germany is despondent with the bonus system. They also demonstrate that the staff in HQ get the most profitable project and achieve high bonus (Hume & Company:5) .This creates an unsatisfactory situation amongst the employees which leads them to leave their job before the completion of the project.

Pritchard et al.,(1989:63) believes that an incentive system acts like a 'motivated message', by saying employees are the backbone of an organization whose performance has to be measured in the right way and have to be well motivated to achieve the organizational goal. Its been cited in Strategic Direction (2007) that firms should provide the right type of bonus to the employee and this bonus has to match the effort the employee has put into theaccomplishment of the job. Moreover ,Doyle (1992:153) realises the importance of incentive system and states that , in order to extend the organisational desired optimal performance ,firms should provide some form of a good incentive system. Many theorists like Alderfer and Mumford have analysed this issue in the Need theory which demonstrates how the reward and pay to employees plays a significant role in the organizations performance (Gold,1999).

From the case study of Hume & Company (p.5) it is found that, the company's bonus system is estimated or evaluated on an annual basis by its top management in line with the management discretion. However, this does not match or get linked to what the authors have mentioned above because the management of the organization may exercise its likeness towards some employees and does not take into account the performance of the individual. In addition this it also generates a prejudice in employees mind and as a result the employees may lose their trust on the incentive and bonus system.

Furthermore, the employee in Hume & Company does not receive adequate feedback of their performances and how it is related to their pay (Hume & Company:5) For instance, the subsidiary in France faces similar conflict on how their pay is calculated. Such crisis creates a negative impact on organization's process. This also leads to loss of skilled staff (France local manager is an example)

Conclusion:
There are number of issues affecting Hume & Company's management practice where I have identified and discussed in detail the training and bonus system of the Company. The importance of Training and how it plays a significant role in a company which has its offices in different places were brought about in my answer. It is well understood that training has that significant speed which could change the modern business world. Various author's views were illustrated and used in assessing the HR issues of Hume and Company and the consequences of the situations were also summarized.

Therefore, an organisation to retain its employees should keep an effective bonus system and an efficient management practice for the betterment of its employees. This lead to greater job satisfaction and higher output. Moreover, this also increases the trust between the employees the organisation and hence make them to contribute their best towards the achievement of the organisation goal.

HR strategy and its implication in Hume & Company: 休姆公司人力资源战略及其启示：
Hume & Company faces problems in its subsidiaries in different countries (France, Germany and India) and these relate to the problems of human resource functions such as problems with hiring, bonus system, pay system etc (Hume and Company: 6). Employees in German subsidiaries are not satisfied with the bonus system whereas employees in the United Kingdom are well paid and recognized for their work. Moreover, employees in France have disagreements on how their pay was calculated (Hume and Company:6). In India, employees have huge concerns on the management style of the Managing Director who recruits his own family members (Hume and Company:6). Kochan and Barocci (1985:421) suggest that the human resource policy of a business cycle needs to be tailored according to the appropriate stages. They have divided the business life cycle into four stages namely, human resource policies in

Resourcing,
Compensation,
Training and
Development and Employee Relations.

Fombrun et al. (1984:421) suggested, HR choices are related to different strategy-structure types. Schuler (1989:157) identified that 'facilitation; accumulation and utilization are the major philosophies for managing people'. Accumulation is a long-term approach in managing people, which is based on a careful selection of the right type of person, investing in them in their training and building long term relationships. On the other hand utilization operates on a much shorter time horizon, because staffs are recruited based on skill and therefore taking less or little time for getting trained. Facilitation is an approach where employee development and enhancement are valued. In my view, if Hume & Company reflects Schuler's 'Utilizations' philosophy of business strategy in its German subsidiary, by giving importance to employees and by valuing employee performance, then the Company would not face the problem of the Consultants leaving their project half way (Hume and Company, p 6). In addition it would also assist the organisation to achieve competitive advantage.

Hume & Company has some problems with its decentralization of operations. Adam Pieniazek (UMass Amherst and Management, 2007), says that 'decentralization allows organization to take advantage of division of employee by sharing decision-making across the organization'. It also empowers and allows them to improve their performance by being able to improve deficient or inefficient areas immediately without approval from the top of the organization. In addition, Adam Pieniazek also adds that decentralization allows the managers of business areas to use their first hand knowledge and experience to improve the respective areas.

When we look at Hume & Company, it is found that there is a big communication gap between the office at Germany and the head office in United Kingdom. In order to achieve an edge, Hume & Company should make its operations centralized. Schilling (2005:729) states that centralization is a favorable way to increase organizational effectiveness and minimize the risk of misalignment and resource underutilization. He also added that a centralized Research and Development would manage deployment of new technologies throughout the firm, improve the coherence of knowledge-related activities and avoid the possibility of underutilizing valuable new technologies throughout the organization.

Culture plays an important role in a Multinational company with regards to working with a multicultural team. National Culture is defined as the behaviour of people in a particular country (Hofstede, 1980). Hume and Company is influenced by local culture of its various subsidiaries. Furnham (1989) research supports the problems faced by Hume & Company in Germany. He conducted a research on 13 countries and reached a decision that Germans exhibited the lowest work ethic score. Another study conducted by Harding et al. (1986) reports, the index of general orientation to work has highest of workers from Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland and Holland, in contrast with Germany who had comparatively low scores.

Kirkcaldy et al. (1992) states 'British subject were likely to score higher on work ethic, achivemnet motivation, competitiveness and achievement through conformity' predicted that Germans have lower work ethic than British individuals. Therefore, in my view if Hume & Company appoints a British who can travel to German subsidiary it will assist the company to achieve competitive advantage from other German companies.

A real life case study is being brought out to understand the issues and problems faced by Hume and Company. (Terry, 2007:62) A US based company has to work with a multicultural team with employees from China, Mexico, Vietnam and Asia. The Company appointed a hard-working American Caucasian young MBA and expected a great amount of success from him. However, the American Caucasian employee was not well versed and never traveled outside US and hence had difficulties dealing with people from other culture. He had problems of communicating with his employees from different cultural backgrounds which led to employees losing their trust and respecting him as a leader. Therefore, the company finally had to fire the American Caucasian as he was not able to deal effectively and manage his multi cultural employees.

Now, the Management of the Company had to take appropriate steps to overcome this type of a situation and hence took all the steps to break the communication barriers that existed between the manager and employees. The steps were, conducting meetings on a daily and weekly basis, and resolving conflicts and making employees feel a part of the workforce. The Company also built good trust between employees and the management by following good leadership rules to manage employees in a multicultural environment and expanded its workforce and turnover over $10 million (Industrial and Commercial Training,2007).

From the above mentioned case it can be understood that culture plays an important role in a multinational company. The Manager should possess good leadership qualities to manage employees in a multicultural environment. In my view, it is advisable if Hume & Company can reflect the same kind of HR approach for its subsidiaries that they are facing with multicultural workforce.

The HR strategy of a company is combined with the corresponding organizational structure and linked to appropriate approaches like recruiting right people, at the right place, in the right time, and considering the right cost in order to succeed in long run. Hence the following core components can be suggested for Hume and Company in order to implement its business strategy and build a long-term competitive advantage.

The core components of HR Strategy are as follows:
Recruit the experienced staff who possess good knowledge and are capable of performing the desired task.

Motivate employees by measuring performance accurately. Increased performance leading to increased pay

Provide satisfactory bonus/incentives for any achievement in order to retain the talents.
Recruitment should be done on the basis of actual talent and not on favourism.
Training should be provided once any new employee is recruited and re training for the existing employees.
Building a good communication system between the Head Quarters and various subsidiaries.
Providing regular feedback to the employees on the performance of their work which would increase their potential and lead to achievement of the organizational goal.

Conclusion:
Thus the core components of the HR strategy of Hume and Company has been critically analyses. It can be understood that implementing a strategy, requires an analysis of what control is needed to achieve the desired results. The practical implication of this case is finding that firms should use an appropriate combination of HRM activities. Failure to do so will lead a poor performance. The result also suggests that Hume & Co should link HRM with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business performance. Hume and Company should look into the culture of its various subsidiaries and provide appropriate training for its employees. In addition it is also clear 'that an address to cultural differences and language difficulties inherent in a multicultural workforce will bring substantial, measurable improvement to a company which will show up in higher revenue, better quality and general expansion' (Terry, 2007).