An Introduction to Human Resource Management, 3rd Edition

Quizzes

Self-test Questions

1. What are Hofstede’s four dimensions of national cultural values?
2. In Stiles’s (2007) research, what was the only major area of divergence found?
3. In Kessler’s research, how did the views of British, French and German managers on communication vary?
4. What are the four types of approaches to staffing by multinational corporations as set out by Dowling and Schuller?
5. How did the Norwich Union Chief Executive justify ‘offshoring’ 7,000 British jobs to India?
6. What is the ‘Nenko’ wage system in Japan?
7. In Lee et al.’s (2011) research, Japanese workers were completely against performance-related pay. True or false?
8. What are the Chinese systems of Dan wei and Chang dei?
9. According to Hofstede, America has a much lower score in uncertainty avoidance than France. True or false?
10. Does Lin et al.’s (2011) research findings support the premise that China is characterised, like Hong Kong and Japan, by high power distance and high masculinity so flexible benefits would appear to be unlikely to be much in evidence?

Answers

1.

• Power distance index
• Uncertainty avoidance index
• Individualism index
• Masculinity index

2.  The only major area where divergence existed was in wage determination and the management prerogative where some cultures allowed real union negotiation and others did not.

3. UK managers expected little from communication exercises and were not disappointed; French managers had higher expectations but these were not met; German managers have had particularly high expectations but have been greatly disappointed as the German economy has declined and rounds of redundancies have occurred.

4.

• Ethnocentric
• Polycentric
• Regiocentric
• Geocentric

5. Customers are continually seeking better value for money and quality of service.

6. A system that gives guaranteed wage increases to employees who are considered to be core employees, irrespective of performance.

7. False.

8. Cradle to grave welfare and respect for elders and seniority.

9. True.

10. Yes.

Annotated Links

See CIPD podcast 55 at http://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts/_articles/_maximisingthevalueofreward.htm?WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished

Brookfield (2010) What is your strategy for international employee mobility. Brookfield Global Re-location Services, accessed at www.brookfieldgrs.com/insights_idea/trends

CIPD Factsheet on International Reward, CIPD, accessed at http://cipd.co.uk

Annotated Further Reading Guide

Barrett, S. (2010) Enigmatic Variations. International Expatriate Reward, January, 7–10.

Brewster, C. and Harris, H. (1999) The Coffee Machine System – How International Selection Really Works. International Journal of Human Resources, 10(3): 488–500.

Brewster, S., Sparrow, P., Vernon, G. and Houldsworth, E. (2011) International Human Resource Management, 2nd ed. CIPD.

Briscoe, D., Claus, L. and Schuler, R. (2009) International Human Resource Management. Routledge.

Chynoweth, C. (2010) King of the Expat Package. Sunday Times appointments section, 14 March, p.2.

Farndale, E., Paauwe, J. and Morris, S. (2010) Context-bound Configurations of Corporate HR Functions in Multinational Corporations. Human Resource Management, 49(1): 45–66.

Reports a study of 16 MNCs based in 19 countries and their different configurations of HR functions to achieve balance between globalisation and localisation.

French, R. (2011) Cross-Cultural Management in Work Organisations, 2nd ed. CIPD.

Jackson, R. (2010) Harsco Introduces Global Pay and Grading Programme. IDS Executive Compensation Review, March, 11–13.

Klump, L. (2008) Expatriate Compensation – Trends in China. Workspan, January, 34–41.

Lazarova, M., Marley, M. and Tyson, S. (eds) (2011) International Human Resource Management. Routledge.

O’Neill, J. (2009) Relocating Employees Overseas: Beyond Cost Projection and into the World of Modeling. Compensation and Benefits Review, May/June, 55–58.

ORC Worldwide (2004) Survey of Localisation Policies and Practice. ORC.

Rees, P. and Smith, P. (2012) HRM – An International Perspective. Sage.

Reilly, P. and Williams, T. (2012) Global HR: Challenges Facing the Function, Gower.

Explores the issues of developing a talent pool and an international brand.

Rennie, A. and McGee, R. (2012) International Human Resource Management. CIPD.

Comprehensive approach to theory and practice for those working in international HR.

Rong, M. and Allen, D. (2009) Culture, Recruitment and Selection Models. Human Resource Management Review, 19(4): 334–346.

Demonstration of how the consideration of cultural matters can lead to competitive advantage.

Sharp, R. (2012) How Rentokil Introduced Globing Grading. IRS Employment Review, 13 April.

A good example of an international reward initiative.

Walker, A. (2009) Managing Global Mobility at Thomson Reuters. IDS Executive Compensation Review, July, 11–13.

Extra Case Studies

Talent strategy in Germany and India

Deutsche Bank, 100,000 strong and dealing with banking in 70 locations, recently developed its talent management strategy by introducing a data-driven ‘People Performance dashboard’. This focused on four key metrics with a clear impact on business performance:

• Leadership bench strength
• Succession planning and mobility
• Gender diversity
• Creating a performance culture

Extensive data was drawn up across the organisation on these four areas, identifying strengths and weaknesses in divisions and countries, and specifically showing how best practice operates successfully, such as in moving the needle for gender diversity through the three levels of hiring, promotions and attrition.

Introducing these metrics in a transparent way has helped drive action and strengthen accountability for shaping the people agenda. Alongside developing a system of transferring best practice, it has also acted as a template for other initiatives in the area of talent management.

Willis Processing Services India Ltd, employing 1,650 staff, is the service centre for the Willis Group, the global insurance broker. Given the growing nature of the Indian back-room financial services industry, the staff turnover had been a problem area, as staff saw their career path as moving jobs regularly.

Willis responded to this problem by using the idea of a talent showcase. Each month focused on a different employee sharing their story of career progression in the organisation and how they had built their skills and experience. The results of this initiative included an increased interest in internal vacancies and more successful promotions, especially to the key position of team leader. A by-product of the programme was a greater interest and involvement of managers in identifying employees with potential and beginning to nurture them. Savings on recruitment have been substantial and clients have appreciated being serviced by long-tenanted staff.

Source: Hills, J. (2012) Talent Strategy. People Management, September, 42–44.