Managing the global, the local and the unknown: international human resource management

This lecture will provide an understanding of the principles that underpin the practice of international human resource management that will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.

In part one, International Human Resource Management: the concept, I will try to explain how international human resource management has emerged as a subject for study and research, and then discuss the meaning of the concept, by offering my own version of the explanation. Colleagues and other scholars may have different interpretations, of course, providing a good start for a healthy debate.

In part two, International Human Resource Management: the theoretical framework, I will take the definition of the concept further by exploring the theoretical aspects of the context in which international human resource management can be implemented as a process of managing the global, the local and the unknown. I will explain how the global integration of business and management practices (the globalising power of business) has led to the widespread ‘forward’ diffusion of Anglo-American and European management theories and practices to the local workforces in different countries, and how the need for local responsiveness (the localising power of national norms and values) have led to need for the employment and management of global employees to act and think locally while operating globally, encouraging ‘reverse’ diffusion of management best practice.

In part three, International Human Resource Management: the application, I will provide further evidence for the theoretical framework explained in part two by examining the management of human resources in China and in the Arab world. Both, China and the Arab world, have been confronted with globalising powers of business, to a great extent, in similar ways but the management approaches that have been developed in response to global integration are very different. In China, high levels of state control over all aspects of organisational behaviour and cautious response to Western diffusion of management knowledge has been reinforced by tacit socialist norms of solidarity, equality, mutual assistance, honesty, friendship, and absolute compliance with the law, have all contributed to the development of a management system with ‘Chinese characteristics’. By contrast Arab countries display examples of where management practices have been imported with little change from the home country because it is believed by many Arab politicians and business people that bringing Anglo-American and European style of management systems to their organizations will result in improving international relations and trade with the Arabs. However, the importing of such practices has very often led to unsuccessful managerial experiences and created many contradictions and problems at the organizational level especially in human resource management.

In part four, International Human Resource Management: the implication, I will examine the role of MNCs as employers of international managers and the role of further and higher education as producers of potential managers in developing cross-cultural managers. I will emphasize here the requirements of a globalising power of knowledge rather than business, politics or culture.

Finally, in part five, International Human Resource Management: the conclusion, I will conclude by stressing the importance of being aware of the two conflicting forces of global integration and local responsiveness in international human resource management. It will argue that the implementation of a credible system of international human resource management requires a forward diffusion process that is meet with equal acceptance of reverse diffusion and the same as local employees have to be managed globally, global managers have to be managed locally, creasing a balance between the globalising power of business and localising power of national norms and values.