International Human resource management
Part 1 IntroductionHuman resource management is vital in every country because it has ability to identify both strength and weaknesses of the state and offers guidance on the best way to address the noted threats. The county chosen in this assignment is china; the paper will seek to investigate how internal and external factors influence Human resource management approaches and functions. Evidently, China is a sovereign country located in Far East Asia. Approximately, the country covers about 9.6 million square kilometers and it is characterized of having a large population. In the modern society, China is believed to be among the fast growing economies in the world hence this is a good incentive to support and facilitate business activities. China has a strong economy which is drastically growing to meet the demand of the people. The history of china dates back since the period of civilization which led to emerge of agricultural activities near river Yellow. The country has stable political arrangement based on heritable monarchies.
Human resource management has greatly evolved in the modern society in response to the numerous changes occurring influencing organizations productivity and effectiveness (Paauwe, 2004, p.39). China like other countries has experienced a lot of changes such as transformational of its economy from the traditional mode to the current fast growing economy hence this cites the need to have an effective HRM. China has a stable economy and political approach which facilitates the evidenced fast growth of economy. Basically, HRM functions initiates analyzing and staffing, implementation of reward and motivation systems for all employees, organization and utilization of labour force, assessment and appraisal of work force performance, professional development of workers, and maintenance of work force (Ehnert, 2009, p.107). The idea of choosing this country is suitable in order to address and provide an effective analytical frame work capable of boosting all HRM activities in the entire country. In relation to the discussed background information of china, this paper will describe how political, economic and cultural values play great roles in shaping HRM functions in China. In addition, issues such as effective planning and labour management will receive more attention in relation to Human resource management of Chinese firms.
Part 2
Identifying and describing internal factors or contexts those are important ChinaHuman resource management mostly, differ from one country to another. Notably, many internal and external factors affect the function of human resource management practices. The internal factors significantly influence the human resource approaches of the Chinese country. The main examples of internal factors include social, cultural, political systems, trade and labour unions among others (Paauwe, Guest & Wright, 2013, p.45). These internal environments have the capacity to influence Human resource activities in China. As a state, the country has a huge population of people approximated to be about 1,400,000,000 according to a report released in the year 2010. These huge percentages of people come from a different cultural background. It does not necessarily imply that an individual has to be born and raised in China in order to be considered as a Chinese citizen (Dessler, 2010, p.18). Different cultures practice difference religions. The basic concept of religion in relation to human resource management activities is defined from the characteristics of Chinese religious thought in general. According to Alon (2003), the fact that china has five different religions impacts greatly on the culture of its citizen.
Generally, culture has a lot of impacts on the human resource management functions in respect to the beliefs of people. Cultural differences have huge implications on the managerial values which are key functions of the HRM. Differences in culture impacts how individuals behave in relation to working conditions (Pieper, 1990, p.27). Therefore, there is a direct relationship between cultural values and peoples behaviors which include accepted norms, behaviors and leadership styles. In instances where misunderstanding arises between different cultures is becomes difficult to reach a neutral consensus.
As a matter of fact the current Chinese HRM practices are deep rooted in the cultural background of the country. According to Hofstede (2001), the Chinese human resource management approach has shifted from the traditional model to the international concepts such as globalization and effective strategies. The conflicts resulting from the religion and ethnicity in China has huge implication on HRM functions. According to Geert Hofstede, a Dutch scholar, there are five dimensions useful when explaining the culture of people (Hofstede, 2001, p.66). These dimensions determine how people interact and associate with each other. Ultimately, it is difficult to bring together people from different ethnicity and cultural background to work together as a team. In case a miss-understanding arise, it largely impacts the performance of HRM practices in areas such as performance evaluation, staffing and training among others.
Geert Hofstede argues that the five dimensions largely affect the roles of human resource management. The dimension of power and politics influences the roles of HR particularly in indentifying the shareholders. China has huge powers hence there is chances of inequality between different cultures. This dimension affects the HR activities in such a way that people from different cultures reacts to the management differently (Dowling, Festing & Engle, 2008, p.67). Individualism is another aspect of culture which tends to make people live on their own. Good practices on Human resource require people to unite and work together for the common benefit of the whole country. There is been for the citizen to embrace a collective action compared to individualism (Budhwar, 2000a, p.142).
The differences between the masculinity and femininity have huge implications on the Human resource activities. This cultural dimension is closely related to performance, competitiveness and success where Masculine values are believed to have an upper hand compared to feminine values which are more focused towards quality of life and personal relationships. Differences in masculine and feminine values range across different cultures thus these might affect the managerial roles which are major functions of HRM approach. The element of uncertainty avoidance refers to the ability of citizens adapts to the changes occurring in their community (Hofstede, 1998, p.48). In stable cultures, people are flexible in such that they can easily adapt any changes occuring. Lastly, long-term orientation is another cultural dimension which refers to how people are able to embrace activities essential to support future growth of the country. Essentially, it is vital for international human resource managers to identify and recognize these cultural factors in order to establish good approaches to fix them.
Part 3 How HRM function in china has been shaped by external factorsThe human resource functions affecting china include economic, political, legal, ethical, environmental and social cultural factors. All these factors contribute to China’s success in the economic standards and thus improving its GDP by a great margin thus maintaining its success as a country.
Political and legal factors
Political factors are the most important in a given country. The government of china faces challenges because of the swift economic growth and development taking place in china. The Chinese government has come up with different acts of parliament to enhance and maintain good relationship between employees, their employers and different trade unions in china (Burke at al, 2012, 50). The Chinese government advocates for good relationship between trade unions and employers. The national policies and acts of parliaments amended by the government are in favor of good economic growth and promote good employee- employer relationship. The income gap in china is expanding as a matter of the swift economic growth experienced currently. Political support is necessary for markets to develop where china is encouraging privatization as a way of improving its economy. Marketisation is also a major political development taking place in china based on the liability of the well being of the public (Burke at al, 2012, 50). Political factors are a great influence to the human resource management as shown in the case of the Chinese government.
Economic factors
The economy is affected by government policies which include economic and monetary national policies. International policies also affect the economy of China since favorable policies will lead to economic growth while non favorable ones will lead to failure of the economy. The organizations and businesses in China face competition from both international and regional competitors which is leading to a good business and trade environment (Yuan, 2013, 210). Competition is changing since many markets are becoming privatized thereby creating monopolistic markets globally and especially in the case of China. Globalization is a key concept in improving the international trade which China has utilized through its use of modern technology. Globalization is seen as an economic and political factor since it affects both local and international policies. China’s development is attributed to current technology since China has ventured into globalization thereby improving its growth economically (Yuan, 2013, 210). Competition in China has increase between the years 1970 to 2005 where the labor market has been affected by cases of unemployment which causes a decline in the human resource department.
Technological development and factors
Developments in technology have affected the activities of human management department. The new technology which is well used in China promotes economic and political development. Modern technology gives a chance for globalization which is a modern trend in the market industry. The use of video calling and conferences has led to China’s economic growth since much time is saved as well as resources when video calls are used (Chen & Wang, 2005, 547). Human resource managers in China are encouraged to use modern technology in their businesses as a way of promoting economic growth. The management should be well trained and apply current skills and knowledge as a way of promoting technology use in China. The research shows that some businesses in China are still using traditional marketing strategies which make a low change on China’s economy. The modern technology used globally has made China use modern technology in terms of internet, intranet, webs, e-commerce and the use of human resource database as a way of improving the China’s human resource management department. In the past ten years china has increased its human resource database which encourages the management and staff to employ the new market trend (Chen & Wang, 2005, 547). This increases economic growth of organizations which will reflect a positive rise in the country’s economy.
Environmental factors
The issue of sustainable development is the key agenda when discussing environmental factors. The manufactures and consumers must promote sustainable development and investment by respecting the environmental policies in China. China is an industrial country where the managers must follow and respect environmental regulations and laws. Managers and staffs promote consumption of products which do not cause environmental degradation and damage (Sparrow, 2009, 348). The managers should promote environmental growth by promoting manufacturing of environmental friendly goods and products. For example in China the management is promoting strategic environmental regulations where reports suggest that 83%of companies in China were promoting green economy policies. These green economy policies promote use of products that are environmental friendly. The employees in China have a responsibility of educating the citizens on the importance of living green as a way of encouraging green business in Chinese government (Sparrow, 2009, 348). This culture promotes environmental awareness and improvement in China which leads to economic growth and development.
Social cultural factors
Population is a key agenda in the discussion of cultural factors. Most of the managers in Chinese government believe that good social relationships are the key to good human resource management skills. The human resource function is affected by a number of social trends in the world today (Bratton & Gold, 2012, 345). Many people are opting on self employed businesses in China instead of formal employment which has an impact in the management department. The population of China is high which makes the number of unemployed people high thus resulting to self employed businesses. The social trends for example consumption of alcohol and a rise in the number of street children causes a negative impact in the social strategy of Chinese government (Bratton & Gold, 2012, 345). The organization managers are affected by such trends mostly from the high rate of poverty and unemployment cases in China. These are factors that contribute to a negative development in the workforce industry and especially in the fields of human resource.
Conclusion
Education is the key factor to good management strategies. The national government is the key control of the future of human resource management strategies. The employees in China have a responsibility of educating the citizens on the importance of living green as a way of encouraging green business in Chinese government. This culture promotes environmental awareness and improvement in china which leads to economic growth and development. Internal factors from the above discussion are seen to be a major factor affecting the economy of china and also the human resource management policies. Human Organizations follow a given hierarchy so as to promote good communication strategies and skills. Different organizations are affected by different factors including technological factors. Improve in technology leads to improved human resource management skills which in turn promote economic growth (Noe, 2013, 212).
Employees and employers should maintain good working environment whereby employers are urged to give employees proper wages and good working environments. Employees should use their skills and knowledge to promote the success of the organizations. Managers should promote sustainable development by utilizing the national resources in a responsible manner. The managers should promote environmental growth by promoting manufacturing of environmental friendly goods and products. Environmental rules and regulations should be well followed under the well management of responsible managers.
Managers should ensure that their organizations respect the environmental policies which are well shown in China’s human resource management function. Chinas development is attributed to globalization since China has ventured into globalization thereby improving its growth economically. Globalization which is an economic trend is well enhanced in China where the Chinese government has good trade ties with other countries globally (University Of Michigan, 1955, 192). From the above point of view it is true to conclude that the human resource management is a key factor in Chinese business organization. It is one way of promoting economic development and growth in the business models. The Chinese government should therefore promote good human resource management strategies for success to be achieved.
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