HRM & Development International Business Assignment Sample
Question 1
Technological advances apocalyptical impact on jobs
Proliferation of technology has entirely changed the way organisations or different business entities have been performing their required activities previously. Technological utilisation is found to be growing rapidly in every sector across the globe due to its associated features like business automation. Every business entity in recent times is found to be focused upon adopting or incorporating some suitable or strategic solution that could maximise overall organisational efficiency along with performance. In this context, it can be mentioned that an apocalyptic influence has been identified in relation to technological advances in jobs (Naudé, 2021).
The key reason behind this statement is that technological advances such as machine learning, big data, robotics, and other emerging technologies can generate negative influences on the existing opportunities of employment across the globe. It is identified that at the initial stage, the “power of automation” along with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to impact directly on work activities negatively (Dodel and Mesch, 2020). Due to growing dependence on technological adaptations, most business organisations have incorporated the identified emerging technologies to improve their overall productivity. In addition to this, as automation can generate national economic growth, it could raise uncertainties about the growing unemployment rate in the future.
As mentioned by Kapeliushnikov (2019), automation is found to be a new concept and every business organisation in this dynamic business environment is focused to adapt or develop superior and sophisticated technologies to generate effective economic output with minimum human effort. Technology or automation has the potential to substitute or work activities performed by human labour. The key reason behind this practice is to increase the quantity and quality of units by minimising overall cost. In this context, it can be mentioned that automation or technological advances can have negative consequences on jobs across different sectors in the present and future.
On the other hand, there is another aspect that signifies the inability of technological advances to impact negatively on jobs. This is because a specific job is found to be a set of different tasks. Some of those specified tasks can be performed effectively with the machine, whereas others can only be done manually or by humans. Even though there is wide popularity of technological utilisation across every business sector, it is found to be unlikely about the substitution of jobs or overall tasks due to the advancement of technology across any specific industry (Elliott, 2019). Even across the highly automated business environment, the demand for human labour cannot be minimised or substituted completely in the future. It is seen that employment opportunities have found a stagnant position over the past few years. This could be one of the key reasons behind the generation of business automation. However, it is also noticed that automation can maximise the demands of human labour and can create job opportunities across different sectors.
A report published in 2021 highlights the fact that automation has the potential to generate a tremendous amount of job opportunities across different sectors. “The World Economic Forum” believes that in the upcoming years, automation or technological advances can generate about 58 million employment opportunities. In addition to this, “ARK Investment Management” perceives that technological advances will add 5% or a value of $1.2 trillion to the GDP rate of the US within the next upcoming five years (Hanspal, 2021). In this context, it can be mentioned that technological advances might not substitute or negatively impact job opportunities across the different sectors in the future.
Another report published in 2018 highlights the jobs lost due to the growing dependency upon technological advances across the business environment. The report highlights that 15% of the workforce across the globe or about 400 million workers might be substituted due to automation within 2030 (Mckinsey & Company, 2018). In this regard, it can be mentioned that business automobiles or technological advances could impact either negative or positive impact on jobs or employment opportunities depending on how an organisation or business entities are willing to utilise technological advances.
It can be mentioned that technological advances can strengthen or enhance the efficiency level of workers along with overall business operational activities instead of substituting all the jobs. The key reason behind this statement is that a fully automated business requires human labour to maintain the technology and it is functioning properly to maintain a sustainable flow of work continuously (Huber, 2021). On the other hand, technological advances can help organisations to meet the growing extraction and customers preferences effectively, which might not be perceived as the incorporation of human labour only. Both technology and human labour serve as beneficial for organisations in their own respective field of work that cannot be replaced or substituted by others. Thus, it can be mentioned that there is still an apocalyptical impact of technological advances upon jobs within different sectors across the globe.
Organisations and managers might address the advances and increased use of technology
Increasing usage of technology and advancement is distinctively addressed by the organisations and their managers as an integral part of maintaining the balance of employment. In accordance with the data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), it was noted that the potential impact of technological advancement has been responsible for a 5.1% unemployment rate in the UK (Hurst, 2021). In this aspect, the organisations are paying attention to outline efficient strategic interventions to avoid the negative impact of technological advancement on jobs. For example, the context of a renowned global automobile manufacturer Toyota can be considered. The company is notified to depend on extensive technological advancement as an integral part of maintaining its quality improvement and production efficiency. Moreover, innovative technologies are also utilised by the organisation with an intention to disclose their unique value proposition as compared with the existing market rivals. Despite depending on innovative technological interventions, Toyota has been able to avoid the apocalyptic impact of technological advances on jobs. While the rest of the industry is increasingly focusing on robotics in manufacturing, Toyota has been depending on human craftsmanship (Rothfeder, 2017). Moreover, the automation technologies utilised in Toyota are human-powered and operated (Rothfeder, 2017). This attribute defines the greater dependency of Toyota towards human labour where the company has been looking forward to conceptualising extensive combinations with human labour and machinery. Along with this, the perspective of employees can also be considered in this concern, which is leading them towards increasing precarious employment under the lights of the gig economy. As a result of this, the concept of temporary working, zero-hour contracts, self-employment and others can be notified.
On the other hand, increasing usage of advanced technologies is also dependent upon the consideration of regular updates. In this regard, the organisations are paying attention to empower the group of IT expertise with the inclusion of skilled human resources who might be able to effectively maintain advanced technological usage (Conrad and Meyer‐Ohle, 2019). Similar consequences can be suspected from the perspective of brokerage and management where technology has been playing an intermediate role to establish a profound relationship between the purchasers and sellers, managers, and employees respectively. In this case, the organisations are also suspected to consider effective recruitment in order to deal with technological advancement with skilled knowledge. The companies are also utilising advanced technologies as a significant asset for capturing physical goods and knowledge and transforming them into data at a comparatively low expenditure (Ardolino et al. 2018). This attribute can also be noticed from the perspective of Microsoft office, Netflix, and others, which define real evidence of this digitisation feature in the present times.
Despite having a sort of negative impact upon jobs and employment aspects, the companies are efficiently scheduling their operations to actively involve advanced technologies as an integral part of obtaining service innovation. The prime concern in this aspect is to enhance the business production along with improving business communication aspects to a large extent.
Both the consequences define negative and positive circumstances regarding the organisational management of advanced technologies. In the context of managers or leaders of an organisation, they play a pivotal role in terms of establishing strategic goals, empower and motivate employees in such a way so that their work contribution can be enhanced (Ngibe and Lekhanya, 2019). Within the drastic change in the global business environment, business leaders or managers are required to think critically to cope with the changing situation. For example, technological advances are being addressed by managers of different organisations in such a way so that it motivates their employees towards improving their existing skills and abilities. According to Oluwafemi et al. (2020), managers, leaders, or CEOs require a suitable leadership style to portray suitable leadership traits that could positively impact organisational growth and prosperity. For example, the CEO of Microsoft can be interlinked in this context as the CEO considered a suitable leadership style that positively influences their performance along with the employment rate. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft is found to follow a transformational leadership style to empower and motivate their employees towards improving their skills and ability (Fox, 2019). Utilisation of this leadership style allows the CEO of the mentioned company to collaboratively work with their employees and maintain a balance between technological advances and human labour at their workplace. In this regard, it could be highlighted that managers are found to be responsible to undertake and address technological changes strategically to generate business innovation in a positive manner.
References
Rothfeder, J., 2017. At Toyota, The Automation Is Human-Powered. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.fastcompany.com/40461624/how-toyota-is-putting-humans-first-in-an-era-of-increasing-automation> [10 July 2021]
Conrad, H. and Meyer‐Ohle, H., 2019. Transnationalization of a recruitment regime: Skilled migration to Japan. International Migration, 57(3), pp.250-265.
Ardolino, M., Rapaccini, M., Saccani, N., Gaiardelli, P., Crespi, G. and Ruggeri, C., 2018. The role of digital technologies for the service transformation of industrial companies. International Journal of Production Research, 56(6), pp.2116-2132.
Naudé, W., 2021. Artificial intelligence: neither Utopian nor apocalyptic impacts soon. Economics of Innovation and new technology, 30(1), pp.1-23.
Dodel, M. and Mesch, G.S., 2020. Perceptions about the impact of automation in the workplace. Information, Communication & Society, 23(5), pp.665-680.
Kapeliushnikov, R., 2019. The phantom of technological unemployment. Russian Journal of Economics, 5, p.88.
Elliott, A., 2019. The culture of AI: Everyday life and the digital revolution. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hanspal, A., 2021. Be Paranoid, Android: Here Come The Humans. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/amarhanspal/2021/02/17/be-paranoid-android-here-come-the-humans/?sh=4cf2ffcd2fd8 > [Accessed on 10 July 2021]
Mckinsey & Company, 2018. AI, automation, and the future of work: Ten things to solve for. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/ai-automation-and-the-future-of-work-ten-things-to-solve-for#part2> [Accessed on 10 July 2021]
Huber, R., 2021. The Digital Transformation of Freight Forwarders: Key Trends in the Future. The Digital Transformation of Logistics: Demystifying Impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, pp.153-167.
Fox, M., 2019. Examining the Leadership Style of Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella. [Online]. Available at: <https://ideas.bkconnection.com/examining-the-leadership-style-of-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella> [Accessed on 10 July 2021]
Ngibe, M. and Lekhanya, L.M., 2019. Critical factors influencing innovative leadership in attaining business innovation: a case of manufacturing SMEs in KwaZulu-Natal. International Journal of Entrepreneurship, 23(2), pp.1-20.
Oluwafemi, T.B., Mitchelmore, S. and Nikolopoulos, K., 2020. Leading innovation: Empirical evidence for ambidextrous leadership from UK high-tech SMEs. Journal of Business Research, 119, pp.195-208.
Hurst, A., 2021. 1.4 million UK jobs at risk of automation in the next year — Faethm AI. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.information-age.com/1-4-million-uk-jobs-risk-automation-next-year-faethm-ai-123494258/> [Accessed 10 July 2021]
Question 2
Benefits and downsides of companies adopting each of the following approaches to management; an ethnocentric approach and a polycentric approach
The human resource management of an organisation has different ways of recruiting individuals and employees in their organisation. There are mostly two types of approaches: ethnocentric and polycentric approaches, which both have their own benefits and downsides.
Ethnocentric approach
Benefits
The ethnocentric approach refers to the strategy utilised by the human resource department of an organisation to recruit individuals from their parent countries to fill vacancies in their company in the global context. There are distinct benefits linked with the ethnocentric approach of recruitment and among these is the effectiveness of the communication that can be achieved within the organisation (Lakshman et al. 2017). Since all the employees that are hired by the organisation belong to the parent country, in which the organisation has its headquarters there are no communication issues like language barriers. In the case of other approaches where an organisation fruits individuals from foreign markets that can be chances of language barriers, which can lead to ineffective communication. Furthermore, the culture of the entire workforce remains the same due to the fact that all the employees belong to the parent country. This helps the management achieve a higher level of coordination between the employees and between the managers. Apart from that, the ethnocentric approach of hiring also gives the management in the home country direct control of foreign operations (Lee et al. 2021). Organisations like Panasonic, Hitachi and Sony are found to be using the Ethennocentric approach of recruitment for staffing their subsidiaries in countries like India, Vietnam, and Thailand mostly due to the lack of competencies found in HCN and difficulties that might arise in terms of corporate communication.
Downsides
The ethnocentric approach of hiring individuals also has some downsides for instance the employees who would be transferred to a foreign country to operate as a part of the organisation might find it difficult to adjust to the host country. In such cases, employees might find it is a time-consuming process to adapt to the new culture and this can often lead to cultural shocks. Cultural shocks in the organisation can have a devastating impact on the motivation levels and productivity of employees, which needs to be avoided at all costs, and this makes the ethnocentric approach of hiring employees a disadvantageous preposition (Michailova et al. 2017). Furthermore, it has also been seen that the ethnocentric approach of HRM also limits the possibility of promoting employees in foreign countries, which can have an impact on the productivity and motivation levels of the individuals working for the organisation in a foreign nation. Moreover, the ethnocentric approach also limits an organisation’s ability to achieve cultural diversity. This can lead to an array of criticism and the organisation can be blamed for not creating jobs in the market in which they are operating. Another major downside of adopting the ethnocentric approach of HRM is that it costs a lot for the organisation to train employees who can suit and adapt to a foreign country’s market (Mamman and Wen, 2021). Individuals from one country cannot directly be transferred to another country to operate at managerial or administrative levels therefore they require consistent training and need to be familiarised with the foreign market culture. This can happen in technology organisations operational costs due to which many companies do not favour the ethnocentric approach of human resource management.
Polycentric approach
Benefits
The polycentric approach is another popular approach to recruitment where the organisation hires employees internationally for the global business. However, in this case, the individuals working at the managerial and administrative two levels are hired from the host country, which is contrary to the ethnocentric approach. This has a distinct level of benefit when it comes to managing the entire workforce in a foreign country (Mukhtаrovа et al. 2019). For instance, if an organisation starts a new branch in a new country and all the employees in that branch belong to the host country then the probability of occurrence of language barriers is diminished. Therefore, this helps an organisation to achieve seamless communication even in foreign countries. Furthermore, this approach also helps organisations to avoid issues like cultural shocks, as employees are not transferred from one country to another therefore the possibility of adapting to a new culture is also eliminated. Furthermore, with the help of a polycentric approach of human resource management and recruitment organisations can eliminate the requirement for any kind of cultural or language training which can be expensive (Patel et al. 2019). Therefore, the polycentric approach of human resource management can be identified as a cost-effective measure adopted by organisations for starting operations in a new foreign market. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of the polycentric approach is also due to the fact that employing employees from the host country is a less expensive proposition compared to transferring employees from the parent country. Organisations like Cisco and John Deere can be identified as one of the largest corporations that practice a polycentric approach.
Downsides
The polycentric approach also has some distinct downsides, for instance, the headquarters located in the parent country is isolated from foreign subsidiaries of the organisation. This can cause difficulties in transferring data information and in most cases can lead to communication gaps and errors (James and Baruti, 2021). Furthermore, due to the fact that a polycentric approach discourages transferring of employees from one country to another to work in the subsidiaries of the organisation, the opportunities for employees and managers are reduced. If employees are transferred or promoted to foreign subsidiaries, they get a distinct opportunity to increase their experience and skillsets which is not in the case of a polycentric approach. Moreover, there is also a distinct gap in terms of language and cultural differences between the headquarters in the parent country and their subsidiaries in foreign countries (Zhong et al. 2021). This can lead to internal conflicts, which can have a detrimental impact on the performance and productivity of employees in the overall organisational context.
HRM approach for companies in future
Human resource management can be considered as a sequential parameter for obtaining distinctive operational flexibility within an organisation. Different factors can be recognised which are directly impacting people’s management within an organisation including human resource policies and practices along with employment relations systems. The HR policies include resourcing, pay and reward management, performance management and others (Ovais, 2019). The employment relations systems include individual relationships, collective bargaining, trade unions and others. In this concern, the companies might look forward to the consideration of a Japanese employment relations model.
The Japanese ER model has been maintaining a distinctive combination with rapid industrialisation with the aspects of increasing attention towards flexibility and quality, low expenditure and others. Moreover, an employee relations model also operates with an organizationally oriented approach where a collectivist culture is highly recognised (Reb et al. 2019). In this concern, the prospects of joint team-based patterns could be notified based on which extensive collaboration could be maintained within the organisation. The jobs eventually become standardized with the inclusion of this model who might also obtain the opportunity of providing discretion among the employees and members. The topmost concern of the Japanese ER model is to ensure stable employment throughout the lifetime of an employee. It can generate a sense of trustworthiness among the employee based on which best possible efforts might be provided from their perspective in accordance with the organisational business objectives. This model also looks forward to providing area development under the lights of efficient training, which can also enhance employee skills and knowledge level to a certain extent (Mira et al. 2019).
The mentioned attributes can ensure distinctive improvement of the employee’s motivation and dedication level through an efficient human resource management approach. In terms of providing real evidence and contemporary events to signify the Japanese model, the context of a renowned and global retail service provider Marks and Spencer could be undertaken. The company has been notified to depend on the maintenance of prolific human resource management. Proactive employee engagement has been obtained by the company along with avoiding the prospects of workplace discrimination, harassment and abuse (Marks and Spencer, 2021). Equal opportunities are highly emphasized by them along with distinctive reward management practices. This sector has been engaging the employees to create a competitive environment within the organisation in terms of achieving rewards and benefits.
On the other hand, the company also follows the Japanese model where the prospects of delivering adequate training and development opportunities can also be suspected. The company has also empowered their human capital management systems with advanced technological intervention namely the PeopleSoft interaction hub, which is supported by Oracle PeopleSoft human capital management system (Tcs, 2021). It has been offering the organisational employees a convenient and user-friendly single sign-on feature for simply viewing and managing valuable personal data.
Concerning the aforementioned evaluation and real business evidence, the human resource management of Marks and Spencer can be compared with the Japanese ER model, which considers an organisational oriented approach. Moreover, the provision of career development opportunities through adequate training is also adding a fair value to the organisational human resource management based on which distinctive service flexibility might be obtained in near future.
References
James, S. and Baruti, M.H., 2021. DETERMINANTS OF STANDARDIZATION AND LOCALIZATION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM) PRACTICES IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES’SUBSIDIARIES: A REVIEW AND IMPLICATIONS. EPRA International Journal of Economic and Business Review, 9(6), pp.29-42.
Lakshman, S., Lakshman, C. and Estay, C., 2017. The relationship between MNCs’ strategies and executive staffing. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Lee, H.J., Yoshikawa, K. and Harzing, A.W., 2021. Cultures and Institutions: Dispositional and contextual explanations for country-of-origin effects in MNC ‘ethnocentric’staffing practices. Organization Studies, p.01708406211006247.
Mamman, A. and Wen, Q., 2021. Examining the dominant models and theories of international staffing policies and practices through the lenses of the African context and Chinese multinational construction enterprises in Africa. Africa Journal of Management, pp.1-24.
Marks and Spencer, 2021. M&S People Principles. [Online]. Available at: <https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/plan-a-our-approach/mns-people-principles.pdf> [Accessed 10 July 2021]
Michailova, S., Piekkari, R., Storgaard, M. and Tienari, J., 2017. Rethinking ethnocentrism in international business research. Global strategy journal, 7(4), pp.335-353.
Mira, M., Choong, Y. and Thim, C., 2019. The effect of HRM practices and employees’ job satisfaction on employee performance. Management Science Letters, 9(6), pp.771-786.
Mukhtаrovа, K.S., Chernov, A.V. and Manapova, U.M., 2019. Human Resource Management in Multinational Corporations. Central Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(2), pp.34-37.
Ovais, D., 2019. Blue ocean social responsibility strategy: Creating competitive advantage through human resource policies. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(3), pp.591-598.
Patel, P., Boyle, B., Bray, M., Sinha, P. and Bhanugopan, R., 2019. Global staffing and control in emerging multinational corporations and their subsidiaries in developed countries: Indian IT EMNCs in Australia. Personnel Review.
Reb, J., Chaturvedi, S., Narayanan, J. and Kudesia, R.S., 2019. Leader mindfulness and employee performance: A sequential mediation model of LMX quality, interpersonal justice, and employee stress. Journal of Business Ethics, 160(3), pp.745-763.
Tcs, 2021. M&S’ vision of revamping HR was hampered by complex, customized systems.. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.tcs.com/marks-spencer-upgrades-hcm-platform-to-optimize-hr-process> [Accessed 10 July 2021]
Zhong, Y., Zhu, J.C. and Zhang, M.M., 2021. Expatriate Management of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises: A Multiple Case Study Approach. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 14(6), p.252.
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