International HRM Assignment Sample

What are the implications for the IHRM function in MNEs, in rethinking the use of global teams, virtual collaboration, international assignments and flexible working arrangements, in the current and post-pandemic business environment?

Implications for the IHRM functions in MNEs

During the period of the pandemic of the coronavirus, the functions of International Human Resource Management across MNEs of the UK took a major shift towards the collaboration of global teams in terms of expanding their business processes. Within the sphere of IHRM in MNEs of the UK, major functional areas involve selection and recruitment, training and development, evaluation of performance, labor relations and salary generation. Within a global context, the implications of IHRM functions in the UK MNEs are mainly associated with deploying effective strategies within the management team for bringing out an overall professional development.

The sphere of IHRM has understood for a long that when the employees are under uncertain contexts, it may cause stress to them in terms of generating a feeling of isolation. After the pandemic of Covid-19, the digitalized business pattern in the UK MNEs brought about various implications on the IHRM functions. IHRM preached that many people are better than others naturally in terms of dealing with stress and making accurate decisions within a given circumstance (Ugoani, 2020). Thus, the IHRM tends to enable those people in making strategy-oriented decisions for enhancing the company’s productivity. It is up to the managers and leaders of the IHRM in identifying employees with a higher tolerance level of ambiguity. During the period of the pandemic constituting global uncertainty and stress, the MNEs should focus on selecting potential talents among their employees in terms of providing them with positions that may lead to the overall enhancement of productivity for the companies.

Case example of Amazon

 The IHRM of the UK MNEs must focus on implying three critical competencies of cultural agility. They are tolerant of ambiguity, curiosity, and resilience considering all the employees who are working across a multicultural orientation. Moreover, for the global teams in the UK MNEs possessing existing familiarities, the pandemic of Covid-19 tends to offer an ideal period for fostering team cohesion across cultures to validate the reliability expectations (Shah et al., 2020). It is because the stress related to health options are existing across the globe in terms of cross-cultural connections in the business field. Training for supporting the formation of relationships must be received well during the stage as each team member of the global territory is being faced with a similar kind of stressor. The shared anxiety, stress, and frustrations may create a bond, thus further binding collegial teams internationally. Facilitating emotional bonding of the cross-cultural team members, IHRM of the MNEs must focus on strengthening the requirements of the employees and should look upon every single issue that is bothering them in terms of virtual collaboration.

For instance, through virtual collaboration after the Covid-19 pandemic, in Amazon, an MNE in the UK, there has been an increase in the number of international assignments. It is because of saving costs through digital innovation as well as initiating employee engagement and customer satisfaction at the same time. Being a giant leader of the retail industries, Amazon in the UK tends to prioritise their IHRM implications across multinational boundaries.

Amazon can understand the significance of possessing the required talents to perform several responsibilities as well as duties for bringing out success. The strategic objectives of Amazon are closely associated with the IHRM objectives for functioning the firm under a global context via virtual collaboration. The company tends to believe that their employees are considered as the major contributing factor for bringing out profitability and international assignments. Effective strategies of Amazon’s IHRM implications constitute the deployment of strategic training for the employees in terms of enhancing performance and productivity through virtual collaboration (shrm.org, 2022). It also involves selection and recruitment, compensation management, and the establishment of a well-defined relationship between the managers and the employees in terms of ensuring legal as well as ethical compliance. These functions of the IHRM supports the promotion of the workplace of Amazon in terms of bringing out productive employees.

The human resource functions of Amazon under a global virtual context tends to hold the employees in terms of maintaining a great attitude along with ethical standards within the company. The purpose of Amazon’s IHRM is to promote sound and cordial; working relations with the employees and workers towards obtaining their satisfaction by meeting individual requirements and flexible approaches (Ugoani, 2020). The coordinated working environment may lead to an effective deal for Amazon’s profitability and success across multinational business agencies.

Case example of Microsoft

 Microsoft, another gigantic MNE of the UK is also associated with featuring their IHRM functions in terms of bringing absolute success during the post-covid era of virtual collaboration at a global rate. The organization is well-known for its flexibility, diversity, working arrangement strategies, and innovation. The company focuses on establishing technological innovation as its primary goal to optimize the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic (Shah et al., 2020). They emphasized utilizing the virtual medium as the most powerful tool in terms of enhancing employee engagement and productivity. The organization of the UK is mainly associated with aligning their corporate compliance with strategic planning while formulating any sort of decision-making.

Furthermore, like Amazon, Microsoft also is concerned about obtaining maximum employee satisfaction in terms of bringing out enhanced productivity and engagement from them across multinational business spheres. In addition to this, the company tends to focus on improving its employee retention strategies for reducing the rate of turnovers (Reiche et al., 2019). The supply chain management of the company also involves digitalized preferences for strengthening bonds, passing away information and knowledge, and establishing unity and integrity across the global chain. Training and development, financial and non-financial rewards concerning the employees tend to act as a key motivating factor for the workers of Microsoft in bringing out effective e productivity.

On the other hand, the IHRM practices of Microsoft tends to involve effective planning of their workplace. The major objective behind workplace planning is to ensure the success and profitability of the company concerning a long-term approach. It should identify the maximum amounts of revenue and profits from its operations (Ugoani, 2020). It also helps in forecasting risks and their mitigation directing towards a future change. The major goal is to obtain employee satisfaction via virtual modes of working in terms of ensuring enhancement of performance and productivity.

Alternatives for managing international workforce and locations in terms of local, remote, and international contexts

Both in practice and research, classical expatriation tends to remain an important element concerning the domain of global work. In this context, virtual global employees of Amazon and Microsoft must focus on short-term assignments in terms of cross-border commercialization of their business concerning variable locations (Ramos-González et al., 2021). As immigrants are actively or passively attracted towards the national labour markets, the IHRM of the companies must seek to understand their chances to flourish under specific locations given with specific circumstances and advantages.

Local alternatives of IHRM: Selection and recruitment act as an essential alternative of IHRM in Amazon and Microsoft simultaneously. The companies must ensure the establishment of balanced participation of their employees and managers in terms of cultivating empathy (Poór et al., 2019). A cloud-based solution of HR management must be incorporated by the companies of Amazon and Microsoft in terms of automating various functions of their human resources management team involving the management of employee records, recruitment, tax compliances, and payroll. Under local contexts, the implications of HRM functions in multinational organizations are mainly concentrated on providing sufficient training and motivation for the employees in terms of enhancing productivity and engagement.

Remote alternatives of IHRM: Remote alternatives of IHRM in Amazon and Microsoft are closely associated with technological innovation in terms of providing the employees with work from home opportunities. The human resource management strategies under remote working conditions may emphasize decision-oriented as well as people-oriented tactics. The remote human resources generalist of the companies should consider home-based professionalism in terms of managing multiple responsibilities of HR (Offerbike et al., 2018). their responsibilities should cover tasks of administration, management of employee performance, and development of company strategies and policies via the digitalized medium. Therefore, through their functioning via a digitalized medium, they are required to establish a healthy harmonious relationship between the managers and the employees for enhancing profitability.

Furthermore, the employees of Amazon and Microsoft are provided with flexible working hours and several other benefits for reducing the rate of turnovers within the companies. The companies emphasize retaining employees by providing them with ultimate job satisfaction in the sphere of remote localities, as no office space is involved (Mohapatra and Sundaray, 2018). Accurate information and knowledge must be shared digitally across all the hierarchical levels of the organizations, from the employees to the managers and vice versa.

International alternatives of IHRM: International alternatives of the IHRM of Amazon and Microsoft tends to involve long-term corporate objectives considering the development of cross-cultural strategies. In the global arena, international HRM tends to deal with the standard aspects of HRM like selection, recruiting, learning and development, evaluation of performance, and others. Whenever a firm’s group of personnel is considered to be effective, it tends to enjoy a competitive edge. Moreover, people are much aware of a particular percentage of companies operating across multinational borders. As a consequence, there enables an increasing requirement for managing worldwide employees (Malik and Sanders, 2021). Effective management of worldwide global staff tends to act as a significant driver of a multinational company’s successes or failures. Training, procuring, and retaining employees for multinational firms is becoming a risk. To manage employees from different geographic regions and localities, IHRM is regarded to be quite essential.

Furthermore, in multinational companies, international human resource management is considered as the process of recruiting, developing, managing and providing rewards for people. An international company like Amazon or Microsoft has subsidiaries beyond its hosting country that depend on the parent organization’s business capabilities or production skills (Lelebina and Gand, 2018). In essence, an MNE is referred to as a firm that tends to operate within various nations but is mainly administered as an entire entity from a particular headquarter.

Management of international workforce through training implications and requirements

Employees of Amazon may prepare for added duties through a learning and training program, whether they are adopting cross-training for comprehending various jobs or transitioning into updated positions. Employees of Microsoft may become beneficial from development and training programs preaching to them the abilities they want in their existing roles as well as management and expertise of software that they will require in the upcoming future. Apprenticeship can be considered as one type of training enabling employees to begin as learners and move on towards higher-level of positions (Khashman, 2022). Training and development activities in Amazon and Microsoft may support the employees in staying current on their industry developments such as morality, safety, and ethical standards of quality. They also may preach their employees with new ideas and concepts and can operate by incorporating updated processes and technologies concerning passing away information about the concerns of cybersecurity. Utilizing different tools and strategies within their daily commute may support personnel and their organizations in achieving the greater outcome. As per the research on the company of Microsoft, considerations of safety protocols integrated with the COVID-19 epidemic resulted in driving around 80% of their employees towards remote work (Kerdpitak, 2020). On the other hand, Amazon along with their employees have undergone struggles for identifying and adopting new support and technologies to fit into the changing environment of work as most of their employees traditionally operated concerning on-site aspects.

Moreover, as a component of the hiring procedure, new hires are given frequent training. Refresher courses, on the other hand, are beneficial. Employees who possess more familiarity with the company, as well as their roles, find it simpler in absorbing the knowledge. However, these revisions provide chances to strengthen DEI instruction concerning diversity, inclusion, and equity (Ibrahim et al., 2022). Employees are frequently needed to undergo annual classes of training on crucial topics like anti-harassment or legal and ethical compliance by their managers.

Employees of Amazon or Microsoft may benefit from development and training activities that support them in achieving a higher level along with addressing weaknesses that are reported in their performance reports. Such evaluating aspects frequently recognize abilities or information that an individual must develop, and learning and development may support the person in meeting that need. Workers may also get advantages from human resource development through the identification of areas where they could have gained an advantage from the extra academic resources and incentives (Hansen and Pihl-Thingvad, 2019). Soft skills are considered to be critical in terms of responding to the changes at the workplace and in life, and staff learning and development activities may help in building them up. Within work contexts, training emphasizing instances of soft skills involving resilience, interpersonal skills, and agility may support the development of efficiency and solidarity.

Changes in expectations of working ex-pats under the global context

Expats’ features and traits tend to have an impact on their work effectiveness within a subsidiary. Companies, on the other hand, tend to employ individuals who are qualified technologically but they happen to disregard family and human issues. Many organizations cannot provide the so-called cultural adaption training for expatriates, who are considered to be unfamiliar with such an unknown location (Froese, 2020). The chosen ex-pats tend to accept frequently the position despite knowing the employment options, which may lead to individual or family-oriented strives. Additionally, the productivity of the expatriates may get affected by their uncertain possibilities of future career aspects and dilemma about when they will be willing to repatriate into the parent company. (Farley et al., 2020) Workers’ credibility for operating efficiently as well as their personal lives in a sustainable way in several cultural situations is known as cross-cultural proficiency. The skill tends to necessitate the expatriate personnel in terms of adopting adaptive patterns of thought and behaviours within the hosting nation.

Numerous ex-pats are necessary for implementing widespread job in subsidiaries and affiliates, ranging from the early introduction and making preparations to production plant founding, advertising, technology, as well as general affairs, to facilitate modernization and the formation of executive leadership capabilities for offshore procurement, as well as market growth requirements. Individual traits and quality of work of such expatriates are associated with the success of the subsidiary companies. Many of the production supervisors like Amazon and Microsoft are significant for the management of expatriation along with the transfer of technology since the individuals are integrated into manufacturing actions. As an outcome, organizations tend to prioritize the ex-pats with digitally accurate experiences of job, but their familial or personal issues are largely overlooked (Ererdi et al., 2020).

Individual managing methods must involve solutions of planning and re-evaluating problem-solving instruments, while psychological procedures should involve stress releases, avoiding attempts to escape realities, and seeking social aids. An expatriate is expected to be able in negotiating the cross-cultural milieu efficiently, which includes maintaining psychological wellness and health, as well as consciousness and good coping skills (Elacio et al., 2020). An employee may be concerned regarding the unfamiliarity at the beginning of their expatriation. Decent local administration and essential directives of jobs provided before the expatriation might be very advantageous for the expatriate.

It was discovered that, along with external organization or public opinion, the majority of the employees’ work stressors were favourable, indicating that the development of personal or private work stress can have good consequences on their job involvement. Higher levels of work stress were linked to reduced work engagement, according to studies. Job stress was shown to be caused by contradictory activities, blurred duties, and strenuous jobs, which resulted in emotional tiredness, a sense of alienation, and a lowering of moods (El Masri and Suliman, 2019). Therefore, Amazon and Microsoft must adopt stress-reducing strategies for their employees in terms of dealing with the changes faced by working ex-pats within the international domain.

Implications for employees and employers considering flexibility in working arrangements

Telecommuting, often known as remote work or telework, entails using technology and telecommunication inferences to work beyond geographic or situational factors. After the covid-19 pandemic, physical location is becoming less significant within the global economy than operational efficiency. Professions that involve homework assignments, little face-to-face connections, focus, a measurable creative output, and output-based instead of time-based assessment are better suited for working remotely (Asbari et al., 2021).

Amazon tends to establish effective telecommuting through their incorporation of efficient leadership and management strategies for bringing out the best productivity from their employees. It involves an establishment of an effective relationship between the employees and the employers in terms of flexible working schedules. On the other hand, Microsoft is entirely focused upon technological innovation for controlling and monitoring the work paradigm of their employees in terms of bringing out productivity and engagement. It is mainly associated with providing their employees with technical support in terms of maintaining flexibility. Companies who allow their employees to work from home report increased productivity, reduced costs, additional alternatives for recruiting and keeping competent employees, and higher employee productivity (Asbari et al., 2021).

Some companies like Microsoft are utilizing technology for controlling occupancies, like web platforms or mobile apps in terms of enabling the employees to reserve their official space whenever they require it (Ali et al., 2019). Performance management assessments are used in many long-term staffing models to evaluate the “quality” of the personnel and whether the firm is retaining or attracting skilled individuals. For instance, Amazon emphasizes the management of performance in terms of establishing effective productivity among employees in terms of flexible aspects.

Performance management practices and policies must comply with state, federal and municipal laws prohibiting discrimination within the conditions and terms of employment. As a result, organizations must take all necessary precautions, based on legal advice, to guarantee that their systems of performance management are designed and implemented in a way that does not violate equal opportunity employment regulations and laws. Many productivity issues can be avoided or remedied by guaranteeing that employees and managers have two-way interactions, culminating in clear knowledge of what is needed when it is necessary, and how everyone’s performance compares.

Goal setting, performance evaluations, and performance boost processes are all common components of effective systems of performance management (Al-Harazneh and Sila, 2021). Employers can implement the process of performance management in a variety of ways, but an integrated implementation will include the three core parts in some form or the other under flexible working arrangements for the employees. Therefore, it can be concluded by saying that by providing effective performance management and employee engagement, leaders of Amazon or Microsoft may lead to an immense profitable aspect concerning the post-covid era of virtual collaboration.

References

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