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前言
人力资源管理(HRM)指的是管理一个组织的劳动力,它负责选拔、晋升、奖励、培训和解雇员工(Towers&David,2007)。人力资源管理一直以来都是一个不可逃避的问题,经常进行热烈的讨论,因此,没有必要强调人力资源管理在细节方面的重要性。然而,尽管事实上人力资源管理是一个组织不可避免的一种行为,但是，如果说一个人可以管理他/她的劳动力，并且在全球化不断发展的时代并没有考虑民族文化,特别是这个公司这个企业开始进军国际化的时代，这样说就是不合理的。因此,这篇文章的目的是分析在全球化不断发展的条件下，公司是否应该考虑采用不同的人力资源管理实践方式。
关于人力资源管理在全球化发展背景中的要求
20世纪早期，人类关系运动孕育了人力资源的产生,人力资源产生的目的是为了增加有效管理的业务价值,采用的方法主要是关心就业和员工福利，但是随着全球化的到来,人力资源的重点延伸到这样的战略活动,比如并购,劳资关系(Jonathan &DeGraff 2010)。许多专家因此开始研究人力资源管理在这个新环境下的发展。
Introduction
Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to the management of an organization’s labor force, it is responsible for the selection, promotion, rewards, training and dismissal of employees(Towers&David,2007). HRM has long been an issue that enjoys a heated discussion, therefore, there is no need to emphasize the importance of HRM in great details. However, despite the fact that human resource management is an activity undertook within an organization, it is not safe to say that one can manage his/her labor force without considering the national culture in the era of globalization, especially when the organization goes abroad. Thus, this essay is made with the purpose of analyzing whether companies should consider to adopt different HRM practices in global context.
A claim about HRM in global context
Human relations movement in the early 20th century gave birth to HR, it was created with the aim of increasing business values by effective management of work force, the methods adopted were mainly concerned with payrolls and benefits. But with the advent of globalization, the focus of HR extends to such strategic activities like merger and acquisition, industrial relations(Jonathan &DeGraff,2010). Many experts thus began to study HRM in this new circumstance.
Harzing and Pinnington once claimed that in International Human Resource Management, it is impossible to consider the needs and assumptions of organizations from the perspective of one country, national economy and single domestic market. What they imply is that in the global context, organizations’ management of human resource should follow the general trend in the world, but not confine themselves to the narrow situation in their native country, whose ideology or culture may block their way to success(Merkle&Judith,2008). Therefore, the needs and plannings of an organization are not necessarily to cater to the requirements of national economy or culture. It has to be admitted that their argument is reasonable to a great extent, but maintaining that national economy and culture being surely detrimental to the performance of organizations is not true. They neglect different cultural contexts, some ones need changes to meet the requirements of the new situation, but others are still suitable in this era.
Thus, the following sections are devoted to the analysis of the claim from two perspectives with concrete examples.
Chinese culture’s adverse impacts on HRM Harzing and Pinnington insisted that it is impossible to consider the needs and assumptions of organizations from the perspective of national economy, culture and ideology which may hinder the movement of organizations. It is proved right especially in China. Negative aspects of Chinese culture account for the relatively poor performance of its companies both in the domestic and global market for corporate culture is usually consistent with national culture(Gary&Dernelle,1994). When talking about Chinese culture, one will never fail to mention Confucianism, which, in its long cause of development and evolution, has helped shape people’s thoughts, behavior and determined the ideology. Therefore, Confucianism has become an deep-rooted characteristic of national identity(Creel&Herrlee,2009). Chinese culture emphasizes collectivism and this philosophy can also be found in corporate culture. Under the influence of such culture, the human resource management of Chinese organizations exhibits such features:
l In Chinese companies, especially the state-owned ones, leaders are playing passive roles in company’s management, they do not worry about the performance of their organization for they will enjoy bailout from the government(Wright&Robert,2009 ). This will inevitably lead to poor organizational performance and saps company’s sense of urgency. That’s the reason why Chinese state-owned enterprises enjoy no competitive advantages over private-owned or foreign enterprises.
l Collectivism emphasizes consistency, therefore, within an organization, there is a strong tendency toward mutual independence or reliance. This results in greater cooperation and less friction. Under this condition, no one will or be encouraged to put forward different ideas, for they fear to break this harmony. This phenomenon accounts for the poor innovation in China(Lazonick,2004). In terms of decision-making, no one likes to make their voice heard, for they are afraid of making mistakes. This practice leads to poor transparency, passive obedience, diffused accountability through consensus and atmosphere of recriminations.
l Promotion is mainly based on seniority, a candidate for promotion is judged from such aspects as work attendance, whether did he or she make mistakes, relationship with colleagues and leaders. The life-long employment deprives workers of enterprising spirit and sense of urgency. Employees can maintain their position in company unless they make major mistakes or in bad relations with leaders. This is also the product of collectivism.
The above four points are the impacts of Confucianism on corporate culture and then on the management of human resource(Hofstede,1993). From these, we can conclude that national culture inevitably exerts its influence on corporate culture, the adverse influences such as lack of urgency, diffused accountability, poor innovation, life-long employment, poor transparency, inefficient decision-making and non-profit orientation are fatal to the performance of companies.
The following will illustrate the above conclusion with a concrete example. A multinational in China: Baosteel
Baosteel is a multinational and major steel producer in the world. There is much to be said about its human resource management. With its birthplace in China, it grew up under the permeating influence of the Chinese culture. It includes the disadvantages of Chinese companies in human resource management mentioned above. In the early years of its foundation, it had been caught in a poor situation. This part will introduce its shortcomings in HRM before it went abroad.
l It exhibited the characteristics of collectivism. Workers received almost the same salary, which failed to mobilize workers to make innovations. Therefore, for a long time in the past, Baosteel was caught in a bad performance, its lack of innovation deprived it of competitive edge over rivals, inefficiency brought it huge costs and small profits.
l It attached great importance to ‘denial’ in performance management of workers. This created a culture of blame, workers tended to shift their blame to others. It deterred employees from proposing advice and making innovations because they were afraid of making mistakes.
l It failed to mobilize workers in decision-making. Information about performance, financial status, strategies, state policies were all withheld from workers. This practice contributed to the poor transparency, workers could not fully participate in organization’s activity(Child,1994). They passively accepted what had been decided by the administrative level.
l It and its workers lacked a sense of urgency. As a largest steel and iron company, Baosteel enjoyed the favor of the Chinese government. In the early years of its foundation, it received bailout from government when it was caught depression. Its employees regarded their job as ‘iron rice bowl’ and did not devote their enthusiasm to the fullest extent(www.ukassignment.org). Its leaders maintained a good fit with national culture at the expense of organizational performance.
This dysfunctional organizational culture halted the movement of Baosteel. With the increasingly fierce competition, its leaders recognize the importance of effective management of human resource so as to minimize the profits. As Harzing and Pinnington said : in the International Human Resource Management, it is impossible to consider the needs of an organization from the perspective of one country, national economy, and this claim is applicable to the case of Baosteel. Incomplete market economy, deep-rooted collectivism and bailout drained Baosteel of its sense of urgency, enterprising spirit and creativeness. To become a first-rate company in the world, Baosteel decided to adopt international standards in HRM to change its practice(Kelly,2006). Before it put the ‘go global’ strategy into practice, the administrative level recognized the importance to develop new organizational culture and adopt new practices in HRM. The following is the concrete methods took by Baosteel in this aspect:#p#分页标题#e#
l Bring a sense of competition to its workers, workers were on longer confined to their own positions but granted opportunities to shift to other posts, so that they could be proficient in all works on the production line. Promotion is no longer based on seniority but performance instead. ‘Equal pays’ was abandoned and salary is based on performance.
l Introduce talented people from overseas. To make Baosteel compete in the international arena, Baosteel has to draw on the managerial expertise, techniques applied in other world-class steel and iron companies. Specialized personnel from abroad can gear Baosteel to international standards in HRM and operations.
l Recognize the importance of authentical leadership. Baosteel narrowed the distance between the high power and staff by pooling ideas, thoughts from workers and delivering information to staff. This practice generates a wide range of positive outcomes such as improving workers job performance(Motowidlo,2003), trust in leaders, enthusiasm, creativity and optimism. Transparency is good mobilize workers into concerted efforts.
l Leaders’ role model is also important. Baosteel’s workers have a sound ability to gain information and knowledge to equip themselves as competent staff. This is due to the good example set by their leaders. Mr Xu Lejiang, Chairman of the Board, is always ready to acquire knowledge. He has experience in managerial expertise, human resource management and had worked at different departments. He received further education in Virginia University and was granted the MBA degree by the Hongkong University. His self-awareness made him march on the road of pursuing knowledge(Hogan&Curphy,1994).
This four points are the improvement made in human resource management. To make it concrete, this part will give a brief introduction to its achievement in statistics: in 2010, it ranked 276 in the Top 500 Global Companies, in 2012, its position mounted up to 197. In 2009, it ranked third in world’s Steel and Iron Companies with a turnover of $28.6 billion.
However, it is improper for Harzing and Pinnington to make the claim in a absolute tone. By this argument, they imply that national culture, domestic economy is not suitable for the development of organization, so that one can not consider the needs from the perspective of domestic conditions. The following will retort their argument with a different example. Individualism
This part is concerned with the characteristics of individualism. Individualism encourages the pursuit of one’s goals, desires and promote self-independence or self-reliance. The major difference of individualism from collectivism is that individualism advocates the supremacy of personal interest which can be pursued of prior to that of state or social group(Ellen,1972). According to the doctrine of individualism, everybody has the right to pursue his/her dreams, everybody has the freedom to express thoughts and ideas without intervention from others. In company, workers can put forward innovative ideas, they are encouraged to express their thoughts in decision-making process. That’s the reason why western companies, especially the ones in America maintain an absolute competitive advantage over rivals(Albrecht&James,2012). Individualism suits HRM well, it is possible to consider the needs and assumptions from the perspective of countries with individualism as their salient feature. Therefore, Harzing and Pinnington’s claim is not acceptable in the culture of individualism. This part will take Apple as an example. HRM in Apple
Individualism means the right of an individual to freedom and self-realization. This notion is utilized well in Apple. Despite the founding father of Apple and contributes a great lot to the huge success of this business empire, Jobs’s domineering practice in dealing with staff rendered him a controversial figure(Misa,2011). His successor, Tim Cook brings the strengths of individualism into full play. His methods in human resource management can be summarized as authentical leadership, which includes four points:
Self-awareness: Mr Cook, despite the CEO of Apple, is always ready to hear the voice of staff, especially in decision-making process. He is well aware that Apple’s success needs the joint effort of all members. Dissension may slow down the pace forward, but dissidents help to make the optimal decision. It is reported that Mr Cook asked a new employee: how can we sell more phones by this service?(Schuman&Michael,2011) This practice can mobilize staff into an active participation in their work. Dissensions can help to predict the potential risks and put forward possible solutions.
Balanced processing: Tim Cook is a typical example in this aspect. Balanced processing means leaders reinforcing a degree of openness with others by offering them opportunity to express their ideas and thoughts before making important decisions. Dislike Jobs, Cook tries to create a harmonious atmosphere in company and develop sound relationship with staff(Lashinsky&Adam,2008). He shares his lunchtime with staff in order to inspire workers’ enthusiasm and get more ideas and thoughts.
Transparency: Cook is transparent in dealing with business activities. Cook is kind and open-minded, he holds regular meeting with shareholders and informs them the performance of business, even the recession in operation. Cook released the expansion strategy of the company without reservation(Chenda&Ngak,2012), this bold manner shocked many people because they have got customed to Jobs’s silence. This practice is consistent with the former one, that is to pool the advice and suggests from all members so as to maximize profits and minimize losses.
Moral conduct: Cook is a self-disciplined leader. He does things in a orderly manner with a great patience. He tends to influence his staff by action but not by forceful words. Dislike Jobs’s domineering personality, Cook is an easy-going man. He is approachable and spare time and mind for his workers. Therefore, Cook is welcomed by most followers. Under Cook’s leadership, Apple has increased its donations to charity(Patel&Nilay,2013).
The above points are the charm displayed by Cook. Cook knows how to tap the potential of each member and he thinks highly of individual’s value. He knows each one can make contribution to the success of Apple, therefore, he tries his best to seek different opinions and ideas so as to make best decisions(Love&Julia,2009 ).
However, it is not safe to say that Cook’s practice is an isolated example. In fact, under the influence of individualism, western culture respects human rights and permits people more opportunity to achieve self-realization. Everybody is encouraged to speak out their thoughts, even they turn out to be wrong. That’s why western countries lead the world in such aspects as natural and social sciences.
Above all, individualism is helpful for the development of company. Harzing and Pinnington’s claim that in the international human resource management, it is impossible to consider the needs and assumptions of an organization from the perspective of one country, national culture, and domestic market. But it is not applicable to companies brought up in the culture of individualism, because national culture inevitably exerts influence on organizational culture.
But, but a controversial event has to be mentioned here. Despite leaders of Apple protect the rights of staff in native country, they violate the right of workers in other developing countries where it outsources its operations. Workers receive low salary and work long hours in poor conditions. Apple is urged to improve the working environment of workers in “sweatshops”(Velasquez&James,2013). In the context of globalization, multinationals move their operations to underdeveloped countries so as to reduce costs. The human resource management there is quite contrary to their practice in native country. However, this phenomenon can not be used to deny that western culture with individualism as its salient feature can satisfy the needs of companies.
Conclusion
Harzing and Pinnington think that in the era of globalization, the management of human resource should not be confined to the context of one country, national economy and a single domestic market. It is good for them to recognize the impact of globalization on human resource management. Organization should rid the ineffective HRM, which is determined by national culture and adopt an effective HRM.
In above sections, two examples are offered to analyze their argument. Through detailed analysis, their claim can be applied to China where collectivism dominates the way of thinking and doing things. As mentioned above, this philosophy is harmful to HRM since it diffuses accountability, saps sense of urgency, decrease efficiency and drain the momentum of development. Therefore, to make companies more competitive, this organizational culture has to be changed, one more thing should be mentioned here that organizational culture is not necessarily consistent with national culture.
However, there is a different story in western countries, where individualism is hot pursued of. It encourages people to voice their ideas, viewpoints and complain their dissatisfaction. They are welcomed to achieve self-realization. So, this philosophy is very helpful in human resource management. To be frank, this philosophy can be applied to all companies in different contexts since it can bring the talents of workers into full play, gain competitive edge over rivals.#p#分页标题#e#
To sum up, collectivist culture directly affects organizational culture and the latter exerts its influence on HRM practices, but those affects are negative and harmful for organizations. So, it has to be adjusted. Individualist culture, on the contrary, is conducive to tap the potentials of workers and it is universally applicable. The claim made by those two scholars is applicable to countries characterized by collectivism, but not the countries featured with individualism. It is still possible to consider the needs and assumptions of organizations from the perspective of one country, national economy and a singe domestic market in individualist culture. Reference Albrecht, James M. (2012) Reconstructing Individualism : A Pragmatic Tradition from Emerson to Ellison. Fordham University Press. Chenda Ngak (January 11, 2012). "Steve Jobs' successor Tim Cook highest paid CEO". CBS News. Retrieved 1 October 2012. Child, J.(1994). Management in China in the Age of Reform, Cambridge, UK.: Cambridge University Press Creel, Herrlee G.(2009)Confucius and the Chinese Way.Reprint. New York: Harper Torchbooks. (Originally published under the title Confucius—the Man and the Myth.) Ellen Meiksins Wood. Mind and Politics: An Approach to the Meaning of Liberal and Socialist Individualism. University of California Press. 1972. ISBN 0-520-02029-4 Pg. 6-7 Gary J. Dernelle. "DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA." DePaul Business Law Journal, Spring/Summer 1994. (6 DePaul Bus. L.J. 331) Hofstede, G (1993). Cultural Constraints on Management Theories, Academy of Management Executive, 7(1),81-94 Jonathan E. DeGraff (21 February 2010). "The Changing Environment of Professional HR Associations". Cornell HR Review. Retrieved 21 December 2011. Lashinsky, Adam (November 10, 2008). "The genius behind Steve". CNN. Retrieved May 25, 2010. Lazonick (2004), Indigenous Innovation and Economic Development: Lessons from China's Leap into the Information Age, Industry and Innovation, Vol.11 No.4, page Love, Julia (January 14, 2009). "Fuqua grad takes reins at Apple". The Chronicle (Duke University). Retrieved February 11, 2011.73-297 Hogan, R., Curphy, C. J., & Hogan, J. (1994). What we know about leadership: effectiveness and personality. American Psychologist, 49(6), 493-504. Merkle, Judith(2008) A. Management and Ideology. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03737-5. Misa, T. J. (2011). "Steven P. Jobs (1955-2011)". Science 334 (6058): 919. doi:10.1126/science.1216019. Motowidlo, S. J. (2003). Job performance. Borman, Walter C (Ed); Ilgen, Daniel R (Ed); et al., (2003). Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology, NY, US: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Patel, Nilay. "Tim Cook boasts about Apple's charitable contributions during internal all-hands meeting". The Verge. Retrieved 21 May 2013. Schuman, Michael (October 6, 2011). "Steve Jobs the businessman: Can Apple thrive without him?". Time. Archived from the original on 2012-09-15 Towers, David. "Human Resource Management essays". Retrieved 2007-10-17. Velasquez, James. “Minimum Wage Debate: How Sweatshops Are Actually Good for the Poor.” Policymic.com. Retrieved April 2, 2013. Wright, Patrick. "The 2011 CHRO Challenge: Building Organizational, Functional, and Personal Talent". Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS). Retrieved 3 September 2011. Wright, Robert E. ed. Bailouts: Public Money, Private Profit (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009). |
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