What role can and Should HRM play in an organization that is seeking Essay

What role can and Should HRM play in an organization that is seeking to expand its international operations - Essay Example As the individuals working for the company in different locations are likely to come from different cultures, the culture of the company itself can only be established with good HR policies and effective HR management (Hollinshead & Leat, 1995). As defined by Ozbilgin (2005), International HRM is the practice of getting the maximum business value from human assets which are distributed across the world working under the umbrella of a single company. Historically, the cultural differences between the home office and the branch office located in a different country meant that sooner or later HR managers had to face the problem of culture clash which is defined as different cultures affecting work processes and workflow (Faulkner, D. 2002). In the past, these cultural differences were largely ignored and it was thought that the culture of the company would prevail while the culture of the country where the company was located would not matter as much (Kamoche, 1996). However, recent evaluations have shown that culture conflicts might need to be actively countered and could even be used to motivate workers rather than put various managers in conflict (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1998). With these definitions and with the help of practical examples as well as expert opinions, it can be shown that the role played by HRM in an organisation that is seeking to expand its international operations is a twofold role. Firstly, HRM can help the arms of an organisation (both local and branch offices) come to terms with each other in view of their different cultures. Secondly, HRM can help and should help in creating policies which are localised for international operations. The central cultural difference that exists between the UK and a culture such as China or India comes from the very basis of the culture i.e. language. While the predominant language in the UK is English, it may not be used as the lingua franca in China since it is only learnt as a second language.