HR Management Assignment On Global Business

Question

Task:As an HR leader of a company with offices in Australia and other 2 countries France and Indonesia, prepare a memo for your CEO arguing either for, or against, imposing a common HR system and processes across all the company’s locations.

You’ll need to look at both the cultural and institutional aspects of the specified countries to see how they affect the implementation of common systems and, indeed, whether common systems are possible.

Note: There is a requirement to focus on a HR process in this assignment. The HR process is Performance Management

You should make reference to the GLOBE study and other material covered in weeks 1-4, and provides an outline of the system or systems you recommend. This is a report not an essay, but you must include in-text references and a reference list indicating where you have sourced your concepts.

Please be sure that:

• A report or memorandum format, not an essay format, is used.
• Key issues have been developed.
• Critical analysis and synthesis has been developed, using the relevant literature.
• Ideas and assertions are substantiated through the use of high quality reference material and key academic perspectives/views.
• There is an explicit linking of the literature to the memo content.
• Opinions or arguments that are not substantiated by quality references are omitted.
• A clear and comprehensive written style is used, including correct spelling, grammar, and syntax.
• All references are listed using Harvard style referencing, provided both in-text and as a list of references

Important Information / materials
Video: Operating in Asia
Look at what is different in operating outside an organisation's home country. How can human resources practices help a company do business in these different circumstances? To get a feel for some of the issues, watch this 10-minute video from Professor Michael Witt, which provides a review of the political, social, and economic differences for 13 countries in Asia. As you watch, reflect on how the problems mentioned by Professor Witt impact on the human resource functions of an organisation. https://youtu.be/slmqCeJaIpo

Answer

Introduction
Currently, organizations are becoming globalized and they are expanding their business in more than one country now. It is very important for the organizations to adopt effective practices of human resource management to operate the business in various countries. It is observed in this HR Management assignment that the business environment of international market is very complex so organizations have to adopt various human resource management strategies (Andresen & Nowak, 2012). There are various evidences suggest that human resource management is the crucial part to lead the organization towards success. This HR Management assignment focuses on the process of human resource management which can be applied on various locations of a company in the international market. The company is operating in Australia and it has two more locations i.e. France and Indonesia. This HR Management assignment analyzes the cultural dimensions of both the countries and decides that same or different human resource policies should be adopted to manage the employees.

HR system and Processes- Performance Management
In human resource, performance management is the process that includes effective management of employees or team to attain high level of performance. Basically, performance management focuses on building the environment and culture in which group of employees are responsible for effective business operations and proper behavior and skills. The process of performance management includes setting the targets, observing and analyzing the performance and repeating the cycle to attain the business goals and objectives (Waal & Kourtit, 2013). There are some process in the performance management i.e. job specifications, resource requirement, time management, policy introduction, performance review, and supervision and training etc. In HR system, performance management is helpful in guiding the employees to achieve the set level of performance within the organization (Syed & Yah, 2012). Organizations set the business objectives for short term and employees are prepared to attain the desired results by meeting those short term objectives and goals. The targets are defined by the job description along with expected outcome of the job. This is helpful for the employees to analyze the gaps in the performance and enhance the performance before final performance appraisal in their jobs. The basic objective of performance management is development of the employees. This is the form of constructive feedback which motivates employees for the continuous improvement (Guest, Paauwe & Wright, 2012).

France
France Cultural Dimensions:France is one of highly developed and most modern countries in the world. The country is one of the largest economies and leader among European nations. The country is famous for its civilized approach to life, great concern for style, cosmopolitan, and fashion and appearance. One of the significant cultural characteristic of France is passion for uniqueness and freedom of opinion in society as well as business. The cultural dimensions of France with the comparison of Australia can be analyzed by Hofstede Study.

Power Distance : With the score of 68, the score of France on Power Distance is fairly high. People are emotionally dependent in the country. So, there is fair degree of inequality in the society. Power in the country is centralized in the companies and government. Companies in France have one or two hierarchical levels as compared to companies in Australia. The Power Distance score of Australia is 36 which are very low. In the Australian companies, hierarchy is established for the convenience and managers rely on employees and team as per expertise (Hofstede Insight, 2018).

Individualism vs. Group Orientation: French people have adopted individualism which means people in the country are in favor of individual opinion and taking care of themselves. It is observed that people frequently interrupt each other. In work environment, relationship with work is contract basis. In Australia, there is high individualist culture. Employees are expected to take initiatives and to be self-reliant. There is exchange-based work culture where hiring and promotion are based on merit.

Masculinity vs. Feminine: By the Hofstede analysis, it is observed that France is a feminine country. Society in France cares for the quality of life and focuses on work to live. People are less concerned about duties and gender roles (Barzantny & Festing, 2008). People are treated equally in terms regarding the gender. On the other hand, Australia is Masculine society where people focus on shared values. Australians have proud of their achievements and success. Conflicts are resolved at the individual level in Australian organizations.

Uncertainty avoidance : In France, there are highest scores on the uncertainty avoidance. People in the country prefer proper rules and structured activities. There are strict rules and regulations in the companies to avoid any kind of risk. On the other hand, Australia has scored intermediate in this dimension.

Long or short term orientation: In France, there is pragmatic orientation in which people have perception that truth depends upon context, time and situation. They have ability to adapt the changes and achieving the results (Hofstede Insight, 2018). On the other hand, Australia has normative culture in which people in the society focus on establishing the truth. They show respect for traditions and focus on achieving the quick results.

Indulgence :In France, people are concerned for indulgence and restraint. It is observed that French enjoy life less. On the other hand, Australia is an Indulgent country where people show willingness to enjoy the life. They have positive attitude and tendency for optimism.

Performance Management Recommendations
For effective performance management in France, company is required to adopt some effective practices. From the Hofstede study of cultural dimensions, it is clear that the cultural dimension of France is very different as compared to Australia. In France, the required quality and quantity of work is generally set out in the job description, collective labor agreement and employment contract. In addition to this, all the employees need to work to the best of their ability and performance is considered on individual basis. Employer mutually decides to adopt an effective approach to achieve the performance targets. There are some recommendations related to performance management which should be used by the company while implementing HR system and process (Shimoda, 2017).

• There should be detailed description of required performance in terms of quality and quantity of work. Company should review the job specification and role profile so that the standard of performance can be met. Job specification should be reviewed by manager on yearly basis.
• The process of performance management should focus on identifying the resources which are essential for improving the performance of employees in France office. Higher management should support employees to use the available resources within the organization (Stredwick, 2013).
• Company should implement time management process to manage the time for achieving the set performance targets timescale is important to enhance employees’ performance.
• In France office, company should implement effective HR policies i.e. disciplinary policy and capability policy. HR policies are essential to improve the performance of the employees and business both.
• Company should implement effective performance review system within the office including performance appraisal and performance policies. The system should manage individual performance and communication between manager and employees.
• Next, there should be performance review process to help the employees to enhance the performance. Managers should conduct performance review time to time and keep the information confidential (Stone, 2011).
• In France, there should be training process to improve performance of employees. Managers should conduct training and learning modules related to work to attain performance objectives.
• At last, there should be the process of rewards and recognition for the employees who are performing well. This would be beneficial to motivate the employees.

Indonesia
Indonesia Cultural Dimensions: Indonesia is a diverse country which includes various ethnicities. This condition impacts on the behavior of people and their culture. The culture of Indonesia is quite different from Australia and France. Indonesian people are collectivist, low on uncertainty avoidance, high on power distance and Feminine. The cultural dimensions of Indonesia with the comparison of Australia can be analyzed by Hofstede Study.

Power Distance: In Indonesia, there is high power distance in the society. There are some characteristics of Indonesian society i.e. unequal rights between power and non-power holders, dependent on hierarchy, centralized power, indirect communication, and leaders are directing, controlling and delegating. On the other hand, there is low power distance in Australia. In the Australian companies, hierarchy is established for the convenience and managers rely on employees and team as per expertise. There are inequalities of roles in the hierarchy of management.

Individualism vs. Group Orientation: Indonesia has collectivist society where people give high preference to social framework. In the country, people give importance to the relationships. In the business, they also give preference to maintain effective relationships with each other. On the other hand, there is high individualist culture in Australia as Employees are expected to take initiatives and to be self-reliant.

Masculinity vs. Feminine: In case of Indonesia, the country is less Masculine i.e. the society is considered as feminine. In the country, visible symbols and status are important as they bring motivation. They are focused on creating the aura of status. On the other hand, Australia is Masculine society where people focus on shared values. Australians have proud of their achievements and success. Conflicts are resolved at the individual level in Australian organizations.

Uncertainty avoidance: Indonesia has low preference to avoid uncertainty. People in the country do not show anger or any negative emotion externally. It means that they maintain relationship and workplace harmony. In addition to this, people use third party intermediary for conflict resolution. On the other hand, Australia does not like uncertainty as they want stability, strives for consensus and follow various regulations. They tend to have more anxiety and stress (Venaik & Brewer, 2010).

Long or short term orientation: Similar of France, Indonesia also has pragmatic orientation in which people have perception that truth depends upon context, time and situation. They are focused on the traditional values and also adopt the changes in the conditions to achieve the results. On the other hand, Australia has normative culture in which people in the society focus on establishing the truth. They show respect for traditions and focus on achieving the quick results.

Indulgence : At last, Indonesia has the culture of restraint. Societies in the country do not focus on leisure time and control gratifications for their wishes. People have perception that their actions are bounded by social norms. On the other hand, people in Australia have positive attitude and tendency for optimism.

Performance Management Recommendations
Based on Hofstede Study on Indonesia and Australia, it can be clearly seen that both the countries are different in terms of cultural dimensions. So, it is clear that company cannot adopt same performance management practices used in Australian office. In order to impalement success human resource practices in terms of performance management, there is the need of clearness in the jobs and responsibilities of individual employees. In addition to this, reward and punishment system would also be helpful in this manner. In Indonesian office, company needs to adopt proper performance review system and implement effective guidelines for the same (Buller & McEvoy, 2012). Some of the recommendations for the performance management system for Indonesia are as follows:

• Performance review of the employees should be done by the managers yearly at the time of performance rating. Employees in Indonesia are low on uncertainty avoidance so review after some gap should be done.
• Next, evaluation of the employees’ performance should be fair and reliable during the process of performance management. In the review part, there should be employee behavior, performance factor, and job profile of the employees (Johnson, Whittington, & Scholes, 2011).
• Managers of the company should give opportunity to the employees to review their own performance. For this manner, performance review form should be used.
• Employees should be motivated for joining training sessions related to performance review which must be conducted by Human Resource Team.

Further, it is recommended that company should adopt some effective procedures in Indonesian market. Some of those are as follows:

Coaching procedure- In this procedure, supervisor of the company should communicate with the employees about their job role, roles and their responsibilities. This would be helpful for the employees to develop their performance by proper feedback.

Performance review procedure- By this procedure, performance review should be done twice in year. The reviews should be in the form of interim review and yearly review. So the reviews should be conducted in each 6 months so that development of the employees can be done effectively.

Disciplinary procedure- This procedure should be used to reveal what kind of improvement is required and gives the opportunity to employees to put their best in the job role. By this procedure, employees in Indonesia would be able to raise the problems they face in their job role (Stahl, Jörkman, & Morris, 2012).

Grievance Procedure- This process should also be used by the company in Indonesia office so that conflicts among employees can be resolved. The process should be used to sort out all types of conflicts raised due to any reason.

Conclusion Based on the overall discussion above HR Management assignment, it is observed that all three countries are different in terms of cultural dimensions. It is analyzed that business environment of international market is very complex so organizations have to adopt various human resource management strategies. Performance management focuses on building the environment and culture in which group of employees are responsible for effective business operations and proper behavior and skills. The process of performance management includes setting the targets, observing and analyzing the performance and repeating the cycle to attain the business goals and objectives. Organizations set the business objectives for short term and employees are prepared to attain the desired results by meeting those short term objectives and goals. It is observed in this HR Management assignment that the targets are defined by the job description along with expected outcome of the job. In terms of France and Indonesia, the countries are different in terms of power distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty avoidance; long or short term orientation and Indulgence. In terms of France, Company should review the job specification and role profile so that the standard of performance can be met. Job specification should be reviewed by manager on yearly basis. Further, in case of Indonesia, company should adopt some effective procedures in Indonesian market. HR management assignments are being prepared by our management assignment writing experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable best assignment help service.

References
Andresen, M., & Nowak, C., 2012. Human Resource Management Practices: Assessing Added Value. NY: Springer

Barzantny, C. & Festing, M., 2008. A comparative approach to performance management in France and Germany: The impact of the European and the country-specific environment. European Journal of International Management, 2 (2)

Buller, P.F., & McEvoy, G.M., 2012. Strategy, human resource management and performance: Sharpening line of sight. Human resource management review, 22(1), pp.43-56

Guest, D.E., Paauwe, J., & Wright, P., 2012. HRM and Performance: Achievements and Challenges, US: John Wiley & Sons

Hofstede Insight, 2018. WHAT ABOUT AUSTRALIA? (Online) Available from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/australia,china/ (Accessed on 26th September 2018)

Hofstede Insight, 2018. WHAT ABOUT FRANCE? (Online) Available from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/france/ (Accessed on 26th September 2018)

Johnson, G., Whittington, R., and Scholes, K., 2011. Exploring Strategy, (9th), Prentice Hall

Shimoda, Y., 2017. Transnational Organizations and Cross-Cultural Workplaces, New York, US: Palgrave Macmillan

Stahl, G.K., Jörkman, I., and Morris, S., 2012. Handbook of research in international human resource management, Edward Elgar Publishing

Stone, R., 2011. Human resource management, (7th), Milton QLD: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

Stredwick, J., 2013. An introduction to human resource management, Routledge

Syed, N., & Yah, L., 2012. Impact of High Performance Human Resource Management Practices on Employee Job Satisfaction: Empirical Analysis. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 4(2), 318-342

Venaik, S., & Brewer, P., 2010. Avoiding uncertainty in Hofstede and GLOBE. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(8), 1294-1315

Waal, A., & Kourtit, K., 2013. Performance Measurement and Management in Practice. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 62(5), pp. 446-473