October 29th, 2020 
Please read each discussion and respond. DO NOT PUT DISCUSSION RESPONES TOGETHER.
DISCUSSION 1
It was interesting reading the article, The challenges of HR: One Way to Go?, The concept of HRs role in globalization is it to be centralized, meaning that the organization no matter the location function under a universal set of HR rules and concepts. The article gives a few positive and negatives to this structure of HRs role in globalization. Some of the positive highlighted were that promotes common values, delivers consistent treatment of staff, cost control, exports good business practice to all parts of the organization, and greater control over dispersed operations. The negative side to that is: harmonization can stifle innovation, central HR loses touch with sharp end of the business, ill-conceived policies subverted at a local level, HR is the focus for frustration as agent of the corporate center, and it does not easily sit with workforce segmentation (Reilly & Williams, 2012). I can see how the idea of HR centralization would help management feel as if there is something in place that will help with organizational operations. One thing to be considered is that, its much easier to pay attention to the finer details that make the biggest impact like the relationships you build between your global teams when you have your HR processes centralized in one place (Crowley, 2017). The hardships that it may also bring with different cultures and how they conduct business is also something to be considered. Companies have to consider the different laws set in different countries and state, they may have to adapt to new labor laws and tax liabilities (Bradley,2018). The solution for this could be that each local area can be sure that they use the centralized process with the insertions of any local laws that are required. It is important that when organizations consider solutions for global challenges that there are positive and negative effects and if the positive is enough to take the risk of the HR department running in such a manner.
HRs responsibilities were broken up into three by the Benham (1999) article, which is: administering personnel transactions, processing personnel transactions and sponsoring community and welfare projects. In this article it suggests that HR management should consider a knowledge-based-enterprise, this would mean that the structure of HR adapts to the demands of customer, employees, leadership, and suppliers. This concept includes HR service to the line, consulting on corporate performance issues, and managing core competencies. This structure positive effect is that it will help with competing organizations and give a leg up when considering that it will be considering all aspects of organizational operations, cultures, and customers being serviced. This structure considers the stakeholders and their thoughts and feelings, instead of their just being a centralized set of expectations. The downside may seem as if that this will put much more responsibility on the HR management teams and the lines of communication will have to remain consistent in order to ensure that organizations are functioning in a manner that are controlled enough for professionals to handle. It will be imperative that relationships are developed and maintained to execute a structure as this.
References:
Benham, Philip. (1999) Challenges and Trends in HR/IR Progrmas: Bridging the Gap for Global Competitiveness. SAM Advanced Management Journal.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.claremontlincoln.idm.oclc.org/ehost/viewarticle/render?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2%2fdV0%2bnjisfk5Ie45PFKsq%2bwUK6k63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nrkewrq1KrqiuOLCwsU64pq84zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLuutEu3rq5QtKekhN%2fk5VXj5KR84LPgi%2bac8nnls79mpNfsVbCqt0%2bvqrc%2b5OXwhd%2fqu37z4uqM4%2b7y&vid=0&sid=5106e1cc-3d32-43b5-841b-5d239a920dc3@sessionmgr4007 (Links to an external site.)
Bradley, J. (2018, October 29). International HR issues (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Chron. (Links to an external site.)
Crowley, J. (2017, September 6). The three biggest international HR challenges. (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)People HR Insights Blog. (Links to an external site.)
Reilly, P., & Williams, T. (2012, August 28). The challenges of global HR: One way to go? (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) People Management. (Links to an external site.)
DISCUSSION 2
Organizational challenges associated with globalization
Global leadership behavior is one organizational challenge associated with globalization. Leaders in international countries doing business must interact and be inclusive with various races and cultural standards. Leaders must be aware of their own biases in order to acclimate to different cultures and develop a communication approach that will bring everyone together when doing business globally. Having an open mindset as a leader can help develop better leadership strategies internationally to help change and influence individuals behavior. One solution to leadership behavior is diversity competencies can play a catalytic role by enabling HR practitioners to elevate the organizations diversity awareness and understanding in support of innovation and expansion of organizational capacity. Core competencies play a catalytic role in the production function of strategic assets, that is, assets that are nontradable and difficult to imitate (Markides & Williamson, 1994, p. 157, as cited in Chun, E. B., & Evans, A. ,2014, Ch. 3). HR leaders need to be the change agents, but also the leaders that bring in new ideas and methods to continuously improve on the change, according to Chun and Evans. Educating individuals on diversity and leaders adapting to their style globally can help influence positive change.
The unique challenges faced in global HR
International assignments for expatriate individuals, in international organizations is a unique challenging task to complete in a global diversity workforce. The ratio of the failure of the assignments of the expatriate workforce is estimated to lie in between 20% to 40%. Following are a few factors that are responsible for such failures.
Culture Shock
Lack of Cross Cultural, Pre-departure Training
Family Problems (Farooq, Umar, 2015, p. 1).
Organizations need to understand that not all individuals will be successful in other countries working efficiently. Especially, if the organization does not invest in cross cultural training that will properly train their employee regarding local traditions and ways that can impact their way of living and interacting. Cultural barriers can be the main reason expatriate assignments fails. Taking into consideration that individuals will need to be head strong and understand cultural diversity in other countries, therefore have an open mindset to adapting to cultural change and language barriers. According to Herod, (2009), lack of relocation assistant, guiding and living arrangements to other countries is poorly managed and is the most common compliant (pp. 14). This is where the expatriate family problems come to affect their job performance. Families feel overwhelmed having to adjust to new cultural ways of living and adapting to a new environment. One solution for expatriates to not fail in assignment duties in international countries, is for organizations to provide and train expatriate and family on cross-cultural training to help with the new transition to a new culture and country. In addition, the organization should also provide a support system to the expatriate and family while relocating to a new country to get the family familiarized with the area, traditions, people and customs. This will create a business opportunity for the organization globally, to be more competitive than their competitors and increase their capital in the marketplace. It would be a win win opportunity for the organization and the expatriate.
The relationship between HR and organizational cultural intelligence.
Understanding cultural intelligence and how it tides into HR is an important challenge, because it will define how individuals in organizations work efficiently together in varies cultures globally and locally. In order for organizations to be successful and competitive in a diverse workforce they will need to be educated, and train all their staff in cross- cultural training and make it part of their culture. Cross-cultural training will then make individuals aware of others cultures behaviors, communication approaches, beliefs, traditions and business methods. One solution is Mindful monitoring means being aware of our own assumptions, ideas, and emotions, as well as noticing cues from the other people and tuning in to their assumptions, words, and behavior. It also means putting ourselves in other peoples shoes as a means of understanding the situation and their feelings toward it, from the perspective of their cultural back-ground rather than ours (David C. Thomas, & Kerr C. Inkson., 2017, pp. 50). This technique can also assist organizations doing business internationally to retain high talent employees abroad to complete assignments and also help train other individuals to meet the organizations business goals.
References:
Chun, E. B., & Evans, A. (2014). The New Talent Acquisition Frontier: Integrating HR and Diversity Strategy in the Private and Public Sectors and Higher Education: Vol. First edition. Stylus Publishing.
David C. Thomas, & Kerr C. Inkson. (2017). Cultural Intelligence: Surviving and Thriving in the Global Village: Vol. Third edition. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Farooq, Umar. (2015). Global Human Resource Management-Barriers and Challenges. Retrieved from https://www.businessstudynotes.com/hrm/human-resource-management/barriers-and-challenges-to-global-human-resource-management/ (Links to an external site.)
Herod, R. (2009). International Assignment Programs: Tackling the Critical Issues. Society for Human Resource Management.
PLEASE READ DISCUSSION AND ANSWER QUESTION BELOW:
Globalization has presented HR with new challenges in managing the workforce. Global diversity is unavoidable hence good managers need to understand how to navigate through the barriers. An effective way of overcoming the barriers is the HR department acquainting themselves with the labor laws (Reilly & Williams, 2012). Employee legislations vary from one region to another and it is imperative for HR at multinational organizations to be conversant to avoid infringing their employees rights and the law (McKeon, n.d). International companies need to maintain their reputation thus the need for compliance with regulations. Another consideration is tax laws. To establish a company in Europe requires the firm to pay value-added taxes (Bradley, 2018). It is recommended that companies implement a global decentralized system that caters to the unique needs of various regions (IBM services, 2013). This process may be expensive but the benefits outweigh the cost of implementation.
Cultural differences also make the globalization process thus tasking the HR manager to act as the buffer by facilitating communication and offer cultural training amongst the workforce (Wengrzyn, 2013). A difference in cultural orientation amongst global employees may yield misunderstanding. It is the responsibility of the HR manager to provide co-workers with cultural training. Building relations with local HR counterparts will help one to get acquainted with the culture (Crowley, 2017). In some regions, employees are interested in career development rather than ascending to management thus the HR department needs to create new vertical level progress where people can move to other departments (Roper, 2015). Maintaining ethical standards in a multinational business is essential as it makes it easy to uphold the firms reputation (Byars, et. al., 2018). When a companys ethical standards are logical then they can easily be upheld in different regions.
References
Bradley, J. (2018). International HR issues. Chron. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/international-hr-issues-61937.html
Byars, S. M., Stanberry, K., Shapiro, D., Boerner, B., Brancatelli, R., Chumney, W., Dendinger, L., Nantz, B., & Poepsel, M. (2018). Business Ethics: Introduction and Section 10.1 – 10.3.
Openstax. Retrieved from: https://openstax.org/books/business-ethics/pages/1-introduction
Crowley, J. (2017). The three biggest international HR challenges. People HR Insights Blog. Retrieved from: https://www.peoplehr.com/blog/2017/09/06/the-three-biggest-international-hr-challenges/
McKeon, A. (n.d.). How the globalization cycle could impact HR and your organization. ADP Spark. Retrieved from: https://www.adp.com/spark/articles/2017/10/how-the-globalization-cycle-could-impact-hr-and-your-organization.aspx
Reilly, P., & Williams, T. (2012). The challenges of global HR: One way to go? People Management. Retrieved from: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/long-reads/articles/challenges-global-hr
Roper, J. (2015). The HR challenges of a truly global world. HR Magazine. Retrieved from: https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/the-hr-challenges-of-a-truly-global-world
Wengrzyn, R. (2013). Managing a diverse workforce in contemporary Organizations. Education. Portal. Retrieved from: http://oer2go.org/mods/en-oya/business-101/webpages/Chapter17/6-managing-a-diverse-workforce-in-contemporary-organizations.html (Links to an external site.)
IBM Services. (2013, July 17). Challenges of managing a global workforce [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=salPR_x99eA
QUESTION: Do you think that organizations, on a global scale, place a strong enough emphasis on global business leadership and what it takes to be an effective global leader? Is it important to be a better leader or better manager as we continue this discussion on globalization and HR?
PLEASE WATCH THIS SHORT & write a short respond- A Global Perspective on Diversity and Inclusion https://youtu.be/KPyIxEYcuVs
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