Essay Sample on Preparing Employees for Overseas Assignment: Global HR, Personal & Cultural Challenges

Introduction

When preparing an employee for an overseas assignment, an employer or local office should consider factors such as global human resource policies and programs, personal challenges, professional challenges, and cultural challenges. Cultural challenges have a significant impact on an employee in his/her international assignment since they have to observe the belief systems and practices, customs, traditions and behaviors of all people in given country, fashion trends and market activities influencing actions and decisions in the organization (Chamberlain, 2013). An employee has to understand the beliefs of the people for them not to violate them during their assignment, for instance, it is quite reasonable for a nurse practitioner to treat a patient of either sex in the US, but in most Muslim communities in Britain, Muslim believers prefer to receive treatment from the same-sex nurses/doctors. Diversity of the socio-cultural practices and beliefs of a given community need further study to help employees have a general overview and an approximate understanding of other cultures, what to expect from them and how to behave towards groups from different countries during their global assignment (Hofstede, 1984).

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The social and economic events that have affected human resource roles and practices in the global workplace in the 21st century include advancement in technology, health, and retirement programs, change in customer tastes and preferences, brutal recession, and new generation of workers with very different ideas of what employment should look like (Hashim & Hameed, 2012). With improved technology, HR roles in various companies have changed due to companies becoming social. In the beginning when there few social sites such as Twitter and Facebook, the companies thought the platforms were distractions to their employees and could decrease their productivity. In the 21st century, many organizations in the global market are employing social media platforms to research new markets, gather customer feedback, advertise and promote their products increasing corporate identity in the international market.

A brutal recession is a drop in spending due to declined economic productivity. Many countries have undergone economic downturn, which has affected the human resource practices and roles in the global market. It has made many employees leave their countries for international responsibilities in countries that are economically stable. The US underwent an economic recession in 2012, and most employees took international assignments in countries such as Great Britain where the economy was thriving well. Health and retirement programs have significantly shifted in the 21st century. In the beginning, employers could offer their employees adequate health cover and limited benefit offerings. Human Resource companies have recalibrated their perks to remain competitive in their search and maintenance of talent. Merchandising giant Amazon, for instance, offers its hourly employees a generous tuition benefit and onsite schooling. The company trains its workers' knowledge and skills applicable to jobs outside their corporation that makes them suitable in other global corporations.

To design appropriate human resource management (HRM) strategies, HRM should understand both national and organizational cultures. Communities of practice across borders are significant for multinationals to hold the company, employees, and community together. Hofstede's (1984) cultural dimensions theory allows cross-cultural communication where a company evaluates the socio-cultural norms of a given society and analyzes various factors that affect its employees, such as brutal recession, health, and retirement programs to formulate strategies that foster an innovative and creative workplace. A company carries research examining the socio-cultural beliefs of a given community, for instance, the Cornovii tribe, Britain, that has most of its members attending the Islamic denomination. The company will evaluate the strategies that do not violate people's beliefs while serving the very community.

Initially the role of human resources department in an organization involved creating and maintaining a unique organizational culture through the full suite of HR activities, encompassing selection and recruitment, orientation, training, continuous professional growth, aligning individual and corporate values, crafting a performance-oriented culture, openness to innovative and creative concepts, and awarding employees for attaining challenging targets (Novicevic & Harvey, 2001). With the rapid changes in organization structure in the 21st century, the role of the HR department has changed dramatically due to diverse cultures in the global market. The new functions include management of the worldwide workforce of multinational companies (MNCs), supporting topmost management in the HR policy making for the entire global system of an MNC's operations, human resource planning, job analysis design, recruitment and selection, industrial relation and maintenance and equal employment (Hashim & Hameed, 2012).

Unlike the traditional HR roles, there is a dearth of theoretical framework underpinning these new HR roles (Novicevic & Harvey, 2001) and the contextual factors that influence the development of these roles, particularly in the emerging markets' multinationals include the socio-cultural beliefs of the people, recession and the mode of operation of an organization. HR professionals should prioritize training all young workers and better rewarding for employees' loyalty, application of advanced technology in all HR processes, implementing the concept of Globalize Human Resource Management (GHRM), development of an HR system that is consistent with other organizational strategies and workforce diversity (Hashim & Hameed, 2012).

References

Chamberlain, D. (2013). Overseas Work Assignments: How to Reduce Employer Costs and Make Employees Happier. Compensation & Benefits Review, 45(4), 231-234. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886368713515963

Hashim, M., & Hameed, F. (2012). Human resource management in the 21st century: issues & challenges & possible solutions to attain competitiveness. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(9), 44-52. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265541273_Human_Resource_Management_in_21st_Century_Issues_Challenges_Possible_Solutions_to_Attain_Competitiveness

Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values (Vol. 5). Sage Publication Journal. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Cayp_Um4O9gC&oi=fnd&pg=PA13&dq=Hofstede,+Geert+(1984).+Culture%27s+Consequences:+International+Differences+in+Work-Related+Values+(2nd+ed.).+Beverly+Hills+CA:+SAGE+Publications.+ISBN+0-8039-1444-X&ots=V4ICHBRKP3&sig=1wdyH16XOmGcGJOEDipWx3VfKOQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Novicevic, M. M., & Harvey, M. (2001). The changing role of the corporate HR function in global organizations of the twenty-first century. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(8), 1251-1268. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247522295_The_changing_role_of_the_corporate_HR_function_in_global_organizations_of_the_twenty-first_century