Impact of Globalization on Human Resource Management Paper Example

Introduction

Globalization is the expansion of businesses to other countries which is a significant business orientation today. The development of technology and transport has increased the number of companies expanding into global markets which has a substantial impact on human resources management, the profitability of businesses and sales security due to the diversified market. The human resources department has the responsibility of transforming the organization's human resources as the modern face of the businesses change due to globalization. The global supply of labor has increased because of the flexibility and exchange of labor between one country and another. Many people are able and willing to move to where there are employment opportunities and managing the globalized and multicultural workforce poses a significant challenge to business organizations. Globalization has led to challenges and opportunities due to the integration of political systems, societies, and national economies (Mathis & Jackson, 2011). This research paper will assess the impact of globalization on the management of human resources management in multinational organizations which operate in different companies.

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Paper Objective

The objective of this paper is to assess the influence of globalization on human resource management practices by the global enterprises.

Literature Review

Globalization

Globalization refers to the unification of the world market which has increased the interdependent production and consumption of goods. Besides, the consumer impulses have increasingly been unified due to the similar modern life across different nations. Globalization resulted from the growth of international trade as well as the increase in foreign direct investments, especially in the developing countries. Besides, the national capital markets in the globalized world have increasingly become integrated and the technology being used to produce the goods is increasingly becoming similar as businesses and international players increasingly adopt the best technology in the market (Mathis & Jackson, 2011). More importantly, there is a convergence of economic thinking, business management techniques as well as homogenization of human resources management practices across the world. Irrespective of globalization cultural attitudes across markets remain the same and unchanged with national, regional and local cultural variations that mainly influence the conduct and behavior of the human resources and the consumers in the respective areas (Mathis & Jackson, 2011). The consequences of globalization to international businesses are unlimited as businesses can increase the market and capacity for businesses which increases the number of employees needed to produce more goods.

Employment and Labor Laws

Globalization has led to the consolidation of the employment and labor laws especially for the multinational countries that have to adhere to different labor laws in their operating territories. The model of international trade allows businesses operating in different national territories to pursue similar average wages across countries. The convergence of the wages in different countries is a significant impact of globalization from a previous outlook where there was a significant gap in wages especially between the developing and the developed countries. Multinational corporations have responded to globalization through the equalization of wages. Globalization has made it difficult for multinational companies to create segregated regional wages and salaries due to the wages equality across different regions (Mathis & Jackson, 2011). Inequality experienced primarily in the salary of the employee across cultural, racial and social backgrounds has reduced amidst globalization which has destroyed geographical preservations and preferential treatments by an organization.

Globalization has facilitated the frequent exchange of information among workers in various part of the globe which has increased wage equality as well as working conditions for the employees. The aspirational values among the employees enable them to demand improved compensation like their counterparts in the developed countries. Besides, the global corporations have to consider every factor before deciding on the employee wages. Outsourcing of labor has been a controversial aspect of the human resource management because many multinational companies are taking their operations in countries with high labor population to reduce the cost of labor (Gupta & Mishra, 2015). Therefore, before offering compensation to the workers, global companies have to comply with the International Labor Organization wage guidelines and decisions are based on the business operating environment.

Over the previous two decades, the labor markets across the world have undergone great integration. Today, the multinational organizations production regions are not limited to the geographical locations because they are highly responsive to the labor costs and skills. The labor pool due to the globalization has increased which has led to the leveling of labor costs especially due to the high number of employees in the emerging countries such as China, India, and those in Africa. International labor laws have been initiated to balance between the opportunities and the challenges that are being caused by globalization. The World Bank and the international monetary fund have been in the forefront in the creation of labor laws that applies internationally to preserve sustainability and equality. The position of workers and unions has continued to decline in the last two decades as globalization takes toll on the international labor market which has led to the creation of international laws. The human resources department has the responsibility of implementing international labor laws in their operations to safeguard the rights of the employees.

The Human Rights Commission has created numerous policies and regulations that seek to protect employees in the international labor market from exploitation. Trade liberalization in the globalized economies has resulted in increased responsibility on the shoulders of the human resources management which is required to promote social responsibility. International organizations today are required to respect the rights of their employees and the communities as large a responsibility that falls on the human resources management departments. The issue of human rights in human resources management after globalization has increasingly been the responsibility of the human resource department. Regulatory powers at the national level in the globalization era cannot protect the employees compared to the international human rights declarations and resolutions shared by many countries (Palthe, 2008). As a result, the human resources departments have the responsibility of ensuring that the employees have a conducive and safe working environment in all their global ventures irrespective of the venture location and the employee background.

Role of the Human Resources Management in Globalization

The workforce has increasingly become diverse which has posed a significant challenge to many organizations human resource management. Managing diversity in global enterprises is a significant challenge as the race of acquiring competent and reliable workforce has intensified between international organizations. Operating in different markets requires diverse and open policy human resources management to ensure that the employees are not alienated due to the differences in culture. The human resources management specialists should have knowledge and experience in dealing with multi-cultural organizations which are as a result of globalization (Czenter, Esther, Shaker, & Waechter, 2002). Managing an international workforce with different cultural backgrounds requires human resources management to develop effective written and unwritten organization policies to promote the accommodation of diverse cultures.

Subsidiary businesses with foreign origin use local human resource managers with the aim of creating policies that promote understanding of the local cultural practices and employee attitudes. Home country employees in the case of subsidiaries of global enterprises are less expensive but very complicated regarding managing them due to cultural differences. Adopting human resources policies from the mother country could significantly affect an organization performance due to the culture crash. Globalization will require human resource managers to be competent in local cultural practices and language to promote the adoption of local cultural identities which also can help in solving employee problems because they vary from one culture and nationality. The human resource hires third country nationals at different levels in the organization with the aim of increasing the multinational businesses cultural exposure (Czenter et al., 2002). Organizations where human resource management recruits employees from different cultural background benefits immensely by increasing the overall cultural sensitive training as well as practices that are sensitive to local cultural norms.

Diversity Management

Globalization has led to the need by the HRM to manage the diversity of the employees by incorporating measures that ensure that employees from different cultures are comfortable working for the global businesses. The perception of workers from different cultural backgrounds varies greatly which requires the HRM to identify and manage employees based on their cultural values and background. Besides, the people from different ethnic societies possess particular behavior which affects the way actions are carried out in an organization (Gupta & Mishra, 2015). The non-verbal communications among the employees are different since they are from a diverse background. Due to globalization the human resource has faced a lot of challenges in the dissemination of its tasks.

Recruitment of Labor around the Globe

Globalization has helped in the recruitment of labor from a diverse area thus helping the organizations to achieve their set goals and objectives. More so, companies are able to acquire appropriate labor from the skilled and knowledgeable personnel. Human resource managers can adapt to the customs of individuals when hiring employees from a diverse background. The language barriers make the human resource managers hire the bilingual employees thus being able to adapt to their documents. Besides, due to the employment of workers from a diverse ethnic background, the managers in the human resources have to ensure the labor laws are followed to the latter (Madrid, 2014). For example, the merit of ensuring these laws are followed is that it ensures the rights of workers are not violated thus ensuring appropriate and quality delivery of services. More so, the child labor is prohibited in the United States and this makes it possible for the human resources to implement the training and hiring services which are consistent to all states (Jeong, 2012). Therefore, globalization has promoted recruitment of employees in every sector thus promoting economic growth.

Development of Professionals

The development of professionals is able to ensure the employees are able to achieve their goals in relation to their careers. More so, globalization has helped organization to promote their employees in furthering their education making them gain adequate knowledge and skills in their career. Some organization allow their workers to attend conferences and training days which increase their knowledge in the dissemination of services to their clients. The professional development has enab...