Research Paper on Globalization Changes HR: Amazon & Beyond

Introduction

Human resource management is a vital department in every organization. It forms among the major central departments that run the entire activities of the company. The recent trends in globalization have made their functionality more important since international corporations are now recruiting managers from all over the world (Brewster, Chung, & Sparrow, 2016). For example, among the major multinational corporations that recruit international managers to include the Amazon Corporation and the Alibaba group. This is because the market for Alibaba and Amazon is on a global ground and for it to operate effectively and efficiently, they employ international managers. The function of this department is to ensure that each manager is served well so as to treat the customers properly. The purpose of this paper is examine contemporary global HR practices to evaluate operations and managerial performance of Amazon and Alibaba Corporations.

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Alibaba and Amazon Corporations

In the Amazon and the Alibaba corporations, there are various challenges that the human resource managers face in their duties. The first one is adapting to new environments due to weather and climate change. Some conditions may be adverse and affect their health. Other challenges include cultural differences where they may find it adapting to new ways of life of people, different from those of their home country.

They may also experience technological challenges, especially where the new country is advanced, and they are not accustomed to new technologies. The other challenge is also with the local government and the presidency of the parent country. These may bring about challenges to the individual, especially if the countries are not allies as they may be faced with challenges. For example, Amazon has a problem hiring Arabs to work in the United States of America (Haddock et al., 2016). This is due to political influence from the presidency level.

The Amazon and the Alibaba group operate in almost the same activities, doing online retail. This is done through their websites from which the companies display the products, making it accessible to those who log in to the sites. Deliveries are made based on the country the order is made in. One of the strategies is that the companies standardize and customize products and services depending on the country they are operating in.

Standardization and Customization

The similarity between these two companies in standardization is that they standardize mostly programs for electronics since their suppliers are the same and operate internationally also. For example, the sale of computers and cell phones are standardized from the make of the company. They are sold as they were bought without being altered. This is because the mother brand cannot be changed, and people buy the company which is well known.

The difference in standardization is that Alibaba has diversified more than Amazon. Majority of the products that Alibaba sales are branded in the local language of the people. In as much as there are no alterations, they do the branding in the local language. They, therefore, have sub-websites designed to operate on a local language, more than Amazon does. For example, the Japanese website operates with the Japanese being the primary language. The products may be bearing the design and brand of the mother company but are translated into the Japanese language. The advantage is that the majority of the products, especially electronics and machinery, are from the country. Amazon is largely based in English speaking countries, and this may not be necessary. The products they sell bear the original brand and design and will depend on the evaluation of where it sales best.

In customization, both the Alibaba and Amazon companies have a very little contribution. This is because they operate through third parties. The similar thing is that they use local producers to produce the goods and then sell them. The company, therefore, often operates with the other international corporations to ensure that the products they sell are available internationally. The use of these local producers enables the corporation to sell what is familiar to the people and therefore, have a variety for everyone from the countries they have branches.

The difference in customization is when it comes to branding. The Alibaba group works with local producers and urges them to brand the products according to the local's people and also the designs. The content and components are the same, but the design and the banding are different to fit the local market. For Amazon, however, they sell the products as they are produced in the mother companies. Amazon uses substitutes; for example, giving a substitute for a product produced in the US to a product produced in the European.

Performance Appraisal

In the designing of a performance appraisal process, especially at the international level, it follows several steps of factors to be considered. The first one is the evaluation of the objectives of the organization. This will then determine the staffing perspective from which the company can staff the company. The third step in the process involves the internationalization strategies of the company. This will include how the company wants to venture into foreign markets. The last step is the analysis of the particularities of the local context.

Performance appraisal has various importance in the training of international managers. The first importance of this performance appraisal process is that it brings about development in the organization due to better management. It evaluates the contribution of the employee to the development of the company. The other importance is that it determines the firm managerial decisions, in particular, the compensation and promotion of employees (Graiser, Nirman & Hamid, 2015). Performance appraisal also reduces the tension of need for a universal appraisal standard for specific objectives in the local units. It also recognizes the fact that more time may be needed to obtain the expected results from the market. It also determines is that it evaluates challenges associated with expatriates in the determination of evaluation criteria, the choice of evaluators, delivery times, and the cultural sensitivity feedback.

Management Methods of Human Resource

The management methods for the human resource are a complex process in the organization. The main purpose of this is to identify gaps in the human capital of the companies and ensure they are staffed at all times (Bratton & Gold, 2017). The Alibaba and Amazon, being in the same line of business follow similar steps. The main steps involve the evaluation of the current situation of the company and forecasting the human resource requirements in the future that might occur. The next step will then involve identifying the gaps that are there and coming up with a strategy to fill them and how to perpetuate the occupancy of the level in the future period. This is determined by the evaluation of the future supply of labor in these posts. Therefore, they work in hand with the staffing unit of the organization.

Apart from the international environment, other external bodies also play a role in this sect. This includes the labour unions whose major aim is to oversee the welfare of the managers. The companies need to work together with these unions to know the requirements of how they are to treat these individuals. This would make their working easier. Among some of the factors considered are the health and safety issues of the employees, for example, lighting condition, air circulation, exposure to rays, warm conditions, protective clothing, and the likes. They support the working environment of the employee.

Challenges Facing Amazon and Alibaba Corporations

The major legal factors affecting Alibaba and Amazon companies is the laws governing the operations. What may be legal in one country is illegal in another country. This aspect, therefore, limits the extent to which the companies diversifies the market for their products and services. The political environment also matters, varies from the relational between the local country and the parent one in terms of how they relate. Political stability determines the freedom to which the corporation can operate.

The social and cultural aspect deals with the way of life of people, according to their norms and customs, Each community has their uniqueness, and one is accustomed to their own culture may be difficult to incorporate into another and thus becoming a challenge. The technology for one country may be higher than that of the other. I make it, therefore, difficult for the company for a foreign manager who is not used to advanced technology to adapt. The company is also affected since it may become costly when operating in countries where the technology is so much advanced and they have to update its systems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, human resource management for international corporations is one of the centralized departments facing a lot of stress and complexities since they deal with people. The operation in different places with varied legal, political, social, and cultural and technological factors brings about its challenges. Standardization and customization would vary according to the operations of Alibaba and Amazon corporations.

References

Brewster, C., Chung, C., & Sparrow, P. (2016). Globalizing human resource management. Routledge. Retrieved From https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315668611

Bratton, J., & Gold, J., (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave. Retrieved From https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SJpMDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=management+methods+for+human+resource&ots=YvTuPaA7l4&sig=8zsSUjEQwJWigRoVN4MedKDfvNQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=management%20methods%20for%20human%20resource&f=false

Graiser, M., Nirman, U., & Hamid, D. (2015).The Application of Recruitment for Managers in the International Human Resource Management in Misurata/Libya. Journal of Business and Management. Retrieved from http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol17-issue7/Version-2/L017729197.pdf

Haddock-Millar, J., Sanyal, C., & Muller-Camen, M. (2016). Green human resource management: a comparative qualitative case study of a United States multinational corporation. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(2), 192-211. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09585192.2015.1052087