Considering the changes in the business environment and their pace, there is no doubt that making predictions is becoming harder and harder, as well as consulting companies. However, there are some tendencies, which are hard to resist. One of them is, for instance, globalization, which has been notable for decades already but is not going to become less critical. Globalization implies the interconnectedness of various structures and agents of the world’s parts and countries. Taking HRM into account, it would be affected by the necessity to choose candidates from a wider pool, as the borders between countries are going to become less meaningful. To avoid the negative consequences, an HR Director should formulate strict and detailed compulsory requirements for the candidate so that the HR department does not get confused while recruiting new employees.
Secondly, information technology will be more and more crucial for business and people’s lives in general. To be more exact, business environment is becoming more and more dependent on innovation, because the currently used knowledge base is no more up to date. Industry 4.0 has been discussed widely for a couple of years already, and the usage of Big Data (What is industry 4.0?). HRM is already facing the fact that human labor can be replaced by automatic systems or artificial intelligence. This may lead to a shortage of workplaces, a need to modernize production to reduce costs. An HR Director should be thinking of ways of digitalizing processes in the company, assessing the number of needed personnel, and constantly monitoring the available technologies and the required expenses.
One more significant trend is the popularity of outsourcing business processes from finance to cleaning. Business Process Outsourcing involves contracting front-end or back-end activities within a company to a third-party service provider. This strongly affects the HRM as the number of personnel can be drastically changed, and the company’s expenses on wage can be decreased. However, it can be viewed from a negative perspective because the professional level of required specialists may differ a lot from what the HRM in the company expects. Thus, to avoid the possible lack of high-quality specialists, an HR Director should create and maintain connections with outsourcing companies. These companies unite specialists of different fields and are responsible for their qualifications, so the Director would be able to use their service.
Actually, Germany fascinates me the most as it is one of the most economically stable countries globally, and business there has a long history of development. Moreover, this is a culturally rich country with a history of many centuries, exceptional architecture, and traditions. Germany is an exciting country to visit and to work in for a wide variety of reasons.
The vital cultural differences between the United States and Germany are connected with personal space. For example, concerning eye contact, Germans are not afraid to look the other person in the eyes, and it does not matter if they are looked back at. Germans are also used to talking directly, and there are no taboos, unlike the topics Americans have, such as politics or religion.
Considering the effectiveness of the given practices in Germany, its level would be practically the same for all of them. For instance, to my mind, an extensive assessment of individual abilities would be a good choice for selection because Germans are incredibly hard-working and value high qualifications, so that this measure would be rational and objective. Individually-based appraisal systems would be effective, too, as there is no tradition of Germans to work collectively; they are independent individuals. Suggestion systems may also succeed since Germans are rather initiative as a nation and tend to take responsibility rather than avoid it. Self-managing work teams might not be as effective as the previously mentioned practices, as Germans are not used to agile work methods, preferring stricter traditional ones.
Reference
What is industry 4.0? IBM. (n.d.). Web.