In the contemporary business arena, organizations are deploying personnel from different nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, cultural beliefs, intellectual capacities, and age. In order to manage the diverse human capital, business leaders need to adopt an international human resources management strategy (IHRM). IHRM entails enacting policies that address diverse human resource issues to enable an organization to benefit from diverse human capital and manage risk associated with diversity. This paper briefly discusses how managers in the contemporary business environment should handle their human capital.
Considerations when choosing an international human capital
It has become almost inevitable that organizations hire workers and employees of different nationalities, however, when making decision on the right human resource selection and recruitment process, it is essential for management to enact effective international personnel management strategy. The most effective strategy should assist the company in tap talents and expertise. When an organization has opted to hire from the international market, the company’s human resource should start the process by interpolating the needs of the organization then match the same with the talents, skills, expertise, and intellectualism offered by the global market.
The management should ensure that its human resource management process is able to tap intellectual capacity as it grows talents and skill. Different human resource companies have to ensure their programs are sensitive to the differences in culture and beliefs. Human resources are the most important assets that an organization has; in the event that the human resources have been managed effectively, the company will be able to utilize the available factors of production effectively.
When working in different countries, management should never assume that the human management style adopted in country A is fully-effective and applicable in another country; they should take their time to understand what the other country’s employee value and consider to be the best.
There has been ramming debates that some countries have different capacities and potentials, although the above notion can be proved not to cut across when dealing with international management policies, an organization can consider such factors. For instance, Chinese and Japanese are known to be aggressive and business-minded; on the other hand, Britons are through to be organized and detailed. With such traits, they can help management choose the right people for its organization. Management gurus have continued to offer insights of how culture and ethnicity of people affect their performance in their works. They suggest that cultural intelligence assist organization handle their employees effectively regardless of their nationality.
Multinationals generally have three main methods that they can use to have their employees as localization approach, expatriates approach, and third-country approach. Before settling on a certain method, they should ensure it is the method that maintains the quality and quantity workforce. The human resources department assumes that the role of maintaining is qualified, and efficient human capital is at the most affordable cost possible. When considering the most appropriate cost, care should be taken to ensure that the wages and salaries maintained in a company are competitive and motivate employees (Fred, 2011)
Before an organization decides to fill a certain vacancy in its system, the human resources should liaise with the departmental heads to know exactly the kind of qualification that, in some instances, the management may advise for some age gap, nationality, gender, and experience. It is through to be effective recruitment that an organization can build an effective team that meets its personnel requirement needs.
When enacting empowerment and motivational policies or schemes, the management should ensure that the diversity of its employees has been considered. There are people who are generally team-players, others prefer individualism, and others are charismatic leaders. When making a decision, it is important to consider diversity. Management gurus have continually advised companies to have culture coaches when operating in a country, they are not very sure of nature and the culture of the people. With the coaches, they can develop orchestrate teams and make products that meet the requirement of customers in the country. Diverse human resources can be biennial to an organization. If an organization is managed effectively, but it fails to manage diversity effectively, it can expose it to risks.
When recruiting leaders of different ranks from the global markets, it is important to consider their prior experience in similar positions. It is important to recruit people who have handled another organization at the same or higher level as the one needed. Exposure and experience are strong advantages that an organization can benefit from. The benefit is higher when diversity has been embraced. At non management and clerical level, an organization can opt to grow its human capital; it can deploy at an inexperienced level them nurture the new entrants to meet the requirements of the company.
Conclusion
Organizations require physical, human, and informational resources for their operation. Business-leaders should realize that human capital is the most crucial capital their organizations have. In the modern globalized world, organizations have diverse human capital. Thus, in order to manage the capital effectively, companies need to adopt international human resources management strategies. The strategies assist an organization in benefitting from its personnel diversity, as it mitigates risks associated with a diverse workforce.
Reference
Fred, D. (2011). Strategic Management. New York: Wiley. Web.